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257 items

  • Texas Impact and Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy

    Texas Impact exists to put faith into action. They equip faith leaders and their congregations with the information, opportunities, and outreach tools to educate their communities and engage with lawmakers on pressing public policy issues. They are an interfaith group that works together on issues such as racial discrimination, climate change, economic justice, and human rights that impact the most vulnerable people in our communities.

    The Interfaith Center is Texas Impact’s 501(c)(3) research and education partner. The Interfaith Center’s board includes thought leaders; government affairs professionals; public servants; and communications experts. They provide the political insight and guidance that help Texas Impact offer clear, relevant, information that faith communities need to be effective advocates.

  • 2020 Lenten Campaign

    In the third year of the three-year (2018-2020), Lenten Campaign themed "Caring for Our Common Home." As a part of the campaign, AOHD (Archdiocesan Office for Human Development) has created resources such as posters, power-points, kit books, action sheets, graphic arts, and other materials that could help more faith organizations host Care for Creation campaigns.

  • Conference of the Parties (COP)

    The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.

  • Laudato Si’ Gardens in Schools and Institutions across Italy

    The Living Chapel is expanding outreach for Laudato Si' Gardens to spaces managed by schools, governmental and non-governmental organizations encouraging participation in caring for our common home by supplying indigenous young plant species to various regions. This project distributes young plants throughout Italy for the recovery of degraded areas.

    Outside Italy, Laudato Si’ Gardens shared a Four Element Package that symbolizes Air, Earth, Water, and Fire.

  • The Living Chapel

    The Living Chapel holds the sacrality of life at its core. It embodies a call to hope: a hope for a world in which the sacrality of life is truly recognized and felt by every being to give rise to a kinder, more compassionate, more peaceful life.

    In partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Plant for the Planet, and the Global Catholic Climate Movement, the Living Chapel will join the UN Environmental Programme's One Trillion Tree Movement, inspiring the public to reconnect with nature and providing a vehicle for intercultural and interfaith collaboration to restore our common home through the creation of Laudato Si' Gardens and Living Sacred Spaces.

  • How Religion Influences Our Relationship With the Environment

    This article, drawing references from a study in the Journal of Religion and Demography, summarizes how religions influence many environmentally relevant behaviors.

    The author and his colleagues discovered that countries with a lower religious population utilize more resources and emit more emissions, but they are also better prepared to deal with the environmental difficulties that emerge since they are wealthier. On the other hand, countries with more religious populations tend to use fewer resources, but they also have less capability to address environmental concerns and are more vulnerable to negative consequences, owing to their high levels of poverty and continued population increase.

    The link between religion, poverty, environmental impact, and governance is intricate and ever-evolving; the field continues to call for more research.

  • Religious Affiliation and Environmental Challenges in the 21st Century

    "As the impacts of climatic change increase, the share of the world population with a religious affiliation is expected to rise (from 84% in 2010 to 87% by 2050). Religion is important for climate change relevant behaviours, including fertility choices or whether one sees climatic change as due to human action or related to forces beyond human control. We conduct exploratory and descriptive statistical analyses to better understand the associations among religion, on the one hand, and economic development, greenhouse gas emissions, exposure to environmental stressors, and attitudes, beliefs and environmental performance, on the other. We show that countries with lower shares that are religious tend to have more emissions, to be better prepared for environmental challenges and have low or negative population growth. Countries with a greater proportion of religiously affiliated tend to have higher population growth, face more environmental risks and to be less prepared for those risks. Identifying groups that disproportionally cause or are exposed to environmental risks represents an issue of environmental justice. Understanding the religious composition of the world along with environmental changes can further help identify which environmental policies that could be more effective."

  • IPBES Global Assessment Report Summary on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Policymakers

    This report represents a critical assessment, the first in almost 15 years (since the release of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005) and the first-ever carried out by an
    intergovernmental body, of the status and trends of the natural world, the social implications of these trends, their direct and indirect causes, and, importantly, the actions
    that can still be taken to ensure a better future for all. These complex links have been assessed using a simple, yet very inclusive framework that should resonate with a wide range of
    stakeholders, since it recognizes diverse world views, values, and knowledge systems.

