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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. |

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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Adamah Fellowship Program at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Falls Village, CT Beginning in the 1990’s, Zelig Golden became interested in community agriculture and dreamed about farming through experiences he’d had on farms in Idaho and South America. In 1998 he became the first program director of the Northwest Jewish Environment Project in Seattle, Washington (a COEJL affiliate), which drew connections between Judaism and environmental protection. Some of his training to undertake this task came from Adam Berman, Executive Director of...
Read moreThis is a support document for the Catholic Stewardship Story, "Parish Renovation" at the Church of St. Joan of Arc in Minnesota, and an example of a congregation's vision statement for a more environmentally aware and sustainable community: Church of St. Joan of Arc Parish Center Minneapolis, MN Vision...
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COEJL Santa Cruz Jewish, Non-denominational This delightful program uses the holiday of Purim to educate the Jewish community of Santa Cruz, ...
Read moreBethel Christian Church Sideling Hill Creek Watershed, PA For people concerned about protecting the environment, the old adage, “All rivers lead to the sea,” ...
Read moreGeorgetown Gospel Chapel Seattle, WA Georgetown Gospel Chapel is a small Full Gospel congregation that sits in the heart of Seattle’s ...
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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 ...
Read moreSisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe, MI Article by Holly Knight, IHM Sisters Communications and Marketing Director, taken from The Immaculate Heart Of Mary Quarterly, Autumn 2008. In 2003, before the sisters' big move back to the Motherhouse, they decided to produce a DVD on the sustainable renovation of this grand, old convent. Toward the end of the production, several sisters were interviewed and taped about their newly "green" home. Sister Paula (Marie Paula)...
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Third World Mission Trips, International A version of this article By Anton Flores originally appeared in the Summer 2007 issue of Creation Care magazine. The concept of “leave no trace” is to provide a guideline for reducing our impact on the natural environment and on the experience for other visitors of God’s wonderful creation.
Read moreDunkirk, NY Though few people may now be familiar with the concept of “gleaning” — the ...
Read moreMission Year, Atlanta, GA A version of this article by Leroy Barber originally appeared in the Spring 2008 issue of Creation Care magazine. Leroy Barber lives in an unjust American landscape. The people in his church live in one of Atlanta’s urban sacrifice zones. If you sat down to list the social ills that are unequally visited on his neighborhood, you might be able to name a few of the most prominent. But environmental injustices likely...
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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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Northaven United Methodist Church, Dallas, TX Most Texas car shows show off the biggest and boldest new cars, trucks, and SUVs out there, according to Rev. Eric Folkerth of Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX. So when church members proposed a hybrid car show four years ago, the idea was a semi-serious joke. Now that joke has turned into a rallying event for the church’s annual Earth Day Celebration. Fuel efficiency has become a...
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Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Munroe, MI Nationally recognized as models of sustainable living, the IHM Sisters of Monroe now are coming full circle. They are pioneering the emerging trend of "sustainable dying." In August 2009 the sisters carried out their first green burial. IHM Sister Antoinette Ruedisueli, who died on Aug. 16, was the first IHM sister to have opted for a green burial. Green burial reduces a person's environmental impact...
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