Search
1245 items
-
Religion and Environment Songs: Medicine by Rising Appalachia
"Medicine" is a song by the musical group Rising Appalachia about finding healing within ourselves through nature, music, and religion.
From the song: “Remedies are bountiful and surround us from the garden to the farthest/ prayers made of star dust/ find your healing in the music that calls you” -
Columbus Church Earns Green Spot and Energy Star Certification
The First English Lutheran church in Columbus created a Green Team to measure their energy use and carbon footprint. They took those numbers and applied to become a Columbus Green Spot and was soon after awarded the certification. Soon after, they replaced their gas furnace with a highly efficient one and became the first congregation in Ohio to earn the Energy Star Certification. To see the Energy Star certification page for the First English Lutheran Church, see the link below. -
Going Green: A Matter of Faith for Ohio Churches
This article written by Mary Kuhlman from Public News Service highlights the steps taken by the First Presbyterian Church in Athens, Ohio. They replaced their boiler system, and installed new lights and insulation. All of the renovations were done with the help of AEP Ohio, Columbia Gas, and Ohio Interfaith Power and Light
From the article, "First Presbyterian Church of Athens was recognized for its energy-efficiency efforts in the Environmental Protection Agency's 2013 Energy Star National Building Competition. Martin says they reduced energy use 20 percent for the past 12 months and in the process, prevented an estimated 9.2 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions". -
Building Regional Food Hubs: A Conference Connecting Healthy Food, Farms, and Communities
The Methodist Theological School in Ohio is hosting a one day conference called "Building Regional Food Hubs". The event dedicated to the life and work of Patrick Kaufman on Friday, November 9th, 2018 in Delaware, Ohio. Attendees will learn from food system projects across Ohio, including in the Mansfield and Columbus area, and connect with food system practitioners from around the state. There will be a group of speakers including: Anna Haas, Local Food Connection in Cincinnati, Ohio, Piper Fernwey, Bon Appétit Management Company, Leslie Schaller, Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACENet), and Casey Hoy, The Ohio State University Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT). The registration fee is free for students and $10 for others. -
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 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. -
A Month of Gratitude
A Month of Gratitude is a way that Christine Sine, creator of Godspace and writer for EEN Moms, is focusing on God’s abundant blessings. Instead of just making the week of Thanksgiving a gratitude week, she has decided to make October and November a season of gratitude. She offers simple ways that anyone can join her by praying, focusing, and practicing.
From the article, "As we approach the Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas seasons it is good for all of us to establish practices that encourage us to slow down, to reflect, to attune ourselves to God and to take notice of the abundant blessings in our lives". -
10 Things in Your Home Linked to Climate Change
"10 Things in Your Home Linked to Climate Change" is a resource from Catholic Relief Services on simple ways your house could be contributing to climate change. The resource offers facts on 10 simple things, such as fish and coffee, that can have major impacts on the environment. -
Creation at the Crossroads
Creation at the Crossroads is a collaboration between RENEW International, GreenFaith, and Catholic Climate Covenant. They are a small-group faith-sharing resource that responds to Pope Francis’ call to action in the encyclical. -
The Giving Tree: Fighting Climate Change and Strengthening Communities in Nicaragua
The Giving Tree: Fighting Climate Change and Strengthening Communities in Nicaragua is an initiative from Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere with one of the worst rates of deforestation in the region. CRS is engaging rural Nicaraguans, who have an average employment income of $3/day, in planting 310,000 indigenous trees in land on or near their small farms. These trees will remove from the atmosphere approximately 67,800 metric tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, over their full lives. Farmers will be paid annually for a 10-year period to maintain and nurture these trees, and additional investment will be made in the communities. -
Living the Change
Living the Change is an organization that is committed to sustainable living through choices in transportation, energy use, and diet. These are choices that people make on a daily basis, and by choosing to change your lifestyle, you can help change the world. Living the Change believe that it is every faithful persons responsibility to make these choices for a flourishing world. -
Time for Living the Change
Time for Living the Change is a global initiative between religious and spiritual communities to encourage local sustainability events and celebrations around the world. The goals of this event are to: align with faithful values, allow a future for all and take care of the Earth our home, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent waste and harm, send a strong message to others in communities and to decision-makers in businesses and governments, share and celebrate the people make in their own lives to allow a flourishing world for all, share stories of change, transformation, and regeneration, lift up leaders and sustainable solutions in our own community, learn from one another, and offer guidance around transitioning towards sustainable living. -
Time for Living the Change Talking Points
Time for Living the Change Talking Points is a document from Living the Change that offers helpful ways to talk about what “living the change” means. The document discusses why sustainable behavior changes are important and how faith can play a role. The talking points encourage cultural and political change, and how those are instrumental for environmental change to happen. -
Time for Living the Change Media Toolkit
Time for Living the Change Media Toolkit is a resource from Living the Change that offers ways to use social media and other forms of media to help advertise and market a sustainable living event. They offer logo examples, email templates, social media and outreach tips, and more. -
Stories of Change
Stories of Change is a compilation of people from all different religions who have chosen to “live the change. The page from Living the Change showcases inspiring stories of people and the changes they have made with a short description and video for each person. -
Archdiocese of Cincinnati hosts Energy Summits today and tomorrow in Dayton and Cincinnati
In response to Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home, The Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati, recently encouraged Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese to participate in one of two energy summits to promote “faithful sustainability” and best energy practices in church facilities and homes.
