Lessons from Glasgow: A “Whole World” Approach to Solving Climate Change

by | Dec 13, 2021 | Featured, Instagram, News

By Rob Hogg, Christ Episcopal Church, Cedar Rapids

In November, I had the opportunity to virtually attend the world climate negotiations in Glasgow as a member of the 24-person delegation representing Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church. It was a tremendous honor, and an eye-opening learning experience.

By attending virtually, we did not have any “chance” meetings with world leaders, but we were able to follow the full range of official public proceedings in the “Blue Zone” (where the key negotiations between world leaders takes place), official programs in the “Green Zone” (where the public, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, youth groups, charities, academics, artists and businesses can have their voices heard), as well as many events sponsored by governments, faith groups, farm groups, science organizations, nonprofits, and activists around the 26th “conference of the parties” (COP26).

Virtual participation allowed us to save money, reduce our carbon footprint, and include a much bigger and broader delegation who could not have attended in person.

We were able to hear and uplift the voices of indigenous peoples, and farmers and activists from the Global South, including through our own official side event, “Making Peace with Nature: Heeding the Call of Indigenous Peoples.” 

There were tangible results from COP26. No one pretended that climate change doesn’t exist or that it could be ignored. While the final agreement did not go far enough, it was the first agreement to specifically address fossil fuels by “phasing down” unabated coal and “phasing out” inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

The final agreement also called for annual reviews of nationally-determined commitments, a “yearly ratchet” in place of the five-year review process adopted in the Paris Agreement. That gives people a better chance to keep pushing for more commitments from our own countries.

There were also several significant multi-national agreements announced in Glasgow, including agreements seeking to reduce deforestation, methane, coal use, fossil fuel investments, and dirty steel production.

Perhaps most important was the growing recognition that solving climate change will require broad participation by civil society, something called the “whole of society” approach, to cut greenhouse pollution by 50% or more by 2030 as is required to avoid the worst irreversible consequences of climate change. The faith community is critical to this effort. 

On the day before the conference started, Interfaith Glasgow sponsored a COP26 Vigil with a reading of the Glasgow Multi-Faith Declaration and speakers from nine different faiths – Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Brahma Kumaris, Sikh, Bahai, Hindu, Pagan Federation, and Muslim – who all shared their faith’s vision for safeguarding people and nature from the growing damage of climate change. 

“Loving the whole world means caring for the whole world, and it means we need a “whole world” approach to solving climate change.”

Faith organizations were active throughout COP26, from the Young Christian Climate Network (which walked across the U.K. for months on the road to Glasgow), to the Evangelical Environmental Network’s “Climate Vigil” on November 6th, to a GreenFaith program on November 9th featuring women faith leaders from Venezuela (Neddy Astudillo), Kenya (Meryne Warah), and Indonesia (Nana Firman). 

It was striking how so many faiths could share common beliefs on the subject of climate change. As the Muslim speaker said at the interfaith COP26 Vigil, we all believe in “responsible stewardship . . .  for our planet, for our children, and for our children’s children.”

Presiding Bishop Curry reminded us during our delegation’s “Liturgy for Planetary Crisis” on November 6th that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) means that God actually loves the whole world, not just a few people or even all people, but every creature created by God. 

One of the science events I watched was a “deep ocean” program sponsored by the Schmidt Ocean Institute. Almost every day deep ocean creatures are newly discovered, but they are already endangered from ocean heating, acidification, exploitation, and pollution. This program gave new meaning to the words of the Psalmist I shared at our liturgy for planetary crisis: “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all, the earth is full of your creatures.” (Psalm 104:24).

Loving the whole world means caring for the whole world, and it means we need a “whole world” approach to solving climate change. Government action is essential, but the “whole world” is needed to support government action, sustain it, build on it, and go beyond it.

The fundamental question is whether people like you and me – as producers, workers, consumers, and communities – want to solve climate change to safeguard our people, our property, our global commons, and our future. I pray that our answer will be “Yes!”

Rob Hogg is a state senator from Cedar Rapids and a layperson in the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa. Contact him at senatorrobhogg@gmail.com.

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