In early April GreenFaith International reluctantly took the decision, after some painstaking discussions, to postpone the Faiths 4 Climate Justice Global Week of Action. They consulted us and we could see their reasons were sound.
The new dates are September 14 to 24 2024.
Then in mid-April they decided to cancel it as a global event. This was for the same reasons that had only become more compelling. Please see the section below explaining why this has happened.
However, there will still be a week of action here in Australia. We are going to carry on and hold our actions from September 14 to 24 anyway, even though we won't be part of something international this time.
We would prefer to be part of a global effort, but we also know that we just need to get on with it. The climate crisis is a ticking clock. And so much has already been done by so many of you to get things in motion.
Please see the bottom of this web page for an explanation as to why the dates have been changed.
What can we usefully do now?
Join the Rise Up fortnight of action
Many organisations in the climate movement (GetUp!, ACF, AYCC, 350.org, Tipping Point) have a huge fortnight of action called Rise Up planned for Monday 29th April to Friday 10th May. Let’s get behind that.
Their message is for the Labor Party that we want them to protect us from climate breakdown by committing to phase out coal and gas, starting with putting a halt to all new such projects.
They’ve got flagship actions in every capital city and there are lots of smaller actions outside Labor MPs’ offices too. Here is the map. This will be added to over the coming weeks.
Rise Up Brisbane
Thursday 2 May at 11.30am
King George Square, 87C Roma Street, Brisbane, QLD.
Hosted by ACF and GetUp!
Rise Up Adelaide
Friday 3 May at 9am
Port Adelaide Lighthouse, 1 Commercial Road, Port Adelaide, SA.
Hosted by Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
Rise Up Sydney
Wednesday 8 May at 10am
Outside Kirribilli House, 109 Kirribilli Avenue, Kirribilli, Sydney.
Hosted by Move Beyond Coal, 350.org and Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
Rise Up Perth
Thursday 9 May at 11am
Outside Madeleine King’s office (Minister for Resources), 1-3 Kent St, Rockingham, WA.
Hosted by Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
Rise Up Melbourne
Thursday 9 May at 12pm
Melbourne Commonwealth Parliament Offices, 4 Treasury Place, East Melbourne, 4002.
Hosted by 350.org.
What about my banner?
If you’ve ordered a banner, there are a couple of things you could do for the Rise Up fortnight of action:
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Put it up at your place of worship.
Why not make use of it? We only ask that you put it back up in time for our own week of action in September too.
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Take it to one of the events mentioned above.
These make for powerful visual statements. Let’s be visible as people of faith. You can also order a smaller placard and bring that too if you would prefer.
For those of you who have been busily contacting places of worship to get involved in Faiths 4 Climate Justice, please could contact all those we have phoned and email to let them know about the change of dates and the reasons for it? If they’re understanding, please also ask them to get behind the actions mentioned above.
Writing to the Prime Minister and Peter Dutton
We will also be using the Rise Up fortnight of action to launch a blitz on writing letters to the Prime Minister and Peter Dutton. More information will be coming soon about that.
Solidarity with the activists in Tanzania
As mentioned more fully below, ten GreenFaith International volunteers in Tanzania - our partners - were recently detained by police for three days, basically for speaking out against the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline. They also had their phones taken away leaving them with no means of communication. They were interrogated.
Please sign and share the open letter here calling for a stop to this injustice.
Faiths 4 Climate Justice week of action
From the 14th to the 24th of September people of all faiths around Australia will join publicly with others around the world calling for a clear plan to get us out of this crisis and move boldly and rapidly away from coal and gas and towards a sustainable future.
Everywhere, we are seeing unprecedented climate impacts and climate-fuelled storms, fires, droughts, and wars. Millions of people are being horribly affected. Here in Australia, we’re seeing more and more floods, bushfires and droughts.
We love this shared home we call Earth. For many people of faith, it is sacred. And we want to hand it on to our kids in all its beauty and wonder, and for them to be safe. Yet governments everywhere are not doing nearly enough, and that includes ours. The world has just agreed at the most recent climate summit in Dubai to move away from fossil fuels. Yet neither major party in Australia has a plan to do so, or a date to do it by.
As people of conscience from many different faith and spiritual traditions, we know this is wrong, and that it’s time to take action. We need our elected leaders to agree that this is bigger than politics - and that it’s urgent.
This is a chance to unite for what we love. And we will do so from Perth to Cairns and Hobart to Tin Can Bay. Previous global actions have involved faith communities in around 40 countries, so this is a chance to be part of something big.
What’s happening here in Australia?
We will be calling on the federal leaders of both major political parties to outline their plan to move away from coal and gas and towards clean energy, and to provide a date by which they will do so. We will also call for an end to public money going towards fossil fuel industries. We will ask both leaders to support a proposed global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to phase out fossil fuels and to make a massive historic investment in clean energy that will create jobs in the process. And we will call on them to love our nearest neighbours by getting behind their calls for a fossil fuel free Pacific.
