Cycle
for your neighbour –help them breathe
protect them from flood
help them eat
help them live
help to save our future!
Pilgrimage
for Climate Justice – cycling for a healthy environment
Our
careless harness of the world around us is catching up with us –
climate change became an everyday problem around the world. The only
way to prevent further damage and to heal the environment around us
is if we all work together. As the United Nations Climate Change
Conference (COP21) draws near, Christian people are planning a
pilgrimage to express their solidarity with those directly affected
by climate change, and their wish to unite in protecting the
environment.
The pilgrimage was organized by the World Council
of Churches – already promoting the concept of “pilgrimage of
justice and peace” which includes climate justice - and its goal is
to reach Paris by December, the start of the UN COP21 conference. The
pilgrimage is going from North to South, and is expressing the unity
and will to do something of Christian people. Pilgrims from Europe
and Africa – on foot or on bicycles - will help to bring awareness
to the environmental crisis, and the fact that it’s happening
today, right now, and we have a responsibility to prevent even more
escalation.
“Paris
is a milestone in our pilgrimage of climate justice. Yet Paris is not
a destination. As people of faith, expected to offer a moral compass
to climate dialogue, we need to strategize for 2016 and beyond,”
said Dr Guillermo Kerber, WCC programme executive for Care for
Creation and Climate Justice. He also explained that the WCC is
planning to bring strong voices from religious communities demanding
a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty in Paris.
Bicycles
and cycling have been symbols for a lot of environment protection
projects, and for a good reason. Riding a bicycle
emits 10 times less carbon dioxide that driving a car – if all of
us in Europe choose to cycle just 5 kilometres a day we could reach
half the goal of the Transport Sector’s carbon-dioxide reduction
plan by 2050. And if we could reduce carbon-dioxide emission, the
greenhouse effect would slow down, chances of extreme weather
conditions would lower, and the people most affected could live in a
much safer environment.
Back
at the end of July, during Starpoint, Hungarian believers have
already done a small, “warm-up” cycling procession to express the
values of the current pilgrimage. And this time, of course, they are
joining the pilgrimage again in the form of “Tekerj a
felebarátodért!” cycling relay. The cycling is going to take
place during the Week of Creation* (an event focusing on different
aspects of environmental changes itself) between 27th of
September and the 4th of October. The route is going from
East to West, starting from Beregszász and ending in Sopron. On the
4th of October our Austrian brothers and sisters will take
over in Sopron, going to Germany, where pilgrimages are passing
through.
More
information at: www.tekerjafelebaratodert.hu (in Hungarian)
*
Week of Creation is an event where Churches of Hungary think together
about climate change and the part of churches in preventing further
damage. It’s going to take place at the Lutheran Church of Sopron
from September 27 to October 4. The theme is “A rich and a pauper –
climate justice”.
