“Micah saw that human beings will only flourish in solidarity with creation”

I’m convinced that climate change is the most important challenge facing humankind at the moment, but it’s been a hard journey for me. Like many of us, I’m shy about science and tend to leave it to the experts. I’m afraid of looking stupid, of mixing up my emissions targets and my ppm of CO2, or of forgetting what the difference really is between adaptation and mitigation.

I have, I admit, found it difficult to get my head around the idea that there could be a link between me driving a car in Somerset and the life of a farmer in the Sudan. Even though I’m convinced it’s true, I hadn’t somehow felt it. But I am now utterly convinced. I’ve had a word with myself, read up on the science and seen with my own eyes how climate change is threatening so much that’s been achieved in overcoming poverty. And, I’ve rediscovered my faith.

The many scientists called together by the UN to make plain these truths, say that there is a 95% certainty that climate change is being caused by human beings (the same level of certainty that there is link between smoking and lung cancer). They tell us that we need to have zero emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases by 2100 if we want to stop temperatures rising by less than two degrees celsius. This means: Governments taking action, new technologies being invested in and lifestyle changes for you and me. It means all of us ending our dependence on fossil fuels. I have to believe that the science matters. When I visited El Salvador last year, I heard from those who know what a changing climate means because they can no longer reap a harvest..

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This is an extract from the July/August 2015 edition of Reform.

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