by Gary White—Climate Reality Leader & Leader, Extinction Rebellion San Mateo

CCSM started on its climate change journey at 10am on Saturday, February 8, when Rev. Jim Antal, UCC minister and author of the book Climate Church, Climate World, came to remind us that we as a spiritual community must take action to become more sustainable in our church and at home, and to become a loud voice for social change.

A crowd of 140 church and greater community members were on hand to hear Jim speak about the climate crisis and to moderate a panel of religious leaders. They discussed the challenges of adopting a stronger church commitment to address the crisis.

The assembly of attendees also had the opportunity to attend a breakout group discussion after lunch with fellow clergy, climate leaders sharing ideas on lowering the demand for fossil fuels, or leaders on the urgency of steps needed to be taken to reduce the supply of fossil fuels.

After this special program, many attendees indicated how stimulating,  informative, and motivating the 4-hour climate program was to them. There were calls for us to conduct a follow-up multi-faith climate program in the near future to build upon the foundation laid on Feb 8.