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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. |
Manassas 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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Madison Christian Community, Madison, WI It’s a ministry that scatters seeds of hope for incarcerated people. Madison Christian Community, an ecumenical partnership between Advent Lutheran Church (ELCA) and Community of Hope (UCC) in Madison, WI, works with a nearby correctional facility to offer a restorative justice-based horticulture program in its 6000 square foot garden. “The garden ministry is one way to bridge the racial, economic and social barriers that exist between people today,”...
Read moreEarth Ministry, Seattle, WA A unique partnership in Seattle, WA, is uniting people of faith with community environmental leaders to decide advocacy priorities and win legislative battles. Earth Ministry, an ecumenical environmental justice group works with advocacy organization, Priorities for a Healthy Washington, to select four environmental priorities each year. Earth Ministry then mobilizes the faith community to legislative advocacy based on those priorities.
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Temple Beth Israel, Eugene, OregonJewish, Reconstructionist Movement What does composting kitchen scraps have to do ...
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Holladay United Church of Christ Salt Lake City, Utah Just because a congregation is "local," that doesn't mean it can't have a global vision or a global reach. With less than 400 members, Holladay United Church of Christ (HUCC) sent six members -- the largest delegation from any one congregation in the U.S. -- to the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. In June 1993, the church helped to plan, host and provide...
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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...
Read moreCanfei Nesharim, New York, NY Jewish, Orthodox The 19th-century scholar, Rabbi Samuel Rafael ...
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American Jewish CommitteeNew York, NY, National and International The American Jewish Committee, begun in 1906, promotes pluralistic and democratic societies where all minorities are protected, and all people are accorded respect and dignity. One of AJC’s key priorities is energy independence and they are determined to become one of the first Jewish non-profits in the country with green certification for its national headquarters. In New York City they have implemented a Green Building Project, in...
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South Carolina — Reverend Michael McClain is working with the National Council of Churches (NCC) to reach out to historic black churches, explain the ways in which climate change is impacting poor people and people of color, and invite them to sign the National Council of Churches’ Faith Principles on Global Warming. Although global climate change affects all people, it hits people of color and those living in poverty the hardest.
Read moreMarah International Attleboro, MA Imagine growing up as a child in the environmental disaster areas of Eastern Europe or the former ...
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 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...
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Northwest Jewish Environmental ProjectPortland, OregonJewish, Non-Denominational In 2003, the Northwest Jewish Environmental Project launched a year-long energy campaign, asking the ...
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