MEMBERS of Tamworth City Uniting Church don't want to see the world's wildlife and natural beauty disappear, and have taken part in a global movement to express this.
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A group gathered on Thursday morning armed with placards and drums for the Sacred People, Sacred Earth event.
This event occurs around the world, and sees places of worship sound the "climate alarm" by "striking a drum to call people to stand in solidarity with our planet".
At the Tamworth gathering, church minister Betty Stroud read a number of hymns, and Helen Cameron read a poem by Kim Hadley, called 'Stand Beside Me'.
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Ms Stroud said the Tamworthians were calling on governments "to take seriously the effects of climate change on our populations around the world, and calling for governments to take action".
"The Australian Religious Response for Climate Change group is calling on the Australian government to move towards net-zero emissions by 2030 in agreement with the Paris Climate Accord," Ms Stroud said.
"We're also calling on them to look at ways in which the people that are currently employed in those industries can be retrained, and absorbed into better jobs that take better care of the planet.
"We believe that human beings are just part of the creation, we're not the be all and end all of creation, we're part of a wider creation and we depend so much on the ecosystems of this planet and if we destroy them, which we have been doing, then life will no longer be sustainable for us."
Ms Cameron said it was important to show the nation's leaders "that people in regional Australia do care about climate change".
"There have been many many reports released indicating that Australia is [lagging] in the way we are approaching climate change and so that's what our message is about," she said.
Ms Stroud said she believed the federal government could do more to combat the impacts of climate change.
"They are doing some things, but not fast enough," the minister told the Leader.
"We haven't been giving our ecosystems the time to adapt, there's just no time."
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