A world expert on climate change has said Christians are neglecting one of the most important commandments in the Bible if they fail to tackle climate change.
On the day that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), announced their most up-to-date findings on climate change, Sir John Houghton, former Co-Chairman of the IPCC, said Christians should take the lead in action to reduce carbon emissions.
Sir John Houghton said: "Human induced climate change will hit poor communities the hardest. It will bring more frequent and intense heat waves, floods and droughts leading to poor harvests, malnutrition, increases in disease and much loss of life.
"The Bible says, 'Love does no harm to its neighbour' (Romans 13:10). But climate change shows us that our energy-hungry lifestyles are harming our poorer neighbours across the world, now. The moral imperative for us to act is unquestionable and inescapable."
Sir John advises leading UK Christian relief and development agency Tearfund, which works through the local church in more than 70 countries to eradicate poverty. He added: "Tearfund's partners around the world are already beginning to experience the damaging effects of climate change. We have no choice but to act now."
Tearfund is helping communities cope with the impacts of climate change right around the globe. Tadesse Dadi, a Tearfund worker in Ethiopia, said millions were already being affected: "Climate change may not yet be a problem for people in Europe, but here in Ethiopia its effects are being felt today by millions of ordinary men and women farmers. Aside from the awful drought that has devastated parts of Somalia, southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, the impact of climate change is being faced every single year by peasant farmers in different parts of our country.
