http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivoqETrrKRQ
Vernon residents Bill Darnell, Mary Stockdale and Dianne Perrier will be holding daily vigils and fasting for the first week of the Copenhagen Summit on climate change. We are doing this to offer our support to political leaders in Canada and the rest of the world. At this critical time for humanity, we urge them to act courageously, to ensure a stable climate for our future generations.
Our efforts in Vernon are one example of many vigils and fasts across Canada, initiated by Bill Phipps, the former moderator of the United Church of Canada (see below).
Here are our planned activities for the week of the Copenhagen Summit:
- Beginning Monday December 7 and continuing until Friday December 11, we will be keeping a daily vigil from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm outside the constituency office of our Member of Parliament Colin Mayes, at 3203 30th Street, Vernon. We will have a ‘Book of Courage’ there for supporters to sign, and lit candles, representing people in the Okanagan-Shuswap area who are with us in spirit.
- On Saturday December 12, at 5:30 pm, we will join with millions around the world in a vigil organized by Avaaz at the Vernon library square. Details at http://www.avaaz.org/en/
- Finally, on Sunday, December 13, churches worldwide will ring their bells 350 times, to call on our leaders to limit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to a climate-sustaining 350 parts per million. This initiative in Canada is being organized by Kairos, details at (http://www.kairoscanada.org/en/ecojustice/climate-change/copenhagen-2009/ring-350-for-copenhagen/). A number of local churches are joining in.
We welcome all forms of support for this worldwide effort. We will be fasting for the duration of the week, and holding daily vigils, and everyone is welcome to join us for a visit and to write a message in our Book of Courage, a copy of which will be sent to our MP, Colin Mayes. Please bring a candle to light as a symbol of your concern. If you can’t come in person, send us a message of support and we will light a candle in your name. We would also greatly appreciate other forms of support from you, such as letters to the media, our MP and other key national politicians.
Another way is to lend your voice is to sign the ‘350 Pledge’ at http://spreadsheets.google.comviewformformkey=dC1Mckl5WEFseTFWVkI0MDhXTFpoSFE6MA
You can contact us at: vernonclimateaction@gmail.com
On Facebook: Climate Action Vigil: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=221776226437&ref=ts
For a peaceful and sustainable planet,
Bill Darnell 558-9990
Mary Stockdale 503-2506
Dianne Perrier 503-8368
Mary Stockdale “As a university academic who teaches and does research in forestry and agriculture, I understand that climate change is already having impacts locally – killing our forests with the pine bark beetle outbreak, threatening our farmers’ ability to grow crops, reducing our water supplies – and that it is only going to get worse if we don’t take action now. I want a positive future for my children and for everyone’s children. I feel so strongly about this that I am glad to have the opportunity to fast to demonstrate my level of concern.” [Mary Stockdale is one of the virtual academy advisers of the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme for South & Southeast Asia on resource management, monitoring and sustainability]
Dianne Perrier “As a member of the community, a mother and a grandmother (and an organizer of past United Way campaigns), I am increasingly concerned over the intensity and number of forest fires in British Columbia. My sons and I have owned recreational property in the North Okanagan – Shuswap for the past 19 years. Originally we could have fires all year long and burn the driftwood on the beach. Now due to the high risk of fire we have to truck the driftwood out. These forest fires, partially fuelled by the pine beetle infestation, threaten people, wildlife, homes, business and tourism. The smoke and ash float for miles and miles affecting not only the chronically ill but the average person. This is not a legacy I want to leave to my grandchildren’s generation. I am participating in the vigil and fast so Canadian and World Leaders will make fair, ambitious and binding treaties at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit.”
Bill Darnell “Remember when “everyone” smoked and most of us knew it was bad for your health but a lot of us did it anyway? Now fewer people smoke – we all know it will kill you. It is the same with the way we live on this earth. We all know at some level that producing more greenhouse gases is not sustainable - we need to make the changes. Most of my adult life, I have worked for a more just and fair society and found that doing so has made me more hopeful. I am keeping this vigil and fast to do what I can to prevent greater climate change. I want my children and grandchildren to be able to look with hope at their world.” (Note: Bill is one of the founding members of Greenpeace (in fact, he was the one who named it), and is a retired teacher)
Ps. More about the “Fast for Courage in Copenhagen” below:
For a week in December, former United Church of Canada Moderator Bill Phipps will undertake a personal fast and vigil in support of the World Leaders’ meeting in Copenhagen on climate change. From December 6 to 13, Bill invites you to join him.
Bill’s message to our political leaders:
“I believe the Copenhagen gathering of world leaders beginning December 7, 2009 is the most important international meeting since World War II. As an expression of my ongoing concern for the future of our Earthly home, it is my intention to begin a week-long fast on Sunday, December 6, 2009. I feel that humanity’s future is in grave peril; I believe that a sustainable tomorrow is a spiritual question.
I hope that you will receive this action as an offering of support, encouragement and solidarity in your deliberations as political leaders whose responsibility it is to ensure the health and safety of the planet for future generations.
Giving up food is my offering and prayer, an embodiment of the struggle to save our fragile world. As I invite you now, I will be inviting members of churches, other faiths and the general public to offer their own prayers for the planet during the days of the meetings in Copenhagen.”
‘We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history,
a time when humanity must choose its future.’
~ from The Earth Charter
Join the Action:
Participate in this fast. Give up food a day or a week. Meditate. Be mindful of your planetary footprint. Let your MP know that you support strong leadership at the climate talks in Copenhagen. For more information and to add your action to the momentum, contact us:
By email: Bruce Sanguin: bsanguin@telus.net <mailto:bsanguin@telus.net>
On facebook: Fast For Courage in Copenhagen http://bit.ly/fast_facebook_event
