The new IPCCC Sixth Assessment Synthesis Report (from the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change) was released on March 20^th. The full report took 8 years, runs to 8,000 pages and involved over 780 scientists! Let’s break it down to make it easier to understand:

Chris Elisara writes (based on the 36 page Summary for Policymakers):

Note the “very high confidence” level of the scientific consensus of these findings. First the bad news: “Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health (very high confidence). There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all (very high confidence) … The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years” (IPCC, p.25)

While the time to act is fast running out before we are locked into higher levels of temperature increase with the worst possible outcomes for people and the planet, there is still hope if we can step up do what’s needed now. To quote the report again, “Deep, rapid and sustained mitigation and accelerated implementation of adaptation actions in this decade would reduce projected losses and damages for humans and ecosystems (very high confidence (p.27). Feasible, effective, and low-cost options for mitigation and adaptation are already available, with differences across systems and regions. (high confidence) (p.30, emphasis added.)

The good news is that we already have the technology and solutions we need at hand. The time to rally and use them is now.

To learn more about what LWCNN partners are saying about the report, read the related news items below:

• Katharine Hayhoe, WEA’s Climate Ambassador with a one minute video summary of the Synthesis Report. She also released a helpful summary on Twitter, including: “Our choices matter and the faster we act, the better off we will all be – all of us who call this planet home.”
• A Rocha International’s Response to the latest IPCC Report highlights the devastating reality and risks the report reveals, and that there are not one but three crises: climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty and inequality. A Rocha International emphasises that there is a ‘rapidly closing window of opportunity’ but if we act now, we can still secure a liveable, sustainable future for all.

There are 8 short questions that should take less than 5 minutes to answer. This survey is anonymous and you’re free to leave at any point (your responses will only be recorded if you click ‘submit’ at the bottom of the page).

The survey can be found here

It is now almost 3 years since we lost our dear brother, John Houghton. We have just learned of a tribute by his and our good friend Bob White that was published in The Royal Society several months ago.

The picture above is from the article – I daresay none of us have seen him this young. Following is a brief excerpt:

John Houghton made seminal contributions to understanding the temperature and structure of the stratosphere. After gaining the highest first in physics at Oxford, his DPhil involved building a radiometer that was flown in a post-war Mosquito. It started a long interest in developing instrumentation. He completed his National Service doing research into atmospheric composition at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, then returned to 21 years in Oxford. He led a team that, with others, built a series of instruments launched on Nimbus satellites during 1970 to 1978 to measure infrared radiation from the stratosphere. At age 48 he left academia to head up the Appleton Research Laboratories, tasked to move them to the Rutherford Laboratory and realign their work from upper atmospheric radio research to space support. Four years later he was appointed director general of the Meteorological Office. In his eight-year term, he moved it from dependence on the Ministry of Defence to becoming an independent agency, developed its commercial arm and strengthened its research. He also founded the Hadley Centre to work on climate-related issues. His most significant global contribution was helping to set up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), then chairing its working group on scientific assessments through their first three reports during 1990 to 2001. After retirement he devoted his time to raising awareness of climate change through many lectures and articles, and co-founded the John Ray Initiative to address the challenges of sustainable development and environmental stewardship. Appropriately, the Sixth IPCC WG1 Assessment Report in August 2021 was dedicated posthumously to him.

…In 2007 the IPCC was announced as the joint recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, shared with Al Gore Jr. The citation stated it was ‘for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change’. John, along with a group of others from the IPCC, were delighted to attend the ceremony. It remained one of the highlights of his career, along with receiving the Japan Prize in the previous year. In August 2021, the sixth assessment report was released with a posthumous dedication to Sir John Houghton, a mark of the respect in which the scientific community held him.

Read the rest of the article here.

There were a number of Creation Care organizations present at COP27. Most of us, however, weren’t able to attend. The following follow up summaries are available – some are reports, some are links to post-COP webinars.

The Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) sent out daily reports; all are accessible here if you want a day-by-day recap of what it was like to be at COP27. (Remember, this program is run every year – it’s not to early to let them know if you want to be part of the team for COP28… in Dubai!

It’s not a faith-based report, but EcoWatch has a good summary of the accomplishments and disappointments coming out of COP27 here. Also check the Guardian’s very good Explainer which outlines the outcomes from COP27.

If you’d like a video from someone who was there, check JRI’s President Mike Morecroft’s report here.

For a slightly different take, check out SAT-7’s COP27 reporting on this page. SAT-7 is a Middle East based Christian television outlet, and this reporting is helpfully geared toward that audience.

For regular updates, here are some of our partner organizations with the links to sign up:

TEARFUND – They will house COP27 information on their Climate Landing page (a good page to bookmark permanently!), and specific prayers for COP can be found here. If you still use Twitter in this Elon Musk era, Tearfund’s Action twitter feed is here.

