Giving to a Good Cause?
I wonder what charities you support. The UK is an amazingly generous nation, about 70%1 of people in the UK give to charity. UK giving did not fall back after the 2007 financial crash either and on average people donate £14 a month to charities totalling £10.1 billion in 20151.
Children and young people is the most popular cause to give money to, with 30% choosing this, and medical research is second, with 29%. You can understand why: we all want a better future; we want to invest for the next generation and extend our own life chances. But does giving to these areas of charity give us the best chances of achieving this?
What are the greatest risks for our children and grandchildren? Cancer? Dementia? No, I can see that the impacts of climate disruption will far outweigh these diseases which have come to dominate High Street charity collections and coffee mornings. As our seasons change and we experience more extreme weather, homes wrecked by flooding, damage at the coast were sea levels rise and the increased cost of food production will have their financial and emotional cost. Perhaps more significantly millions of additional global environmental refugees will put pressure on our entire infrastructure, just as they did in Syria, where the sustained drought 2007-2010 caused over 1 million people to move from the rural areas to the cities.
Climate change is complex, but that doesn’t mean we should just ignore it. We currently have a 1 in 10 chance of avoiding runaway climate change (which would take us to an uninhabitable planet at 6 degrees warmer). Your child has the same odds crossing a motorway walking straight out into the traffic, a 1 in 10 chance of being hit by a car. Would you ask them to cross?
UK charitable giving to conservation, environment and heritage causes was 2% in the UK in 20151. Is that enough to safeguard the integrity of creation for our children and grandchildren? What support could you give to charities that help reduce our carbon emissions through for example tree planting, raising funds for solar panels for school or campaigning? As we give our money and time we bring hope for a better future.
Prayer for the preservation of the environment:
Sovereign Lord, you are the creator and sustainer of the earth and you have given us dominion over its resources: forgive us for squandering your gifts, inspire us to conserve them and use them aright in the service of your people and to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
From the Anglican Church of Southern African Environmental Network
Jemima Parker, Diocesan Environment Officer
1 An overview of charitable giving in the UK during 2015. Uk Giving 2015. May 2016