{"id":1436,"date":"2022-12-20T11:14:08","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T11:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/?p=1436"},"modified":"2023-01-10T14:46:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T14:46:54","slug":"climate-cop-outs-why-is-politics-failing-us-and-can-religion-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/?p=1436","title":{"rendered":"Climate \u2018COP-outs\u2019: why is politics failing us and can religion help?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maria Nita<\/em><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Don\u2019t Cop Out!\u2019 and \u2018No More Blah, Blah, Blah\u2019 were messages to our political leaders at the COP 27 summit<\/span> in Egypt,<\/span> from the Extinction Rebellion children\u2019s protest march on my local Highstreet, one \u2018unseasonably\u2019 warm November day. Why so wary? The \u2018United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change\u2019 (UNFCCC) is an international treaty agreeing to combat \u2018dangerous human interference with the climate system,\u2019 which was signed by virtually all countries in 1992 in Rio. Since then, UNFCCC representatives have been coming together in different cities around the world \u2013 as we know they were in Glasgow last year \u2013 during an annual Conference of Parties (COP). Three decades later, tragically, yet, as these children\u2019s pleas suggest, predictably, COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh turned out to be almost as ineffectual in what it was set out to do, as the previous twenty-six. \u2018Almost\u2019 \u2013 because of the <\/span>decision to compensate vulnerable nations who are now bearing the brunt of climate break-down, despite contributing little to either historical or current global emissions. Christian climate activists called it <\/span>\u2018<\/span>a pin prick of light against the background of unabated climate breakdown<\/span><\/i>.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This Christmas and throughout the year Christian climate activists are hosting vigils for the earth. Vigils are religious practices that involve staying awake at times when it is normal and easier to sleep. Take for instance the vigil in the picture below, held in London just before the pandemic hit. Notice the Extinction Rebellion hourglass symbol with a Christian cross: these are Rebel Christians, a grassroots Christian network that faces many different publics. Here, gathered in front of the building hosting the Church of England\u2019s annual general meeting, they are asking Church leaders to disinvest from fossil fuels. They are also facing the media and unengaged public, asking us to think about the future victims of global heating, symbolized by the children\u2019s coffins piled up on the kerb.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The metaphor of \u2018staying awake\u2019 or \u2018waking up\u2019 is used by secular climate activists too. This seems appropriate as business-as-usual politics is starting to look more like sleepwalking into Mordor. This year COP 27 countries\u2019 representatives did not reach an agreement to reduce emissions from fossil fuels, despite advice to do this from the UN\u2019s own climate scientists. The world\u2019s top climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), warned that we need to drastically reduce emissions by 2030, if we want to limit global heating to safer levels (Ripple et al, 2020). As this narrow window of opportunity is quickly closing<\/span>, world leaders failed to agree, or even address, what we might have expected to be the at the top of their agenda: reducing carbon emissions. Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, was cited saying: \u201c<\/span>We need to drastically reduce emissions now \u2013 and this is an issue this COP (2022) did not address<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Year after year we hear the same buzz words, \u2018ambition,\u2019 \u2018priority,\u2019 \u2018renewables\u2019\u2026 We hear empty lamentations from political leaders, like pulling humanity \u2018back from the climate cliff\u2019. Yet no clear global carbon commitments are made. There are disagreements and disputes over what measures are necessary to limit global heating.\u202fIn these disputes, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is shaped by multinational corporations and the most powerful national governments, many among the major carbon-emitting countries, like Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the Russian Federation, and the United States (Ali et al, 2021). Perplexingly, COP 27 has also seen an increase in the number of fossil fuels companies invited to the discussion table. And climate activists questioned the decision for COP 28 to be held in UAE, a Petrol state, in 2023.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in the UK, there is growing concern in climate activists\u2019 circles about <\/span>the increased crackdown of their protest activities, possibly reflected by research reporting that global democracy has hit a new low this year (The Economist, 2022). Yet a global survey looking at changing global values (<\/span>The World Value Survey, 2022)<\/span> suggests that countries where Protestant Christianities are culturally influential, such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, are better at both environmentalism and democracy. In that same vein, British Christians, I have argued, should be historically credited for the global shift towards progressive green values (Nita 2018, 2020). With a climate and energy crisis in Europe, and with politics failing us, can we look to religion, and specifically Christianity?