Conclusion

It might reasonably be argued that faith and science have contributed greatly to climate change and therefore have no small responsibility for addressing the issue. In this volume, science and faith, alongside educators and practitioners, have sought to find ways of communicating and working with one another to do just that. We have seen how the people of the Pacific Island Region have modelled the cooperation needed. They have been working together under threat and uncertainty about rising sea levels for a sustained period and are already engaged with resilience and adaptation ‘on the ground’. We hope that this volume has provided an introduction to the different perspectives on and potential for this collaboration on a wider scale.

There is much missing from this volume; subjects for future consideration might include the role of art in raising awareness and combating climate stress; research with those who hold the earth in reverence across different faiths and traditions; further exploration of the place of creation in scripture and Christian tradition; consideration of environmental ethical reasoning across the disciples; environmental curricula development. In the meantime, we would like to commend continued consideration of the importance of story and human contact; the interconnection of all life, seen and unseen; the need for nurture of our inner worlds as well as the outer world we share; the need to attend to necessary balance within creation and our part in it.

The role of church and education in adaptation to and mitigation of climate change remains critical. We applaud the efforts already being made and urge the following actions: enhanced eco-responsible use of money, buildings and land; building empowerment into education; tackling fear and inertia though prayer, preaching, research and celebration; shaking hands and showing up in support of community, national and international projects; and, not least, the communication of the possibility of transformation through hope and united action.

As we have read, small changes set in motion much larger consequences, and if we embrace this natural way of things, we may yet be able to reverse the situation.