Trócaire calls on Mayo people to sign climate petition ahead of UN summit

TRÓCAIRE is calling on the people of Mayo to sign a petition urging global leaders to respond to the Covid-19, climate and biodiversity crises ahead of a crucial climate summit in November.

The social justice agency is mobilising communities all over Mayo to take action by signing a petition endorsed by the Vatican called 'Healthy Planet, Health People' at https://thecatholicpetition.org/.

The campaign is inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, in which he laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls on all people to take 'swift and unified global action'.

Climate change and environmental destruction are the biggest threats facing humanity today - but it is the most vulnerable communities in our world, those who have contributed least to the climate crisis, who are most affected, Trócaire says.

As a result, millions are enduring hunger and displacement due to increasing drought and extreme weather conditions.

The spotlight will be firmly on this critical global issue when heads of governments, powerful business leaders and campaigners gather in Glasgow for two weeks in November for the next round of UN climate talks, known as COP26.

In his Laudato Si’ encyclical, addressed to “every single person living on this planet”, of all faiths, Pope Francis urges us all to listen to “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”.

It calls for a joined-up, just response to the Covid-19, climate and biodiversity crises including an end to fossil fuels and the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

According to Trócaire, Laudato Si’ has enlivened Catholics everywhere to connect climate change to global injustice and to take action at a local and global level.

Kathleen Friel, from Westport, who is a member of the Mercy Sisters Western Province and the Laudato Si’ movement in Mayo, said: “Our main focus is on raising awareness about the reality of climate change, the destruction of our planet, and the power and influence of our lifestyle choices, and behaviour on all of this. I would encourage everyone in Mayo to take one small step towards climate justice and sign the climate petition.”

You can sign the petition at https://thecatholicpetition.org/.

Details of Trócaire’s Living Laudato Si’ project are at https://www.trocaire.org/our-work/working-in-ireland/parishes/laudato-si/. To get involved you can contact jane.mellett@trocaire.org.