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  • WCC augments Vatican’s call to address climate emergency

    The World Council of Churches (WCC) calls on those in position of power to listen to the urgent protests and take action accordingly. The following is an excerpt from the article, indicating WCC's stance of solidarity with Vatican’s Dicastery promotion of integral human development:

    “When we hear the call from the youth and children on the street, the facts from scientists with all the knowledge, the witnesses from indigenous people of the world and the cry from the Earth we must come together as one humanity in a hopeful action of transformation,” said Grape. “In this struggle for climate justice, the WCC is happy to be working in the same direction as the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. We work together in an open ecumenical spirit to end climate injustice and move to a more peaceful sustainable future.”

  • Climate Change

    The World Council of Churches calls individuals to modify their consumer lifestyle for the greater good - to improve shared environmental conditions for all and with less negative impact among the poor. This excerpt provides a sense of urgency to act to reverse the threat of climate change:

    "The urgency of the threat of climate change requires our generation to take immediate action and go beyond simple declarations and statements. New alternative models of life are called for. We challenge all people to move towards a style of life that derives its quality from the attentive enjoyment of nature and human relationships, from mutual care, dependence, trust and solidarity instead of the illusions of individual autonomy and material wealth, from spirituality and feelings of community, connectedness and intimacy instead of one-dimensional self-centredness. We draw strength from insights gained from the rich, community- oriented and simple lifestyles of indigenous and other marginalized communities. We are conscious of the significant contribution these communities, with their low carbon economies, deliver to the stabilization of the climate. We recommend the creation of 'just, participatory, sustainable and sustaining communities' for mutual support and call upon the churches and authorities to join them on this journey with reflection and practical support."

  • The Pope on Sustainability

    An article written in Science Magazine covers the Pope's take on sustainability and environmental accountability. The Pope has inspired other religious leaders to also raise their voice about environmental issues like combating climate change. The introduction of the article notes that:

    "The problems that motivate the Vatican are no different from those that concern the scientific community: depletion of nonrenewable resources, loss of ecosystem services, and risks from changing climate. But what the Vatican contributes is the rationale for taking action: because it is our moral responsibility to bequeath a habitable planet to future generations".

  • Lutheran, Anglican, Episcopal leaders offer pastoral message on climate change

    This message from leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Anglican Church of Canada, and The Episcopal Church, emphasizes that all individuals have contributed to climate change. However, they offer hope that God himself has not given up on care for creation. They urge individuals to discern opportunities to curb energy use, decrease carbon emissions, and reduce consumer waste.

  • Episcopal Church, Church of Sweden, ELCA commitment: "Sustaining hope in the face of climate change"

    The heads The Episcopal Church, the Church of Sweden, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) signed a joint commitment to climate statement. The following are five salient points from their commitment:

    "1) Advocate for national and international policies and regulations that enable a swift transition from dependence on fossil fuels to clean, safe, renewable energy, and for economic systems that are fair and just.

    2) Sustain an interfaith, international conversation around climate change and social and economic justice while working to keep climate change in the public’s attention.

    3) Encourage our faith communities to deeper theological reflection on the moral and ethical response to climate change, and then to make public witness about climate change through advocacy at the local, national and international levels.

    4) Invite our communities to prayerfully consider how their own actions, lifestyle choices – particularly our energy consumption -- affect the environment.

    5) Offer our communities continued opportunities to learn about climate change and the universal church’s response to this crisis."

  • A Spiritual Dimension and Environmental Education: Buddhism and Environmental Crisis

    Kongsak Thathong writes about the environmental crisis and how a Buddhist environmental ethic may help in solving environmental problems. Buddhism may also help in education; the Lord Buddha encouraged environmental education, and learning about the Earth and its resources may protect it from the greed and selfishness that humanity spreads. Buddhism's three tenets of Right Behavior, Mind, and Understanding are virtues that people can change in themselves to care for the Earth.

