Mardi Tindal, the Moderator of The United Church of Canada, is blogging from COP15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (http://en.cop15.dk/) in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 7-18, 2009.

Late yesterday afternoon I received an e-mail from a faithful church member in rural Ontario. The words sounded harsh to me, questioning the Moderator’s priorities (going to Copenhagen) when the church at home needs so much attention. Most e-mail messages provide no real contact information, but this one had some clues. So I tracked down a phone number and had a good conversation with a wonderful woman last evening.

Last-minute updates from Copenhagen are arriving on my Blackberry in these minutes leading up to the official opening of the Fifteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15).

This morning I spoke with both my 91-year-old Father-in-Law and my Mom, who’s of the same generation (haven’t asked permission to publish her age!). Both had great questions and suggestions about the UN Climate Change talks.

We began Advent last Sunday with a focus on hope. As you and I have prayerfully prepared for the United Nations Climate Change talks over the days since, I've found it inspiring to see so many examples of people choosing hope over despair.

Welcome to my blog—a place to reflect with me on God’s abundant healing of soul, community, and creation. I hope you will visit often and be part of this sacred conversation.

The front page of the morning newspaper quotes an 11-year-old girl saying, among other things, “If you’re going to go through life, truth is big.”

Being naughty and cross posting but this is near and dear to my heart!

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Canada: Don't Wait for U.S. to Fight Global Warming
Target: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Sponsored by: Care2

Canadian Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice told the House of Commons environment committee that he would wait to issue any regulations forcing industry to cut pollution until the United States announces their plans.