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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. |

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...
Read moreAt St. Paul’s Church, making the switch to solar power was a win-win situation. Not only did it provide immediate benefits to the environment, in the long run, it will save the congregation a great deal of money. In 2006, the environmental committee at St. Paul’s opted to create a limited liability company, with the intention of taking advantage of tax benefits. Sonlight Solar LLC (as the company came to be called) paid for about half of the startup costs....
Read moreManassas Church of the Brethern, Manassas, VA B.U.G.S are everywhere at Manassas Church of the Brethren in Manassas, VA. But the church isn’t infested with insects; rather it’s growing intergenerational green church program called B.U.G.S., which stands for Better Understanding of Green Stewardship.
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Dioceses of Iowa and the Iowa Catholic Conference Changing methods of swine production are raising many questions and concerns about the impacts ...
Read moreA few small steps can lead to great progress. In 2008, the the Parish of St. Monica-St. George performed an energy assessment with Sr. Paula Gonzalez on their 98 year old school building. The parish, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, near the University of Cincinnati, learned ways to improve their building in a manner that made it more efficient and environmentally friendly. The parish embraced the recommended changes, adding more energy efficient double paned windows in order to save money and...
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Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House Oklahoma City, OKVisit site... Daily contact with small, struggling farmers, combined with commitment to the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church, led members of the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House in Oklahoma City to begin thinking of ways to re-create the local food system. Local residents desired fresh, healthy foods and farmers needed a way to sell their goods directly to the public. Connecting local producers and consumers...
Read moreMaplewood Mennonite Church Fort Wayne, IN Maplewood Mennonite Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has just about 147 members, typically with 89 ...
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Diocese of Joliet, IL The University of St. Francis is one of the Catholic Universities leading the way when it comes to environmental stewardship. According to the university’s Greening of Campus mission statement: Greening, a philosophy rooted in Catholic Franciscanism, is a philosophy for life. The ultimate goal of Greening of the Campus is to cultivate among students, faculty, and staff a humble recognition that God made humanity the steward of creation, with personal responsibility...
Read moreAu Sable Institute for Environmental Studies, MI A version of this article by Peter Illyn originally appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of Creation Care magazine.
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Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, AK, FL, OH Early in its beginning, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change focused on providing a forum to explore the links between faith and climate change by hosting hearings around the country. In the Spring of 2007, hearings were held in three key states: Anchorage, AK, Columbus, OH, and Orlando, FL. These hearings provided an opportunity to learn about science, theology, and local actions to address the environmental and social impacts of climate change. A...
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Grace Episcopal Church, Bainbridge Island, WA A one-time Carless Sunday event at Grace Episcopal Church in Bainbridge Island, WA, has grown into a long-term program that is raising awareness about global warming. Inspired by Earth Ministry’s “On the Road” program, the church sponsored its first Carless Sunday April 2007. Organizers created a large map of the island, divided it into zones, and created lists of parishioners in each zone. They hung it in the...
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Boston, MA — Boston COEJL, coordinated by Susie Davidson and Amelia Geggel, began a statewide “Pledge to Green" synagogues in Massachusetts. The Pledge, a nonbinding promise to practice more environmentally-conscious measures, is viewable on BostonCOEJL.org, which will post progress reports of individual synagogues. Over 15 Boston-area synagogues have signed on to the pledge. Boston COEJL members, who are available for consultations and Basics of Greening talks for children and adults, have also posted a Green Guide for Massachusetts Synagogues, with information...
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National Catholic Rural Life Conference Des Moines, IA Educating farm workers in Yakima Valley, Washington ...
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Canfei Nesharim, New York, NY and National Canfei Nesharim (“the Wings of Eagles”) partnered with Orthodox synagogues across the United States to include environmental teachings in the Jewish festival holidays of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret during the Fall of 2008. Canfei Nesharim is an organization that provides traditional Jewish resources about the importance of protecting the environment. On Sukkot, Jews celebrate water through the Simchat Beit Hashoeva (Celebration of the Water Drawing Ceremony). On Shemini Atzeret, the theme of the value of...
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