The Rev. Norman Hutcheson spoke about the Eco-Congregation movement at the International Conference on Climate Change and the Developing World at Kottayam, Kerala, India, last month. The conference was arranged by the Church of South India in conjunction with the College and Nilackal Ecological Commission.

Many presentations were given on the theme of climate change and the developing world, such as information about the world’s first interfaith initiative to create a world where every human has access to clean drinking water; impacts of climate change already being experienced in the Indian river systems and the Aral Sea; focus on the value of indigenous knowledge of environmental care; biodiversity; and energy issues.

The Bishop Thomas K Oommen, Bishop of Madhya Kerala Diocese, set out the challenge to Christians based on the missiological call of the 1988 Lambeth Conference: “That churches pursue the integrity of God’s creation and sustain the life of the earth”.

Students from the Botany department produced a book detailing the vast biodiversity found on campus (over 500 different species of plants), as well as laying on an evening of Kerala dance and traditional music.

A beach at Fort Kochi on the Arabian Sea has a large sculpture of a crab made out of thousands of recycled plastic bottles.

Norman’s address to the conference can be read here.

His full report of the conference can be accessed here.