Youth giving it up for Lent

by Donna Ellis

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and calling on the federal government to change policies ensuring Canada moves further and faster towards international climate change goals have the youth at St. John’s Ancaster excited during Lent 2018.

The young people are participating in Give it up for the Earth!, a country wide program sponsored by Citizens for Public Justice.

Across Canada, over 110 groups (including churches, religious congregations, high schools, universities and faith-based organizations) are gathering to make their pledges and sign postcards. The postcards, addressed to Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, call on Canada to end subsidies to the fossil fuel industry right way.

Climate change is increasingly understood as an issue of faith

CPJ has already distributed over 15,000 postcards to groups across the country. In the spring, the postcards will be presented to the federal minister.

“Climate change is increasingly understood as an issue of faith. The way we live in this world is an expression of the belief that we are called to protect and care for the Earth,” says Karri Munn-Venn, senior policy analyst at CPJ. “Lent offers an opportunity to make a meaningful sacrifice while also making our voices heard.”

Donna Ellis is the Youth and Children’s Minister at St. John’s Ancaster.