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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 distinctive 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. |
Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies Grand Rapids, MI A partnership in missions is flourishing on the ...
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The Center for Theology and Land University of Dubuque Seminary and Wartburg Seminary Dubuque, IA Presbyterian Church...
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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...
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St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, Woodstock, IL Keeping water clean is a top priority for the Green Team at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Woodstock, IL. When members conducted a green audit to identify ways for the parish to become more environmentally responsible, they identified stormwater management as a key concern. Large concentrations of pollutants enter water systems in developed areas covered with impervious surfaces like roads and roofs. These surfaces don’t allow water to penetrate...
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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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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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Benedictine Women of Madison, Madison, WI The monastic community of the Holy Wisdom Monastery in Madison, WI have been hearing and practicing a lot concerning stability: Their new strategic plan focuses on growing their community in ways that will bring stability and strength to the work of the sisters; Ecumenical Board member Judith Rock claims stability is more countercultural today than celibacy; and a local environmental expert noted that the root system of prairies like the one stewarded at their monastery...
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The California Interfaith Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment, California Interfaith, with Jewish participation “Judaism affirms that the world is God’s ...
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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 the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center...
Read moreTangier Watermen's Stewardship for the Chesapeake Tangier Island, Chesapeake Bay, VA The 650 watermen (an old English term referring to one who fishes, crabs and oysters) of Tangier Island, Virginia, in Chesapeake Bay, trace their ancestry back to Cornwall England and, because of their remote location, still speak with an Elizabethan accent. The church is the center of community life, and 80 percent of the people consider themselves conservative evangelical Christians.
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Wild Rose Congregational Church Evergreen, CO United Church of Christ As members of Wild Rose Congregational Church ...
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Diocese of Stockton, CA “To respect life, you must respect the envelope of life, the Earth, on which all life depends,” wrote Bishop Stephen Blaire in his pastoral letter ushering in the first Environmental Justice Sunday throughout the Stockton Diocese in 2005. The Diocese extends from the rich farmlands of the California’s Central Valley, through the river canyons of northern Yosemite National Park, and into the stark beauty of Mono Lake, North America’s most ancient body...
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Archdiocese of Detroit Detroit, MI When Cardinal Adam Maida of the Archdiocese of Detroit delivered his speech to a crowd of nearly 1,200 Catholics on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2001, he highlighted a number of the problems Detroit faces due to its inattention to mass transit issues: The lack of economic opportunities for inner-city residents (they cannot reach better jobs in the suburbs) A segregated city More traffic congestion Increased air pollution An inability to attract businesses to the city center Through the leadership of...
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Hazon, New York, NY and National Hazon is a non-profit Jewish organization based in New York City, but with members across the US and beyond the nation’s borders. Their primary mission is to create healthier and more sustainable Jewish communities by connecting people to the land through local agriculture and outdoor adventures. Hazon has encouraged Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) through their program Tuv Ha’Aretz, which means both "Good for the land” and "Good from the land",...
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