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Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
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US Conference of Catholic Bishops
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National Religious Partnership for the Environment
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National Council of Churches of Christ
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Evangelical Environmental Network
God said: This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations.(Gen 9:12)

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.

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Events: Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign

Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign Signing

50 Jewish leaders commit to reduce energy use, advocate for energy security: leaders across the political and religious spectrum celebrate Tu B'shvat by setting goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 14% by 2014.  Read the declaration...  List of signatories...

St. Francis Pledge

Catholic Climate Covenant: Care for Creation. Care for the Poor.
Take the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor.  Join Catholics taking action in our families, parishes, schools, and communities to reduce our carbon footprint, care for the "least of these" (Mt 25) and raise our voice on behalf of Creation and the poor.

Events: Upcoming NCCC Eco-Justice Events

Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2013 The 11th annual Ecumencial Advocacy Days will be held April 5th-8th, 2013.  Join the NCC and other Christian advocates in Washington DC to seek Food Justice for a Healthy World.  To register, click here.

Mission 4/1 Earth The United Church of Christ has announced an all-church initiative to complete 1 million hours of earth care, 100,000 tree plantings, and 100,000 advocacy letters on environmental issues during the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost (April 1st-May 19th).  To learn more and get involved, click here.

Events: The Creation Care Teaching Institute

Evangelical Environmental Network
 
 
The Teaching Institute is for Christians who are passionate about their care for God's creation, and are looking for ways to become further equipped and engaged on their area of passion.  Click here for more information.  
 
 


Partners Encourage Congress to Take On Climate Change

NRPE's four partners have all written individual letters to the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change. 

Please click on the partners to read the individual statements:



RECENT NEWS

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Mainline Protestant

From Lawn to Prairie

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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Faith Communities Clamor for Clean Air

Mainline Protestant

Faith Communities Clamor for Clean Air

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...

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Evangelical

Loving Our Neighbors Downstream

Bethel 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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Catholic Colleges, Universities Take Steps To Go Green CA, IN, MN

Catholic

Catholic Colleges, Universities Take Steps To Go Green CA, IN, MN

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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Habits of Creation

Catholic

Habits of Creation

Catholic Diocese of RichmondEcological Working Group St. Paul, VA Educating congregants about the...

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Environmental Restoration

Catholic

Environmental Restoration

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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Stewardship Stories

Stewardship Stories

A 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.

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Jewish

Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation

Beginning 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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Drive-Less Sunday

Mainline Protestant

Drive-Less Sunday

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 (Stewarding Earth and Environment Daily and Sustainably)

Mainline Protestant

SEEDS (Stewarding Earth and Environment Daily and Sustainably)

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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Transportation Equity Project

Catholic

Transportation Equity Project

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...

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Evangelical

Earthkeeping in Africa

Brackenhurst Environmental Program Kenya Baptist Kenya is an African nation where indigenous trees and whole forests are rapidly disappearing. The ...

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Evangelical

An Historic Conference on Creation Care

National Association of Evangelicals, Christianity Today, and the Evangelical Environmental Network In March 1999,...

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Keeping the Covenant: The Celebration of the Animals

Jewish

Keeping the Covenant: The Celebration of the Animals

Congregation Har HaShem, Boulder, CO Jewish, Reform Movement Based in part on the materials from ...

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