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Re-Energize: Time for a Carbon Sabbath

"Let us all make every effort possible, each from where God has placed us, to rein in our reckless over-consumption, so that the harmonious workings of this planet, our common home, may be restored and that we and our children may enjoy in peace all the good things which God has created and offers to all."
-Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Encyclical for Day of the Protection of Natural Environment

Introduction

As Christians, we sense that climate change requires more than a quick technological fix. The climate crisis is also a crisis of human identity. Who are we? What is our relationship to the rest of creation? If we are to be faithful witnesses to God's love for the world, then the answers require a conversion in how we live our lives on this fragile planet.

As people of faith, we are summoned to view the earth as not simply a source of resource extraction and wealth generation, but as a community in which we live and move and have our being.Faith requires us to defend the rights and dignity of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the globe, many of whom are already suffering the effects of climate change. Those least responsible for climate change will endure its harshest impacts.

This is not an easy moment. It will require sacrifice. But it is a decisive moment – a kairos moment – in which we can make a new global covenant and live out our Christian call with fresh vigor.

Resources

Our Energy Audit

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.

We pulled together all the information on 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!

KAIROS Carbon Footprint Report 2008