Presbyterian Church in Ireland - Mission Overseas - Why Tearfund Campaigns on Climate Change

10th November 2009

Tearfund works on climate change because the poorest are hit hardest. Poor people are not the cause of climate change, but they are the ones hit first and hardest by its devastating effects.

Tearfund’s partners across the world are already feeling the impacts of changes to their environment.

The Bible tells us that ‘love does no harm to its neighbour’ yet the way we live now harms our neighbours in poor countries. Tearfund is campaigning to convince world leaders to take drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help poor countries adapt to the devastating impacts of climate change.

Click here to find out more about what you can do to get involved.

Click here to find out more about the impact of climate change on poverty.

Click here to find out why should Christians respond to climate change.

What does the science say?  

The science is clear. Climate change is happening now. Global temperature has increased by 0.7 degrees over the past century, and the speed of this increase is unprecedented.

Scientists tell us that if global temperature rise exceeds 2 degrees, compared to pre-industrial levels, the consequences could be disastrous.

'The scientific evidence is now overwhelming: climate change presents very serious global risks and it demands an urgent global response.' [Source: Stern Review on the economics of climate change, 2006, executive summary]

Read Tearfund's climate change Q&A

Want to find out more?

Here are some links to useful websites and resources:

• Check out the science: click here to read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) reports.
• The Royal Society has produced a guide to some of the climate change controversies. Click here to read this guide.
• Read briefings from the John Ray Institute - connecting environment, science and religion.
• Read Tearfund’s report 'Two Degrees, One Chance' which explores the impacts of climate change for different degrees of temperature rise.
• For more climate change resources, click here.

Related Link: Tearfund UK