Totnes Friends highlight Loss and Damage
‘There are many ways that we can act: from contemplation and prayers to starting conversations and highlighting the Make Polluters Pay campaign.'
Totnes Quakers highlighted the voices of those most affected by climate change on Loss and Damage Day last month.
More than twenty-five people gathered for a vigil on 22 September outside St Mary’s church.
A procession arrived up the high street from a climate hub. Participants and passers-by also expressed their deep concern through silence and words. The Totnes community heard messages from young people, community leaders and politicians of Uganda, Rwanda, Pakistan and the Maldives ‘connecting us with the loss and damage happening right now – loss of cultures, identities, histories as well as lives’, said vigil organiser Amanda Woolley.
‘Many of us will have our own shock and grief, but I was touched when someone spoke of how unimaginably overwhelming it must be to lose your loved one suddenly to flood or hurricane. It can be hard to even dare to connect with our feelings around the scale of damage happening now, yet somehow, I think it’s a start we need to make for our own sense of wellbeing and justice,’ she said.
‘There are many ways that we can act: from contemplation and prayers to starting conversations and highlighting the Make Polluters Pay campaign which has a petition calling on the UK government to set up a fund.’
Totnes Quakers highlighted how pressure for loss and damage reparations is building across the world, as we near COP27. The Scottish government put £1 million into a climate justice resilience fund at the time of COP26 last November, and, at the UN General Assembly last week, Denmark pledged US$13 million.
‘There was a sense of solidarity with other vigils around the UK,’ added Fiona Gibbon, fellow organiser. ‘It’s mainly about getting the big emitters like fossil fuel companies to pay back from their immense profits extracted at others’ expense. Nevertheless, for those moved to give money more personally there’s not only the Disasters Emergency Appeal aimed at Pakistan but also organisations like non-profit organisation Global Giving that connects donors with restorative projects on the ground.’
