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  • San Diego Creation Care Team Success Stories

    Catholic Climate Covenant has created two short videos to discuss how different churches in the San Diego diocese in California have worked to be better stewards of God’s creation. The parish of Our Mother of Confidence in San Diego, California, has taken action to reduce water and energy usage while the Saint James Parish and Academy in Solana Beach, California, has implemented environmentally conscious projects and initiatives in their community.

  • Congregational Profile: St Francis of Assisi parish Creation Care Team, Columbus, OH

    When St. Francis of Assisi’s Creation Care Team volunteered to take responsibility for caring for the church’s flower and vegetable gardens in the summer of 2018 it faced a challenge: how to dispose of yard waste in a responsible manner. The parish did not have resources to hire a vendor to appropriately dispose of leaves and garden debris and hauling it away in our private cars while possible would take extra time. The Team members did know though that we did not want to continue to toss the yard waste in the trash, which is what had previously been done.
     
    Luckily a solution was at hand: a new member of our parish and our Creation Care Team—Todd Marti-- serves as one of the “garden stewards” at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church’s community garden at Mill Run. Todd volunteered to haul away the yard waste from St. Francis and add it to the compost bins at the community garden. So St. Francis’ yard waste helps grow food that when harvested feeds hungry families through Neighbors (SON) Ministries’ Hilliard Free Lunch Summer Camp for Kids program, the Hilltop, Mid-Ohio Food Bank, and through Faith Mission-- a win for all involved.

  • Profile: Todd Marti

    Todd Marti, a parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Columbus, serves as a “garden steward” for the community garden located on the grounds of the Upper Arlington Lutheran Church at Mill Run. Todd’s garden stewardship is a clear reflection of his care for creation and his fellow man. Each year vegetables are planted on two-thirds of the 12,500 square feet garden. When the tomatoes, beets, squash, lettuce and other vegetables are harvested they are donated to the Hilliard Free Lunch Summer Camp for Kids, and Mid-Ohio Food Bank partner pantries. On average 10,000 pounds of produce is harvested and donated annually. Over the life of the garden 130,000 plus pounds of produce have been donated. The recipient of the Franklin Park conservatory Growing to Green Gardener of the Year Award in 2012, Todd utilizes innovative gardening practices such as companion planting and sequencing of multiple crops to enhance output. The garden helps preserve God’s creation by composting food waste and coffee grounds from local coffee shops and restaurants. Yard waste is also composed including that generated by St. Francis of Assisi from its flower and vegetable gardens.

    When he is not working in the community garden—which he is every Saturday from spring until mid-November--or recruiting volunteers to help with weeding, planting and harvesting, Todd can be found at his day job as an Assistant Attorney General for State of Ohio.

  • WATERSHED: Replenishing Water Values for a Thirsty World

    This site highlights the reports and videos and resources gathered to address world water resources, sponsored by the Vatican and many other partners.

  • Shepherd's Corner volunteer opportunities

    Shepherd's Corner offers volunteer opportunities for both individuals and groups as indicated on their website:

    "Volunteer With Us
    Volunteer opportunities at Shepherd’s Corner are as abundant as the fruits of the earth. We invite individuals and groups to share in our ministry of caring for the land. All sorts of skills are needed or come to learn some new ones. One time visits, work on special projects, or regularly scheduled participation are welcome.

    Group Projects
    Groups are invited for a half day of service on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. We ask for one adult per 10 youth under 18 years.

    Individual Volunteers
    Come for a weekly or monthly time or fill in as needed. Individuals will need to complete our volunteer application. The application is the last to pages of the preceding link. We will ask individuals for background screening since we often have minors present. Volunteers must be age 13 or older; volunteers for animal chores must be age 18 or older."

  • Engaged Organizations: National Council of Catholic Women

    National Council of Catholic Women discuss their work with Catholic Relief Services with regard to their focus on water projects in developing countries, as indicated on their website and in the video below:

    "The Water for Life video illustrates the work of Catholic Relief Services in partnership with the National Council of Catholic Women (www.nccw.org) in responding to the critical need for water projects in developing countries. The greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today is food and water scarcity issues that threaten the peace and security of most developing nations."

  • Global Climate Change A Plea for Dialogue Prudence and the Common Good

    A Statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was issued on June 15, 2001. This document covers a multitude of current environmental problems and the resulting negative impact on populations around the world - especially with regard to indigent populations. It stressed the connectivity of human behavior and it's impact on the planet.

  • A Bishops’ Letter about the Climate

    Below is a section of the introduction from A Bishops’ Letter about the Climate, which covers a multitude of critical environmental issues, from the 2014 Bishops' conference:

    "We have lived with reports and forecasts of climate change since the 1980s. Our climate is the result of the interaction of complex systems and there is often a great distance between cause and effect in terms of both space and time. There are uncertainties and a lack of clarity. However, the knowledge we possess today does not allow us to postpone until tomorrow
    what needs to be done now. Our human climate impact must decrease for the sake of the earth, for the sake of the world that God so loves that God gave us Jesus Christ."