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NYC climate march 2023

WCC among “movers and doers” at UN Climate Ambition Summit

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is among the “movers and doers” at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York on 20 September. WCC moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm commented on the summit, the first-ever of its kind designed to accelerate action by governments, business, finance, local authorities, and civil society.

20 September 2023
News
March against fossil fuels

Churches march in New York City to declare no faith in fossil fuels

Representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC) joined tens of thousands of demonstrators in New York City for the "March to End Fossil Fuels." This powerful protest took place just before the United Nations General Assembly, where world leaders gathered for crucial climate discussions.

18 September 2023
Feature story
The church grounds of the Community United Church of Christ in Fresno, USA,

Beyond gravel: designing water-wise church grounds

Becoming better stewards of Creation by killing off your church lawn? It sounds odd, but it is exactly what the Community United Church of Christ (UCC) in Fresno, USA, did. Facing increasing drought and water scarcity in their home state California, the congregation embarked on a project to drastically reduce their water use. Thanks to the massive support of volunteers, an entirely new, water-wise landscape was created that offers a lot to discover.

29 May 2023
News
youth gathered at Standing Rock for protest

Applications open for WCC Eco-School 2022 with focus on North America

Applications are open for the fifth edition of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice, to be held 24 April-1 May 2022 in the North America region. Convening in-person at the Stony Point Center in New York, the event is open to young people under 30 years of age from the North America region only. 

03 March 2022
Blog post
a glass of water

Reflecting on California groundwater abuse

I live in western Oregon, part of the Pacific Northwest long regarded as a verdant paradise, courtesy of rains and snowfall that can exceed 100 inches each year.  The snowfall in the mountains sustains our rivers through the dry summer.  But our climate has been profoundly disrupted.  Where I live, summers are far drier and hot.  But just to the south of us, this climate change has caused a drought worse than any drought in the past 1200 years.  Scientists call it a “mega-drought,” a severe drought affecting massive areas of the western United States for more than two decades.  

24 February 2022
Feature story
community bathroom

“Bathroom ministry” for the homeless

Whether people have access to a safe and clean toilet has wide-reaching consequences for their dignity, health, access to education, and gender equality. Churches around the world are therefore acting as messengers, implementers, advocators, and guardians to promote better sanitation and hygiene. There are many practical and encouraging examples. One is the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew & Matthew (SsAM) in Wilmington (Delaware) in the USA, which has a “community bathroom” that people from the homeless community can use.

14 December 2021
Blog post
indigenous group in Glasgow for COP26

COP26: historic moment into what really matters to sustain life

The highly anticipated, long awaited COP26 began 31 October. It has now been six years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement at COP21 and much remains to be implemented in order to fulfil the promises agreed to at that historic moment by the member states. We knew then that the road ahead would be challenging and that changing our systems would require a radical shift in policies and behaviours—but we were hopeful. 

01 November 2021
News
river in Sao Paulo state Brazil

Brazilian ecumenical water network launched

An online event held on 22 July marked the launch of the Ecumenical Water Network Brazil, an initiative that intends to articulate several ecumenical organizations and interfaith voices with the purpose of raising awareness about the life cycle of water.

29 July 2021
News
Members of the Articulação da Bacia do Rio Pardo

Pulling together for a living River Pardo

Areas around the River Pardo in northeastern Brazil are home to more than one million people. Included in them are traditional communities such as the quilombolas (descendants of runaway African slaves), the geraizeiros and others. Each year they see less water in their river. “This is not solely due to the reduction in rainfall. 

02 July 2021
News
Mayor Margarida Salomão signs the decree

Brazilian city joins “water diagram” initiative headed by Swiss Church Aid

The Brazilian municipality of Juiz de Fora has approved a cooperation agreement with Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER), a member of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network (WCC-EWN), thus becoming part of an international working group that wants to contribute to good water management and management practices using a water flow diagram. The project also encompasses the city of Bern, Switzerland; Cape Town, in South Africa, and Rio Pardo de Minas, in Brazil.

02 July 2021
Blog post
indigenous ceremony in Brazil

Indigenous peoples and the pandemic in the land of inequalities

476 million indigenous people live around the world, of which 11.5% live in our Latin American region. In these years that we are going from the COVID 19 pandemic in our territories (indigenous or tribal at the Latin American level), the presence of many extractive companies, mainly uranium and lithium, has increased, land traffickers and among other monoculture companies with fires for the cultivation of oil palm, logging, putting vulnerable peoples at greater risk than what is already experienced.

04 June 2021