How do people of faith respond to climate change?
3-25-24 The First Congregational Church of Sheffield and
The Bushnell-Sage Library present "Lindsey Fielder Cook, Quaker Representative to the United Nations on Climate Change speaking on 'the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), Dubai, UAE December, 2023,'" March 8, 2024, Old Parish Church, Sheffield, Massachusetts.
Funded by Mass Humanities and the Mass Cultural Council.
8-3-23 Bill McKibben is a contributing writer to The New Yorker, and a founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 to work on climate and racial justice. He founded the first global grassroots climate campaign, 350.org, and serves as the Schumann Distinguished Professor in Residence at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Diana Butler Bass is an esteemed author, speaker, and scholar specializing in American religion and spirituality. With a deep understanding of historical and contemporary religious trends, Bass has emerged as a leading voice in the exploration of faith, culture, and social transformation. Her insightful writings, including the highly acclaimed books Christianity After Religion and Grateful, have garnered widespread recognition for their thought-provoking analysis and inspiring perspectives on the changing landscape of religious life.
Josh Scott has been a pastor for the last two decades. He currently serves as the Lead Pastor at GracePointe Church in Nashville. The focus of his work is reimagining, reframing, and reclaiming faith through a Progressive Christian lens. His first book, Bible Stories for Grownups released in April 2023. You can read his latest thoughts at joshscott.online. He lives near Nashville with his wife, Carla, and five kids.
Ken has shared his passion for learning and discovery through storytelling and music with an ever-growing circle of followers around the world.
4-12-2023 eco-America’s Let’s Talk Climate webcast, Heed Your Sacred Call to Lead on Climate, featuring a conversation with The Rev. Dr. Carmelo Santos, Director for Theological Diversity & Engagement, Office of the Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Join Rev. Dr. Carmelo Santos, a chemist turned ELCA theologian, to discuss how we can accelerate action on climate by working better together. Rediscover your sacred call into climate justice, as we enter the seven-year countdown to meet IPCC goals.
Indigenous peoples lands. Find out who the original peoples were who lived on the land where you live now
You can join! Third Act Faith
November 2022: PLTS Founders Day Memorial lecture By Dr. Larry Rasmussen renown Lutheran Ethicist
5-15-2022 posted below: spreadsheet from 'The Climate Justice and Faith" certification course My requirements for this certificate were all met by 5-11-22. The resource below provides over 60 links related to "Climate Justice".
"How to communicate Climate Justice issues" Spreadsheet resources page
10-26-2021 Vermont Humanities: "Thinking Through the Future" Author Bill McKibben shares how the humanities can help us understand climate change, the greatest crisis we’ve ever found ourselves in. From the biblical book of Job to the latest science fiction, literature gives us clues to how we might shrink ourselves and our society a little.
This talk was part of our Fall Conference 2021: “This Mazéd World: The Humanities and Climate Change.”
Bill McKibben is founder and senior adviser emeritus of 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign. His 1989 book "The End of Nature" is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change and has appeared in 24 languages. His work appears regularly in periodicals from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone. McKibben serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College.
Creation and Climate Care Zine Rocky Mountain Synod ELCA
The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) sponsored THIS EXCELLENT WEBINAR "God, Migration and the Climate Crisis" The panelists: Bill McKibben, Cynthia Moe Lobeda and Pr. Tommy Richter are moderated and asked questions by the President and CEO of LIRS; Krish O'Mara Vignarajah. It is a valuable resource for church groups who are discussing environmental Christian Ethics. 10-30-20
The ELCA issued a final version of A Social Message “Earth’s Climate Crisis” on April 20th 2023.
A beautiful short video on the responsibility of the faithful to Care for Creation
The photo below was posted on "The Brief" (an online segment from Time Magazine) on October 11, 2018 a day after Hurricane Michael, one of the strongest hurricanes to ever make landfall in the USA. Time Magazine Brief (Photos taken after Hurricane Michael on October 11, 2018).
Lutherans restoring creation Worship
Features: Marie Anne Sliwinski, the ELCA program director for Lutheran Disaster Response international and The Rev.Caroline Hamilton-Arnold the assoc. director for domestic disaster response, the relief, refugee and development mission fund of the Christian Church
HERE is the Link to the Delaware-Maryland Synod ELCA "Creation Care" website! As a member of the Delaware-Maryland Synod ELCA creation Care ministry team I am proud to share this weblink. Thanks Marty Reisinger! Ask questions!