  • Congregational Profile: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Grove City, OH: How it began in one parish

    In 2016, prompted by Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si,” we at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Grove City, Ohio, held two 8-week sessions of discussions on the encyclical and at the end of the second session, our pastor, Fr. Daniel J. Millisor, appointed the discussion leader, Sister Nancy Miller, OSF as chairperson and called together a team to explore how the parish might lower our carbon footprint. The Creation Care Council (CCC) of our parish meets monthly for prayer, discussion and action in response to Laudato Si’s call for greater care for our common home.

    We conducted a parish survey, with the intention of enhancing awareness among parishioners, as well as to determine if, and how, members were already incorporating recycling and composting into their daily lives. The results were highly, though not entirely, favorable. In addition to regularly inserting information and suggestions into our parish bulletins, taking the CCC members to tour a landfill, recycling plant, and the OSU Byrd Polar Research Center, we requested that all committees at the parish look at ways to reduce or eliminate their use of Styrofoam dinnerware. Rather than condemn polluters, we wrote thank you notes to businesses that showed environmental stewardship. We began annually purchasing and giving away seedling trees to plant on Earth Day. We took on trying to improve parish recycling efforts – providing new recycling containers for all parish offices, inviting a local official – an environmental expert – to explain to us what is and is not recyclable, preparing an interactive recycling quiz at the parish festival, and then attempting to bring recycling to the parish picnic and festival.

    The efforts to incorporate recycling in parish events “failed” the first year, but we got it right the second year and this (the third) year, we successfully introduced food waste composting to Lenten Parish Fish Fry dinners, the Parish Picnic, and our largest parish event of the year: the Parish Festival. The 2019 Parish Festival served an estimated 5,000 meals, working with food vendors to increase their ability to serve compostable dishware and cutlery. In total, the CCC was able to divert 2,704 gallons of waste from the local landfill, which constituted 86% of all waste at the Festival.

    We also exceeded all expectations in soliciting nearly 100 volunteers to help teach and monitor correct depositing of these materials - without tapping the usual volunteer corps that was still needed to keep the regular parts of the festival going. With the support of our pastor and dedicated CCC members, we’ve come a long way, and still feel like we have only just begun!

  • Bishop Hartley High School, Columbus, OH

    Bishop Hartley has assembled a Care 4 Creation faculty committee, which focuses on long-term plans at the school. There is also a Care 4 Creation Association, which is for students and is also student-led. Instructors Rick Kohut and Ann Hawk have spearheaded some of the more long-term creation care projects there. Each have set up a vermicomposting bin in their classrooms, offering that it works well and is relatively low maintenance. Students from one of Rick’s classes had worked on a project where they created a poster/chart with pictures of endangered animals. Some of the students from Rick's classes engaged in the school's climate strike. One highly motivated student, Jamal, wrote a letter about the event which he sent to local politicians. Ann has been attending a yearly AEP Ohio energy efficiency program, and they in turn provide her with free energy savings kits for each of her students. AEP also offers energy saving kits for residential customers who are willing to complete their online Home Energy Profile. In addition, two new drinking fountains are about to be installed at the school that are designed to fill reusable water bottles. The school is also in the process of creating water bottles for sale with their school’s logo on them. The intent is to cut down on students and faculty purchasing and bringing in individual plastic bottles of water.

  • Engaged Organizations: The Catholic Foundation of Ohio - Columbus

    The Catholic Foundation of Columbus, Ohio is designed to be responsive to interests that come from within the diocesan parishes and schools. To the extent that those interests have included creation care work, there has been grant activity. Dan Kurth, Director of Grants for the Catholic Foundation, offers that the foundation’s rubric for creation care initiatives is essentially: Does this project have any green energy sustainability pieces to it? The energy efficiency component of the foundation’s responsive grants is the main integration of a Laudato Si' principle into the foundation's grant work. As the Laudato Si encyclical has grown in awareness, more funding has become available as energy efficiency-related projects have become more commonplace over time.

    The foundation has recently partnered with the Columbus Catholic Diocese on their Diocean Loan LED program, which has had considerable impact on diocesan savings. In addition, the foundation encourages schools to establish their own maintenance reserve funds in order to maintain more efficient operations. Specifically, there is a push to have schools and parishes upgrade their boilers, change over to LED lighting, and replace their windows with more efficient ones.