  • People of faith are allies to stall climate change (Nature Magazine)

    Tobias Müller is a political scientist who studies how religious groups respond to problems, from environmental crises to domestic violence to racism. In this article, he explores changes in the intersection of climate science and communities of faith. Müller shares with us patterns he's observed and strategies he's learned in his years in the field that help strengthen collaboration and the power to pursue climate justice. Some core ideas include:

    1. Collaborate with religious scientists and local leaders.
    2. Stories speak louder than graphs.
    3. Talk about what matters to you and your audience.

  • Green Ramadan

    In this letter from Sayyid M. Sayeed, the
    President of Islamic Society of North America, he voices the responsibility of Muslim communities as caretakers of the earth and calls for community members to join in the ISNA efforts to adopt environmentally friendly practices.

    "I earnestly request that your mosque/Islamic Center join in 'Greening our Ramadan Campaign.' Let us all work together to reduce our carbon footprint. Have a blessed Ramadan."

  • Green Muslims Ramadan Toolkit

    Ramadan is a time to reflect, exercise self-control, and cultivate connections to one's faith. This three-part toolkit hopes to enhance the Ramadan experience using those same concepts but building more environmentally friendly habits while connecting one
    with their faith in a unique way.

    Each day highlights an Ayah, a quote, or a hadith that aspires to inspire you to action. The “challenge yourself” section of the day gives you a suggestion on how to adjust your habits, and the “reflection” section hopes to help you analyze your current habits in order to make the habit-forming both action-oriented and intellectual.

  • Green Umbrella Impact Team: Faith Communities Go Green

    MISSION: Partnering with religious communities to create a more sustainable and equitable future for all by mobilizing their moral voice to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change.
    VISION: Religious communities collaborating to integrate care for creation in their lives and society.

  • Green Umbrella: Regional Sustainability Alliance

    Green Umbrella is the regional sustainability alliance of Greater Cincinnati, with over 200 member organizations and over 200 individual members passionate about enhancing the environmental health and vitality of our region.

    Green Umbrella facilitates collaboration among non-profits, businesses, educational institutions and governmental entities to meet the environmental, social, and economic needs of today while preserving the ability of future generations to thrive.

  • Free Webinar: Learn Ways to Lower Your Facilities Utility Bills

    This event is hosted by the Green Umbrella Impact Teams in collaboration with Faith Communities Go Green

    Date and time: June 7, 2021 7:00 -8:30 pm

    Learn about different types of energy audits, renewable energy choices and PACE financing for nonprofits. There will be opportunities for focused conversations in smaller breakout sessions.

    Who should attend?
    Executive directors, building supervisors and congregational members: Everyone is welcome.

  • Laudato Si' Action Platform

    The Laudato Si' Action Platform is a collaboration between the Vatican, an international coalition of Catholic organizations, and "all people of good will." Rooted in the strengths and realities of communities around the world, the platform takes a group-up approach to empower all to take "decisive action, here and now" as we journey towards a better future together.

    The platform offers:
    - Laudato Si Plans for institutions, communities, and families to use and implement their response to Laudato Si'
    - A process-oriented approach
    - Practical guidance on actions that help build a better future through the Laudato Si’ Goals
    - Recognition of progress

  • Ecological Consciousness in Jainism: Exploring Realities, Constraints, and Traditions

    This paper explores the traditions and philosophies of Jainism and how that influences its connection to the environment. The author explains the Jainism cosmology and the distinction between different senses as they apply to animate and inanimate beings. Jain literature understands human connections to the world with an emphasis on the interconnectedness of life forms. To Jains, environmental concerns cannot be separated from socio-economic concerns.

  • The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES)

    The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES) is a foundation founded in the United Kingdom committed to the preservation of the Earth as a healthy environment for all living things. This is also a call on Muslims to live up to their obligations as guardians of Allah's creation (Khalaifa - Qur'an 6:165) and endeavor to ensure that future generations inherit a livable planet.

    "Our exertions since the mid-1980s have been directed towards creating mass awareness and include research, the production of teaching materials, training, and project development and we offer this work as a gift to our fellow humans whoever and wherever they may be."

  • The 12 Principles of Permaculture: A Way Forward

    This blog article describes the basics of permaculture (permanent culture). Permaculture is rooted in the observation of natural systems and indigenous knowledge. The author introduces the solution permaculture offers to help us transition to a more resilient, ethical, and sustainable future better for the planet and its inhabitants.