CHRISTIAN CLIMATE OBSERVERS PROGRAM (CCOP): The Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) will bring a team of 36 emerging Christians leaders to the COP27 UN climate summit in Egypt this November 7 – 19.  COP27 is the annual UN gathering where world leaders negotiate how to solve the climate crisis.  The CCOP is a mentoring and training program designed to empower Christian leaders to take the next step forward in climate advocacy within their spheres of influence.  You can follow along with what’s happening at the COP by signing up for their daily COP newsletter.  To learn more about CCOP you can visit the website: http://www.ccopclimate.org/.  Applications for next year CCOP cohort open June 1, 2023. 

Note: CCOP is a collaborative effort by mostly North American creation care organizations and Christian Universities.

CLIMATE INTERCESSORS: This group meets throughout the year for monthly online prayer meetings about the climate crisis. These folks have solved the time zone problem by holding each meeting four different times. Their next meeting is on Nov 8, and will focus on COP27. Here is their latest newsletter, and the schedule for the upcoming meeting is as follows. (These folks have solved the time zone problem by holding each meeting four different times – no excuses!):

Join our global zoom prayer meetings on
Tuesday, November 8

10h00 GMT (18h00 SGT; 21h00 AEDT: 23h00 NZDT)
13h00 GMT (8h00 EST; 5h00 PST; 21h00 SGT;  Wed: 24h00 AEDT)
20h00 GMT (15h00 EST; 12h00 PST;; Wed: 4h00 SGT; 7h00 AEDT)
20h00 EST (17h00 PST;; Wed: 1h00 GMT, 9h00 SGT; 12h00 AEDT)Zoom link for all meetings:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3908003224
Meeting ID: 390 800 3224

And finally, the John Ray Initiative will be offering a post-COP webinar by their President and IPCC lead author Mike Morecroft at

8 – 9:30 pm UK time on November 17.

Registration is here (Free but the Zoom link only available after registering.) (Please note: as of this writing, just 29 places were still available. You have been warned!)

The nature of the news cycle is such that a disaster last week quickly fades, and one that occurred two months ago might as well not have happened. The Pakistan floods, did happen, however, and even though almost half a million people are back in their flood-ravaged homes, at least 50,000 remain in tent camps, and with the complete loss of this year’s harvest, recovery is going to take a very long time.

This update from the AP:

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan said Tuesday that most victims of the unprecedented floods that struck the country last summer have now returned to their homes, with only a small portion still living in makeshift camps in the worst-hit, southern Sindh province.

The country’s disaster management agency said the latest data shows that slightly less than 50,000 people are currently staying in camps in Sindh, compared to half a million who were living in tents there in September.

The record-breaking floods — which were worsened by climate change, that hit Pakistan last summer — killed 1,735 people and displaced 33 million. In Sindh alone, the floods affected 12 million people and killed 796.

Pakistan has asked the international community to scale up aid for flood survivors, now threatened by the upcoming winter. Last month, the World Bank estimated that the floods caused $40 billion in damages.

Harsh winter weather could worsen the misery of flood victims — if food and other supplies were not delivered quickly.

Cash-strapped Pakistan was already facing a serious financial crisis before the abnormally heavy monsoon rains hit in mid-June, triggering the floods that at one point left a third of the country’s territory submerged.

There are few situations in our modern world more fraught with injustice than climate change. We are pleased to note that The Justice Conference,

Brittany Michalski, A Rocha USA’s Project Coordinator for Climate Stewards USA, is inviting us to join The Justice Conference in Denver, CO this weekend. It is a bit late to travel unless you are already in Denver, but there is a virtual option. Brittany and Marc Antoine, Tearfund’s Haiti Country Director, will be presenting on the topic “Hope and Justice in a Time of Climate Crisis”.

At this time we don’t have information as to what time events are happening, and the registration link for the conference appears to be broken.

But we’re still glad that organizations like the Justice Conference recognize that we will never have a just world for people until we find ways to heal God’s creation. If any of our readers are able to attend this conference, send us a report!

The disastrous floods in Pakistan can hardly be captured in pictures or words. As of this writing, about 1300 people have been killed, with perhaps 1/3 of them children. 33 million people affected, more than a million houses destroyed. The entire agricultural crop (fields and animals) wiped out. Disease rampant. And the rains have not yet stopped. All of this as the world already faces food shortages because of the war in Europe.

The Pakistan story is that much more devastating for your editor: I (Ed Brown) grew up in the Sindh province (in the yellow area in the map below).

There are plenty of opportunities to donate for relief efforts – we’re sure many of you have done so already. Beyond that, this story obviously shows the importance of increasing our efforts communicate to the global church and human society as a whole that climate change is not a future problem, but a present threat.

May God have mercy.