Requests of all faith communities
We’re asking faith communities with places of worship, large or small, to hang a faith-and-climate banner. We’d like the message on these banners to be about one of the main things we’re calling for mentioned above, particularly for no more coal and gas projects. These various messages are on the ARRCC webpage: www.arrcc.org.au/banners
The Week of Action gives us a time frame to work towards. So that the media moment is as poignant as possible, we're asking that the banners should go up a few days before (no more than one week) but they could remain up afterwards. Hopefully, they can also be displayed in the lead-up to the 2025 Federal Election. Our suggested banners are nonpartisan.
If you're in a major city, please ask everyone in your faith community to come to one of the flagship events/ This will be where giant banners and billboards are revealed to the media and will be our main opportunity for media coverage. You can find the flagship event near you on this page.
We will be addressing the leaders of both major parties.
We are not partisan, and we need this to be above politics.
We’re asking religious leaders to give sermons or khutbahs at services dedicated to climate action.
In the lead-up to the Week of Action, let's have at least one regular service dedicated to prayer and meditation on the theme of action for a safe climate. Could faith leaders please speak to their congregations about the need to move away from coal and gas to protect our sacred Earth?
We will make our voices heard.
By having faith-and-climate banners up, large and small, in places of worship iconic and humble, by speaking out whether we’re a well-known religious leader or an everyday person of faith, and by doing so together we will speak with a loud and powerful voice, including in the media.
We need as many people as possible to amplify the message on their social media pages, on community radio and in their local papers.
Special requests of communities with large, iconic places of worship
We’re calling on large, iconic places of worship to hang a huge banner from the side of your building.
Details are being negotiated with decision-makers at the Cathedrals and central Mosques, Temples, Synagogues, Houses of Prayer who we have been contacting. Depending on the size of banner, the cost could be circa $600 - $1,000. We regret that ARRCC is generally not in a position to assist with costs, but we will help with where to buy the banners and possibly how to mount them. (Contact Tejopala [email protected] or 0498 475 056, or [email protected])
Hold a multi-faith service to bless the banner outside one iconic place of worship in each major city. We would like these events to be attractive to the media and coordinated, so that we can draw the attention of the broader public to our message. It would be good if local federal MPs and candidates could be invited to these events.
We will be asking very senior faith leaders from all traditions to speak out together.
We'll be asking senior faith leaders to attend the multi-faith services outside these iconic places of worship in front of the giant banners, and then speak to the media.
Requests of communities with smaller places of worship
We’re asking all smaller places of worship to put up a banner.
Let's see a lot of these up during the Week of Action. There are designs already made at www.arrcc.org.au/banners and, if the banner is ordered from Easy Signs, the cost is around $140. We’re aiming for 100 to 200 places of worship big or small nationwide. Please check these out and order yours!
We’re asking religious leaders to give sermons, homilies or khutbahs at services dedicated to climate action.
Let's hold services dedicated to the themes of the Week of Action. Could Rabbis, Teachers, Priests, Pastors and Ministers please speak to their own congregations and communities about the need to move away from coal and gas to protect our sacred Earth.
Invite your congregation to attend the flagship service at your nearest iconic place of worship.
We’re asking for as many people of faith as possible to come to the outdoor multi-faith services where the large banners will be blessed or, better still, unfurled. If there's no iconic place of worship near you with a large banner, you may want to organise a service by the banner on your own place of worship on the day. It would be good if local federal MPs and candidates could be invited to these events.
This is the first step on the road to the election
The Week of Action will take place roughly eight months before the likely date for the next federal election. This is our chance as communities of faith to make it clear that we need all parties to head into that election with a serious plan to move away from fossil fuels. We will continue to press for this in the weeks and months leading up to it.
Find out more
There will also be up-to-date information over the coming weeks on this webpage including resources for you to hold a service about the week of action in the period leading up to it to build support in your congregation.
Help make it huge
There are teams of people meeting on Zoom all over the country who will be making this BIG. Come along and get involved! Check out our events page for a regular list of these meetings.
Register your interest
If you're keen to help to make this week of action a huge success, please fill out the form below to tell us what you're up for.
Why have the dates changed? And why isn't it global any longer?
GreenFaith International’s capacity to coordinate the week internationally has been completely up-ended by some unforeseen events. In March, the Tanzanian government began to systematically harass, intimidate and detain ten GreenFaith Circle leaders and members who have actively opposed the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, one of the world’s ‘carbon bombs’, if it is built. GreenFaith has responded by supporting their Circle members and securing their release. Now, they are mounting an international effort to tell the Tanzanian government, and Total (the multi-national oil giant behind the pipeline project) that faith communities will not stand for this illegal, immoral behaviour. You can show your support for them by taking action here.
As a consequence of needing to do this, nearly all of GreenFaith’s time and resources have been suddenly taken up. They are in no position to coordinate a major week of action this year. This led first of all to the decision to postpone and then for them to withdraw entirely from trying to go something global.
However, we need to get stuck in regardless here in Australia.
So, we are sticking with the new dates of September 14 to 24 and going it along here in Australia.
We ask you to stay with us over the coming months and get behind the new week of action. It will still make a difference.
In fact, there’s a good chance we can make more of a difference. The new September dates align with the Christian Season of Creation, and are also shortly before both the G20 and the UN Climate COP. It will also allow more time to get more banners up outside places of worship large and small. And for those of you in Queensland, it will mean your voices will be heard only weeks from your state election.
