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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. |

Article By Mandi Stirone taken from Catholic News Service Catholic colleges and universities are joining their public counterparts in pursuing green initiatives for their campuses using a variety of resources, offices and organizations. Students and school officials are tapping into Internet-based initiatives such as the Campus Greening Initiative at http://www.netimpact.org and Campus Climate Challenge, and they're also entering competitions such as RecycleMania, which promotes friendly competition among campuses to promote recycling efforts. About 24 Catholic colleges and universities have also joined the...
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Calvary United Methodist Church Annapolis, MD The mission of Calvary United Methodist Church in...
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Robert Saligman Middle School, Melrose Park, PAJewish, Conservative Movement Robert Saligman Middle School is part of a larger educational community, the Perelman Jewish Day School. The campus is shared not only with the other Perelman schools (a Jewish nursery school, day school and high school) but is also the home of Gratz College and the Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education, institutions which train thousands of Jewish educators. This center of learning and growth was ideally suited to be the pilot site...
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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 Mendota and the city of Madison, and serves as home to a 10,000-year-old glacial lake (Lost Lake). Over the years, rapid urbanization and farming on lands contiguous to the property contributed to significant pollution from nutrients, pesticides, metals and sediment, resulting in the loss of wildlife habitat and the disappearance of native vegetation. Further, over 400 acres...
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University Baptist Church Seattle, WA University Baptist Church is a small congregation in Seattle that considers creation care part of its Christian witness. On Pentecost Sunday in 2004, the congregation decided to celebrate the Holy Spirit’s blowing throughout God’s creation in a special way: Drive-Less Sunday. For a month leading up to Pentecost, bulletin announcements and verbal announcements were often heard to encourage a day to walk, bus, carpool, or bike to church on...
Read moreBeginning from its founding in the 1980's, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation has been a leader in the world of green congregations. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, members of Adat Shalom, led by Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, place an emphasis on low ecological impact and a commitment to combating environmental degradation. The middot (values of the Jewish faith) teach a lesson of respect for Creation and care for fellow human beings, tenets that the Adat Shalom congregation has embraced with zeal. Beginning...
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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...
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 moreCultivate Church 2303 Evesham Rd Voorhees, NJ 08043 Website: www.cultivatenj.com Lead Pastor: Jay Francoeur Contact email: jay@cultivatenj.com “Deep Roots, Rich Fruit” is the mantra of a Southern New Jersey church, which, for two years has been dedicated to “grow communities rooted in Christ that produce fruit for the good of the Garden State and the world.” Led by founder of Cultivate Church, Pastor Jay Francoeur, the church has been involved in local, regional and global efforts to grow sustainable crops for the betterment of communities...
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Reformed Church of New Paltz New Paltz, New York Sometimes, just one day isn't enough. In April 2004, the Reformed Church of New Paltz, spearheaded by their Caring for Creation Committee, spent a week celebrating Earth Day. The week's events began Wednesday and Thursday with...
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Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church Portland, ME Unitarian Universalists, as a whole, hold to the ...
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Temple Beth HatfilohOlympia, Washington Mission Statement for Youth Education: “Our mission is to instill in our children and parents a positive Jewish identity, an appreciation of Jewish beliefs and practices, and a desire to make the world a better place through tzedakah (righteous giving) and Tikkun Olam (fixing the world)." Temple Beth Hatfiloh is a 160 member-household congregation dedicated to fulfilling the spiritual, educational, social and cultural needs of Jews in the South Puget Sound region. Their membership is made up people who...
Read moreOrthodox Fellowship of the Transfiguration Santa Rosa, California Mention of God's gift of creation has long been a part of Orthodox liturgies, and the primary spiritual leader for the Orthodox Church worldwide, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, is often referred to as the "Green Patriarch." Thus, Orthodox members of the Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches and others felt it was high time to have a national organization for Orthodox scholarship,...
Read moreEvangelical Environmental NetworkAustin, TX - Washington, D.C. In 2003, the Rev. Jim Ball, Executive Director ...
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