Interfaith environmental conference
I've spent the last couple of days at a meeting of the management board of SAFCEI -- the South African Faith Communities Environmental Institute. Our Archbishop Seraphim (seen here with Anglican Bishop Geoff Davies, the Executive Director of the Institute) has been a member of the SAFCEI board since its inception, and invited the board to meet at St Cosmas and St Damian Orthodox Church in Sophiatown, Johannesburg.
Most South Africans claim to be members of one or other religious group, and about 80% claim to be Christians, yet most environmental organisations do not take into account the teachings of various religious groups about care for the environment, and some even blame the teachings of religious groups (which they fail to understand) for environmental problems. SAFCEI was formed to help people to focus on the religious aspects of the environmental crisis.
This is also important because certain aspects of climate change, such as global warming, will have more severe effects in Africa, and so one of the aims of the group is to try to limit global warming to not more than 2%.
Last night (Tuesday 28 November 2006) there was also a public meeting in the church hall, and several members of the church youth groups attended. Two videos were shown, one showing how an Australian mining firm was trying to bribe community leaders in the Eastern Cape in order to mine the Wild Coast, one of the most beautiful unspoilt areas of the African coast, where local residents with the help of the European Union were trying to develop ecotourism.
The church youth who attended asked questions, and there was a lively discussion.
