Blog

19/10/2018

In this weeks blog, Marian Pallister, vice chair of Justice & Peace Scotland, reflects on the latest climate change news.

This year we have had several new arrivals in our parish in Lochgilphead, Argyll and the Isles. It’s always lovely to see (and hear!) new babies at St Margaret’s.

New life: such promise for the future.

And yet by the time this current crop of babies reaches the age of eleven, this planet may be at a dangerous tipping point that curtails their adult lives. If we don’t act on climate change, there may be no future that can sustain humanity.

Catholic Social Teaching says we’re stewards of this earth. For much of this century, we’ve been warned we have to care for it more effectively. One stumbling block (leaving aside flat-earthers who deny all evidence of climate change) that has prevented us from steaming ahead with all possible mechanisms to alter this frightening trajectory is the naming of years as goals.

We were told we had to reverse the rise in temperature by 2050. We had just moved into a new millennium - 2050 was light years away. So we continued with our fossil fuels and our exhaust fumes and our increasing herds of cattle to feed people whose traditional diets had never ever included burgers and steaks. The clouds of methane wreathing the altars of the god of fast food have drastically increased the risks to the very existence of the earth.

Now, almost 20 years on and with so little progress made (think of all those toddlers suffering from asthma in UK cities; whole populations wearing face masks to go about their daily grind in Tokyo and Beijing), we are told that we really, really have to do something by 2030.

And still that seems a way off. We can talk about it a bit longer; procrastinate some more.

Well, no we can’t. Unless, of course, we think the lives of those babies born this year count for nothing. That it’s OK when they are eleven years old for this world to have reached the tipping point denying them the fun of their teenage years, the joy of marriage, the wonder of becoming parents themselves, of growing old and having the pleasure of walking in forests, by lakes, cruising on seas, visiting historic cities.

The day the scientific reports came out naming 2030 as Doomsday, I saw a Facebook post questioning whether there should be a wind farm on nearby hills. Bring it on, I replied. If our parish’s babies – the babies in your family, your parish - are to have a future, the time for nimbyism is over. Pope Francis laid it out in Laudato Si: ‘Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years.’ And he warned ‘Those who will have to suffer the consequences…will not forget this failure of conscience and responsibility.’

Do we want this on our consciences? Pope Francis said – in June 2015 – that we have to hear the cry of the poor. Three years on, we have to hear the cries of our own babies, too. Speak out. Act. Pray. We made this mess. Let’s make sure our leaders (and we as individuals) sort it.

12/10/2018

Care and Share

Kathleen McIntyre reflects on the service for the homeless developed by North Ayrshire churches.

Homelessness is a huge problem in Scotland and the consequences of this may include poor self-esteem and low confidence, loneliness and isolation, poverty, desperation and crime. There are also many physical problems associated with homelessness as well as mental health issues, which include depression, anxiety and withdrawal from society.

The main causes of homelessness include relationship breakdown, overcrowding, mortgage or rent arrears, individuals fleeing domestic violence or abuse, emergencies such as fire or flood, discharge from armed forces, hospital or prison or indeed losing a job.

Every area has its own set of difficulties, and in North Ayrshire the main cause of homelessness is addiction problems.

To combat the problem and support those who find themselves in this situation, the drop-in service known as Irvine Care and Share opened in October 2012. It aims to help adults who are homeless, vulnerable to homelessness or who have been homeless. These adults may have an addiction problem, mental health issues or feel marginalised and isolated.

The service is located in St Mary’s Church Hall in Irvine, Ayrshire and is open every Wednesday from 1pm-3pm. Service users can enjoy soup, a sandwich, biscuits tea or coffee, and there is also fresh fruit, as we take into account the nutritional value of the food.

Care and Share was initiated by Irvine Teen Challenge, which is linked to Fullarton Church. Teen Challenge is a registered charity that helps young people who have developed life-controlling or addiction problems. Irvine Teen Challenge wanted to use some of its funds to set up a service in Irvine for the homeless.

