Faithful Climate Conversations bring the power to change to you
In April of this year KAIROS joined with a group of more than 30 Canadian organizations to launch “For the Love of Creation,” a faith-based climate justice initiative. In November, For the Love of Creation introduced a series of conversation guides titled “Faithful Climate Conversations.” These three conversation guides aim to support faith communities as they engage in conversations about climate change and consider what a faithful response looks like. Aminah Attar, a young adult involved in editing the guides, describes them as bringing “the power to change, to you, in a very accessible manner.” They are designed for use in small groups of neighbours, friends, coworkers, and church members and offer an easy-to-follow format with links to all the important information and resources.
The first conversation guide, “Creation, Climate and You” aims to involve people who have little or no experience talking about climate change, while the second and third guides offer a more intermediate and advanced entry point to the conversation. The conversations cover basic climate science while focusing mainly on lived experience of climate change and our dreams for a better future. They allow people to share their own experiences, thoughts, and feelings in a safe, supportive environment.
Climate conversations are among the most important things that we can do to enact climate justice, but they are also important for our personal and communal wellbeing. Mark Bigland-Pritchard, who was involved in creating and testing the guides, says that the conversations “give people an opportunity to face and release some of their anxiety in a safe space and also to share their hope and their vision.” Such care and opening space for one another is an important part of inviting people to come alongside one another in the work of climate justice.
We invite each of you to host a Faithful Climate Conversation in your community, either in-person or online. Although you do not need training in order to host a conversation, there will be training sessions provided in 2021 for those interested in learning more and developing stronger facilitation skills. To receive information about For the Love of Creation and these trainings once the dates are available please click here.
