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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. |
St. John Fisher Chapel University ParishEarth Care Ministry Troy, MI The Earth Care ministry...
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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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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...
Read moreEnglewood Presbyterian Church, Homewood, AL Presbyterians promoting curbside recycling in Homewood, AL are working with the city to increase awareness. Englewood Presbyterian Church members felt that they city needed to do more to promote recycling. They set up a meeting with Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley and managers from the city’s recycling contractor, Allied Waste, to discuss its promotion of the curbside residential recycling program. Through their discussions, they learned that the city’s agreement...
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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 ...
Read moreUnited Methodist Church of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA Members of the United Methodist Church of Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, CA wanted a church building that demonstrated their values: creating a safe environment for God’s people while having minimal impact on the earth. Now they are working to build a church following the discipline of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for new construction certification, with the intent of achieving the highest LEED...
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Kern Road Mennonite Church, South Bend, IN Kern Road Mennonite Church in South Bend, IN, has built a summer Sunday tradition on biking to church. A few families of cycling enthusiasts started the practice by simply picking some Sundays to bike to church and letting others know about it. Soon other families joined them, and now up to a dozen families participate.
Read moreDoor Creek Church Madison, WI Evangelical Free Church in America When the leadership of Door Creek Church in Madison, Wisconsin, chose the site for their new church ...
Read moreMinnesota — He has spent his life leading some of the most significant polar expeditions in history. Now Minnesotan Will Steger is working for the preservation of the Arctic and the earth through the Will Steger Foundation. As a part of his preservation efforts, Steger worked with the Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy (LCPP) in Minnesota to offer Global Warming Solutions forums throughout the state. Communities participated enthusiastically, often with 500-1000 people turning...
Read moreA Rocha In the Algarve, a beautiful Mediterranean landscape in this southernmost region of Portugal popular with European tourists, a British-based ...
Read moreSt. Mark's Episcopal Church Seattle, WA A spill off the Washington coast in 1989 sparked the formation of the Ecology/Spirituality Group at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral was started in 1989 after a priest and some church members answered a call for help to clean oil-soaked birds.
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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 ...
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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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