Columbans around the globe accompany communities impacted by climate change.
In Myanmar and Peru, glaciers, a main water and irrigation source, continue to disappear. In the Philippines and Fiji, extreme weather events and rising sea levels threaten coastal communities where agriculture and fishing are a main source of economic stability. In Pakistan and the United States, severe droughts cause food and water shortages.
Columbans have been fighting to address climate change for decades. In the countries we call home, we’ve seen how an over-consumption of the fossil fuels that cause climate change is driven by an economic model that places profits over the common good. This raises serious moral and ethical concerns about the distribution and use of our planet’s finite resources and the destruction of biodiversity and the web of life.
The reality of climate change compels us to both personal and structural changes. The resources and articles on this webpage will help you better understand the global impacts of climate change, and offer you practical ways to take action and advocate on behalf of God’s beautiful creation.
Download our free resources to learn climate change is impacting the vulnerable communities living there and how you can take action
Host an Environmental Justice Workshop
Learn how your community can stand in solidarity with the exploited earth and marginalized communities
Tell the Senate: Protect Environmental Defenders
Every year, hundred of people are killed or persecuted defending the environment. Tell the US Senate to protect them.
It was through my association with the Columban Sisters that I began to learn just how crucial the Subanen culture is as a voice on behalf of a renewable Earth. The Subanens regarded their habitat as a sacred community to be cherished, not as a collection of resources to be exploited.
We are called to listen to the testimony of our sisters and brothers in the Philippines and Fiji by addressing climate change and reducing our contribution to extreme weather events and the rising sea levels which destroy their lives and devastate their island nations.
"The Story of Climate Change" is a free resource that documents how climate change impacts vulnerable communities around the world, and what you can do to stand in solidarity with those communities.
At first blush, environmental justice may sound nonessential to a life of faith. Many Catholics aren’t exposed to spiritual reflections on God’s creation or questions of environmental care at mass or during formation programs like confirmation or RCIA. But this shouldn't be the case.
The God of creation is calling each of us to reconnect with the natural world and reexamine how our lifestyles impact its wellbeing. The Columban Creation Covenant is a guide to help you do just that. By filling out the Columban Creation Covenant, you are making a commitment to the natural world. "How will I reconnect with God's creation?"
NASA global data set combines historical measurements with data from climate simulations using the best available computer models to provide forecasts of how global temperature (shown here) and precipitation might change up to 2100 under different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. Credits: NASA
Human induced climate change is the most serious and pressing ecological challenge facing the world today with far reaching impacts on both the human and natural world. Climate change raises serious moral and ethical concerns about the distribution and use of our planet’s finite resources and the destruction of biodiversity and the web of life.
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