|
CATHOLIC JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMISSION
|
Media Release Monday 12 August 2002
Justice and Peace Commission’s Cool Communities Launch Begins Action in World First on Global Warming
The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of Brisbane will launch its Cool Communities Project on the Gold Coast. This will be the start of a world first for action on global warming. The launch will take place at Marymount College Theatrette, Burleigh Heads, on Friday 23 August at 6.30 p.m. The Cool Communities project is a world first because it focuses on what households can do to reduce greenhouse gases which are causing global warming and threatening enormous changes in our climate. This climate change will produce serious consequences for people, animals and plant life. Global warming will produce more droughts, longer and more serious heat waves, more severe storms and more serious flooding. The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of Brisbane is one of 22 communities around Australia which have been selected by the Australian Greenhouse Office and Conservation Councils in every State and Territory to participate in the federal Government funded project which aims to teach householders how to reduce greenhouse gases by many tonnes per year. The Commission is the only faith community to be selected to participate in the project and its Cool Communities activities will focus on Catholic households in the Burleigh Heads area, but some of its activities will focus on the whole of the Archdiocese of Brisbane which covers most of South-East Queensland. The Executive Officer of the Commission, Peter Arndt, said that this project was an important initiative in efforts by the Church to live out the Gospel in a credible way in the modern world. "The Pope and the Australian Bishops make it clear to us that an essential part of the Christian message is to proclaim the need to be responsible stewards of God’s Creation in both word and action," Mr Arndt said. "Human activity has made global warming a serious threat to all life on our planet and Australian households are among the biggest producers of greenhouse gases which are responsible for the global warming problem," he said. "Our reliance on coal for energy production and use of transport over long distances have made us responsible for a lot of the problem and we hope that Catholic households in the Archdiocese can lead the way in the community by adopting simple measures which can save energy, reduce greenhouse gases and save money at the same time," he said. "Reducing energy usage around the home, decreasing use of cars and reducing consumption and waste are the main targets of the project," he said. The Commission’s project will run until June next year and will focus on three major activities – community energy workshops which will teach householders how to save energy around the home, a car pooling project which will reduce burning of fossil fuels in transport, and a train the trainer project which will enable people from around the Archdiocese to become facilitators of on-going training programmes and activities in every deanery and parish |