Viva’s Cutting Edge: How Climate Change is Impacting Vulnerable Families and Why We Must Act Now
“Creation is also us … We are connected, unavoidably connected.”- María Alejandra Andrade
Climate Change Session Summary
María Alejandra Andrade explored climate change as a complex, systemic crisis rooted in colonial history and human consumption. Industrialisation has raised CO₂ levels by 40%, triggering global warming and mass extinction. Vulnerable communities suffer most despite contributing least, revealing deep inequalities. Andrade challenged three lies: nature as a mere resource, unlimited planetary growth, and consumption-based economics. She called for systemic change and a shift from domination to relationality, emphasising that “creation is also us.” Caring for creation stems from self-preservation, children’s rights, Biblical obedience, and love. Ultimately, there is a need to reclaim nature’s sacredness and understand that all creation belongs to God.
Global boiling
María Alejandra Andrade emphasised the urgency of addressing climate change, framing it as both a scientific and theological concern. She noted that while “the earth has always been changing,” the current crisis is unprecedented because “this mass extinction is caused by human activity.” Industrialisation has driven CO₂ levels up by 40%, leading to global warming -or as some now call it, “global boiling” - with catastrophic consequences such as rising sea levels, droughts, and forced migration. The roots of climate change are historical and systemic, tied to colonial exploitation: “Many of those places that were looted 500 years ago are now places where life cannot happen.” Climate change disproportionately affects communities that contribute least to emissions, revealing deep inequalities and a “colonial component” in environmental degradation. Indigenous defenders and marginalised groups often pay the highest price, facing violence and impunity.
Fundamental lies
María identified three fundamental lies fuelling the crisis:
Nature is a resource created for human use.
Our planet allows unlimited growth, and
The only possible economic model is one based on consumption.
She argued that systemic change is required, moving beyond superficial fixes toward alternative models and a relational worldview.
Four compelling reasons to care for creation
María presented a rationale for caring for the environment based on four foundations:
Self-preservation: We need to care for creation because its damage is affecting us.
Children’s ecological rights: If the planet is not in good health, then our children are highly disadvantaged.
Biblical obedience: Because creation belongs to God and He is offended when it is damaged, we have a duty to obey His order to care for it.
Love rooted in interconnectedness: Importantly, “in the indigenous worldview, the creation, nonhuman creation, we are neighbours. We are connected; unavoidably connected.”
María gave a clear rallying cry for action: “We need to change our life world, which goes beyond having recycling initiatives or green jobs. All those are good. But if we don't reclaim and if we don't rescue that possibility to see God's creation as sacred, and relate with that creation as something that is sacred that belongs to God, all those initiatives will be good but will never be enough.”
She ended with a quote from Vinodandra, a theologian from Sri Lanka, who says that the people of God under the old covenant “were repeatedly taught that they were guests in the land they inhabited. Only when they saw the land not as an object of consumption for commercial exchange but as a community to which they belonged would they be in a position to use it rightly.”
These sessions were from a Cutting Edge conference in July 2025, organised by Viva, an international charity that inspires, equips and connects networks of churches and community-based organisations to work together to make a bigger, better and longer-lasting impact in the lives of children. For more information about Viva or Cutting Edge, please visit viva.org.