People as diverse as Inger Andersen (UN Environment Programme’s Executive Director) and former US Vice President Al Gore have been praising the late Pope Francis for his actions – including in 2015 addressing the UN General Assembly – urging global action to protect the environment.
Although this major religious figure has departed from the world stage Katharine Hayhoe writes in a recent newsletter that across the United States various faith groups are coming together to care for the planet. For example Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake (IPC) “has mobilized hundreds of congregations to care for the Chesapeake Bay watershed.” Another church where Hayhoe gave a talk recently was Wayne Presbyterian (in Wayne, Pennsylvania) which is one of more than 362 certified Earth Care congregations.
To become a certified Earth Care congregation a church must “take the “Earth Care Pledge” and complete activities in the fields of worship, education, facilities and outreach.”
There are similar sorts of organizations in the UK and South Africa and, inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical of the same name, the Laudato Si’ Movement that “aims to activate the planet’s 1.2 billion Catholics to join in the fight against climate change.”
Is there a program to raise awareness of climate change and to fight it at your place of worship? If not could you take inspiration from some of those we’ve mentioned above?
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