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This week, Bee and the Texas Impact delegation are participating in the United Nations climate negotiations known as COP30 in Belém, Brazil. The news from the COP is coming quickly, so make sure you are following along on Texas Impact’s substack as well as through Texas Impact’s media partnerships with the Austin Chronicle, Baptist News Global, and United Methodist Insight. Reporting out from the climate negotiations is important to help inform people of faith on the climate crisis and opportunities to work for a more sustainable future, and we are grateful for our media partners for helping reach a broader audience.
As for the conference itself, Bee reported back about concerns that, for the first time, experts agree there is very little chance of avoiding “overshoot” of one of the core goals of the Paris agreement of a “1.5 °C” ceiling for global CO2 emissions. That goal was set to avoid the worst climate impacts by 2100. Bee adds concerns about cuts to science and technology and talks about the role subnational groups like state and local governments can play in supporting these advances. (Spoiler: We’ll talk more about advocacy opportunities post-COP.)
Dylan wrote about one of the key topics of COP30, climate migration and the impact of increasing rates of migration on populations around the globe, noting that “we all could be climate refugees.”
Becca is writing about the role faith leaders have historically played in attending, monitoring, and reporting on the proceedings from the COP, noting that faith leaders “serve as a public witness to the sacred worth of each human, and advocate for climate justice as a way to live out our divine call to love others as we are loved.”
This is just a small taste of the content coming in from Belém, so make sure you are following along with Texas Impact’s social media and engage with our media partners’ content.
Back in the US, the big news this week is the reopening of the government, while failing to address concerns about cuts to health care subsidies. Here in Texas, we are also in the middle of candidate filing season. The filing period began on November 8 and runs for one month. Beaman joined the Weekly Witness podcast last week for a post-election episode and challenged listeners to pay attention to who is running for office in their community to begin to build relationships with both incumbents and challengers.
Keats continued coverage of the Federal Religious Liberty Commission, chaired by Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, writing about their second meeting at the Museum of the Bible to discuss religious liberty in K–12 education. Keats notes that “as long as the Religious Liberty Commission continues to seek one-sided, 'dinner-platter' solutions, it will fail its true mandate: to see both faces of the coin and to protect the full, sometimes conflicting, spectrum of religious belief in the United States.”
The news in the world around us is not great. I find hope in you and your willingness to stand up for a world that is a little kinder, more just, and sustainable for future generations. I believe in you and our collective resolve, and hope Texas Impact is providing you with the resources you need to be effective advocates in your congregation and community.
Thanks for all you do, and please let us know how we can further support you in your advocacy journey. |
