Edmund Rice International

Since 1970, the 22nd April has been designated as World Earth Day, “a movement which gave voice to an emerging consciousness, channelling human energy toward environmental issues.” This years Earth Day is especially significant, with world leaders and diplomats converging on the United Nations’ New York headquarters to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change […]

I was privileged to attend the first week of the COP21 in Paris on Climate Change as a delegate for Franciscans International, and I monitored for ERI networks the second week of decisions, when the draft text was refashioned by the politicians into the final Paris Agreement and Decisions. It was a tremendous process of […]

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) will take place in Paris from Nov 30th until Dec 11th. The conference objective is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world. It is almost universally accepted that cooperative climate action is essential for the international community to […]

In less than eight months, humanity has used up nature’s budget for the entire year, according to data from Global Footprint Network. Global Footprint Network tracks humanity’s demand on the planet (Ecological Footprint) against nature’s ability to provide for this demand (biocapacity). Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s annual demand on nature exceeds […]

The recognised need for responsible management of chemicals in e-waste has brought together Governments, civil society, the private sector and the chemical industry. Hence, parties to three major chemical Conventions met recently in Geneva to consider the problem of electronic waste in the context of the global environment agenda. The issue raises two critical issues, […]

The specific contributions that faith traditions bring to the international climate debate was highlighted at the recent Interfaith Summit on Climate Change in New York, held in conjunction with the UN Climate Summit convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Thirty religious leaders from diverse religious traditions participated in the summit and signed a statement expressing […]

Hundreds of thousands of people recently took to the streets in over 2000 cities around the world to participate in a People’s Climate March to demand action from world leaders to address climate change. The World Day of Climate Action was to coincide with the summit of world leaders convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki […]

“The air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil that grows our food are part of a delicate ecosystem that is increasingly under pressure,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the closing session of the inaugural UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) which concluded its five-day deliberations in Nairobi recently “We need to act […]

Earth Hour has grown to be the world’s largest mass participation event involving more than 7,000 cities, 7 continents and millions of people. Earth Hour’s mission is three-fold. To bring people together through a symbolic hour-long event. To galvanise people into taking action beyond the hour. And to create an interconnected global community sharing the […]

‘Human influence on the climate system is clear’ and‘Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia.’ These are two of the headline statements from the recently releasedIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. Set up in 1988, the IPCC is a UN body based in […]