2021/02/27
백승종 [예수 평전 - 인간적인, 너무도 인간적인 예수의 삶>>(김근수, 동녘, 2021)
‘It's in our DNA’: tiny Costa Rica wants the world to take giant climate step | Costa Rica | The Guardian
The road to KunmingCosta Rica
Interview
‘It's in our DNA’: tiny Costa Rica wants the world to take giant climate step
Patrick Greenfield
President says the time is finally right for international agreement to tackle biodiversity loss and global heating
Costa Rica’s president, Carlos Alvarado Quesada: ‘Our approach is to lead by example.’ Photograph: Marco Valle/Bloomberg /Getty Images
The age of extinction is supported by
About this content
@pgreenfielduk
Mon 22 Feb 2021 22.30 AEDT
958
When it comes to the environment, few countries rival Costa Rica in terms of action and ambition.
The tiny Central American nation is aiming for total decarbonisation by 2050, not just a “net zero” target. It has regrown large areas of tropical rainforest after suffering some of the highest rates of deforestation in the world in the 1970s and 1980s. Costa Ricans play a major role in international environmental politics, most notably Christiana Figueres, who helped to corral world leaders into agreeing the Paris accord.
Now Costa Rica has turned its attention to securing an ambitious international agreement on halting biodiversity loss. In January, more than 50 countries committed to the protection of 30% of the planet’s land and oceans as part of the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, spearheaded by Costa Rica, which is a co-chair alongside France and the UK.
The coalition hopes the target will become the headline aim for an international agreement on halting biodiversity loss for this decade, set to be negotiated in Kunming, China, later this year.
As Mandela said, 'It always seems impossible until it’s done'Carlos Alvarado Quesada
“Our approach is to lead by example. As Mandela said, ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done’,” the Costa Rican president, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, told the Guardian. “Conservation is one of the key factors that scientists point out as relevant for protecting biodiversity and also for addressing the climate crisis. But working alone, it’s not as effective.”
The world has never met a single target to stem the destruction of wildlife and life-sustaining ecosystems. But the 41-year-old leader believes this time might be different.
Q&A
What is the road to Kunming series?Show
'Sweet City': the Costa Rica suburb that gave citizenship to bees, plants and trees
Read more
Alvarado swept to power in April 2018, defeating a conservative evangelical pastor who had campaigned against same-sex marriage. It was a rare victory for a centre-left candidate in a time of rising global rightwing populism and led Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz to conclude that Costa Rica was a beacon of enlightenment for its commitment to reason, rational discourse, science and freedom.
Advertisement
But the pandemic and resulting blow to Costa Rica’s ecotourism industry forced Alvarado to enter painful negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, raising fears of large cuts in a country that puts human development at its core, alongside environmentalism.
Costa Rica, now an OECD member, has no standing army, invests heavily in education and boasts a universal healthcare system. The prospect of internationally enforced austerity caused rioting in October last year, and Alvarado pulled out of talks. In January, the IMF and the Costa Rican government agreed a $1.75bn (£1.25bn) package that avoided some of the more controversial proposals.
Environmental policies are ‘the dominant DNA’ of Costa Rica, says Alvarado. Photograph: Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA
Despite the difficult choices, the president said he was encouraged that global action on the environment will result from the pandemic, especially after the election of Joe Biden as US president, with whom he spoke recently.
“It was a very close conversation. We have lots of things in common. We talked about working together in addressing the climate crisis,” Alvarado said. “I think the message of appointing Senator [John] Kerry as ambassador in this area is very strong. It’s going to be a key priority.”
More and more, the real impacts of the climate crisis on our societies is evidentCarlos Alvarado Quesada
Alvarado did not speak to Donald Trump during the latter’s presidency. But the Costa Rican president said the climate crisis and the breakdown of nature were already causing significant problems in the region, including the migrant caravans heading to the US border that often dominate the concerns of US Republicans.
Advertisement
“More and more, the real impacts of the climate crisis on our societies is evident. Just in this past year, Central America was hit by two consecutive hurricanes: Hurricane Iota and Hurricane Eta. Particularly in Nicaragua and Honduras, not only in terms of deaths but also in terms of production and the potential in terms of unemployment, the migrations that it could produce mean you cannot only see the storms in isolation as hurricanes,” he said.
“Scientists say that hurricanes in the region have become more frequent and stronger. This is going to have effects in our societies in terms of economic growth, of jobs, of inequality, of inequality in terms of women, on migration.”
