British parishioner joins Copenhagen Day of Action

James Buchanan

A young man from Westminster Diocese has travelled to Copenhagen to demand in person that world leaders attending a major climate conference agree to act immediately and effectively against climate change.

James Buchanan, 24, from Our Lady of Mount Carmel & St George Parish in Enfield left home yesterday and made the 19 hour coach journey to the Danish city where crucial United Nations climate change talks are taking place. He will stay for the whole middle weekend of the talks.

James said: “The effects of climate change are destroying people’s lives in some of the poorest places on earth as they are hit time and time again by extreme climate conditions. We are also seeing profound changes in the climate here in the UK. The impacts of climate change will only deepen with time and lack of action. We will all suffer, but for those communities who can least afford it and have done the least to cause it, it’s a matter of life or death.

“This is an unmissable opportunity to let world leaders know just how seriously we feel about climate change so they do something about it. Whether it’s going to Copenhagen, people who attended the Wave march in London on 5 December, taking smaller, local actions or stating your concerns to your MP, any action we take makes a difference. We have to get them to listen or they are failing the people of the world and destroying our children’s and our grandchildren’s futures.”

James joins over 25 other CAFOD campaigners from the UK calling for the climate deal to be 'FAB' – fair, ambitious and binding. They are demanding world leaders from industrialised countries agree to cut carbon emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 and make US$195bn available each year so developing countries can adapt to the effects of climate change and move towards more clean, green development.

They will be joining hundreds of thousands of campaigners from all over the world on Saturday for a Global Day of Climate Action when they will march through the Danish city to near the Bella Centre, where the talks are taking place. Led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, James will also be part of a hand in of petitions collected by Christians from across the world to a representative of the UN, asking for a fair and binding deal as well as joining an ecumenical service.

CAFOD’s manager for Westminster Diocese, Tony Sheen said: “I’m so proud of James for going that extra ‘green’ mile for such a vital cause. He has endless passion and has given boundless energy to CAFOD and our vision of a better, fairer world. By joining together we can make a difference.”