In 2023, KAIROS held three Climate Action Weeks, focused on Decolonizing Climate Action to help deepen and advance climate justice and decolonization.
KAIROS grounded these weeks in discussion and reflection on the interconnection between climate justice and Indigenous and local self-determination.
Climate Action Week (June 5-11) – Centering Indigenous Ways of Knowing
The first Climate Action Week – held June 5 to 11 (Canadian Environment Week) – focused on Centering Indigenous Ways of Knowing, which permeated through the Week’s resources and online event, Climate Action Dialogues: Indigenous and Global South Perspectives on Just Transition.
During the June Climate Action Week, KAIROS amplified and prioritize Indigenous and other voices that are too often pushed to the margins of climate discussions. The Week aimed to motivate and inspire a daily practice of climate action, and to nurture personal skills and other gifts in support of climate justice and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and the land.
Climate Action Week (September 11-17) – Keep the Oil in the Soil and Let Justice and Peace Flow
KAIROS’ Climate Action Week, September 11-17, focused on the root cause of the crisis: fossil fuels. During the week, events, reflections and actions were centred around the theme: Keep the Oil in the Soil and Let Justice and Peace Flow.
This second Climate Action Week was held during the Season of Creation, which runs from September 1 (World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation) to October 4 (Feast of St. Francis of Assisi). The Season of Creation’s 2023 theme was Let Justice and Peace Flow. It reminded us that “we are called to join the river of justice and peace, to take up climate and ecological justice, and to speak out with and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity.”
KAIROS presented two online events that week: Climate Action Dialogues – Building Momentum for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and KAIROS Leadership Seminar – Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
Climate Action Week (November 13-19) – Centering the Voices from the Global South
In the lead up to the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), KAIROS’ Climate Action Week, November 13-19 focused on Centering the Voices from the Global South. Like Indigenous peoples in the North, people in the Global South are the most impacted by the climate crisis and the least consulted on the development of climate policies and programs. This Climate Action Month was co-sponsored by For the Love of Creation, a faith-based initiative for climate justice.
This Climate Action Week featured the event, Churches’ Advocacy on Loss and Damage, hosted by ACT Alliance, KAIROS Canada, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and For the Love of Creation. During this week, KAIROS also launched its report Addressing Ecological Debt – Equity and Justice for Climate-Related Loss and Damage, which was guided by the analyses and experience of partners in the Global South.
