The deafening sound of urgencyI felt my heart beat faster than usual as I clapped along to 2 sheer minutes of booming beats that reminded of the loud noise that led to the crumbling of the walls of Jericho in the Biblical narrative. I thought to myself that this must be the deafening sound of urgency as I stood on the midst of sea of people in red shirts last, December 12th 2009, where I joined environmentalists, activists, and concerned citizens in the observance of the Global Day of Action (GDA) on climate change, where people all over the world will be doing simultaneous actions to highlight the urgency of climate action at the time of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ever since 2005, the GDA on climate change has been observed every year at the time of the annual United Nations Talks on climate change. People from all around the world have come together on the same day to demand urgent action on climate, and climate justice, from the governments of the world meeting at the annual climate talks.
For Filipinos the reality of climate change and its impacts like that of extreme weather events have robbed most of us of our property, our sense of security and of the lives of the ones we love.
Yet ironically the Philippines like many other island nations contributes to less than 1% of the world’s total carbon emissions, but is expected to be one of the countries to be hardest hit by the impacts of climate change. And around the world this scenarios is being repeated over and over. Poor countries are suffering disproportionately from the effects of human induced carbon emissions that mostly come from the developed nations. Whether it’s about water access, drought, flooding, vulnerability to more frequent and ever intensifying storms and other extreme weather events or exposure to diseases that the rising temperatures have encouraged to grow, the story remains the same: the poor people are yet have the means to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
That is why I have resolved to become personally involved in the growing movement that seeks climate justice from our world leaders as a part of my Christian witness to the God who has revealed Himself as a God of justice and righteousness in the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt.
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