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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. |

Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center Falls Village, Connecticut Jewish, Non-Denominational Isabella Freedman rests on 450 acres of forested land and lush meadows in the foothills of the southern Berkshires. As fall home to the Teva Learning Center and year-round home for the Adamah Jewish Environmental Fellowship, the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center is a living model of what it looks like to steward the land based on Jewish environmental ethics. Guests at the retreat center's...
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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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Washington State Catholic Conference, WA In Washington, Archbishop Alexander Brunett served on the Governor’s Climate Advisory Team, which prepared recommendations to achieve emission reduction, and green jobs goals. Many of the team’s recommendations were signed into law, the Climate Action and Green Jobs legislation. Some of the goals are to reduce emissions from the vehicle miles traveled, the establishment of a regional market-based system and the participation of local governments in them, and how the...
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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 moreLakeland Christian School, Lakeland, FL A version of this article originally appeared in the Spring 2008 issue of Creation Care magazine. Since 1998, “Monarch Mania” has been an annual event at Lakeland Christian School. It started with a local butterfly entrepreneur, Gil Daigneau, who stopped by the school and left elementary principal Fred Wiechmann a monarch chrysalis hot-glued to a Golden Dewdrop plant.
Read moreA TAPESTRY OF ENGAGEMENT Across the nation, wherever they live, work, and worship, people of faith have established diverse initiatives to care for God’s creation.
Read moreThe West Michigan Environmental Action Council Grand Rapids, MI Western Michigan is a region of strong religious heritage, rich with faith communities whose sacred texts and religious traditions urge care and respect for the environment. Recognizing this fertile ground for environmental advocacy, in 1997 the West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC) hosted a series of discussions on the relationship between religion and ecology, inviting the participation of the Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism, the...
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New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey Increasingly secular and religious groups alike are using shareholder resolutions as a tactic ...
Read moreCreation Care Conference Sandy Cove, MD Worship is the one of the essential lynchpins ...
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Adamah Fellowship Program at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat CenterFalls Village, CT In 2005, Adina Allen was an undergraduate environmental studies student at a university in Boston, MA taking an intensive course on the geopolitical issues connected with oil and water. She was looking for information and tools to engage with the paradigm shift of humans and their relationship to the world. She wasn’t satisfied that her academic learning was translating into practical experience. Adina...
Read moreMarah International Attleboro, MA Imagine growing up as a child in the environmental disaster areas of Eastern Europe or the former ...
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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...
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Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Cleveland, OH In a city struggling with economic hardship, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland, OH, stands for green renewal. In 2002, the cathedral, in conjunction with the Diocese of Ohio, expanded its buildings using green building principles and became an example of urban revitalization as well as sustainable development. As the city’s first downtown green renovation, the project won the Cleveland Engineering Society’s Excellence in Renovation Award and was a ...
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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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