Abstract
The recent years have witnessed a fast-growing wave of new social collaborative mobilizations and demands for a more aggressive fight against climate change, as well as climate justice around the world. Such climate justice solidarity is gaining momentum not only in the North-South axis, but also among non-traditional climate justice entities such as religious groups. This article, based on the case analysis of one of those collaborative and solidarity struggles known as the “For our Common Home” campaign, contributes to the development of a theoretical framework for understanding the religious motives for addressing climate in terms of integral ecology and ecological conversion. Implemented by Development and Peace-Canada, this multi-year faith-inspired climate justice initiative aimed at pushing Canadian companies operating in the Amazon to be more environmentally responsible in their activities in the Amazonian basin, and to respect the voices of local Indigenous environmental activists. However, as I argue in this article, this form of climate justice activism is based on the assumption that global North institutions' solidarity with persecuted climate justice activists and communities in the global South can bear positive results for the fight against global warming. Using the combined research approach involving both direct participatory observation and participation in virtual meetings and events, we explore the following questions: How can a faith-inspired movement like Development and Peace-Caritas Canada, through a religious environmental campaign involving Indigenous communities in Canada and Brazil, participate in the development of social cohesion, and the advancement of social justice? What change can the campaign's solidarity with persecuted climate justice activists and communities in the Amazon bring to the climate fight against climate change?
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