KAIROS Climate Action Month graphic

Empowering Canadians during a climate emergency will underscore KAIROS’ 3rd annual Climate Action Month, which launches September 1 and coincides with the Season of Creation, September 1 to October 4. Throughout September, KAIROS will explore five weekly themes through daily online content and actions: Season of Creation (Week 1), Climate Ambition and Just Transition (Week 2), Indigenous Rights (Week 3), Global Climate Justice (Week 4), and Climate Solutions (Week 5).

“The climate crisis has come to the fore for many Canadians,” says Beth Lorimer, KAIROS’ Ecological Justice Coordinator. “They have either been directly impacted by extreme weather events or are deeply alarmed by them and the findings in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. We hope that the resources and actions offered during Climate Action Month will help empower Canadians to be agents for the transformational and just change that is needed in this critical decade.”

KAIROS will post content by faith communities, Indigenous peoples, and others on the forefront of climate action on a daily topic with resources to learn more. Every week KAIROS will feature actions that Canadians can take in support of the climate, Indigenous rights, and all of Creation.

KAIROS’ Climate Action Month kicks off by amplifying the World Council of Churches’ Season of Creation, which runs from September 1 (World Day of Prayer for Creation) to October 4 (St. Francis of Assisi Day). The theme of this year’s Season of Creation is A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God. Oikos is the root of the word oikumene, or ecumenical, which describes our “common home,” as Pope Francis calls it in Laudato Si’. The concept of oikos invites us to consider the integral tapestry of relationships that sustain the wellbeing of the Earth.

Featured events include a three-part advocacy webinar series presented by For the Love of Creation, of which KAIROS is a member. The topics are: Canadian Climate Finance, September 9; Indigenous Rights, September 16 and Climate Ambition and Transition, September 23. Climate Action Month will also highlight the launch of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability’s campaign in support of Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence Legislation in Canada, September 28.

KAIROS began Climate Action Month in 2019 to galvanize awareness and action in response to a series of alarming and urgent UN special reports on the climate crisis and its impacts on vulnerable communities, including women and Indigenous peoples. The pandemic has redefined our world with calls for a just recovery that prioritizes the welfare of essential workers and at-risk people in the transition to a carbon net-zero economy by 2050.

This KAIROS initiative is intended to further reconciliation by encouraging discussion and reflection on how climate change and Indigenous issues are deeply interwoven. KAIROS’ climate action is rooted in reconciliation and this initiative is intended to amplify and prioritize Indigenous voices.  

For more information and to access the KAIROS Climate Action Month resources, visit: Climate Action Month.

Cheryl McNamara is the Media and Advocacy Coordinator for KAIROS Canada