This year, Christian Aid Week (14 – 20 May) is focusing on communities in Malawi, whose crops have been struggling with the impact of the climate emergency including unreliable rainfall, storms, flooding and strong winds. On top of this, the rising cost of food, fuel and other essentials has kept many living in poverty in one of the world’s poorest countries.
The crises facing these communities and so many others are expressions of a deep injustice. However, its cause cannot be separated out into environmental, social and racial factors, as all these are intrinsically linked – not only between nations, but within them. Here in Britain, many of the poorest residents in our cities (who are disproportionately people of colour) live in areas close to large polluting roads, with poor or unaffordable housing and lacking in green spaces, schools and economic opportunities.
In light of all this, why has 40 years of international diplomacy failed to change the trajectory of global climate breakdown? Put simply, the legacy of slavery, colonialism and exploitation of the global south by the global north lives on: in unjust social and political structures, and in the colonisation of our common atmosphere by global north nations such as ours, through our high energy use, resource consumption and carbon footprint.
How should we respond to this as a Christian community? We can seek to become more aware of climate injustice in all its forms, and to amplify voices from social and racial groups which often go unheard. We can engage with movements like Fridays for Future, which focus on intersectional climate action. But above all, we can pray for God’s justice to be known in all its fullness – we can pray for God’s Spirit to transform the deep and complex wounds of our world into flourishing relationships between the earth and our global human family.
Revd Angela Sheard
