MCM’s Climate Action Working Group hosting guest speakers in Altona Saturday
A presentation at The Community Exchange in Altona this weekend is taking a look at doing more with less.
Mennonite Church Manitoba’s Climate Action Working Group is hosting the Saturday conversation night, dubbed “The Upside-down Economics of Jesus—Household Action and Global Change.”
The evening revolves around a question: in a world driven by economic growth and unending consumption, how might Jesus be calling us to live?
Seeking to answer that are guest speakers Zachary Rempel and Karla Braun.
Braun is a Mennonite World Conference writer and editor who strives to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
“She is the most intensely aware consumer that I know,” shares event organizer Kenton Lobe, who is a professor of international development studies at CMU and a member of the working group. “She’s super thoughtful, super engaged, and active … she’ll have lots to share.”
Rempel, meanwhile, will help participants look at the bigger picture. He holds a master’s degree in natural resources management, has worked on issues related to Indigenous engagement with the natural resource extraction industry in Canada, and researches degrowth and ecological economics.
“Philosophically, he’s asking about degrowth,” Lobe explains. “Challenging the idea that we can forever just keep growing, and if not we’re going to figure out technologies to solve it. But we actually need to slow it down.”
These topics are right in line with the mandate of MCM’s Climate Action Working Group, which has members across Manitoba.
“It’s made up of a diverse group of people and a diverse age representation from across Mennonite churches in the province,” shares fellow member Marilyn Houser Hamm. “We’re working in cooperation with and alongside various faith-based groups under an umbrella for the love of creation.”
The group was started with the belief that humans are the stewards of this planet created for us, and so it is our responsibility to take action on climate change.
It’s a matter of recognizing that “walking here on Earth with our Creator is a gift,” says Houser Hamm, “and that we are part of all living things and that we must care for one another. Caring for the Earth is part of how I understand God’s love and God’s calling of love for all of creation.
“The way of Christ that we seek to embody calls us to that care,” she continues, reflecting on the importance of living mindfully. “Spirituality is not separate from action.”
Modern consumption habits are having an impact on the world, notes Lobe. It’s time to take a hard look at those habits, though he acknowledges it can be challenging to know where to start.
“When I’m teaching environmental studies, it’s impossible to get around this glaring reality that we’re trashing the place,” he says. “I know that there are people … full of ecological grief, full of sadness and despair for a deep, long look at something that is profoundly sad, it’s profoundly difficult. There’s room at this gathering for that.
“There’s also room for people that think this is all bunk … we’ve had conversations across a ranges of differences. We’re comfortable with the whole range that might come together.”
While the evening is being put on by Mennonite churches, Houser Hamm emphasizes that the discussion is aimed at all people of faith, regardless of denomination.
“We’re hoping that particularly through this way of inviting people into this event that the that the wider community can engage in this conversation with us,” she says. “This is a call to community. This is a call to hope. And this is a call to vision.”
Saturday’s event starts with a free supper at 6 p.m. (you can RSVP for that at mennochurch.mb.ca) followed by the program starting at 7 p.m. (no registration is needed for that portion of the evening).
