KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives (Welcome Page)

KAIROS Re-energize! Campaign

Ecological Justice Climate Change | Energy efficiency | Water

Climate change is just one expression of how our addiction to oil is killing people and the planet. Our dependence on fossil fuels also deepens human rights abuses, creates conflict, and causes economic inequality.

It doesn't have to be this way. There are alternatives. We can build a just and sustainable energy policy, beginning with our own lives.

This fall, KAIROS launches Re-Energize: Time For A Carbon Sabbath, a three-year campaign for personal, community, and political change. We'll have loads of fun, engaging, and practical things to do as we strive together to change ourselves, change our churches, and change our world.

Want to get involved? Visit our campaign resource site at www.re-energize.org or Contact Campaigns Coordinator Sara Stratton at 1-877-403-8933 x 241.

KAIROS sizes up its carbon footprint

When KAIROS decided on its Re-energize campaign focus, it became clear that it would be a matter of integrity and a sign of solidarity with its southern and Indigenous partners to embark on a process to reduce its own internal carbon footprint. KAIROS cannot ask its constituency to do what it is not willing to do as well. To that end, we contracted with Sustainability Solutions Group (SSG), a Canadian worker co-operative that assists clients in integrating social, ecological and economic priorities throughout their organization. Their mandate was to assist us in doing an environmental audit of KAIROS’ internal activity, including transportation, electricity, heating and waste with a view to help us formulate an internal energy policy.

The process involved amassing all the information regarding KAIROS carbon use in order to establish a baseline. The results were sobering: as a national organization with international partners, air travel is currently extensive and makes up about two-thirds of our carbon emissions. We will need to review how we can accomplish our mandate as an organization using less energy. That is a process that we believe will be both transformative and innovative. We hope our efforts will have a positive effect that reaches beyond KAIROS’ institutional walls by providing a template that will assist and encourage others to “Re-energize” their lives as well.

Here is the final report and recommendations from SSG (). Our next step is to develop an action plan for implementing the recommendations. The centerpiece of this will be a KAIROS Internal Energy Protocol. We’re re-energizing!