This update is now obsolete. To see the final result of what happened with Fossil Free UMC’s petition at General Conference, see our final press release or A Report on What Happened with Fossil Fuel Divestment at General Conference and What You Can Do Now.
Today is the last day of General Conference. There are less than 20 items remaining, 16 are very important to those who are here so hard at work to renew our denomination.
I am hopeful. We have had hundreds of conversations. We have learned so much. Whatever happens today, whatever the outcome or vote count, we have succeeded at something a lot of us felt was all but impossible in our formerly grim, gridlocked church.
The spirit has rushed through this gathering. It has unlocked the doors of the prisoners. It has refreshed us with tears. We are singing in the light of God–that is happening here in Charlotte.
The vote for divestment from fossil fuels comes up today. We don’t know when. Let us pray that the body has the bandwidth to stay the course. Their mood is toward justice. Let us pray for a vote to free us from fossil fuels.
And know, we have done something urgent, faithful and necessary in being here, in sharing hope, in offering a vision for a just, sustainable, and abundant church.
Be encouraged. We got this. Whatever the outcome, this is a new day.
Praise be to God.
Richenda
FossilFreeUMC 
2 responses to “Today’s the day. I am hopeful.”
How about an amendment to the Westpath petition to begin a gradual divestment of 10% per year from fossil fuels starting in 2025?
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God’s creation is in crisis. The Council of Bishops wrote in 2009: “We must begin the work of renewing creation by being renewed in our own hearts and minds. We cannot help the world until we change our way of being in it.” We must divest from fossil fuels!
2023 was the hottest calendar year on record going back to 1850. Each month from June to December in 2023 was warmer than the corresponding month in any previous year. July and August 2023 were the warmest two months on record.
My husband and I are beekeepers and it was so hot in our southwest Missouri apiary last July and August that our queen bees stopped laying eggs which caused the population of our hives to drop precipitously. The unusually hot temperatures and drought lasted so long that our colonies did not recover to produce enough honey for us to harvest. One local impact of our global climate crisis!
The last 10 years rank as the 10 hottest years on record!
February 2024 was the warmest February on record. Global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) reached a record high of 425.38 parts per million (ppm), up from 420.99 ppm just one year ago, February 2023. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere corelates directly to temperature, so rising CO2 emissions guarantee exponentially rising temperatures. Emitted CO2 remains in the atmosphere for 300 to 1,000 years. So, all of the carbon dioxide humans emitted since the beginning of the industrial era (the 19th Century) is still blanketing and warming our planet, as we continue emitting more.
For millennia, going back 800,000 years, ice core samples and other direct scientific measures show that CO2 measured below 300 ppm. Burning fossil fuels which powered the Industrial Revolution initiated the rise in CO2 emissions. By 1950, the numbers began to spike and now, these continuously rising extreme elevations affect all living things on our planet. Scientists do not expect it return below 425 ppm in our lifetimes.
Unless we stop emitting CO2 into our atmosphere, we will continue to see worsening heat waves, disastrous flooding, unusual weather patterns, food insecurity, and mass displacement of people.
God’s creation is in crisis. The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church wrote in 2009: “We must begin the work of renewing creation by being renewed in our own hearts and minds. We cannot help the world until we change our way of being in it.” We must stop emitting CO2! Divest from fossil fuels!
Cheryl Y. Marcum, United Methodist EarthKeeper Creation Care Ministry Leader, Stockton United Methodist Church, Mo.
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