Devastation caused by Hurricane Iota in Haulover, Nicaragua, in November 2020. Photograph: Inti Ocón/AFP/Getty Images
Alongside larger partners, Costa Rica will continue to encourage other governments to take bold action on biodiversity at Kunming through the HAC for Nature and People. But the road ahead is not easy. The negotiations cover conservation and the sustainable use of nature – a topic that will involve difficult choices about agriculture, chemical use and resource extraction by far more influential powers.
Advertisement
Alvarado acknowledges these challenges but says that although such issues also exist in Costa Rica, he will continue to focus on being an example.
“Environmental policies do not necessarily have unanimous consensus. For the past decades, they have been the dominant DNA of Costa Rica but there are also some people saying that perhaps we should be exploiting more. But still, I believe that’s very far away from our DNA.”
Find more Age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features
• This article was amended on 25 February 2021 to correct the surname of President Alvarado.
Many forms of Quaker ministry
Many forms of Quaker ministry
What Is Ministry?
2021/02/26
Continuing to consider Vocal Ministry | The Australian Friend
Continuing to consider Vocal Ministry
/0 Comments/in 2003-march-2020 /by David SwainBev Polzin, Victoria Regional Meeting
Our Friend, Duncan Frewin, in December 2019, laid out in the Australian Friend some thoughtful comments on spoken ministry within our Meetings for Worship. Duncan inferred that to be moved to speak in a Meeting for Worship is a serious call, and not to be taken lightly.
For me, one form of Ministry I find helpful as a “focus” within our Meetings for Worship, is the reading of our Advices and Queries, which is regularly read by a Friend appointed for this purpose. It is usually read when the Meeting is settled. These brief Advices offer a gentle reminder of why we are present, and sometimes lead to fuller ministry.
A lot of advice and inspiration is offered in our Books of Discipline, including passages about the matter of “vocal ministry”, and these passages offer rich and wise advice.
We read in Quaker Faith & Practice (QF&P) (2.56) in 1712 that young Jane Fenn heard an inner voice declare that she had been chosen for the ministry. She became in time a travelling Quaker Minister of note.
“Yet I must confess, this awful word of Divine command shocked me exceedingly, my soul and all within me trembled at the hearing of it; yea my outward tabernacle shook insomuch that many present observed the deep exercise I was under”
In 1734 John Churchman wrote (QF&P 2.61)
“Ministry should be of necessity, and not of choice, and there is no living by silence, or by preaching merely.”
Samuel Bownas in 1750 (QF&P2.59) wrote
“Some think, through a mistaken judgement, that they must be doing something every Meeting (like the preachers of the letter, who must either be singing, preaching or praying all the time) and by such conduct they lose their interest and place in the hearts of friends by too long and too frequent appearing in both preaching and prayer. For the avoiding of which, keep close to thy gift, intently waiting to know thy place, both when to speak and when to be silent; and when thou speakest, begin under a sense of divine influence, whether it be in preaching or praying; and without it, do not either preach or pray”.
Howard Brinton in his 20th century Guide to Quaker Practice describes the characteristics of an acceptable spoken message to include.
- That the subject be conceived in a religious rather than a secular manner – “in a religious focus, one endeavours to see the matter as God would see it”
- That the message is spontaneous – is not prepared in advance
- That the message should be non-personal – the speaker should think of himself/herself as an instrument through which the Spirit speaks.
- That the message be non-argumentative – that the speaker states simply and directly a message which he/she believes will be recognised as true by its very character.
- That the message be brief – often a single sentence, spoken with reverence and conviction, carries more weight than do many words.
- That the message be unified with itself and other messages – the speaker rises with a certain concern…he weakens the effect if he passes on to other matters.
A short poem on “Spoken Ministry in the Life” is also in QF&P (2.65), which I’ve always enjoyed. It was written by Robert Hewison in 1965.
In the Life
My piece was pat and all ready to say,
She rose first. I threw my piece away.
My well-turned stuff
Was not so rough
As hers, but easy elegant and smooth.
Beginning middle end
It had and point
And aptly quoted prophet priest and poet.
Hers was uncouth
Wanting in art
Laboured scarce-audible and out of joint.
Three times she lost the thread
And sitting left her message half unsaid.
“Why then did thee throw it
Into the discard?”
Friend,
It had head
(Like this). Hers oh had heart
So often, when one is moved to offer vocal ministry, one is uncertain how it has been received. I’m sure I’m not the only one who struggles to know whether what I have felt moved to offer has been appropriate.
I was very pleased to note Duncan’s acknowledgement that it is important that, if the message was heard and found helpful if, indeed it was, it could be acknowledged. Perhaps we can bring back the phrase he mentioned “Thee was highly favoured today” to encourage our ministers?