The National Association of Evangelicals (the US affiliate of the World Evangelical Alliance) has just reissued it’s Loving the Least of These report (click here for a free download). Authored by Dr. Dorothy Boorse of Gordon College, a longtime friend of the LWCCN, who also wrote the first edition more than a decade ago.

The theology and science in this document are impressive, but even more so the case-study sidebars. This should be a useful resource for anyone preparing a talk on this topic, or to share with others who are not yet quite convinced that climate change and creation care are indeed central to the Christian faith.

The update has received a surprising (and welcome!) amount of media attention:

This from the Washington Post:

The National Association of Evangelicals has unveiled a sweeping report on global climate change, laying out what its authors call the “biblical basis” for environmental activism to help spur fellow evangelicals to address the planetary crisis.

“Creation, although groaning under the fall, is still intended to bless us. However, for too many in this world, the beach isn’t about sunscreen and bodysurfing but is a daily reminder of rising tides and failed fishing,” reads the report’s introduction, penned by NAE President Walter Kim. “Instead of a gulp of fresh air from a lush forest, too many children take a deep breath only to gasp with the toxic air that has irritated their lungs.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/08/30/evangelicals-climate-change-bible/

And from The Hill:

The National Association of Evangelicals (NEA) called climate action a Christian responsibility in a 50-page report this week, a call to action for a demographic far less likely than the general population to consider climate change a threat. 

The NAE’s report, “Loving the Least of These,” addresses the scientific evidence for the reality of climate change and the role of greenhouse gas emissions in driving it, as well as examining and debunking common arguments against the objectivity of climatologists. 

The report goes on to address the issue from a theological and personal perspective, outlining biblical arguments for environmental stewardship.  

https://thehill.com/policy/3621459-major-evangelical-organization-says-christianity-demands-climate-action/

If you are not yet familiar with the work of Climate Intercessors, we encourage you to check them out. They are “a global network of people whose prayers are as real and urgent as the climate crisis,” and they hold online prayer events on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, conveniently timed for different time zones around the world. Being convinced that for all of our activism, few of us pray as much as we should, this is an initiative we whole heartedly recommend.

In addition to the monthly prayer event, their monthly prayer reminder is a gem. Here’s a portion of the latest from Lowell Bliss:

Over a decade ago, I had a strange, but encouraging encounter with Scripture at the first faith-based conference on climate change that I had ever intended.  On the Thursday of the conference, during a coffee break, I was chatting with Allen Johnson, director of Christians for the Mountains, an organization engaged in the struggle to stop mountain top removal coal mining in Appalachia.  Allen was talking about the lack of alternative jobs for coal mining families in West Virginia, and then he said this—and it cut me to the quick— “So they have no other choice but to keep making bricks for Pharaoh.”  Allen was comparing his beloved Appalachians with the Israelites still in bondage in Egypt.  So much of the world—including our economies and many of our politicians—seem enslaved to the fossil fuel industry.

I woke up on Friday morning aware that our agenda for the conference that day was “Creating a Pathway for Mobilizing Christians for Climate Action.”   It was 2013, and in the U.S., we felt stymied.  I also woke up with Allen’s statement bouncing between my head and my heart.  As well, I woke up to my regular routine at the time—which was to grab my Bible (using the New Living Translation at the time) and do some reading which would include a randomly chosen psalm.  That day—randomly—I landed on Psalm 77.  The words Red Sea, Moses and Aaron jumped out at me.  So did that word “pathway”—the very thing we were looking for that day as a conference.  

When the Red Sea saw you, O God,
    its waters looked and trembled!
    The sea quaked to its very depths.
The clouds poured down rain;
    the thunder rumbled in the sky.
    Your arrows of lightning flashed.
Your thunder roared from the whirlwind;
    the lightning lit up the world!
    The earth trembled and shook.
Your road led through the sea,
    your pathway through the mighty waters—
    a pathway no one knew was there!
You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep,
    with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds (Ps 77:16-20, NLT)

Here are four quick thoughts on this passage:

1. The possessive pronoun for the pathway out of slavery, the pathway that delivers from violence, the pathway through trouble waters, refers to God.  It is “your” road, O God, which led Israel through the Red Sea.

2. And who is our God?  Our God is so mighty that when the Red Sea saw him, it trembled and quaked to its very depths.

3. And yet, God’s pathway is described as “a pathway no one knew was there!”  Whereas on that Friday morning, we climate activists may have used that phrase as lament and frustration, the psalmist here uses it for worship.  God sees and knows what is obscure to humankind.  He is never baffled.

4. But where do human leaders fit in?  The final verse begins with the pronoun “You.”  The psalmist is still speaking to God so this second-person pronoun refers to him and to his leadership–“You led your people along that road…” –but the sentence doesn’t end without mentioning Moses and Aaron and without conflating their labours with God’s: “You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.”   We co-shepherd.  We co-led.  This surely means that we never give up in searching out pathways, however obscure they might be to us.