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 | Promotion of Earth Day Sunday. This: |
"Includes background information, sermon starters, ideas for youth and adult study, suggestions for individual and congregational action, sample liturgies, and a bulletin insert, as well as an opportunity to engage your elected officials concerning the farm bill."
| An eco-justice sermon writing contest. |
| A report describing how churches can save money and protect the environment. |
| Promoting a series of Adamah (Hebrew for Earth) congregations who take on environmental challenges. |
| Promoting the "Step It Up 2007" demonstrations. This is a U.S. - wide attempt to pressure congress into cutting carbon usage by 80% by 2050. |
| Advertising upcoming events that promote eco-justice. 1 |
A number of NCC-affiliated denominations provide have "social and environmental justice e-advocacy tools or action networks."
Interfaith activity:
The Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign, sponsored by a collaboration of the NCC, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life commissioned a document "The Cry of Creation: A Call for Climate Justice." It was published by Earth Ministry in 2003-OCT. It documents how climate change and global warming are a threat to all people and all creation. 3 Some of the points raised by the document are:
| Global climate change is not about economic theory, political platforms, partisan advantage or interest group pressures. It is about the future of God’s creation and the one human family. |
| We have a moral obligation to Third World nations who have toiled and have polluted and depleted their own resources to feed our consumption. |
| Action to mitigate global climate change must be built upon a foundation of social and economic justice that does not put the poor at greater risk, or place disproportionate and unfair burdens on developing nations. |
| If we are to reduce energy consumption in a way that preserves the best parts of industrial civilization, we have to start now. Now, while we are still sufficiently energy-rich and material-rich to afford the high cost of technological development and to buy time for the changes we need in public attitudes towards energy use. |
| We consume far more than we need to of almost everything: Food, space, material goods, and energy. More and more people have to take themselves off the consumption treadmill. However, there are still people who cannot imagine life without low-price gas, cheap imports, and the produce of factory farms. |
| The great bulk of buying and the power not to spend is under our control. |
| Lowering consumption would reduce exploitation of children and semi-slave laborers in the Third World countries, and would slow depletion of global resources. It would narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. |
| Consumerism identifies a lifestyle in which a large number of individuals obtain more than is needed, more than is necessary for fulfillment, and more than Gods Earth can sustain. It is covered by the document Responsible Purchasing by Cassandra Carmichael. |
| A scant 20% of the world’s people, most of whom are North Americans, earn 86% of the income, consume 80% of the world’s resources, and create 83% of the world’s waste. |
| We have a culture that values marketing more than meaning. |
| A growing number of religious leaders cite consumerism as the Earth’s greatest problem. |
| Purchasing responsibility is one very important way to care for the Earth and its inhabitants. |
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- "Eco-Justice Programs: Justice for God's planet and God's people," National Council of Churches, at: http://www.nccecojustice.org/
- "Activist's Toolbox" and "E-Advocacy," National Council of Churches, at: http://www.nccecojustice.org
- Michael Schut & Tanya Marcovna Barnett, "The Cry of Creation: A Call for
Climate Justice." Booklet & study guide, Earth Ministry, (2003). Purchase
at:
http://earthministry.org/ Online at:
http://www.protectingcreation.org/ This is a PDF file. You may require
software to read it. Software can be obtained free from:
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Copyright © 2006 by Vladimir Tomek
Original publishing date: 2006-AUG-16
Latest update on: 2006-AUG-27
Author. Vladimir Tomek, with some input from B.A. Robinson
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