A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
December 14, 2009

Meghan Roth called it “a life-changing experience” when Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu spoke Dec. 13 in Copenhagen to those concerned about the impact of climate change on the world.

“I was extremely moved,” said the 23-year-old student at United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, who watched as Tutu presented a clock to Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, before a crowd at Copenhagen’s City Hall Square.

The clock represented more than a half-million signatures calling for climate justice gathered in some 20 countries by the Countdown to Copenhagen Campaign.

Roth, a director of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, was part of that agency’s delegation attending the Dec. 7-18 climate change summit. She marveled at the ability of the former Anglican archbishop of South Africa to encompass all affected by the issue.

“He can call people to confession, for those of us in places of more privilege, and also speak to those who are under systems of oppression, which limit their ability to speak out,” she said in a telephone interview from Copenhagen.

Tutu spoke of 300,000 people “dying as a result of the poverty caused by all of the emissions coming from the rich countries.”

After she watched the speech, Esmeralda Brown, part of a delegation of United Methodist Women, told an interviewer that her organization stands in solidarity with Tutu, and noted that women and children are among those dying.

Marking the midpoint

Several United Methodists were among the religious and civil society representatives marking the summit’s midpoint. Events included a Dec. 12 march and rally outside the Bella Center, where negotiations are taking place among the 192 governments represented, Tutu’s speech and a Dec. 13 ecumenical celebration at a Lutheran church.

The goal of the march was to bring outside voices to the negotiation process, said John Hill, a Board of Church and Society executive.

In particular, religious leaders are suggesting that the United States has a responsibility to make strong commitments toward reducing carbon emissions and “strong funding for international adaptations for struggling countries,” Hill said.

“The conflict is between the actions of the developed countries and the lesser-industrialized countries,” he explained. “There has been a sense that the U.S. will not step forward until others do.”

The ecumenical celebration at the Church of Our Lady was attended by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, members of the Danish government, religious leaders and summit participants. Members of the public waited outside in a long line to gain entry to the service, Ecumenical News International reported, but many were turned away due to lack of space.

United Methodist Bishop Christian Alsted of the Nordic and Baltic Area, who is from Denmark, was part of the processional. The Rev. Ole Birch of the United Methodist Church in Denmark gave the welcome. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams preached the main sermon, telling the crowd, "We cannot show the right kind of love for our fellow humans unless we also work at keeping the Earth as a place that is a secure home for all people.”

Security for all

Security for all is important to Church World Service, a partner in the Countdown to Copenhagen Campaign. The agency’s executive director, the Rev. John McCullough, a United Methodist, is another summit participant.

We invite you to join the dialogue. Share your comments.

Post a comment

"Faith-based organizations like CWS who are also humanitarian agencies can bring a unique and needed dual voice to the debate and help amplify the messages of poor communities whose voices otherwise would not be heard clearly,” he explained.

That means listening to people like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a United Methodist and the president of Liberia, who told a June climate change conference in Monrovia that the city is almost below sea level because global warming has led to higher water and beach erosion along Liberia’s coastline. Higher sea levels also threaten the affordable supply of food from the sea, she said.

Tupou Kelemeni, a Hawaii resident and board member of United Methodist Women, expressed concern about the adverse impact of climate change on many countries, including on her native Tonga in the South Pacific. “We must all try to share the burden of this heavy load,” she wrote in a blog about her participation in Copenhagen. “If not for ourselves, (we should) do it for the children, do it for the voiceless women of the Global South, do it for the youth and the future of our planet Earth.”

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

Related Audio

Sound recording of speeches by Desmond Tutu and Yvo de Boer (16 min, 15 MB)

Sound recording of the press conference at Copenhagen Cathedral (38 min, 36 MB)

Related Video

Odyssey: Faith at the Summit

Related Articles

‘Get to work,’ urges Copenhagen climate summit head

Climate talks stall as poor nations walk out in protest

United Methodists take ‘going green’ to new levels

Church bells, members to clamor for climate change

Resources

Basics of climate summit

WCC Climate Change

UN Climate Change Conference

Countdown to Copenhagen

UMW delegation blog

Comments will be moderated. Please see our Comment Policy for more information.