A MEMBER of Worcester Cathedral’s Eco Group will be running the city’s Half Marathon on Sunday (September 4) to raise awareness about climate injustice.
Paul Grime, who is 58 and worships at the Cathedral, joined the Eco Group earlier this year, after relocating to the city.
He is running the Worcester Half Marathon to raise awareness of the Loss and Damage Petition – an online petition for the creation of an international fund to redress the injustice of climate change.
The Worcester City Run falls on Climate Sunday this year, and rather than asking for financial sponsorship, Paul is asking people to sign and share the petition.
Paul is passionate about social justice and climate change in particular and has volunteered as a speaker for the past 10 years with Christian Aid.
He has previously run the London Marathon in 2017 and the Edinburgh Marathon in 2019, in support of the charity.
In June 2022 Paul took on the voluntary role of Climate Campaign Organiser with Christian Aid in order to campaign about climate justice.
“The aim of the petition is to ask the Prime Minister to set up international funding so that those countries that contribute the least, but suffer the most from climate change, can have some redress,” he said.
“We all contribute to climate change, be it through driving petrol cars or using fossil fuels, and we notice it when the river floods, or we have a particularly hot summer.
“But for the people in Ethiopia, it really is life and death. They’re so vulnerable because they have no buffer. When crops fail and they can’t feed their livestock, their children die.
“I hope by completing the Worcester Half Marathon I can raise awareness and get more people to sign this important petition.”
The petition has just over 7,000 signatures so far – visit www.christianaid.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/loss-and-damage-petition to sign.
For more information about the Cathedral Eco Group, visit www.worcestercathedral.co.uk/eco
