Parishes support climate motion

The 2026 Social Justice Vestry Motion invited parishes in the diocese to pledge to honour their baptismal commitment to safeguard the integrity of creation, and to urge the government of Canada to honour its commitments under the Paris Accord – namely, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

As of March 30 of this year, 123 parishes, or 64 per cent of the diocese, had reported passing this year’s motion. Information was still pending from an additional 27 parishes, as well as from a number of parishes with vestries in the fall, so the final number of supporting parishes might still rise.

Several parishes supporting the motion indicated additional follow-up actions they planned to take as a parish. The parishes of St. Paul, Midhurst and St. John, Craighurst committed themselves to exploring participation in the Anglican Communion Forest initiative, in partnership with local conservancy groups. St. Augustine of Canterbury added a clause to the motion urging parishioners to prioritize reducing their own hydro-carbon fuel consumption. St. James the Apostle, Sharon has formed a parish “Flower and Garden Guild” to integrate environmental stewardship into the beautification of worship and support of the community. They hope to prioritize sustainable, locally sourced and seasonally appropriate materials, reduce waste, provide space to attract and propagate endangered insects and adopt practices that lessen the parish’s environmental footprint. St. Timothy, Agincourt is embarking on a letter-writing campaign and forming a Green Team to look at ways to reduce energy consumption and waste in the parish, while St. Andrew by-the-Lake has offered to host an event or education series related to climate change.

Responding to the climate crisis requires both kinds of actions: local, individual and communal efforts to reduce one’s carbon footprint, but also increased advocacy, including individual and public conversations about the climate change impacts already being felt by our communities and our planet. More than 40 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are from industrial sources, which means individual lifestyle choices can only go so far without public regulation, which takes political will. Taking the time to send a message to one’s MP, or to convene a local conversation, perhaps using the excellent Faithful Climate Conversations guide from For the Love of Creation, helps to show both decision-makers and our neighbours that climate is still an important concern, which in turn creates greater impetus to action. A recent article from Carleton University’s Centre for Climate Communication and Engagement found that most Canadians believe their fellow Canadians have “given up” on the climate, which can “put a chill on climate conversations and action.” The more we believe that others care, and the more we believe our actions will make a difference, the more likely we are to take action.

Unfortunately, despite the increased impacts we are already seeing here in Ontario in the form of extreme weather events, heatwaves and wildfires, climate change still feels like a distant threat, especially compared with more immediate-seeming challenges such as war, trade negotiations and the high cost of living. As a result, climate action tends to be pushed to the periphery.

Some parishes considering the motion explicitly mentioned our current economic and physical context, pointing out that climate action must also take account of concerns about affordability, employment, food and housing security, and physical and mental health. Ultimately, however, a warming climate will exacerbate those issues as well. As climate scientist and committed Christian Katharine Hayhoe puts it, climate change is not separate from other global issues, but the “hole in the bottom of the bucket” of our efforts to address poverty, inequity, disease and other concerns. We cannot overcome these challenges without also taking action to “fix the hole,” i.e. to address climate change.

To be sure, there are different ways to address climate change, and each in the short term will have different impacts on people of lower and moderate incomes. As well, different measures will be more or less effective in different communities: smaller and more remote communities are perforce more car-dependent than large urban centres, for example, while those on lower incomes are less likely to be able to switch over to heat pumps or electric vehicles. One of the reasons the Social Justice & Advocacy Committee focused on holding Canada to its emissions reduction commitments, rather than to any particular measures designed to achieve them, is that we did not want parishes to get bogged down in debating the merits and demerits of any particular climate policy, but rather signal our concern in more general terms.

The challenge before us is to find measures to address the polycrisis of climate, political and economic conflict, food and housing insecurity and physical and mental health that will put the least burden on those who are least able to afford it and those who have contributed least to the problems. It is an opportunity for further conversation – with our friends, neighbours, fellow parishioners and elected representatives – so that together we can find ways to care for both the Earth and each other, as our Lord calls us to do.

Resources for follow-up action can be found at www.toronto.anglican.ca/vestry-motion.