"Last fall, we jointly issued a message calling on the members of our churches to respond to the challenge of climate change and to acknowledge the role that each of us plays in contributing to the problem, as consumers, as investors and as citizens. While the challenges our world faces are daunting, we see abundant opportunities for all to act imaginatively and courageously in our individual callings.

But we also have the responsibility to act together for the common good, especially for those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Climate change and poor air quality are already posing risks to economic stability and human health. From increases in heat related deaths to higher numbers of asthma attacks, from lost job opportunities to increases in food prices, low-income communities, Indigenous communities and communities of color suffer disproportionately from climate change impacts, particularly in nations that lack the resources to help these communities adapt."

Taken from http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/09/22/we-must-all-unite-safeguard-gods-creation-pope-francis-column/72330588/

as published in USA Today September 23, 2015 by 

Bishop Susan Johnson national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. 

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori the presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church. 

Bishop Elizabeth Eaton presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 

The Most Rev. Fred Hiltz primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. 

Documents from

Deborah Tagornak for #ArcticFuture

- Inuvik Settlement Region

- Nunavik

- Nunavut

- Labrador North Coast

From: Rising tide: On caring for creation

BY MATT GARDNER 

ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

     "From Oct. 5 to 8, National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald and Public Witness for Social and Ecological Justice Director Henriette Thompson will attend a circumpolar Arctic conference in northern Sweden alongside Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox representatives, Future of Life in the Arctic: The Impact of Climate Change—Indigenous and Religious Perspectives.

     “The voices and the visibility of the Indigenous peoples of the circumpolar Arctic across the US, Russia, the Scandinavian countries and Canada … are largely absent and silent [in public discourse],” Thompson said. “Yet the climate crisis is impacting the north at a faster speed than almost anywhere else on earth … In some ways, the Arctic is the cutting edge where the … climate crisis is impacting human beings and the land itself at a very fast pace.”

     That impact, she noted, is upsetting many traditional Indigenous ways of life, whether reindeer herding in Sami territory throughout the Scandinavian countries or hunting and fishing by Indigenous peoples in Northern Canada.

     The response of world leaders to the climate crisis will come to the fore in December at the United Nations 2015 Climate Conference in Paris, which will aim to produce a legally binding agreement to keep the increase in average global temperature below two degrees Celsius.

http://www.anglican.ca/news/rising-tide-on-caring-for-creation/30012488/