Dec 13: 350.org Faith Press Release

Contact: Jamie Henn, +45 52 68 47 65, jamie@350.org

Click here to download a .doc file of this release.

350.org: Most Widespread Interfaith Climate Action in History
Hundreds of religious events planned for the weekend of December 11-13

COPENHAGEN -- This December 11-13, tens of thousands of people of all faiths will join the “World Wants a Real Deal” weekend of action with 350.org and its partners at the World Council of Churches and the TckTckTck campaign.

“Church bells are both a way to call people to worship, and in many parts of the world a way to spread an alarm,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and a frequent commentator on the intersection of religion and climate change. “Today they served both functions in places around the world. Faith communities are playing an increasingly important role in the fight to save the climate--they understand the risk both to creation, and to the poorest people on the planet. And they understand the hopeful role that they can play in moving political change through their witness.”

Thousands of faith events are already planned around the world. In the Netherlands, 877 churches have signed up to ring their bells 350 times to signify 350 ppm of carbon dioxide, the safe upper limit according to the latest science. In Japan, citizens form the shape of a 350  with traditional Aomori lanterns at the Nishibetsuin Buddhist temple in Hokkaido.

Along with galvanizing a grassroots movement around the world, the 350 ppm target has been endorsed by a number of influential religious leaders such as Nobel Peace Prize Winner Desmond Tutu, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who wrote in an open letter to over 300 million Orthodox Christians, “350 is repentance in action."

This December 13, in Copenhagen, 350.org joined Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and other faith leaders for an interfaith celebration at Copenhagen’s Lutheran Cathedral. After the service, the Cathedral joined over 100 other churches in Denmark to ring its bells 350 times.

“Leaders of the world – We need a real deal on climate change in Copenhagen,” said Tutu. “Millions of people, especially the very poor, are already suffering due to changing weather patterns, droughts and floods. But none of us will be immune from climate change, we are all in this together and there is no time to lose.”

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Photos of “350 Faith” events around the world can be found at:
http://www.350.org/faith-photos

350.org is an international climate campaign building support for the latest science and is part of the TckTckTck coalition, an unprecedented civil society mobilization. On October 24, 350.org coordinated a global day of climate action with more than 5,200 events in over 180 countries, “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history” according to CNN.
 

Quotes from Religious Leaders on 350 ppm

Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Archbishop Desmond Tutu: 

"Climate change is a reality. Life depends on a sustainable environment. With no world, there can only be nothing--no birds, no animals, no trees, no us. That’s why getting involved in 350.org is so important - it's an effective way to take action to turn around the climate crisis."

His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew:

"Breaking the vicious circle of ecological degradation is a choice with which we are uniquely endowed, at this crucial moment in the history of our planet. We have traditionally regarded sin as being merely what people do to other people. Yet, for human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by contributing to climate change, by stripping the earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, land and air – all of these are sins. 350 is repentance in action."

His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

“It is now urgent that we take corrective action to ensure a safe climate future for coming generations of human beings and other species. That can be established in perpetuity if we can reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350ppm. Buddhists, concerned people of the world and all people of good heart should be aware of this and act upon it.”