Light for Lima

Faith groups continue to call for an international agreement that addresses climate change.  On Dec. 7, groups in nine Canadian cities held vigils that coincided with the latest round of UN climate change talks in Lima, Peru. The Ottawa vigil took place in a downtown Lutheran church, where participates heard from representatives of Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Jewish, Muslim, Baha’i and Unitarian faith groups. Following a brief program of prayers and song, the group marched in the dark and cold over to Parliament Hill — their way lit by the solar lamps they carried.

The situation is growing increasingly urgent. In April 2014, scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued their fourth report, which said more clearly than ever that climate change is occurring as a result of human activity. Less than a month later, scientists reported that a large section of the West Antarctica ice sheet had begun to disintegrate and its continued melting has likely passed a point of no return. The IPCC earlier warned that global warming could, in turn, cause sea levels to rise by as much as a metre by the end of this century, inundating many of the world’s coastal cities.