West Lothian church is calling on polluters to 'pay up'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Members of Livingston United Parish Church are calling on polluters to pay up.The congregation added their prayers to global calls for polluters to pay for the loss and damage caused by the climate crisis – with a creative twist to help focus minds on the people most affected.The church created a display of “paper prayer people” to represent those who have lost their lives, homes or livelihoods because of increasingly severe and common extreme weather events, such as floods, storms and droughts.Members were moved by the scale of the rebuilding that communities in southern Malawi were undertaking, after nearly half of the country experienced flooding an landslides following Cyclone Freddy in March.Marjory McGhie, who is LUPC Eco-Congregation leader, said: “As Christians we are driven by the belief that everyone is created equal and should have the opportunity to experience life in its fullness. “Therefore, we were led to take action by the injustice whereby many communities are facing the prospect of debt and poverty as they pay to rebuild following climate disasters, despite having done the least to cause the climate crisis, while big polluters continue to profit from the fossil fuels they produce.” LUPC started their action by raising £817 for Christian Aid, a UK charity working with local partners in Malawi, and across the globe, to help create a world where everyone can live a full life free from poverty.Now they’ve joined other churches across the UK in Christian Aid’s #RiseUpPayUp action.Marjory continued: “We started by learning about the impacts that climate-related loss and damage has had on people’s lives.“Then we prayed for justice to prevail by creating paper prayer people calling for polluters to pay up for