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The multi faith community in Cornwall is raising awareness of climate change....Why they are doing things to help the climate.... All major global faiths recognize that individuals and communities have a moral and spiritual responsibility to live in a way that is sustainable, and within the environmental constraints of our planet. Through awareness raising and capacity building the Cornwall Multi-Faith Climate Forum is working to encourage individuals to become more conscious of their actions, and where necessary modify their lifestyles, so that their contribution to climate change is reduced. They see our world as a gift and recognise that we all need to take responsibility for protecting it now and for future generations. What they are doing.... The Multi Faith Climate Forum is promoting awareness of climate change through a range of activities. The aim of the group is to build capacity and empower forum members so that they become “Faith Climate Champions” who can then spread the message from the group into their own personal networks and faith communities. There are three elements to their work currently:
Why it’s important….. Currently the way we all live our lives and carry out everyday actions such as traveling, heating our homes and businesses and using electricity for lights and appliances relies mainly on coal, oil and gas (fossil fuels). Every time we use these we release greenhouse gases and in particular carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Every tonne emitted commits us to more warming. Everyone in Cornwall can help tackle climate change. The starting point for action is to spread the word, so more people understand what's happening and why, and what they can do to make a difference. The Multi Faith Climate Forum is playing an important role in making this happen in Cornwall. Climate change will touch every aspect of our lives and action across all sectors of society will be needed if we are to limit it. The latest and most comprehensive information on climate change comes from the International Panel on Climate Change. Their latest research in February 2007 highlighted that carbon dioxide levels have risen by 35% since the industrial revolution and this has resulted in a warming of 0.74°C over the past century. Not only did their report indicate that this warming was very likely to be driven by human influence, but it predicts temperature rises during this century will be in the region of 1.5°C to 6°C. The majority of scientists agree that to avoid radical changes of temperature in the future, action is needed now and that emissions of greenhouse gases must begin to decline over the next 10–20 years to avoid extreme changes to our climate. So, while there is no easy solution that can solve the problems we face, we must start by doing what we can – every tonne of emissions avoided reduces the threat of climate change. This is why we need to address this issue now, wherever we can. Everyone can do something to help by taking simple and easy steps to reduce our energy use and therefore stop unnecessary carbon dioxide emissions. Simple things like switching off unneeded lights and turning off appliances that are not in use do make a big difference It’s our climate, if we address the issue of climate change now, wherever we can, we can reduce the threat of further climate change. Together this generation will tackle climate change. Further information.... To find out more about how the Multi Faith Climate Forum is tackling climate change contact Andrew Yates at sro@truro.anglican.org or Lexi at Community Energy Plus Lexi@cep.org.uk. You can also read their latest copy of the Climate Digest, which provides an overview of the latest national and international climate change news by following this link. There is already a lot of great work going on in Cornwall to tackle climate change. This website has been designed to show you that lots of individuals, community groups, and organisations in Cornwall have already decided to do things to tackle climate change, you can find out more about all the stories we have featured by following this link. If you want to find out more about climate change now visit the understanding climate change part of our website, where you can: You can find out more about the latest international scientific research on climate change from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – visit their website here. The new Office of Climate Change has just produced a summary report on the Scientific Case for Action on Climate Change. You can download this file by clicking this link (this is a PDF document). You can also find out more and influence how the government is planning to tackle climate change through the new Climate Change Bill which is currently out for consultation, find out more here.
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Cool game. The game shows how taking different decisions increases or decreases the amount of carbon released by a country. The interactive game is a participatory educational tool that allows for group discussion around climate change and provides a resource for use in the wider community