Catholic Church spearheads signature campaign vs climate change

With the global community working toward a new agreement on climate change, the Catholic Church has joined efforts urging nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

“The objective of the GCCM (Global Catholic Climate Movement) is to come up with pure Catholic voice about climate change and other environment issues,” said Lou Arsenio, coordinator of the Archdiocese of Manila Ministry on Ecology.

Arsenio, over Radyo Veritas, called on Filipino Catholics to participate in a signature campaign, which would be launched in the Philippines on World Environment Day on June 5.

Last week, Pope Francis endorsed GCCM’s petition, which aimed to engage Catholics globally in a coordinated response to climate change.

The petition, which can be signed online (https://catholicclimatemovement.global/petition/), reads: “Climate change affects everyone, but especially the poor and most vulnerable people. Impelled by our Catholic faith, we call on you to drastically cut carbon emissions to keep the global temperature rise below the dangerous threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius, and to aid the world’s poorest in coping with climate change impacts.”

Arsenio, however, said that including their signatures in the petition would not be enough to push the Philippine government to seriously address climate change.

“Makiisa tayo kung gusto nyong marinig yung boses nyo. Kung gusto nyong mapigilan yung mga matinding epekto ng climate change, magtulungan tayo (Let us unite if we want our voices to be heard. If we want to prevent the dangerous effects of climate change, let us help each other),” he said.

The GCCM is composed of 100 organizations including the Archdiocese of Manila Ecology Ministry, Assumption College, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines National Secretariat for Social Action Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, Catholic Women’s League of the Philippines, Center for Environmental Concerns, Center for Environmental Studies of Miriam College, Columban Missionary Society, Lingkod Tao Kalikasan Foundation Inc., Philippine Congress for Climate Change, Save the Bay, Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Student Catholic Action of the Philippines.

By the end of the year, representatives of various nations will meet in Paris for the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The overall goal of the conference is to achieve a legally binding agreement on how to address climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the temperature increase of the Earth to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.