300
C. Ledderucci
Pacific Island countries to show the impact of climate disasters to a wider public.
In the #HaveYourSei campaign, activists asked their sustainers to show support by
wearing sei (the traditional Polynesian flower). More recent campaigns are the Stop
Adani marches and sit-ins against the building of the largest coal mine in Queensland; Pacific Pawa and the homonymous hashtag campaign seeking to empower
local communities, highlight peculiarities and encourage resilience; more recently,
Matagi M¯ alohi—Strong Winds, inspired by a Tokelauan poem, uses an evocative
photo shooting as storytelling “to weave together young people across the region,
and the world, in order to create a collective sense of place, people and purpose”
(350 Pacific 2019; see also George 2019 for an analysis of their visual campaigns).
This sense of connection resonates with the words of Koreti Tiumalu, former
350.org Pacific coordinator, who states that “we cannot build a Pacific Climate Movement without engaging our faith communities. Faith is pivotal to our people, and like
the ocean, it connects us. In the face of the climate crisis, we need prayer to carry
our people and faith to build resilience” (350 Pacific 2016a). #PrayForOurPacific
has been an important campaign engaging church communities to pray to empower
the movement. “We aren’t looking to our faith as a way to solve the issue of climate
change, but we are looking to our faith to find the strength to continue the fight to
protect the planet that was gifted to us. Not a planet that we have dominion over, but
a planet we are stewards of” (350 Pacific 2016a).
In 2015, 12 representatives of the Pacific Climate Warriors, including Catholic
and non-Catholic members, travelled to Rome to celebrate the Pope’s encyclical
Laudato Si’.
5 “Entering St Peter’s Square for the first time […] was overwhelming
for us all. We were all truly in awe of the place we had only seen in images or tv. For
some of us, it was the spiritual home our faith. For those who were non-Catholics,
the feeling of being in such a Holy place was very strong” (350 Pacific 2016b). The
Warriors laid out their traditional hand-woven mats on St. Peter’s Square “going to
each of the mats individually to silently reflect on the journey of that mat – where
it had come from, who had woven it and the people of that Island […] suffering
the impacts of climate change” (350 Pacific 2016b). Religion and tradition were
interwoven as the 3-day vigil began: “On each day, four Islands would be given an
opportunity to share the story of their mat and stories of impacts with the group. We
would then collectively as a group offer up prayers for that Island, prayers for the
leaders of that Island, share a moment of silence and where appropriate for the mat,
an act of contrition. We finished each Island presentation with a hymn – songs we
had been practicing all week” (350 Pacific 2016b).
In June 2018, a delegation of Warriors attended the International Conference for
the 3rd anniversary of the encyclical Laudato Si’.
It is not possible here to quote the entire dialogue although it is interesting to
analyze the participation of a Samoan Warrior, Joseph Moeono-Kolio:
The Pacific is our home. We are on the frontlines of climate change, it is real and it is
our reality now. Climate change is more than just cold data and cold economic models. It
5 Laudato Si’ is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. In it, he criticizes consumerism and
irresponsible development, common causes of environmental degradation and global warming.
C. Ledderucci
Pacific Island countries to show the impact of climate disasters to a wider public.
In the #HaveYourSei campaign, activists asked their sustainers to show support by
wearing sei (the traditional Polynesian flower). More recent campaigns are the Stop
Adani marches and sit-ins against the building of the largest coal mine in Queensland; Pacific Pawa and the homonymous hashtag campaign seeking to empower
local communities, highlight peculiarities and encourage resilience; more recently,
Matagi M¯ alohi—Strong Winds, inspired by a Tokelauan poem, uses an evocative
photo shooting as storytelling “to weave together young people across the region,
and the world, in order to create a collective sense of place, people and purpose”
(350 Pacific 2019; see also George 2019 for an analysis of their visual campaigns).
This sense of connection resonates with the words of Koreti Tiumalu, former
350.org Pacific coordinator, who states that “we cannot build a Pacific Climate Movement without engaging our faith communities. Faith is pivotal to our people, and like
the ocean, it connects us. In the face of the climate crisis, we need prayer to carry
our people and faith to build resilience” (350 Pacific 2016a). #PrayForOurPacific
has been an important campaign engaging church communities to pray to empower
the movement. “We aren’t looking to our faith as a way to solve the issue of climate
change, but we are looking to our faith to find the strength to continue the fight to
protect the planet that was gifted to us. Not a planet that we have dominion over, but
a planet we are stewards of” (350 Pacific 2016a).
In 2015, 12 representatives of the Pacific Climate Warriors, including Catholic
and non-Catholic members, travelled to Rome to celebrate the Pope’s encyclical
Laudato Si’.
5 “Entering St Peter’s Square for the first time […] was overwhelming
for us all. We were all truly in awe of the place we had only seen in images or tv. For
some of us, it was the spiritual home our faith. For those who were non-Catholics,
the feeling of being in such a Holy place was very strong” (350 Pacific 2016b). The
Warriors laid out their traditional hand-woven mats on St. Peter’s Square “going to
each of the mats individually to silently reflect on the journey of that mat – where
it had come from, who had woven it and the people of that Island […] suffering
the impacts of climate change” (350 Pacific 2016b). Religion and tradition were
interwoven as the 3-day vigil began: “On each day, four Islands would be given an
opportunity to share the story of their mat and stories of impacts with the group. We
would then collectively as a group offer up prayers for that Island, prayers for the
leaders of that Island, share a moment of silence and where appropriate for the mat,
an act of contrition. We finished each Island presentation with a hymn – songs we
had been practicing all week” (350 Pacific 2016b).
In June 2018, a delegation of Warriors attended the International Conference for
the 3rd anniversary of the encyclical Laudato Si’.
It is not possible here to quote the entire dialogue although it is interesting to
analyze the participation of a Samoan Warrior, Joseph Moeono-Kolio:
The Pacific is our home. We are on the frontlines of climate change, it is real and it is
our reality now. Climate change is more than just cold data and cold economic models. It
5 Laudato Si’ is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. In it, he criticizes consumerism and
irresponsible development, common causes of environmental degradation and global warming.