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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. |
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Stevens Point, WI Wisconsin was once covered with prairies—7.5 million acres of tall grass flowing into broad fields dotted with oaks and dappled with wildflowers. With just 13,000 acres left, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Stevens Point, WI, is restoring prairie land on its own site and is teaching its congregation and community about environmental stewardship in the process.
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Second Presbyterian Church, Carlisle, PA When more than 100 physicians in Cumberland County, PA, published a warning statement about the high levels of diesel particulate matter in the air, Rev. Jennifer McKenna called to find out what they were going to do about it. Upon learning they had no plans to act, she spurred her congregation at Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, PA, to advocacy. Together, they formed the Clean Air Board of Central...
Read moreBethel Christian Church Sideling Hill Creek Watershed, PA For people concerned about protecting the environment, the old adage, “All rivers lead to the sea,” ...
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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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Catholic Diocese of RichmondEcological Working Group St. Paul, VA Educating congregants about the...
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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...
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 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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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...
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SEEDS is a green initiative started in 2007 by Trinity Lutheran seminary students, staff, and faculty. The purpose of the group is to get those associated with the seminary to think and act more environmentally. The group is split into various subdivisions that deal with specific environmental projects, such as energy efficient lighting, paper use within the seminary, recycling, and various garden projects. In the beginning SEEDS only met once a month; currently the group meets weekly due to increasing...
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Archdiocese of Detroit Detroit, MI When Cardinal Adam Maida of the Archdiocese of Detroit delivered his speech to a crowd of nearly 1,200 Catholics on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2001, he highlighted a number of the problems Detroit faces due to its inattention to mass transit issues: The lack of economic opportunities for inner-city residents (they cannot reach better jobs in the suburbs) A segregated city More traffic congestion Increased air pollution An inability to attract businesses to the city center Through the leadership of...
Read moreBrackenhurst Environmental Program Kenya Baptist Kenya is an African nation where indigenous trees and whole forests are rapidly disappearing. The ...
Read moreNational Association of Evangelicals, Christianity Today, and the Evangelical Environmental Network In March 1999,...
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Congregation Har HaShem, Boulder, CO Jewish, Reform Movement Based in part on the materials from ...
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