A NATIONAL conference on climate change in Canberra from November 18-20, hosted by Catholic Earthcare Australia (CEA), heard that global warming could create a new wave of dispossessed people – environmental refugees.
The warning followed a position paper launched by the bishops’ Committee for Justice Development Ecology and Peace, which urged all Australians to co-operate in open dialogue and face the radical changes required to tackle global climate change.
CEA was set up in 2003 by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and is chaired by Bishop Christopher Toohey of Wilcannia-Forbes.
In the keynote address before more than 300 delegates, Bishop Toohey said that human induced accelerated climate change “raises serious moral and spiritual questions, not just for Catholics but for all Australian citizens and leaders, and calls for change in our way of life”.
Conference organiser and CEA executive officer Colin Brown drew attention to United Nations figures released during the conference that revealed a blowout in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaker after speaker in a packed program that combined theologians of many faiths with scientists warned of the need for urgent and immediate action.
Saying that it’s almost too late for humans to do anything about it, Fr Denis Edwards from Adelaide continued to urge everyone to try harder and learn to adapt to the changing situation.
