The Acts of Convention

House of Bishops

The House of Bishops Committee on National and International Concerns presented its Report #19 on Resolution D055 (ACC Resolution on Global Warming) and moved adoption.

Original Text of Resolution:

(D055)

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 75th General Convention endorse and implement Resolution 13/32 of the Anglican Consultative Council’s meeting in Nottingham in 2005, submitted by the Anglican Communion Environment Network, which:

Recommends all Anglicans be encouraged to:

1. recognize that global climatic change is real and that we are contributing to the despoiling of creation
2. commend initiatives that address the moral transformation needed for environmentally sustainable economic practices such as the Contraction and Convergence process championed by the Archbishop of Canterbury
3. understand that, for the sake of future generations and the good of God’s creation, those of us in the rich nations need to be ready to make sacrifices in the level of comfort and luxury we have come to enjoy
4. expect mission, vision, and value statements to contain commitment to environmental responsibility at all levels of church activity
5. educate all church members about the Christian mandate to care for creation
6. work on these issues ecumenically and with all faith communities and people of good will everywhere
7. ensure that the voices of women, indigenous peoples, and youth are heard
8. press government, industry, and civil society on the moral imperative of taking practical steps towards building sustainable communities.

Asks Provinces to take the following steps urgently:

1. Include environmental education as an integral part of all theological training.
2. Take targeted and specific actions to assess and reduce our environmental footprint, particularly greenhouse gas emissions. Such actions could include energy and resource audits, land management, just trading and purchasing, socially and ethically responsible investment.
3. Promote and commit ourselves to use renewable energy wherever possible.
4. Revise our liturgies and our calendar and lectionaries in ways that more fully reflect the role and work of God as Creator.
5. Press for urgent initiation of discussions, which should include all nations, leading to a just and effective development beyond the Kyoto Protocol.
6. Support the work of the World Council of Churches Climate Change Action Group.
7. Bring before governments the imperative to use all means, including legislation and removal of subsidies, to reduce greenhouse gases.

Motion carried

Resolution adopted

(Communicated to the House of Deputies in HB Message #214)