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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. |

South Carolina — Reverend Michael McClain is working with the National Council of Churches (NCC) to reach out to historic black churches, explain the ways in which climate change is impacting poor people and people of color, and invite them to sign the National Council of Churches’ Faith Principles on Global Warming. Although global climate change affects all people, it hits people of color and those living in poverty the hardest.
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Diocese of Joliet, IL Article by Mark Indreika taken from Catholic Explorer 7/23/2008 As the Catholic Church continues to raise its voice in defense of the environment, people across the Diocese of Joliet are heeding the call, participating in educational programs and implementing new, environmentally friendly technologies. Education JustFaith was a series of workshops in the Diocese of Joliet, a 30-week program on Catholic social teaching. Maribeth Meaux, coordinator of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in...
Read moreEpiscopal Diocese of Ohio, OH The Episcopal Diocese of Ohio is changing attitudes about global warming by helping churches change light bulbs. Bishop Mark Hollingsworth and intern Andy Barnett are leading a campaign titled “How Many Light Bulbs Does it Take to Change an Episcopalian?” The program provides up to $250 per church to all 95 churches throughout the diocese to replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). “Almost any bulb under 250...
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New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey Increasingly secular and religious groups alike are using shareholder resolutions as a tactic ...
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Archdiocese of Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA In the crowded metropolis of Los Angeles sprawling ...
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Interfaith San Ramon Valley San Ramon, CA In May 2003, the suffering of an indigenous people half a world away led a group of Californian pastors ...
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Temple Beth Israel, Eugene, OregonJewish, Reconstructionist Movement What does composting kitchen scraps have to do ...
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Jewish Reconstructionist Community, Evanston, IL CONGRATULATIONS TO JRC for receiving LEED Platinum Certification in October 2008 – giving them the status of the greenest synagogue on the planet! [Compiled from Rabbi Brant Rosen’s Blog] Rabbi Rosen: “Our decision to achieve a gold or platinum LEED rating required careful consideration of sustainable strategies and a comprehensive, holistic approach to the building design. The design of our synagogue included sustainable components such as reclaimed, recycled and rapidly...
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The Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles, CAJewish, Reform Movement The Wilshire Boulevard Temple kicked off its first ...
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Adat Shalom Synagogue Farmington Hills, Michigan Adat Shalom, a Conservative shul (synagogue) in Farmington Hills,...
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Redwood Rabbis, Northern California Jewish, Non-denominational While many Jewish congregations may celebrate Tu B’shevat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees, with simple rituals of tree-planting or the eating of new fruits, nuts or wine, in 1997, the Redwoods Rabbis of Northern California took their observance of the holiday to a new level. As part of their ongoing advocacy to protect Headwaters Forest -- the last unprotected old growth redwood forest on the Pacific coast,...
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Fermi Project, Suwanee, GA Adapted from an article, “From Nightmare to Dream Come True” by Jeff Shinaberger, in the Summer 2007 issue of Creation Care magazine. Like many Biblical inspirations, this story begins with a dream, or moreover, a nightmare. Jeff Shinaberger dreamt of a boy, about eight years old, four feet tall, no shirt, wearing only ripped up mud-stained pants, with an extended belly. He watched the boy dip a glass into a filthy puddle...
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Quaker Center, Philadelphia, PA It’s a building renovation project grounded in the Quaker values of peace, simplicity and equality. Leaders of the Quaker Center in Philadelphia, PA are pursuing LEED Platinum certification for the renovation of the center’s 34-year-old office building, and are using LEED Platinum standards as they renovate its 1856 Meeting House. According to Director of Development Pat McBee, the Quaker tradition of testimony motivated the decision to build green: “The wars...
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