Cardiff's faith communities to consider social impact of global warming

Cardiff City Council is set to publish a wide ranging carbon reduction strategy in the coming year. Its release has stimulated the City Centre Churches Together group and Christian Aid Wales to join forces and arrange a conference to consider how this will affect faith communities.

Most have buildings for worship and community community activities. Cardiff has more than 250 churches, temples, mosques, schools and community centres. Some are large and costly to maintain, while most date from times before energy efficiency was on any architect's agenda.

“The cost of energy is already rising, and future low carbon energy supplies will not be cheap to start with. This fact will raise running costs and questions of sustainability for buildings that will hit all kinds of local community, cultural and spiritual activities in the long term” said the Rev Keith Kimber, Vicar of St John's City Parish Church.

“But before we get there, there is a moral obligation upon all people of faith to look at every possibility for cutting their own carbon consumption, to ensure a future for our children's children.”

Christian Aid has been campaigning on climate change issues for several years, raising awareness of crisis brought about by both drought and flooding in different parts of the world.

It is lobbying for a deal at the forthcoming Copenhagen Conference which is both effective and fair for all earth's inhabitants. It is also reminding the public of the possibility of climate change refugees coming to countries less severely hit by climate change.

Among the conference participants are a Muslim aid worker with an islamic organisation working in drought stricken northern Kenya and a bishop elect from flood prone Bangladesh's tiny Christian minority church.

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, welcomed the conference saying, "No-one can afford to be complacent about climate change any more or think it's someone else's problem.

"We all have to face up to the fact that we have to make radical changes to the way we live.

"Faith communities have a key role to play in taking a lead, working together and showing by example what each one of us can do to make the future better for us all."