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Joy Kennedy, moderator of the WCC working group on climate change, offered a very personal perspective on why we should all care about the future. “I’ve been with the WCC climate change working group for many years. I’m a grandmother and I focus on intergenerational justice because climate change is affecting everyone—but more so particularly affecting those who are young and to yet born,” she said. “As a grandmother, I feel we must change our way of living on this planet so we have a survivable future.”
Julia Rensberg, delegate of the Church of Sweden and representative of the Sami Council within the Swedish Church, thanked journalists for their interest in climate justice for Indigenous peoples.
“I’m a part of the Sami people, and today we are celebrating the Day of Creation—and for me that’s a big paradox,” she said, adding that “nature is fantastic. It’s magic. It’s beauty.”
We need Mother Earth to keep living, she said. “But today we are facing the climate crisis and up in the Arctic region it’s increasing faster than anywhere else,” she said. “We've seen the climate crisis coming for a long time.”
To Rensberg, Indigenous rights and climate justice are the same thing. “We need to unite as a church globally to hep us survive this climate crisis,” she urged.
Bjorn Warde, delegate of the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago, expressed joy at being able to voice his concerns at the assembly.
"We celebrate creation today, as there are many things about our creation that we love,” he said. “Yet we see flooding in our own lands. We see mudslides happening onto the beaches.”
He added: “For those of us who know about the Caribbean and we see paradise, we who live in the Caribbean also see the affects of climate change very present within us.”
Journalists asked questions that ranged from the rights of Indigenous peoples, exploring churches’ response to climate change, and how the WCC unifies its climate work.
Care for creation and climate justice
Livestream of the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany
