Climate Justice - A Lenten Journey of Discovery, Week 2

Climate Change, Disasters and Migration – A Story

By Tyler EdgarAssociate Director, Climate and Energy CampaignNational Council of Churches USA

Then they also will answer Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you? Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you just as you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do it to me.'- Matthew 25:44-45

In August 2008, I traveled to Ghana to attend the United Nations Climate Change negotiations taking place in Accra. While there, I met with local farmers and activists who were working to help families and communities adapt to the impacts of climate change. While diplomats gathered to talk about predicted and future climate changes, Ghanaians around the country were already suffering from the devastation of climate change that was taking place in their backyard.

While in Ghana, I was taken on a tour of the greater Accra area. During this tour, I discovered that dozens of new communities have sprung up around the city over the past five years. These communities are primarily composed of families who have migrated south to the capital city from the northern region of Ghana, which is located at just below the Sahel region of Africa.

The Sahel region of Africa is where the Sahara Desert begins to transition into Africa’s southern savannas, and has been an area of agricultural prosperity for thousands of years. Most of the inhabitants are semi-nomadic and historically, the northern area of Ghana has supported thousands of farmers who live off the land.

However in recent years, northern Ghana has become more and more like the northern part of the Sahel, experiencing little and inconsistent rain, warmer temperatures, and more violent storms. Crops no longer grow the way they used to and families can no longer survive on the abundance of the land, and while this has always been a fragile ecosystem, farmers have lived here for thousands of years in a sustainable manner that has nurtured one family after another. As a result of the environmental changes, hundreds of families are fleeing the north and moving south to Accra and the coast. They are hopeful that they can find work, feed their families and benefit from the tremendous infrastructure that Accra and the larger more historic coastal towns have to offer.

But Accra is not prepared to deal with this influx of people and many of the families migrating to Accra are forced to live in slums, often near the coast. As our tour guide pointed out, while families now have some support from Accra and the government, they are relocating right next to the sea, and with the impending sea level rise and increased number of severe storms, these communities are now vulnerable to a whole other set of climate impacts.

Ghana is just one of literally hundreds of examples of families and communities fleeing their homes and their cultures to escape the impacts of climate change. If climate change continues unaddressed, these stories will impact every part of God’s world and community.

How will we respond to the needs of the climate migrant who has the least among us?

Prayer for Migrants

Lord, when you multiplied the loaves and fishes, you provided more than food for the body, you offered us the gift of yourself, the gift which satisfies every hunger and quenches every thirst. Your disciples were filled with fear and doubt, but you poured out your love and compassion on the migrant crowd, welcoming them as brothers and sisters.

Lord, today you call us to welcome the members of God's family who come to our land to escape the ravages of climate change. Like your disciples, we too are filled with fear and doubt, and even suspicion. We build barriers in our hearts and in our minds.

Lord, help us by your grace, to banish fear from our hearts, that we may embrace each of your children as our own brother and sister; to realize that you call all people to your holy mountain to learn the ways of peace and justice; to share of our abundance as you spread a banquet before us; and to respond to the crisis that has forced them from their home.

We praise you and give you thanks for the family you have called together from so many people. Amen.

Climate Justice - A Lenten Journey of Discovery

Climate Change and Food Security – An Action

You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.- Deuteronomy 8:10

Food security is an issue that millions of people around the world deal with every day. Thankfully churches and faith-based relief and development agencies are working to address the needs of families around the world and the challenges that climate change will present if left unchecked.

During this time of Lent, reflect upon your own food security.

When was the last time you went to bed hungry? Do you know people in your community who are food insecure? Have you visited places where food is scarce?

To remind ourselves of the relationship between our food and God's creation, and to remember those who go to bed hungry and do not share in God's abundance, we are asking you to join us in Meatless Mondays this Lenten season. (really any meatless day you choose is fine!)

Many people around the world rarely eat meat because of its cost, getting their protein from plants, such as beans. As standards of living rise, people tend to include more meat and fish in their diets; for example, as income levels rise in countries like China and India, their meat consumption also is rising. But meat production comes at a cost to God's creation:

• The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the meat industry produces one fifth of the greenhouse gases that are contributing to global climate change.


• Studies show that an estimated 1800 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of meat (compared with only 250 gallons of water for a pound of soybeans). With global climate change, water, like food, is becoming a scarce commodity.


• Less meat also means fewer fossil fuel used. The production of protein from grain-fed animals requires eight times as much fossil-fuel energy as the production of plant protein, as fuel is used to plant, fertilize, harvest and ship the grain that feeds livestock as well as to transport the livestock to slaughter and meat to market.

Eating less meat means you are using fewer resources for your personal diet and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, while making a commitment to global food security.

Click here to tell us your story and share your thoughts on Meatless Mondays.

Climate Justice - A Lenten Journey of Discovery

Climate Change and Food Security – A Story

Written by Mary Minette, Director of Environmental Education and Advocacy, andDavid Creech, Director for Hunger EducationEvangelical Lutheran Church in America

He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous.- Isaiah 30:23

In the small community of Las Jolotas, Nicaragua, subsistence farmers like Felicita and her son Ariel are already facing the impacts of climate change. Ever since Hurricane Mitch devastated western Nicaragua in 1998, rainfall patterns have grown increasingly unpredictable. Some years the rains fall late; other years the rains fall too hard, and there is no way to predict what type of year it will be. If the rains arrive late, seeds die without producing any harvest. If the rains cause flooding, seeds are swept away.

Farmers in Las Jolotas traditionally save just enough seeds from the previous harvest to plant during the next rainy season. If those seeds are lost, the results are devastating. Farmers may have to borrow money at high rates to purchase more seeds for planting, and may have to take on additional work to pay the loans back. Some farmers have stopped planting during the rainy season, choosing instead to migrate to El Salvador, Costa Rica, or even the United States to look for work. Family members left behind struggle to keep food on the table and children in school while their land lies fallow.

To support Felicita and her family as they try to adapt to the effects of climate change, The Lutheran World Federation - working with the Faith and Hope Lutheran Church of Nicaragua - helped them dig a shallow well. The water from the well is gravity-fed to irrigate crops during the dry season. Thanks to the well and Felicita's hard work, her lush garden - full of beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, and yucca - thrives in the middle of the dry summer months. Felicita will use the garden to feed her family and small farm animals. If there are leftover vegetables, she will sell them for added income.

The well protects Felicita and her family from uncertain weather patterns. In turn, the increased food security ensures that they will have enough to eat and will not have to migrate to faraway places, disrupting and perhaps ending Ariel's schooling and leaving their culture and community behind.

Solutions like this will need to be joined with other, much larger efforts, if subsistence farmers around the world are to adjust to the impacts of climate change that are already occurring. International development agencies are working hard to adapt to and address this new reality, but significant aid from governments and international agencies will be needed to ensure that families like Felicita's are able to survive and thrive as the earth's climate continues to change.