  • Engaged Organizations: Christ the King Catholic Church, Columbus, OH

    Jason Cervenec, Education and Outreach Director for OSU's Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, has helped plan and carry out a number of initiatives for events and projects at Christ the King Catholic Church over the past few years. With the assistance of Deb Steele, the Volunteer Coordinator for Ohio Interfaith Power and Light (Ohio IPL), Jason has organized energy audits that were conducted by Ohio IPL programming and support. The LED retrofit with diocese Facility Director, Bruce Boyan, has been a noteworthy achievement at the parish as well. Additional energy efficient projects have included window replacement (also with Bruce) and the installation of an HVAC system. While the parish center is currently undergoing renovation work, Jason and other parishioners have reviewed the plans to look for additional efficiency and sustainability improvements. Recently, Jason had designed creation care bulletin inserts, with feedback from the Creation Care team at the Columbus Catholic Diocese, that have been widely circulate around town. The annual creation care information program that Jason initiated has garnered substantial support, with roughly 30 people in attendance each time. An additional work in progress project includes the installation of a bike rack station outside of the parish.

  • Bloomberg Business Posts Infographic to Show “What’s Really Warming the World?”

    Occasionally, an outstanding graphic emerges to help us understand some of the complexities of climate science, such as this recent series of graphs published by Bloomberg Business. If you have wondered how all the various factors and forcings involved in global warming interact, these infographics based on data from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies are very helpful.

  • Laudato Si' Adds Catholic Voice to Diverse spectrum of Religious Creation Care Views

    Here are some links to the encyclical and related educational materials and statements that have been developed by different religious communities, including a letter of support from over 400 Rabbis, and a new Islamic statement on the environment:

    Laudato Si’: Praise Be To You: On Care for Our Common Home: (html)
    Laudato Si’ study guide from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops: (pdf)
    National Catholic Reporter Reader’s Guide to Laudato Si: (pdf)
    The Shalom Center with its history of ecological practices: (url)
    Announcement of the Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis: (url)
    Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change: (url)
    United Methodist Bishops Pastoral Letter: God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action: (url)
    Lutheran Study Guide to Pope Francis’ Letter on Climate Change: (pdf)
    Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation: (url)
    National Association of Evangelicals 2015 Call to Action on Creation Care: (url)
    A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change: (url)
    Buddhist Climate Change Statement to World Leaders 2015: (url)
    Black Church Climate Statement: (url)

  • A Sinking Island

    Many people who currently inhabit one of four small islands in the Pacific Ocean are being forced to evacuate their homes. The rising sea levels have washed away their homes and eroded their beaches. In addition, their sources of freshwater are being contaminated. This unfortunate circumstance is a prime example of Pope Francis's message on the impact of climate change.

  • Faith Community Impacts on Earth Day

    Since the founding of Earth Day in 1970, faith communities have become more and more involved with the activities of the day. Various religions have taken the lessons to heart, urging individuals to be more aware of their personal impact on the environment as well as their impacts as a community. The focus of Earth Day for 2008 is climate change and its detrimental effects have become pressing issues for the world community

  • Hitzhusen to Deliver Lecture on Spirituality and Sustainability on Sept. 20 in Sylvania, OH

    The Science Alliance for Valuing the Environment, an “educational consortium for environmental concerns” affiliated with Lourdes University in Sylvania, OH, will host Dr. Greg Hitzhusen to deliver a lecture on “Spirituality and Sustainability: Hope for All Creation” at the Franciscan Center from 7:30-9:00pm on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

    Attend this FREE public lecture hosted by S.A.V.E. – Science Alliance for Valuing the Environment.

    To read more about this event please click on the link below:

  • Dalai Lama's Message to World Leaders

    Before COP-21, the Dalai Lama recorded a message for all people to see, addressing the world leaders who were going to meet in Paris. In his message, he urged people to take responsibility for what we have done to the planet and start to live more sustainably. He also noted that Tibet is effected much more drastically by climate change than other regions of the world. Tibet has long been considered the rooftop of the earth, and is much more susceptible to environmental degradation.

