A Pledge for Creation Care Kanayathu C. Koshy and Elizabeth Koshy* delegates had struggled to resolve major sticking points, such as phasing out coal, fossil fuel subsidies and poor financial support to developing countries. The U.N. meeting, was billed as humanity’s last and best chance to keep the all-important goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive. Now the reality is that it is a responsibility of the approximately 200 countries that gathered to rally round the ‘Glasgow Climate Pact’ (only an ‘Advance unedited version’ was available at the time of writing this article) and bring climate under control by ‘making things happen’. Our Book God’s Earth in Human Hands** COP 26 – A scene-setter, Epthinktank, European Parliament; © Ricochet64 / Adobe Stock Introduction In April 2021 we published a book called “Fragrance & Abundance: God’s Earth in Human Hands”. These 316 pagers discussed the current perils of planet earth, and how to manage them, in detail. Creation Care often involves a cyclic system of ever-increasing problems. In brief, these comprise: (i) the unsustainable consumption and production, (ii) very heavy dependence on fossil fuel, (iii) unprecedented climate change, (iv) loss of biological diversity, (v) increasing population with a “bottom billion” under appalling poverty, and (vi) an outdated institutional framework that stifles growth and appear unable to handle the magnitude of the problems at hand. However, we argued that in the hands of determined hard workers, upright in their spirituality and attitude, the situation could be reversed for the better. The United Nation’s Conference on Climate Change, COP-26, had the same message for us, which is “the climate world-wide is changing and we should change too”. This has become the crucial issue under “Creation Care “for our survival. COP-26 The 26th Annual Session of the Conference of Parties (COP-26) in Glasgow, Scotland, 31 Oct-12 Nov 2021, led by the United Nations ended with mixed outcome. While the organizers were upbeat about the meeting’s success, the group that gathered demanding action was thoroughly disappointed. “It is not a secret that COP-26 is a failure. It should be obvious that we cannot solve the crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place,” Greta Thunberg, the climate activist, said. However, there are many who believe that the truth lies somewhere in between. Such feeling arose because the
‘Fragrance & Abundance: God’s Earth in Human Hands’, published in 2021 by K. Koshy and E. Koshy (the husband-and-wife team) talks about risk reduced living when it comes to disaster management. After all, it is the risk that gets realized into disaster that we fear. It is the same sentiments that was expressed by the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, held in Sendai, Japan in March 2015, when the member states agreed to the latest ‘Risk Reduction Framework’. In applying the Framework to real-world situations, we realize that just as we rush to manage disasters when they occur, we need to work hard to reduce risk even in the absence of disasters and thereby increase resilience. These measures would prevent serious disruption of the functioning of communities due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and incapacity, through mitigation by dealing with the root cause of the problems, and adaptation to address the impacts of such hazards, floods, cyclones etc. An integrated approach would require both mitigation & adaptation before disaster, and resilience & sustainable development after disaster, through Response and Recovery measures. Please see Sections such as: the initial Sections including The Theodosius Mar Thoma Metropolitan’s Message, Ch2, P31-37; Ch23, P144-149; Ch32, P194-200; Ch41, P243-246; Ch42, P247-253; Ch44, P258-263; Ch46, P269-272; Ch50, P287-290 and other relevant sections that follow of our book, if possible. The PLEDGE SHEET In its implementation, caring for God’s Creation demands our focused attention at multiple levels. There are things we can do as a Family (Individual); larger groups - Church (Institutional); and as the overall enabling environment provided by the Sabha (Systemic). These must be ‘winwin’, or ‘no-regret’ activities – enjoyable and easy to do and must be aimed at all groups in the church - Sunday school, Youth, Sevika Sangam, Area Prayer, Senior Citizen (Golden Circle), etc. Interestingly, any other civil
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