Most people are now well aware that Climate Emergency is very real and will impact all of our lives. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) recently published a report which was described UN Secretary General António Guterres as “Code Red for humanity”. Many of those living in the global South are already directly affected by drought or floods or fires or other natural disasters. Climate change is also increasingly a cause of refugee movement.

In Britain we are, for the present, less obviously directly affected. Nevertheless, walking through our beautiful countryside over the last couple of weeks it has been noticeable how there are fewer birds, insects and wildflowers than there would have been a few decades ago and how large and uniform many fields are, with fewer hedgerows and trees. We also passed near the route of HS2 and mourned the loss of many natural habitats destroyed by its progress.

A core group of about 15 are walking the entire route from London to Glasgow and we were joined in Birmingham by a group which had started in Bristol. Some like myself have taken part for extended periods (in my case 120 miles from London to Birmingham) and many others join just for part or all of a day. The route is about 10 miles each day with walkers carrying rucksacks containing all their belongings. It’s sobering to realise how little you need to live when you have to carry it all : about 8-10 kilos on average with a couple of changes of clothes and washing kit plus sleeping bag and mat. We slept on church hall floors and for the odd night in churches. When you are really tired you sleep well even on a hard floor though we were delighted where there was a carpet or the offer of a shower.

We received a warm welcome everywhere. Almost all our hosts provided a delicious vegan meal. Most evenings this was followed by an outreach event where a couple of the group told their stories of why we’d been drawn to the walk and to become activists for the Climate Emergency. This was followed by small group discussions.

Here, and in our many encounters on the road, we generally found that people are aware that there is a Climate Emergency. Some respond by making small or larger lifestyle changes – recycling, walking rather than driving short distances, eating less meat. These are all good. “Laudato Si”, Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical written before the last COP Summit, enjoined all of us to do this. But it is nowhere near enough to make the real and radical changes which are needed and are called for by the IPCC.

“Laudato Si” calls for change at personal, community and political levels. Some churches we visited were Ecochurches ; Catholic churches follow LiveSimply. These communities are beginning to make a real difference. But, despite the Government’s plans and broad targets, even its own Climate Change Committee has said that progress is nowhere near urgent enough.

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To read the entire article : “Camino to COP – Reflections”    from the blog of Barbara Wilson, a friend of the Cenacle.