Page 30 - IB August 2020

Climate action Climate action

The Pacific Conference of Churches’ food garden in Suva, Fiji.

FUELLING FAITH AND CLIMATE ACTION

DURING A DOUBLE CRISIS

HOW PACIFIC CHURCHES ARE MODELLING A JUST RECOVERY

By Patricia Mallam Pacific Pays the Price
This year, the world fell to its knees as the COVID-19 pan-
As a teenager, the atmosphere in our household every demic swept across the world - showing just how connected
Sunday morning could either be described as a war zone, or and interdependent we are on each other. It’s evident now
a fiesta. It really depended on my mother’s mood, which was more than before that what happens in the more developed
determined by whether we would be on time for the 10am world, affects EVERYONE.
mass or not. Scrambling for our Sunday Best (which really In the same way, if we look at industrial activity and carbon
should have been ironed the night before), trying to gulp down emissions - the Pacific Islands do not have any coal mines and
breakfast one hour before mass started and remembering to contribute the least towards global carbon emissions - yet we
take our contributions for the offering were just a few of the face the brunt of the climate crisis.
chaotic moments before a sense of calmness would settle us Almost daily, media updates on how governments in more
down, the minute the top of the Sacred Heart Cathedral came industrialised nations are bailing out the perpetrators of the
into view. climate crisis to cope during the global recession paint a dire
Days of worship vary in the Pacific, but the common thread picture of what’s to come. The climate crisis seems to have
that binds us together is that the peoples of the Pacific strong- taken a backseat to ensuring the comfort of the wealthy cor-
ly believe in a higher entity, a God, who we serve through porations who continue to invest heavily in fossil fuels. It is a
prayer, community service, environmental stewardship and sad realisation that the best interests of people are not front
contributions to the church. and centre for most governments.
This higher entity is the same God we turn to during tumul- Whilst G20 nations deliberate over bailouts and salvaging
tuous events. Recently, the Pacific has been hit with severe their own economies, the people of the Pacific are steadfast
natural and climate disasters and COVID-19. Many Pacific in their faith and modelling all the Principles of a Just Recov-
Islanders have found solace in the church, and in their faith. ery for a more sustainable, secure future.
In Tonga, at the peak of severe Tropical Cyclone Winston,
1,850 people took shelter in Latter-Day Saint (Mormon) church The five principles of a Just Recovery are:
buildings. • Put people’s health first, no exceptions.

30 Islands Business, August 2020