We’re excited to see such an enthusiastic response to the Global Multi-Faith Day of Action coming up! Cathedrals and churches in various cities are lined up to ring their bells. We’ve heard people are planning meditations with signs, or having their event photographed from a drone, or organising bagpipes, or holding their event outside the offices of MP’s. We have momentum!

Why not get involved too? ARRCC is made up of people like you, making a huge team effort. We believe that pulling together as a movement we can achieve so much more than if we all worked in disconnected ways.

As part of GreenFaith International, we’re determined to make 2021 the year that climate action begins to match what is needed to protect life on earth. 2021 is a very significant year. The COP26 negotiations in Glasgow in November will mark five years since the Paris Accord was entered into and part of the deal is that, every five years, countries will increase their ambition. Read more below about how to help, some resources and what ARRCC is pushing for in Australia. 

 

Living the Change is back!

First I’d like to introduce Alice Carwardine who has taken the role of leading the Living the Change work for this year. Alice is a Catholic secondary school teacher who started "Overturn The Tables", a professional development platform for teachers, parishes, schools and students about how to “live Laudato Si’”. 

Alice will be offering some webinars but her main role is in encouraging ongoing monthly community groups of people who can actively support each others’ decisions to make lifestyle changes. We all know change doesn’t usually come easily. There’s the pull of old habits, and we can gravitate to the convenience or comfort of old preferences. So it’s very helpful to have a community of like-minded people who can empathise with our struggle and encourage us to live our values. 

To introduce you to how this might work in your community or network, Alice is offering a Living the Change Community Groups workshop at two times:

Thursday 18 February  from 7 to 8.15pm AEDT starting 6pm Brisbane, 6.30pm Adelaide, 4pm Perth

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88237855645

 

Friday, 19 February from 7 to  8.15pm AEDT starting 6pm Brisbane, 6.30pm Adelaide, 4pm Perth

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88220910442

 

Day of Action events - lots of resources for you!

There are only three and a half weeks to go until 11th March!

Sign the Statement

If you haven’t already signed, please sign the Sacred People Sacred Earth Statement. The link takes you to the short version, where the second section (Position Statement) is summarised into “ten demands”. If you want to see the full text, click the link indicating your preferred language at the top of the page (eg, “English”).

Please share the Statement on your Facebook page or send the link to your networks. The Statement will be released to the media on the Day of Action.

Host an action on the Day

Your faith group or community  could be one of hundreds  around the world ‘sounding the alarm’ for climate justice. You can do this by ringing bells or chimes, meditating with signs, drumming, singing, or anything else, but please take photos or videos for social media. Your event will make an impact insofar as it’s ‘visible’ both on social media and on the GreenFaith International map.

Get involved or see more information here. 

The time we’re aiming for now is 11 am in your own time zone. This symbolises the ‘eleventh hour’ for the climate, and was especially requested by our partners in South America. 

We'd love you to plan your own event but, if that's not feasible, soon you'll be able to see all planned events on a world map and join an existing one. (It's not quite ready yet.)

What ARRCC is advocating for domestically

In your placards and banners, it would be good if our messaging could be consistent across the ARRCC network. For this year of 2021, our asks in letters to the Morrison Government are:

1. Targets under the Paris Accord which are aligned with achieving net zero emissions by 2030 
2. Post-COVID recovery spending to boost low carbon industries rather than fund a so-called gas-led recovery
3. Support for an orderly, just transition for coal or gas mining communities.
4. Fair contributions to the UN Green Climate Fund, additional to the aid budget.

Please make some placards or banners with these themes. If you prefer something easy and/or more professional, we’ve made templates available for you to get a professional banner made up for your Day of Action event, if that’s something you prefer. It's super-easy to organise this online once you have a template. Just be sure to allow a two-week delivery time, which means you will need to put in an order soon. There’s more about that here. 

Online skills workshops

These workshops are intended to give you the skills needed to make your action on March 11 really work well on social media. The skills will be helpful for anyone wanting to build their confidence up, however. We will assume that people are very new to it all, so please do come along.

Facebook skills

These workshops assume that you have used Facebook before but assumes nothing else. Many people feel uncertain about how many aspects of Facebook work. If that’s you, this workshop is for you. 

• Installing the app on your phone and using it
• Logging in on the app
• Privacy settings for your posts
• What is tagging and how do you do it?
• Hashtags - what are they, anyway?
• Taking a photo and uploading it from your phone
• Uploading a video from your phone
• Your questions answered

Again, there are two identical sessions. Please come to either one.

Tuesday February 16th

2 to 4pm Sydney/Melbourne time, starting 1 pm Brisbane, 1.30 Adelaide, 11am Perth.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84946325017

 

Wednesday February 17th 

7 to 9pm Sydney/Melbourne time, starting 6pm Brisbane, 6.30pm Adelaide, 4pm Perth)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84911606902

 

Twitter skills

Two more identical workshops - choose either time. These assume no previous knowledge of Twitter. You might not even have a Twitter account. No problem. Twitter is very useful for making our voices heard, so please come! They will cover the following: 

• Creating a Twitter account and understanding how to navigate it
• Sending your first tweet
• Tagging people and hashtags
• Re-tweeting
• Uploading videos and photos
• Your questions answered

Wednesday February 24th

2 to 4pm Sydney/Melbourne time, starting 1pm Brisbane, 1.30pm Adelaide, 11am Perth

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86462218094

 

Friday February February 26th

7 to 9pm Sydney/Melbourne time, 6pm Brisbane, 6.30pm Adelaide, 4pm Perth

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84823763753

 

Overview workshop for newcomers

This one is  ideal for people who have only just heard about Sacred People Sacred Earth and who want to find out more about getting involved. 

Thursday February 25

1pm AEDT (Sydney / Melbourne time), 12 noon Brisbane, 12.30pm Adelaide, 10am Perth

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82875503797

 

We hope these workshops give you, our supporters, the confidence you need to organise at a local level, and a few skills you can continue to use this year.

Looking forward to continuing this important work in partnership with you.

Ever onwards!

Thea

ARRCC
http://www.arrcc.org.au/