wfn.org | MEDIA ALERT - Climate summit: Press conf. Desmond Tutu, others, Sun.13, 3.30 pm, Copenhagen Cathedra

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 09/12/2009 15:10:58 

DESMOND TUTU, OTHER CHRISTIAN LEADERS SPEAK OUT ON CLIMATE

>CHANGE

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu and church leaders from
the regions most affected by climate change will speak out on
climate change from a faith perspective during the Copenhagen UN
climate summit on Sunday, 13 December at 3.30 pm. 

The press conference, preceded by a high-level ecumenical
celebration, will be held on the occasion of an international
bell ringing initiative, uniting thousands of churches around the
world in an ecumenical call for climate justice. 

What: Press conference: Beyond politics and business – Climate
change from a religious and ethical perspective. Christian
leaders urge world leaders to agree on a fair, effective and
binding climate deal that put the needs of the poor first. 

>Who: 
>Rev. Samuel Kobia(moderator)
>General secretary, World Council of Churches, Switzerland
>Archbishop (emeritus)Desmond Tutu
>Nobel Peace Prize laureate 1984 and anti-apartheid champion
>Bishop Sofie Petersen 
>Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, Greenland
>Rev. Tofiga Falani
>President, Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu, Tuvalu

>When: 
>Sunday, 13 December, 3.30 pm. 
>(immediately following the ecumenical celebration and bell
>ringing at the Cathedral, see below). 

Where: 

Church of Our Lady(Vor Frue Kirke), Copenhagen's Cathedral
(Nørregade 8, Copenhagen, at the Cathedral's Rotunda)

For photo, filming and interview opportunities please contact: 
Helga Mikkelsen (DCA), +45-3318-7821, hmi@dca.dk
Roeland Scholtalbers (CIDSE), +45-3028-7853,
scholtalbers@cidse.org
Juan Michel(WCC), +41-76-507-6363, juan@wcc-coe.org
More information

>Half a million signatures for climate justice

Before the press conference, at 11.30 am, on the Rådhuspladsen,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu will hand over half a million signatures
and pledges ( http://www.countdowntocopenhagen.org/ )for climate
justice to Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC executive secretary. 

>Ecumenical celebration 

At 2.00 pm, participants at the UN climate summit are invited to
an ecumenical celebration (
http://www.gronkirke.dk/index.php?id=533 )in the presence of
COP15 leaders and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark at the Copenhagen
Cathedral. The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will
preach the sermon. 

The celebration will be broadcast live on Danish television and
can be watched later on the website of the Danish Broadcasting
Corporation (
http://www.dr.dk/DR1/drKirken/udsendelse/Klimagud.htm ). (For
pool arrangement details, please refer to the media contact
persons above.)

>International bell ringing

At 3.00 pm, the churches in Denmark will ring their bells 350
times in what will be the central act of a worldwide
international bell ringing initiative (
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7085 ), which will be carried out
by thousands of churches around the world. The bell ringing
symbolizes the 350 parts per million that mark the safe upper
limit for carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere according to
many scientists. 

>Churches and climate change

Church policies and actions on climate change are rooted in the
Bible, which teaches the wholeness of God's creation and the
centrality of justice in the Christian message. In addition to
ecological, social, economic and political aspects, the
ecumenical movement states that addressing climate change
involves a spiritual dimension. From an ethical point of view, it
regards climate change as a matter of justice, as impoverished
and vulnerable communities in the global South are and will be
those most affected by its consequences. 

>National Council of Churches in Denmark
>http://www.danskekirkersraad.dk (
>http://www.danskekirkersraad.dk/ )

DanChurchAid

http://www.danchurchaid.org ( http://www.danchurchaid.org/ )

CIDSE

http://www.cidse.org/Area_of_work/Climate_change/?id=1472

>World Council of Churches
>http://www.oikoumene.org/climatechange

Additional information:Juan Michel +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from
the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.