The final day of the symposium has opened with an inspiring message from Dr Vinoth Ramachandra (Sri Lanka), who reminded us of the certainty of our hope in Christ Jesus, and the renewal of all creation which is to come. He called us to use this certain knowledge of the new heaven and new earth to inspire us in our work in the present.
Two final country-specific projects were explained in presentations by Israel Klug (Brazil) – about the collaborations of A Rocha and World Vision in Brazil – and by Dr Daniel Koti (India) – who sketched out the condition of the environment in South Asia. Both presentations offered proof of the seeds of hope growing from small beginnings.
They were followed by Michael Taylor (Jamaica), who argued strongly for a focus on regional science, working collaboratively, as a rallying point for action. He used his work with the Climate Studies Group at the University of the West Indies to demonstrate the need to provide region-relevant and confidence-inspiring information in order to influence policy and planning. His message: “we know enough at least to start”.
As the symposium moved towards the point of action planning, Brendan Bowles spoke about approaches to communicating the message, encouraging us to place value on small beginnings rather than expecting our colleagues, friends, and governments to become ‘environmentalists’ overnight. Las Newman and Bruce Callander then introduced a draft statement for the symposium, which participants will discuss and review this afternoon.
[...] read a summary of a session today at the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students Symposium on Climate Change. A [...]