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I hope so, because \u2018religion\u2019 is \u2018politics too\u2019. In fact, \u2018religion\u2019 could be \u2018politics 2.0\u2019 since \u2018it\u2019 has better resources, untapped social capital, and greater plasticity. Like other faith climate networks \u2013 such as Muslims Declare and XR Buddhists \u2013 Christian climate activists have an essential role to play inside the climate movement over the next decade. This is where my own vote is going, and I am proud to be able to contribute to chronicling their tireless efforts, creativity, and commitment. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Please consider supporting Christian Climate Action, or the wider Green Christian network:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian Climate Action \u2013 Direct action, public witness for the climate<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Green Christian \u2013 Ordinary Christians, extraordinary times<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Find out more about my research <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

___________________________________________________________________<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ali, Shahid, Dogan, Eyup, Chen, Fuzhong and Zeeshan Khan. 2021. \u2018International Trade and Environmental Performance in Top Ten\u2010emitters Countries: The Role of Eco\u2010innovation and Renewable Energy Consumption.\u2019\u202f<\/span>Sustainable Development,<\/span><\/i>\u202f29 (2): 378\u2013387.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nita, Maria and Sharif Gemie. 2020. Counterculture, Local Authorities and British Christianity at the Windsor and Watchfield Free Festivals (1972\u20135), <\/span>Twentieth Century British History<\/span><\/i>, 31 (1): 51 -78.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nita, Maria. 2018. \u2018Christian Discourses and Cultural Change: The Greenbelt Art and Performance Festival as an Alternative Community for Green and Liberal Christians\u2019 in <\/span>Implicit Religion,<\/span><\/i> 21 (1): 44-69.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ripple, William J., Christopher Wolf, Thomas M Newsome, Phoebe Barnard, William R Moomaw. 2020. \u2018World Scientists\u2019 Warning of a Climate Emergency,\u2019\u202f<\/span>BioScience<\/span><\/i>, 70 (1): 8-12.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A new low for global democracy | The Economist<\/span><\/a> [accessed 18 12 22]<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian Climate Action \u2013 Direct action, public witness for the climate<\/span><\/a> [accessed 18 12 22]<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Convention documents | UNFCCC<\/span><\/a> [accessed 12 12 22]\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

COP27 closes with deal on loss and damage: \u2018A step towards justice\u2019, says UN chief | | 1UN News<\/span><\/a> [accessed 20 11 2022].\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Extinction Rebellion: XR Buddhists \u2013 In grief and love for the Earth<\/span><\/a> [accessed 18 12 22]<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lament & Hope: Prayers & Teaching for Justice and Peace: A Liturgy for the Morning- Prayers for the Climate and Ecological Emergency on Apple Podcasts<\/span><\/a> [accessed 18 12 2022]\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MUSLIMS DECLARE | A Climate and Ecological Emergency<\/span><\/a> [accessed 18 12 22]<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our leaders had a final chance to halt climate breakdown. They failed each and every one of us | George Monbiot | The Guardian<\/span><\/a> [accessed 12 12 2022]\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Climate and Creation Emergency \u2013 Green Christian<\/span><\/a> [accessed 11 12 2022]\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What happened at COP 27? with Clare Farrell and Charlie Gardner | Extinction Rebellion UK – YouTube<\/span><\/a> [accessed 10 12 2022]<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WVS Database (worldvaluessurvey.org)<\/span><\/a> [accessed 11 12 2022]\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maria Nita\u00a0 \u2018Don\u2019t Cop Out!\u2019 and \u2018No More Blah, Blah, Blah\u2019 were messages to our political leaders at the COP 27 summit in Egypt, from the Extinction Rebellion children\u2019s protest march on my local Highstreet, one \u2018unseasonably\u2019 warm November day. Why so wary? The \u2018United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change\u2019 (UNFCCC) is an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,5],"tags":[461,359,472,507,380],"class_list":["post-1436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contemporary-religion-in-historical-perspective-2","category-news-and-media","tag-christianity","tag-climate","tag-cop26","tag-cop27","tag-green"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1436"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1446,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions\/1446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/religious-studies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}