HERE is a YouTube created to summarize the work of the Delaware-Maryland Synod ELCA Creation Care Ministry Team during the Covid-19 Pandemic. This video was produced on May 5, 2021. It will be shared at the 2021 Del-Md synod assembly in early June.
ELCA Social Statement Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice
The introduction of "The Earth Charter" to the ELCA 2019
Ecumenical life, Creation Care-Vision, Hope and Justice
Lutheran Earthkeeping Network of the Synods
Congregational "Creation Care" organizing kit download Download your kit today
Preface to "The Green Bible" excerpt
Religious Leaders from "Climate One" On Congregation Power and doing what is morally right
Five theological problems with climate change and global warming Excepts from Cynthia Moe-Lobeda's book; "Resisting Structural Evil" pages 56-61
ELCA Climate Change 101 advocacy Brief
Earth Day Statement from presiding ELCA Bishop Eaton, 2018
God, Creation and Climate Change, A resource for reflection and discussion
Bible Verses on Nature and Caring for Creation
Power Point: Christians Caring For Creation
Christians Caring For Creation
Resolution on Ecological Justice ELCA Delaware Maryland Synod Assembly 2017
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda & Scott Thalacker on Access Utah;
A lecture at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church; Logan, Utah 4-10-2017
At St. Stephens United Church of Christ Towson, MD Baltimore350.org
Baltimore350.org meets the 4th Tuesday of every month.
In reading Luke 10:25-37 we learn Jesus' instruction on "Loving our Neighbor" in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
And then, this passage from Leviticus 19: 9-18 link from bible gateway: Leviticus 19: 9-18
And then, The new command: John 13:34
And also this from Pope Francis:
"A threat to peace arises from the greedy exploitation of environmental resources. Monopolizing of lands, deforestation, the appropriation of water, inadequate agro-toxics are some of the evils that tear man from the land of his birth. Climate change, the loss of biodiversity and deforestation are already showing their devastation effects in the great cataclysms we witness.... The establishment of an international climate change treaty is a grave ethical and moral responsibility."
In these videos Bill Moyers explores the People of faith and climate change:
Christian and climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe talks to Bill about ending the gridlock between politics, science and faith.
See more: Kelsey Juliana on Climate Change: The Next Generation
Pope Francis: Laudato Si; Encyclical on the environment
The Evangelical Lutheran Church website that provides resources on advocacy for environment
The ELCA and how it can provide advocacy for Human Justice
ELCA: 15 steps to talk about climate change. pdf doc
Lets talk faith and climate! pdf doc
Caring for Creation: Climate Change 101 (ELCA)
Earth Stewardship: The Calling
ELCA disaster relief for 2018 hurricanes
ELCA video on Creation Care 2019
A Life of Purpose, Rick Warren
These questions arise: When an increasing number of families like those pictured on the left, are made homeless by the increasing ferocity of storms. What can the response of faith groups be? It has been shown that as many as 90% of people living in coastal areas do not have any flood insurance. Can faith group providers keep up with the predicted increasing amount of homelessness caused by severe storms? What responsibility do we has good stewards of God's creation have toward the increasingly calamitous impacts of human caused climate change? As believers we have the best reason of all to be concerned about the issues presented by climate change. Yet, despite this, we have neglected our responsibility as stewards of God's earth. God takes great joy in His creation and in being on earth with us.We cherish the environment because we trust in God's grace toward us. For as we learn from Romans 8:19-21, "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed"
In episode four, 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl travels to Greenland to investigate the effects of global warming in the Arctic; Ian Somerhalder travels to North Carolina to listen in on both sides of the evangelical community's debate over climate change. Somerhalder finds himself entrenched in the middle of a religious debate, and also a familial one. The father: a megachurch preacher who doesn't believe in climate change. The daughter: an activist trying to shut down the local coal-fired power plant.
The Citizens Climate Lobby: Statements of faith groups on climate change
Engaging all Christians in Climate Justice: A power point presentation by Rev. Dr. Richard S. Lyon at the global climate summit in San Francisco September 14, 2018
How Islam can represent a model for environmental stewardship
Climate Change Statements from World Religions
Pastoral Message on Global Climate Change Lutheran, Episcopal
The Episcopal Church and Climate Change
Let's Talk Faith and Climate: An Episcopal Church training webinar
Catholic Social Teaching on Care for Creation and Stewardship of the Earth
A Statement from COEJL (Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life)
Operation Noah: A Christian Charily working with the church to inspire action on climate change. What has climate change got to do with being a Christian?
