Our Vision
As people of faith and citizens of Waterloo Region, we are deeply concerned about the double crisis we face in our community. The climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic are both unprecedented in scale and impact. We know that there is much work to do to support vulnerable people and revive our local economy in the wake of the pandemic—we also see this as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the urgent global climate crisis, while creating a more prosperous and equitable community for all. The vision and hard work of people of faith has helped to build both thriving communities and thriving economies in times past, and we must take leadership in the effort to rebuild again in 2020.
Addressing climate change will take many types of action. Many congregations have already taken concrete measures to make their buildings more energy-efficient, or added solar panels. Many have also held worship series or education times to address the spiritual issues and dimensions of climate change, and to encourage members to take individual action. All of these are important, and yet we also need to address the collective and political aspects of this crisis. Dianne Saxe, the former Ontario Environment Commissioner, made clear when speaking in Waterloo Region in 2019 that she was surprised and disappointed by the lack of faith action directly with her office on the need for environmental action, with a call for faith communities to get more active and speak out. Our initiative aims to fill that gap.
As Waterloo Region begins the task of "building back better" in the wake of COVID-19, our local economy needs to be reset on firmer foundations of justice that puts people first, while also caring for our planet. This can include, for instance, providing affordable, energy-efficient housing and clean, affordable renewable energy to our community. The essential workers who have kept our community going throughout the pandemic—and the vulnerable people those workers support—can all benefit from a collaborative effort to build a prosperous, sustainable, low carbon community, if we work together with a shared vision forward, grounded in social justice.
Now is the time for a just, sustainable transition to a low-carbon local economy.
Before the pandemic hit, all local governments in Waterloo Region made a commitment to reduce local community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 80% before 2050. In the pandemic’s wake the climate crisis remains, and this commitment still stands. Pursuing this carbon reduction commitment presents unique opportunities both to tackle the climate crisis, and revive our local economy. We have a vision for a sustainable, low-carbon local economy that generates prosperity for all – built through collective efforts to meet our greatest challenges.
Addressing climate change will take many types of action. Many congregations have already taken concrete measures to make their buildings more energy-efficient, or added solar panels. Many have also held worship series or education times to address the spiritual issues and dimensions of climate change, and to encourage members to take individual action. All of these are important, and yet we also need to address the collective and political aspects of this crisis. Dianne Saxe, the former Ontario Environment Commissioner, made clear when speaking in Waterloo Region in 2019 that she was surprised and disappointed by the lack of faith action directly with her office on the need for environmental action, with a call for faith communities to get more active and speak out. Our initiative aims to fill that gap.
As Waterloo Region begins the task of "building back better" in the wake of COVID-19, our local economy needs to be reset on firmer foundations of justice that puts people first, while also caring for our planet. This can include, for instance, providing affordable, energy-efficient housing and clean, affordable renewable energy to our community. The essential workers who have kept our community going throughout the pandemic—and the vulnerable people those workers support—can all benefit from a collaborative effort to build a prosperous, sustainable, low carbon community, if we work together with a shared vision forward, grounded in social justice.
Now is the time for a just, sustainable transition to a low-carbon local economy.
Before the pandemic hit, all local governments in Waterloo Region made a commitment to reduce local community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 80% before 2050. In the pandemic’s wake the climate crisis remains, and this commitment still stands. Pursuing this carbon reduction commitment presents unique opportunities both to tackle the climate crisis, and revive our local economy. We have a vision for a sustainable, low-carbon local economy that generates prosperity for all – built through collective efforts to meet our greatest challenges.
Our Mission
Over the coming months, we will be approaching our local governments to present our vision and ask them to act. Local governments have the greatest stake and the strongest role in reviving local economies. Waterloo Region has earned a global reputation for our innovation and leadership. Now is the time to exercise that extraordinary capacity - to help our community and our country to thrive through this unprecedented double crisis – moving away from the fear generated and sustained by crisis, into community empowerment, embracing change and opportunity.
We have crafted and articulated these calls to action with Waterloo Region’s leaders in mind because we know that leaders in our community have proven capacity for powerful and prescient vision. Our governments have a long track record of initiating powerful partnerships with other levels of government, industry, community organizations and academia to forge powerful visions into practical realities. We will also share this proposal with local elected leaders at the provincial and federal level and will strongly encourage them to engage in active partnerships to support and advance this local vision for a just, sustainable recovery.
Longer-term, we will continue to bring faith communities in Waterloo Region together around the issue of climate action. While a number of local organizations for climate action exist, none of them are faith-based. We see our role as bringing a faith perspective to the conversation, as we work with other local organizations for climate action. Together, we can achieve more than we can as individual congregations.
Learn more about how you can get involved, either as a congregation or as an individual, on our Actions page.
We have crafted and articulated these calls to action with Waterloo Region’s leaders in mind because we know that leaders in our community have proven capacity for powerful and prescient vision. Our governments have a long track record of initiating powerful partnerships with other levels of government, industry, community organizations and academia to forge powerful visions into practical realities. We will also share this proposal with local elected leaders at the provincial and federal level and will strongly encourage them to engage in active partnerships to support and advance this local vision for a just, sustainable recovery.
Longer-term, we will continue to bring faith communities in Waterloo Region together around the issue of climate action. While a number of local organizations for climate action exist, none of them are faith-based. We see our role as bringing a faith perspective to the conversation, as we work with other local organizations for climate action. Together, we can achieve more than we can as individual congregations.
Learn more about how you can get involved, either as a congregation or as an individual, on our Actions page.
Who We Are
We are a growing collective of faith communities in Waterloo Region advocating for climate action and a just recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative began in two places simultaneously in late 2019 and early 2020 -- with a small group of local Mennonites concerned about the lack of ambitious action by faith communities in response to the global climate crisis, and with a diverse gathering of churches discerning how to step up their commitment to climate justice. Today, Faith Climate Justice Waterloo Region (FCJWR) invites all local faith and spiritual communities – Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Indigenous, Jewish, Buddhist and many others -- to work together for climate justice.
