aith communities' engagement with environmental issues means something different to every person. Each of us brings our own particular vantage point, lifetime of experiences and persona and professional resources to the questions: What is at stake for me in today’s planetary crisis? What dimensions of this crisis touch what I feel most deeply, hold most dearly, in my own well-loved community and place on earth? How shall I respond to the glory and the grief of the earth and my fellow human beings? What part does religion play in all this for me?

One way to approach these questions is to consider one’s own role in society or in a faith community. Citizen and family member; teacher and student; clergy and layperson; businessperson, scientist, scholar, journalist or environmental professional — each has a unique opportunity to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between faith and the environment, or to nurture richer, more fruitful expression of the calling to care for creation.