Operation Noah believes that the likelihood of runaway global warming raises questions that go to the heart of our Christian faith. We believe that God’s creation is a gift that we have a duty to care for and that the wellbeing of all creation matters to God. We must repent for the damage we have done to the earth.
PodCast: Katherine Hayhoe: Why we Need to Talk about Climate Change
On March 3rd, 2018 St. Peters Lutheran Church in Ocean City Maryland sponsored the Citizens Forum for renewable energy. The entire Ocean City Maryland Town Council was invited to attend. The forum was scheduled in response to the town council's unanimous resolution to require the offshore wind project to be re-located from already licensed areas offshore to an area over 26 miles offshore that would require new licensing. Professor Greg Farley from Washington College on the Eastern Shore shared his presentation on the "Regional Climate Change Impacts on Maryland's Eastern Shore". Mayor Rick Meehan, and Councilmen John Gehrig and Wayne Hartman attended. Today the Ocean CIty Town Council continues to insist visible wind turbines off the Ocean City coast will be detrimental to Ocean City real estate values. This is in spite of the fact that Professor Farley clearly showed the impending loss of real estate values due to sea level rise on the Eastern Shore.
The battle between evangelical Christians in the US over whether climate change is a call to protect the Earth, the work of God to be welcomed, or doesn’t exist at all. Evangelicals in the US have traditionally been the bedrock of conservative politics, including on climate change. But a loud debate is happening across the country, with some Christians protesting in the name of protecting the Earth, seeing it as a duty to be done in God's name. One group has even built a chapel in the way of a pipeline and a radical pastor encourages his flock to put themselves in the way of the diggers. A firm supporter of Trump criss-crosses the country promoting solar power. But there's still the traditional resistance - a climate scientist who denies the world is warming and a preacher in Florida who sees the fact he was flooded out as a good sign of divine presence. With stories from across the country featuring pastors and churchgoers, and showing conflict between generations, races and classes, could it be a surprising section of Christian Americans who might show hope for the country's attitude to climate change? 4-13-2018
Mission Trip to Puerto Rico September 12-19 2018
Helping the Caribbean Synod of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) recover from Hurricane Maria one year later was the purpose of the trip. Twenty three volunteers from the Delaware-Maryland Synod ELCA (pictured in the google drive link above) helped in the recovery of synod offices in Dorado, PR and the San Pedro Lutheran Church in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. The Synod office and San Pedro LC was not restored electricity until Mid March of 2018!
Paradise gone, wildfire evacuees faced with rebuilding their lives Special correspondent Cat Wise reports from Chico, California, where a Walmart parking lot is now home to hundreds of evacuees who are left with nothing and unsure of where to go.
Farmers Hymn: For the Fruit of All Creation
Strategies to Promote Creation Care in Your Congregation
ELCA Advocacy Site: Caring for Creation Below is just one of many reflections
ELCA Living Earth Reflection: How to Lead on Climate Change
Dr. Jack Wennersten: Rising tides, Climate Refugees in the 21st Century
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing the United States and the world. Over the coming century, it is expected to affect agriculture, energy, health, infrastructure, natural resources, national security and water availability. This assessment, which represents the most up to date and comprehensive overview of climate change impacts on the U.S., provides critical input to planning and policy at the state and national level to reduce the human influence on climate and adapt to future change. Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., is director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech, part of the South-Central Climate Science Center. Her research focuses on developing and applying high-resolution climate projections to evaluate the future impacts of climate change on human society and the natural environment. Hayhoe has published more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and served as lead author on key reports for the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the National Academy of Sciences. Hayhoe is currently serving as lead author for the 2014 Third U.S. National Climate Assessment. Hayhoe earned a bachelor’s of science in physics and astronomy from the University of Toronto and an M.S. and Ph.D. in atmospheric science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Scientist (Katherine Hayhoe) laughs at climate change skeptics
Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist who assisted government agencies in publishing a report predicting devastating damages from climate change, said she in no way benefited financially from helping to write it.
