Methodist Church appoints climate change campaign workers to grow a coalition ahead of COP26

The Methodist Church has appointed two young campaign workers to mobilise churches ahead of COP26 that will take place in Glasgow next year. Mollie Pugmire and James Appleby have already begun to develop links with churches in Italy, Zambia, Fiji, Pakistan, India, Russia, Ukraine and the USA.

On August 22^nd they will take part in two webinars to connect young people across the country to show how they can be at the forefront of engaging with climate justice. More details of how to sign up to this are here. 

Mollie Pugmire

Speaking about the forthcoming webinars Mollie said:

“Our hope from the webinars is that we can help young people to be catalysts for change and to celebrate the achievements of those who have already done so much in this area. We hope also to link groups of activists together across the UK who are passionate about working for climate justice. James and I will learn how we can best support these young activists from these conversations”.

James Appleby

Speaking about the impact of COVID on the climate justice narrative James said:

“Most people don’t want to return to how things were, they are appreciating the clean air that has come during lockdown. We have all had time to think about what we can do to prevent further harm to the environment and I think climate justice will be worked into the rebuilding process.”

Both Mollie and James suggest that the conversation on climate justice can’t just be for young people, so the project will work to increase intergenerational dialogue within churches as a way of developing the coalition.

 Listen to Mollie and James on this week’s Methodist podcast here (from 10mins 45).