Diocese of Ottawa voting on whether to divest from fossil fuels

From here:

Delegates from 114 area Anglican congregations will decide this weekend whether to make a major statement on climate change by divesting their diocese of $1 million in oil and gas stocks.

“It’s become a moral and ethical issue,” said Carleton University biology professor and ecologist Lenore Fahrig, one of a small group of church members who will table four climate change-related motions at the Anglican annual diocese synod, or summit, beginning Friday.

“We know how it’s affecting nature and we know how it’s affecting people and we know how to avoid it,” she said. “It is entirely about profits, about money. What divestment does is make the statement that we have to pull out of this fossil fuel-based economy.”

Local Anglican churches have a combined stock portfolio worth $30 million administered centrally, she said.

Fahrig, a member of the St. Matthew’s Church congregation, has been speaking with Anglican groups about possible oil and gas divestment for more than a year.

“I’ve done at least 15 presentations around the diocese,” she said, “and pulled together a small team of people interested in this idea.”

The group will table four motions:

  • To divest locally in oil and gas companies.

  • To propose to the General (national) Synod meeting next summer that the entire Anglican Church of Canada divests of oil and gas stocks.

  • To launch an education program on climate change for all local churches.

  • To devise a plan to “de-carbonize” all Anglican churches.

If the motion passes, delegates will be forcibly de-carbonized.  Their cars will be impounded, they will be given bicycles to ride home and they will be searched for plastics before leaving. Technology items such as iPhones and computers will be liberated since they depend on fossil fuel for their production. Plastic lens spectacles along with all synthetic cloth garments, including cassocks, will be confiscated.

Nude delegates will be invited to cover themselves with copies of Greening Sacred Spaces: A Practical Eco-Spiritual Workshop, available for purchase in the foyer. No credit cards, please – they are plastic.

6 thoughts on “Diocese of Ottawa voting on whether to divest from fossil fuels

  1. So an environmentalist and academic is attempting to highjack the church in order to push her “oil is evil” obsession onto others.

  2. “To divest locally in oil and gas companies.”

    Right. Then divest your use in oil and gas products too. Then you would have my respect.

  3. “It is entirely about profits, about money.”

    Yes, it has nothing to do with using God-given human ingenuity and genius to reliably and cost-effectively provide products that have blessed and benefited humanity beyond measure, vastly increasing both human wealth and life-expectancies.

    And, contrary to the evil carbon companies, forcibly taking over dissenting church properties and selling to the higher bidder has nothing to do with money.

  4. And, of course, it is timely to divest of oil stocks as they are running huge losses because of the deliberate Saudi oil squeeze right now anyway.

  5. This type of strategy might be compared to flying across the Atlantic and some one tells you how much fossil fuel energy is being introduced into the atmosphere, and you demand the engines be shut off –IMMEDIATELY! Obviously, more harm than good will ensue, but then again this group is dedicated to doing more harm than good.

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