Operation Noah appoints Campaign Strategist (8 Jan)

PRESS RELEASE 8 JANUARY 2008

For immediate release; photos and interviews available upon request (1)

Operation Noah has appointed an award-winning documentary maker to a newly-created post of Campaign Strategist (2). Mark Dowd, a former Dominican Friar and for more than 20 years, television producer and presenter, is to take up the post with immediate effect. Dowd, 48, was the Churches Media Council’s choice as Religious Broadcaster of the year in 2006.

Dowd was also the journalist who successfully challenged the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, to give up flying for a year on the Channel 4 documentary, God Is Green last year. As Operation Noah seeks to expand its campaign of encouraging religious and political leaders to lead the people of Britain in responding to the threat of dangerous climate change, Dowd will take on the task of campaign strategist. He will travel the country to make a passionate, faith-based case for radical reductions in the output of Britain’s greenhouse gases. The organisation’s stated goal is a 90 per cent reduction by the year 2030.

“I am delighted to be appointed to this post and cannot wait to get down to work as soon as possible,” he said. “Brave leadership from women and men in public life is going to essential if the real calamity of runaway climate change is to be avoided. Christians have a huge role to play in bearing prophetic witness and for living simpler lives that respect the increasingly fragile state of God’s creation,” he continued. “Often they can prepare the way for difficult decisions that politicians are afraid of confronting.”

Since the airing of God Is Green, Mark Dowd has toured the UK giving talks and seminars based on the film. Now the new post with Operation Noah will allow him to extend this role and take the message of the need for action to churches and faith groups. The aim is to build up a large community of supporters who can demand that government provides the necessary legislative framework to transform Britain into a low carbon society in a way that ensures the burden of adjustment is shared between rich and poor. “It is a huge boost to have someone of Mark’s passion and journalistic experience on board in our expanding organisation,” said Operation Noah’s Director of Campaigns, Ann Pettifor.

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

(1) Contact for more information Mark Dowd, Campaign Strategist, on 07968131639

(2) Operation Noah is an inclusive group of committed Christians from across Britain with a London-based office. We welcome people of faith, and none. Operation Noah was founded in 2001 by Christian Ecology Link (CEL) and later became a joint project of CEL and the Environmental Issues Network of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. It was the first Christian campaign to focus exclusively on the issue of Climate Change and this continues to be its mission.