Now the Buddhists are lifting their voices. The Dalai Lama, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa are just some of the people supporting the new Buddhist Climate Statement, signed by 15 of the world’s top Buddhists. This is momentous, it is the the first time so many respected Buddhist leaders have come together around a single global issue.

You can read the Buddhist Leaders Climate Statement statement here: http://gbccc.org and show your support online using #Buddhists4Climate

Our interdependence or interbeing is at the very heart of Buddha’s teachings. Our lives are profoundly interwoven with all life. Pope Francis also put this concept front and centre in the Encyclical – calling it integral ecology. It’s a common theme through many religions – the more we realise nature exists within us, the closer to nature we become.

Reading the media, it can feel like the world just doesn’t take climate change seriously, our response doesn’t match up to the scale of the problem. Well today the Buddhist world has shown us how it’s done!

We’re also excited to tell you that in late November the world’s Hindu leaders will also be releasing a climate declaration, days before the Paris talks begin. You heard it here first.

The Paris climate talks are now just one month away, and with the message from our faiths clear, we should have a renewed confidence and determination to make demands such as 100% clean energy to our political representatives – they can and must act boldly for us all.

You can feel something growing in the world, a real hunger for action and change. A Paris deal or not, we are on the move.

Yours with hope,
Ciara, Bob and the OurVoices team

P.S. If you haven’t seen it already we’re crowd funding to help a group of pilgrims reach the Paris talks. They’re walking 1500km from Rome to Paris and they need our help.