  • Wendell Berry and Ellen Davis: The Art of Being Creatures (Episode from On Being)

    In this intimate conversation between Krista and one of her beloved teachers, we ponder the world and our place in it, through sacred text, with fresh eyes. We’re accompanied by the meditative and prophetic poetry of Wendell Berry, read for us from his home in Kentucky: “Stay away from anything / that obscures the place it is in. / There are no unsacred places; / there are only sacred places / and desecrated places. / Accept what comes of silence.”

  • How faith-based organizations are restoring nature

    Many ecosystems around the world, from forests to coral reefs, are in decline, victims of pollution, climate change and resource extraction.

    But faith-based organizations are increasingly stepping in to help repair these natural spaces. From projects to save Ethiopia's forests to yogic farming in India to botanic gardens in Qatar, in many cases, religious leaders have become environmental influencers, championing nature-based solutions that experts say are crucial to saving the ecosystems that underpin human society.

  • Faith Communities Environmental Network (FCEN)

    We are a community of diverse faith traditions networking together to advance the environment & Eco-justice through:

    - Advocating for environmental and climate action including racial, economic and social justice in all of our work
    - Learning together and sharing best practices
    - Building a diverse community that inspires hope and action to protect the interdependent web of life

  • The Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative

    Established in 2016, the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative is a coalition of Cape and Islands-based organizations, businesses and citizens whose mission is to unite available knowledge, resources, talent and tools to mitigate climate change impacts on Cape Cod, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and work toward achieving “net zero”-based goals for the Cape & Islands. We seek to create conditions to foster innovative, feasible, cross-sector solutions to the climate crisis.

    Board members include community leaders from across the region representing organizations such as the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Cape Air, Cape Light Compact, Center for Coastal Studies, Friends of Pleasant Bay, Outer Cape Energize, Woods Hole Research Center, and numerous faith, educational, non-profit and business entities.

  • Sacred landscapes: religion and ecology around the Pacific

    To mark World Environment Day, on June 5, we begin a new series on religion and ecology.

    From the church forests of Ethiopia to the mountains of Chinese Daoism, the sea-scapes of Pacific theology to the forest monasteries of Theravadin Buddhism, the three-part series of sacred landscapes will explore how religion and spirituality might matter in the Anthropocene. How do the places we love shape our sense of the sacred? And how are our spiritual lives nurtured by the bush, the mountains —or even the sea?

    In the first episode, Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-founder and director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University introduces us to the series.

    We also hear from Rev Dr Jione Havea, a pastor from Tonga about what it means to belong to the islands and to their seas. Rev Havea works at the forefront of postcolonial hermeneutics and Pasifika theology. His books include ‘Indigenous Australia and the Unfinished Business of Theology’.

  • The Greening of the Federated Church of Orleans

    The church began in 1646 – That year Pilgrim families from Plymouth Colony moved across the Bay to settle on Cape Cod, and some of the group ended up in today’s Orleans. They quickly established regular patterns of worship and fellowship, and eventually, in 1718, they built their meetinghouse on the site of today’s church – next to the cemetery, on the road to Nauset Beach.

    August 2016 – The church started a new green journey. Federated Church's 10-person Care for Creation Team (aka C4C) began its work. It soon adopted the UCC “Green Congregation Challenge.” Ten months later the church had completed enough environmental-friendly steps in the Challenge’s Level One to be recognized by the UCC Mass. Conference's annual gathering as a “Green Congregation.”

    Now (March 2018) – We anticipate completing enough additional steps to be recognized in June as a Level Two “Green Congregation.” We hope to complete Level Three next year!

  • Green Shinto

    Green Shinto is a blog by John Dougill operating out of Kyoto, Japan, which is dedicated to the promotion of an open, international and environmental Shinto. It seeks to celebrate the rich heritage of the tradition, from sacred rocks and shamanistic roots to bawdy myths and fertility festivals. It believes Shinto to be essentially diverse, localised, and community-oriented. It looks to a Shinto free of borders, liberated from its past to meet the demands of a new age. It looks in short to a Shinto that is green indeed as well as in word.