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Caring for God's Creation Love and gratitude for God's creation lie deep within religious life. From mountaintops to forests, green pastures to still waters, stars in the sky and lilies of the field, we experience the grace of our Creator and the gift of our presence here. With Earth in grave environmental peril, many religious Americans are seeking to respond through our faith. Through the many gateways and galleries of this website, we offer resources and accounts of how people of faith are acting upon God's mandate to be stewards of our precious Earth. Partners in Stewardship The National Religious Partnership for the Environment is an association of independent faith groups across a broad spectrum: the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches U.S.A., the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network. Each Partner — in common biblical faith but drawing upon its disctinctive traditions — is undertaking scholarship, leadership training, congregational and agency initiative, and public policy education in service to environmental sustainability and justice. Together, they seek to offer resources of religious life and moral vision to a universal effort to protect humankind's common home and well-being on Earth. |

Second Presbyterian Church, Carlisle, PA When more than 100 physicians in Cumberland County, PA, published a warning statement about the high levels of diesel particulate matter in the air, Rev. Jennifer McKenna called to find out what they were going to do about it. Upon learning they had no plans to act, she spurred her congregation at Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, PA, to advocacy. Together, they formed the Clean Air Board of Central...
Read moreTrinity Vineyard, Atlanta, GA A version of this article by Jason Chatraw originally appeared in the Summer 2007 issue of Creation Care magazine. Eureka! Get[ting] Out - Inner City Youth Embrace Creation Over Baseball As the groundswell of support continues to grow for incorporating creation care into the life of church ministry, ways to approach teaching good stewardship and an appreciation for God’s creation may vary vastly. There are simple, obvious ways—and then there are ways you...
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United Methodist Conference of North Texas, TX The North Texas Annual Conference has created a groundbreaking opportunity for its churches to go green. It negotiated for its 200 churches to buy the equivalent of 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources within Texas.Some congregations are taking greening a step further. Northaven UMC in Dallas, TX, plans to pay a premium to buy 100 percent green energy. According to Pastor Eric Folkerth, “It’s consistent...
Read moreHarlem Congregations for Community Improvement, New York City, NY An interfaith coalition of more than 90 congregations is greening low-income housing in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement (HCCI) is celebrating the recent opening of David and Joyce Dinkins Gardens, a new, green affordable housing development.
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Article By Mandi Stirone taken from Catholic News Service Catholic colleges and universities are joining their public counterparts in pursuing green initiatives for their campuses using a variety of resources, offices and organizations. Students and school officials are tapping into Internet-based initiatives such as the Campus Greening Initiative at http://www.netimpact.org and Campus Climate Challenge, and they're also entering competitions such as RecycleMania, which promotes friendly competition among campuses to promote recycling efforts. About 24 Catholic colleges and universities have also joined the...
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University Baptist Church Seattle, WA University Baptist Church is a small congregation in Seattle that considers creation care part of its Christian witness. On Pentecost Sunday in 2004, the congregation decided to celebrate the Holy Spirit’s blowing throughout God’s creation in a special way: Drive-Less Sunday. For a month leading up to Pentecost, bulletin announcements and verbal announcements were often heard to encourage a day to walk, bus, carpool, or bike to church on...
Read moreNational Association of Evangelicals, Christianity Today, and the Evangelical Environmental Network In March 1999,...
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Wesley United Methodist Church, Yakima, WA Five million pounds. That’s the amount of material kept out of Washington State landfills over the last 30 years thanks to the members of Wesley United Methodist Church in Yakima, WA. The church placed a recycling center in its parking lot almost 30 years ago. A core group of volunteers—with an average age of 76—processes 60,000 pounds of recyclables every month. “This is much more complicated than simply having...
Read moreSt. Andrew Presbyterian Church Billings, MT Health comes in many forms. Clean air, clean water, safe environment. Health also comes about through acts of feeding hungry people, bringing healing and wholeness to individuals, and offering hospitality to native species. Through changing an empty weedy lot into a lush Community Garden and an outdoor labyrinth, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church has created a healthy, wholesome space for God's creation. Rev. Brent Long, pastor at St. ...
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Adamah Fellowship Program at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Falls Village, CT Aitan Mizrahi always knew he wanted a profession that was based on do-it-yourself, off-the-grid skills, and he wanted his line of work to be in line with a Jewish way of life. He was in his mid-20s when he found the perfect opportunity to combine Jewish text and teachings with practical thought and hands-on agricultural experience. Adamah: The Jewish Environmental Fellowship (Adamah) at...
Read moreA Rocha In the Algarve, a beautiful Mediterranean landscape in this southernmost region of Portugal popular with European tourists, a British-based ...
Read moreUnited Methodist Church of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA Members of the United Methodist Church of Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, CA wanted a church building that demonstrated their values: creating a safe environment for God’s people while having minimal impact on the earth. Now they are working to build a church following the discipline of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for new construction certification, with the intent of achieving the highest LEED...
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The Benedictine Women of Madison Middleton, WI Saint Benedict Center in Middleton, WI, is situated on 130 acres overlooks the northern shore of Lake ...
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Sylvania United Church of Christ, Sylvania, OH Members of Sylvania United Church of Christ (UCC) in Sylvania, OH are saving more than 84,000 pounds of CO2 emissions each year through conservation efforts. The building itself has a passive solar design that uses a hillside to maintain a constant temperature in certain parts of the building. The church recently added to its energy savings by installing a photovoltaic array (solar panels) on its roof. The...
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