  • Today is registration deadline for Columbus Diocese Creation Care Conference on Oct. 8

    The Columbus Diocese is offering a day of reflection, inspiration, study, and sharing of resources to help Columbus area Catholic communities respond to Pope Francis’ environmental urgings in his recent encyclical, Laudato Si: Caring for Our Common Home. The conference: “Enlivened by Laudato Si’: We Care for our Common Home: Our practical response to care for God’s creation” will be held at the Martin De Porres Center in Columbus from 10am-2pm on Saturday, October 8.

    The conference will feature creation care team building sessions, spirituality and worship, education, sustainability information for energy savings, and advocacy to care for creation and the poor. Dr. Greg Hitzhusen of the School of Environment and Natural Resources at Ohio State will deliver a keynote address.

  • Ohio Interfaith Power and Light offers advocacy training

    Event Announcement: Ohio Interfaith Power and Light will offer Advocacy Training as part of a faith based response to climate change issues in Ohio on Saturday, October 15, 2016.

    OhIPL Director Sara Ward and Coordinator Deb Steele will be reviewing legislative policies at the state and national level with a focus on what constituents can do to advocate for laws that will better care for our collective home.

    – Help Ohio end the “freeze” on our energy efficiency & renewable power legislation

    – Learn more about the national Clean Power Plan

    – Take action at the end of the training by calling your legislator and submitting a Letter to the Editor

    If you’d like to attend please contact Deb Steele by email: Dsteele@ohipl.org or cell 614.323.1703

    Saturday October 15th 2016
    10am to Noon @
    First Unitarian Universalist @
    93 W Weisheimer Rd, Columbus, OH 43214
    Light refreshments will be provided

  • Christian Communities Respond to Trump’s Executive Order

    President Trump signed an executive order on March 28 directing the EPA to review the Clean Power Plan. This executive order has the possibility to dismantle important climate change protections and fails to offer an alternative plan to protect our air quality and climate stability. Many Christian communities have responded to this action and made official statements on their thoughts and about protecting the Earth.

  • Episcopal Diocese of Ohio: Bellwether Farm

    Bellwether farm is a new camp and education center of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio. It is meant to provide leadership development and teachings through sustainable farming, food production, and care of the environment. It is located in Wakeman Ohio, with the goals of informing, inspiring, and empowering leaders for a sustainable future. The buildings are models of green technology featuring passive buildings, renewable energy, and water reclamation systems.

  • Church World Service to Withdraw from Paris Climate Agreement

    Church World Service released a statement after the announcement that the United Stated will withdraw from the Paris agreement: “CWS strongly condemns President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Coming at a time when the world is facing its largest humanitarian and refugee crisis since World War II, this decision will directly impact impoverished and vulnerable communities around the world and in the United States that are already facing the consequences of a changing climate.”

  • Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism’s Response to Withdraw from Paris Climate Agreement

    Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued a statement of disappointment in President Trump’s decision to exit the Paris Climate Agreement. “The Reform Movement condemns, with the utmost gravity and disappointment, the President’s decision to exit the historic Paris Climate Agreement… Joining with people of faith worldwide, including Pope Francis, the Reform Movement has strongly supported efforts to address the causes and impact of our changing climate.”

  • A Hymn for Hurrican Relief

    This article was written to showcase the hymn that was a tribute to prayers for the damage from the recent severe storms in Texas, Louisiana, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, the Caribbean, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. In addition to comforting those impacted by the storms, the hymn also serves as a message for government leaders to work for policies that help to counter climate change.

  • The Regeneration Project

    The Regeneration Project was created as the parent project of Interfaith Power&Light. It is meant to help deepen the connection between ecology and faith and to help people of faith recognize and fulfill their responsibility for the stewardship of creation. They do so through educational programs for clergy and congregations

  • Fasting for Climate Justice

    Fasting for Climate Justice is a resource from Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM ) on the practice of fasting for climate action through two initiatives: meatless Fridays and monthly fasting. The GCCM encourages abstinence from meat on Fridays as a way to reduce one’s negative impact on global climate change. The GCCM also promotes fasting for the climate which takes place the first day of each month.