Flintshire woman speaks up for renewable energy across the world

A woman from Flint has showed her support for the aid agency CAFOD by hosting a coffee morning in her church.

Harriet Rees, who studies geography at Liverpool John Moores University, held the coffee morning as part of CAFOD’s Power to Be campaign and the Climate Coalition’s week of action, which ran from 1-9 July.

Held in the parish of the Immaculate Conception, Flint, guests were given a talk on how they can live more simply and treated to coffee and cake.

Harriet, who recently represented CAFOD North Wales at a sustainability camp in Portugal which was attended by Pope Francis, said: “I was first introduced to CAFOD through talks and events within my parish and as a passionate young Catholic, I saw this as a perfect way to put my faith into action.

As a keen geographer and Catholic, CAFOD’s Power to be campaign fits perfectly with all my own concerns, such as climate change and inequality.

CAFOD’s local representative in North Wales, Colette Byrne, said: “We are delighted to have Harriet as a CAFOD volunteer. It is great to see someone so young, willing to commit some of their spare time to their faith by volunteering.

By taking part in our Speak up week of action and supporting our Power to be campaign, Harriet is playing her part in ensuring that people across the world have access to safe, renewable energy.

Currently, one in six people around the world live without electricity. Local, renewable energy is usually the cheapest and most efficient way to bring power to the poorest communities.

It means that families don’t have to rely on dangerous and unhealthy energy sources such as paraffin lamps and firewood. It enables children to study after dark, nurses to keep vaccines cold and farmers to irrigate crops.

Through the World Bank, the UK already invests in energy access to combat poverty but less than 3% of World Bank spending goes towards renewable energy and clean cooking.

CAFOD’s Power to be campaign is asking the UK’s representative at the World Bank, Melanie Robinson, to use her influence to ensure that children everywhere have the power to achieve great things and lift themselves out of poverty, without harming the planet.