My name is Yoanna. I am the Ambassadors’ Network Coordinator and am responsible for part of A Rocha France’s communications. Those of you who regularly attend our organisation’s webinars or who are ambassadors will know me well. For everyone else, let me take you behind the scenes of my quiet mission: to mobilise Christians to raise awareness for creation care.
Raising awareness: talking or taking action?
Katharine Hayhoe, author of the book « Défi et espérance pour le climat »,
states that ‘the best thing we can do for the climate is to talk about it’. One might wonder how simply talking about it can change the ecological situation of our planet. Personally, I often think it’s better to take action so that things move forward more quickly. That’s not wrong! But talking about it means raising an issue and giving everyone the chance to have their say on it.
When our ambassadors talk about the environment in church, once the theological and ecological awareness has sunk in, people ask how they can take action. They want to do something. Then, a unifying dialogue begins. Ideas emerge. Projects take shape. From the smallest, such as when several church members start cycling to church instead of driving, to the largest, when the community collectively commits to being a beacon in the neighbourhood through various initiatives: composting, a community garden, insulating the building, planting trees, and so on. On the ground, the initiatives are varied and promising, as our friends at Eglise Verte !
A long-term endeavour whose results are not necessarily immediately apparent
But raising awareness, whilst essential, does not always lead to swift and inspiring action. Ideas need time to take root. Even when convinced, many Christians face obstacles when it comes to taking action. Multiple commitments, a lack of time or energy, structural barriers linked to the way our society functions…
And for those who believe they are not affected by the ecological crisis, the journey is even longer. It sometimes takes numerous discussions or exposure to ecological facts before the ‘light bulb moment’ occurs. For our ambassadors, this moment is rarely visible. They take part in a series of events and circumstances designed to raise awareness, but rarely see the fruit of that awareness. Raising awareness about caring for creation is truly a long-term endeavour, which can sometimes lead to frustration when results are slow to appear. In such cases, we can always recharge our batteries by taking part in a tree-planting project – a concrete action with clearly visible results!
Many questions to raise awareness of caring for creation
In this context, I find myself asking myself many questions on a daily basis about how to raise awareness and reach more and more people. Within our Network, we have a wealth of theological and ecological resources at our disposal to address a wide variety of questions and objections on the subject.
But how do we reach out to new audiences? We can make contact with new communities directly, by email or by telephone. There are regular dead ends, but also fruitful encounters. Taking part in Christian events and gatherings is also central to the ambassadors’ work, such as our presence this year at the FEF unions’ congress or our participation in ECHO, a youth event.
In today’s highly connected world, we are also working to strengthen our online presence: primarily through our websites, such as Questions de foi et d’écologie. Social media, too, raises many questions for me. To what extent do they enable us to reach new audiences? And above all, are we staying true to our values when we use these ‘free’ services from companies whose sole aim is to capture our attention in order to make a profit? It’s a daily struggle to find the right balance between communication that is perfectly in line with our values but has a more limited reach, and action that has a potentially wider reach but draws us into the game played by these unscrupulous companies.
So, as I ponder this dilemma, what if I went to watch the green woodpecker pottering about in my garden, did my shopping at that local greengrocer’s, or took part in the next tree-planting initiative near my home?
Yoanna Rigotto, Coordinator of the A Rocha Ambassadors Network
To support A Rocha’s projects and the network’s awareness-raising activities, you can make a donation.