"Global Weirding" by Katherine Hayhoe 2017Definitions: 1. Environmental Space: a rights based and equity based approach to eco-justice. It suggests that all people have rights to a fair share in the goods and services that Earth provides to humankind. 2. Environmental racism: refers to governmental or corporate policies and decisions that "Target certain communities for lease desirable land uses, resulting in the disproportionate exposure of toxic and hazardous waste on communities based upon certain prescribed biological characteristics" 3. Climate injustice: impoverished countries who are less able to implement adapting strategies than are we of the industrialized world. 4. Ecological imperialism: the two broad definitions of social injustice and ecological degradation: climate injustice and environmental racism. together on the global stage, they are known by some as "Ecological Imperialism"
5. Ecological debt: This concept describes what over consuming countries of the "Global North" owe to those who suffer most from ecological degradation but contribute least to it. Theorists also suggest this debt may be owed to future generations for what we have taken from them through climate change, ocean acidification, loss of bio-diversity, endocrine disrupting chemicals and more
Kathering Hayhoe speaks about what the Bible says about climate change
On Thursday evening April 19th, Dr. Jack Wennersten spoke at the 2018 "Earth Day" commemorative event held at the Salisbury Unitarian Church and sponsored by the Wicomico Interfaith Partners for Creation Stewardship and the Wicomico Environmental Trust. In this video of his presentation, Dr. Wennersten highlights the impending "climate refugee" crisis as one of the more devastating impacts of climate change. How people of faith can prepare for the reality of this issue, among other impacts from climate change, were mentioned in his talk which was a summary of his current book: Rising Tides, Climate Refugees in The 21st Century.
3-21-2013 350.org founder and author Bill McKibben talks about the need for churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious institutions to divest from the fossil fuel industry. To learn more and join the campaign visit: http://gofossilfree.org
Q&A - Christian Responsibility for Climate Change
A Just Response to Climate Change from a faith perspective
The Inter-religious Working Group on Extractive Industries is a Washington, D.C. based coalition of faith, human rights, and environmental organizations concerned about the negative impact of extractive industries on Creation which includes both the human and natural world.
Bible Verses About Protecting the Environment
Species and their habitats: Do creatures have their own worth before God?
(Job 39:1, 5-8, 26-27; Ezekiel 47:9, 11; Genesis 9:16)
God and Faith versus Coal in the name of climate change The Guardian
The Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) is a “multi-faith” group that’s been helping organize this spiritual fight against coal.
Global Climate Change and Catholic Responsibility: Facts and Faith Response
Creation Justice Ministries Creation Justice Ministries educates, equips and mobilizes Christian communions/denominations, congregations and individuals to protect, restore, and rightly share God's Creation. Based on the priorities of its members, with a particular concern for the vulnerable and marginalized, Creation Justice Ministries provides collaborative opportunities to build ecumenical community, guides people of faith and faith communities towards eco-justice transformations, and raises a collective witness in the public arena echoing Christ's call for just relationships among all of Creation.
Suggested ideas to start churches "Caring for Creation"
Study environmental issues in small groups
Provide Sunday morning teachings on earth stewardship
Be aware of local environmental concerns
Support efforts to restore the environment
Provide mugs for fellowship times to avoid Styrofoam cups
Use church property, if available, for community gardens
Plant trees on church property, perhaps in honor of individuals
discussion questions:
1) In what ways does God call us to minimize our "Ecological debt"?
2) Question: If people of faith deny our current climate crisis and the fact that it is human caused, do we break one of the laws God gave to Moses?
3) Living within the covenant God makes with all living things, and our relationship to them, in what ways can we honor their participation?
4) In what ways do we honor the principle of solidarity as we stand together with creation? How do we dishonor this principle?
5) How do we create some of the obstacles to ecological justice?
6) What can Exodus 20: 8-11; Leviticus 25 tell us about the principle of sustainability: (Providing an acceptable quality of life for present generations without compromising that of future generations)
7) Think about what it would mean to be a missionary for the planet. Where would you feel welcomed? Where would you feel in hostile territory? What would you take as supplies? What would you preach? What is the minimum change you would have to make in your life to take on the role of a missionary for the planet?
8) How has your family's past (the experiences of your ancestors) affected your own practices and attitudes about the environment?
9) E.O. Wilson says that our descendants will see us as a "ship of fools" if we destroy what matters most to them. Do you think they will view us in this way? What should we do differently to avoid destroying those things our descendants will care about?
10) How do you think we, as "images of God" should relate to the rest of creation?
How to Communicate Climate Justice Issues (1).xlsx