Climate Voices
Global stories of action, faith and hope
Purpose:
This project produces a connected series of articles on how Anabaptists are experiencing and responding to climate change around the globe.
The articles will center on the question “What are effective actions Anabaptists are taking to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis?” The purpose of the series will be to raise awareness between Anabaptist communities worldwide about the effects of climate change in different regions, inspire action by providing examples of solutions being implemented and provide insight from experts on the effectiveness of different solutions.
The series will aim to address some of the desires expressed by respondents in the creation care survey administered by MWC (specifically the question “What are your suggestions for how the Creation Care Task Force of Mennonite World Conference can engage the church with creation care?”) These include:
- Sharing stories about those most affected by climate change
- Providing a call to climate action for churches and individuals
- Proposing small, doable steps for churches to begin taking
- Providing examples of initiatives that have and haven’t worked in other contexts
- Supplying ideas for contextualized actions
- Depoliticizing the climate change issue by helping individuals connect over real, lived experiences and through Biblical connections
- Giving encouragement!
Themes:
The project will aim to produce an 8 article series, each exploring one solution (mitigation or adaptation) that Anabaptists are involved in as a direct response to climate change. These actions include:
- Planting trees
- Updating church infrastructure
- Taking political action
- Encouraging personal lifestyle changes
- Supporting refugees
- Partnering with youth
- Changing farming practices, and
- Learning from indigenous peoples
All of these solutions emerged from the responses in the MWC creation care survey. The topics chosen are relevant in more than one region of the globe and will hopefully lead to engaging conversations between diverse branches of the Anabaptist church.
The sources for the stories will include respondents from the MWC survey as well as other ACC contacts around the globe. We will also seek insights from professionals on specific topics (especially from experts within Anabaptist organizations), and reference respected climate change resources like the Drawdown and Regeneration books and websites.