Climate Justice Campaigning in the UK


10 April 2023

By Andrew Bolton 
Leicester, England 

Andrew Fellows and Michael Clarke of the Clay Cross Congregation protest to raise awareness of our dangerous climatic times. They’re active with Christian Climate Action, the Christian wing of larger climate groups.  

Neither Fellows nor Clarke is loud or arrogant. They are rounded, thoughtful disciples supporting congregational life, helping with youth camps and other efforts. Among Clarke’s gifts is his artwork with themes of protest—he is known as Michael the Artist in Christian Climate Action. 

Fellows in 2012 founded a foodbank in the Clay Cross Congregation, a service that quickly became ecumenical and continues to serve in the tragic situation of ever-more poverty. 

The two men are not single-issue people. 

Andrew Fellows and Michael Clarke of the Clay Cross Congregation protest to raise awareness of our dangerous climatic times.

In November 2021, Fellows and Clarke were at COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. This summit brought together parties to speed action toward the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. A key goal is to keep the average-temperature increase to 1.5 degrees centigrade. If we go higher our children and grandchildren will reap the whirlwind. 

Their protests included marching with others around a bank (implicated in allegedly financing climate changes) seven times and then shouting and drumming to bring down its walls, like in the story of Jericho. This street-theater protest caught people’s attention, and Fellows and Clarke were interviewed on Scottish TV. 

Fellows is a seventy, a special witness for Jesus, climate justice, and liberation of the poor. Clarke is a deacon, making sure we look after our Earth home for everyone. 

Please pray for the ongoing courageous witness of so many trying to make a difference in our portentous times. Let us think about joining them in protest and lifestyle. Don’t be bystanders. 

With their guidance we have declared a climate emergency for the British Isles church. The British Isles Mission Centre also has submitted G-1, the Climate Emergency resolution to the 2023 World Conference for the worldwide church to consider. 

Fellows and Clarke helped write more than twenty-two weekly Climate Actions Points over six months, with Zoom webinars, to help members and friends lower their carbon footprint. Fellows and Clarke walk the talk in terms of their homes and how they live. They are nice people and not judgmental of others seeking to follow and catch up. 

The British government is making it more and more difficult to protest peacefully and democratically. Protesters may be arrested for simply holding a placard peacefully and courteously. Please pray for the ongoing courageous witness of so many trying to make a difference in our portentous times. Let us think about joining them in protest and lifestyle. Don’t be bystanders. 

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