They had heard about Ayr Care and Share and felt Irvine would benefit from a similar service. That’s when they approached Neil Urquhart, the local minister, who gave his approval and support. We then went along for a visit to Ayr Care and Share to see how it was being run and we were very impressed. Ayr Care and Share is held in the Riverside Church in Ayr and is mainly run by volunteers. They allowed us to use the name Care and Share as long as we followed their model of not having any direct reference to religion by praying or praise music as they felt that could make some feel excluded.

We then formed a committee and recruited volunteers from different churches in Irvine, St Mary’s, St Andrews Episcopal congregation, Mure church of Scotland and Fullarton Church of Scotland.

We did not set up as a ‘lunch club’. We have various outside agencies visiting on a regular basis, including Teen Challenge, oral health, an optician, North Ayrshire Welfare Reform Teams, the NHS homelessness nurse, and Richmond Fellowship Addiction Services. Service users can access help and support from these agencies. We also have a hairdresser who comes in once a month and there are a number of activities and facilities, including laptops and printers.

We are completely self-funded. We have received donations from local businesses and volunteers collect at a local supermarket.

Best accolade? A service user designed our Care and Share poster and she wrote ‘Come along every Wednesday and enjoy a free light lunch, share in a supportive non-judgemental fellowship, develop new friendships and gain access to various local services/agencies.’ We hope that says it all.

05/10/2018

Campaigners urge MSP's for a strong Climate Change Bill

Kenneth Sadler, Justice and Peace Scotland commissioner from Aberdeen made the journey to the Scottish Parliament to join with around 70 other people in urging our MSPs to aim high on the environment.

On Wednesday 19 September around 70 people from across Scotland gathered in the Harry Younger Hall near the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh to demand strong and radical action on climate change. This Climate Change Lobby was organised by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, a coalition of organisations brought together to campaign for climate justice, which includes SCIAF and Justice and Peace Scotland among its members.

Before lobbying started, Tom Ballantine of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland reminded us that public pressure on MSPs helped increase Scotland’s climate ambitions in 2009; and Sally Foster-Fulton of Christian Aid Scotland spoke passionately about the importance of working for environmental justice for our brothers and sisters in the global south, who suffer most through climate change despite having done least to cause it.

Our main goal was to persuade MSPs that, in the light of our responsibilities under the Paris Agreement, Scotland should adopt a target of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest, supported by an interim target of a 77% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

As I am from Aberdeen, I was part of the North East Scotland group of lobbyists. We saw three MSPs, from Labour, the SNP and the Conservatives respectively, and made clear to each of them the need for the strongest possible Climate Bill. Reflecting the positions of the three parties, our aim of a clear target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 was supported by Labour, while the SNP and Conservative representatives did not agree with this key demand. However, we were able to have informative discussions with all the MSPs we met.

It was ironic, frustrating, yet curiously appropriate that the arrangements for the Climate Change Lobby had to be changed due the extreme weather event of Storm Ali. And given the challenging conditions it was natural that the travel plans of those from outwith Edinburgh were likewise affected by road closures and train cancellations.

In the evening before getting a coach or, if I was lucky, a train back to Aberdeen, I took a walk from the east end of Princes Street to the Scottish Parliament itself, having neglected to make the short journey from the Harry Younger Hall earlier. Visiting Holyrood again in the Edinburgh gloaming was a moving experience for me, being of the generation that grew up in the aftermath of the 1979 referendum in which Scotland voted for devolution but was denied because of the ‘40% rule’. During the 80s the kind of Scottish autonomy that we now take for granted seemed a distant dream.

The Climate Change Lobby which so many of us had participated in earlier that day to argue for environmental justice was an example of democracy in action.

Whatever our views on Scotland’s constitutional status, we should all be grateful that we have the Parliament in Edinburgh as a forum where people of goodwill can work together for the sake of the common good.

Page 53 of 89

First Previous 48 49 50 51 52 [53] 54 55 56 57 Next Last