Training day to help leaders deliver pastoral care during climate emergency

The United Kingdom Parliament has declared climate change an emergency. The motion was carried through The House of Commons without a vote, as several MPs were not present due to constituent business.

The motion calls for the UK to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the threat posed by climate change meant that the government needed to pull US President Donald Trump back to the negotiating table. Mr Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Accord in 2018.

Addressing protesters gathered in Parliament Square before the motion, Mr Corbyn said that it could, “set off a wave of action from parliaments and governments around the globe.

While the motion is not binding legislation, it marks a major statement made on the subject of climate change. It is the latest such motion.

The stress posed by the climate change emergency is the subject of an upcoming conference at United Theological College. On Tuesday, 28 May, The Climate Pastoral Care Training day will help equip ministry agents with some tools to care for people who are anxious about climate change and ecological destruction.

The event is open to leaders from all traditions.

Uniting Earth Coordinator Jessica Morthorpe is one of the event’s organisers. In a piece for Common Grace’s blog, she outlined how Australians are, along with others around the world, becoming increasingly anxious and depressed due to the ecological crisis.

“Australian psychologists are…recognising that this is a growing area of need for people, who are searching for hope and support, and it is essential that churches and clergy are also prepared to provide the pastoral care people need in these difficult times, and those coming,” Ms Morthorpe writes.

The Climate Pastoral Care Training Day takes place at United Theological College, North Parramatta, on 28 May from 8:30am to 8pm. For more information and to register, check out the official Facebook page.

Jonathan Foye is Insights’ Editor