The Archbishop of Southern Africa is inviting Anglicans around the world to cut their carbon footprint this Lent.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, who chairs the Anglican Communion
Environmental Network, is asking them to think about the impact their
lifestyle has on the climate and the wider world in turn.
Instead of sacrificing traditional items like chocolate or alcohol,
the carbon fast asks people to “give up” or cut back on a part of their
lifestyle, such as driving their car less or eating less meat.
Over the forty days of Lent, the carbon fast challenges Anglicans to
carry out specific actions highlighting important environmental issues
and showing participants how they can make a positive impact on
creation.
"Lent is a time of repentance and fasting, of turning away from all
that is counter to God’s will and purposes for his world and all who
live in it,” he said.
"This year, I invite Anglicans to focus their Lenten ‘acts of love
and sacrifice’ on our contribution to climate change, and on those most
impacted by it."
The area overseen by Archbishop Makgoba includes countries
increasingly vulnerable to climate change.
The dioceses of Lebombo and
Niassa in Mozambique have recently experienced widespread flooding that
displaced 150,000 people.