From the event description on the website, “ The Archdiocesan office of Property Management and Real Estate, and office of Social Action invite pastors, business managers and facilities managers to join representatives from CCE, Duke Energy, EPA’s Energy Star and WaterSense and US Green Building Council in a half-day event where they can participate in no-cost efficiency programs. For many, they will be able to take action towards reducing energy use and lowering energy costs this same day“. -
Pennsylvania order asks Supreme Court to uphold its Religious Rights
The Adorers of the Blood of Christ have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether their religious freedom rights were violated by the construction and pending use of a natural gas pipeline through its land. The petition asks the Supreme Court to determine how extensively the government must respect claims under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and whether the construction violates their religious freedoms under the RFRA. -
Photography Contest Winner: Aminta Kilawan-Narine Biography
Aminta is a community organizer, activist, writer, and singer born in New York. In 2013, Aminta co-founded Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, a New York State non-profit organization committed to promoting social justice through the values at the heart of the Hindu faith. Through Sadhana, Aminta has worked closely with the Queens-based Indo-Caribbean population to promote environmentally friendly worship practices, particularly at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Aminta has also been a spirited bhajan and Hindi film song singer since the tender age of 9. In 2015, in an effort to increase civic engagement and political awareness in her community, Aminta began writing a column for her local newspaper, The West Indian.
Aminta received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Fordham College at Lincoln Center in 2010. She received her Juris Doctor from Fordham Law School in 2013. After graduating from law school, Aminta served as a New York State Public Service Excelsior Fellow under New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. While she originally thought she’d become a trial lawyer, she found her true calling in policy-making. She is a Senior Legislative Counsel for the New York City legislature. In her capacity at the New York City Council, Aminta drafts and negotiates legislation spanning from areas such as women’s rights, poverty to housing and homelessness, and child welfare. Aminta is admitted to practice in the New York State Bar.
Aminta’s photo, Shiva, the God of Destruction, Destroyed, won second place in the Religion and Environment photography contest. Aminta stated, “”Hindus have worshipped at the banks of Ganges and the shores of other bodies of water for centuries. Jamaica Bay is basically a closed system, so whatever lands in its waters stays until it is removed. The Ganges and many other bodies of water have become polluted by the use of many user groups. The Ganges, one of the major rivers of India, also known as Ganga Maa, is said to have made her abode in Shiva’s matted hair in order to prevent the destruction of Prithvi (Mother Earth). The flow of the Ganges also represents the nectar of immortality. Shiva is regarded as “the Destroyer” among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. He is also regarded as the patron god of yoga and the arts. Here, Shiva is found broken in the sands of Jamaica Bay, during a cleanup organized by the photographer Aminta Kilawan-Narine and her husband Rohan Narine.” -
Build a Catholic Relief Service Ark of Hope
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) created Ark of Hope as a way to get communities engaged in a fun and creative way. Relating to the hope and promise from the story of Noah’s Ark, the CRS Ark of Hope program allows communities to donate symbolic animals to people in need as they “build an ark.” As communities work towards their goal, they can color in animals and place them on an arc. The materials included with this program are lesson plans, a prayer service, coloring pages, and a bulletin-board Ark to show the progress communities are making towards reaching their goals and building their ark. -
Catholic Relief Services Best Photographs 2018
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has created the “Through the Lens of Our Photographers,” project. This is its third year of the CRS Photos Department’s annual collection of the best photos of the year. CRS Photo Librarian Lauren Carroll and Photo Editor Philip Laubner hope to offer photos that have a “lasting impact and transcend their parts to represent something bigger, something universal, something that talks to a larger human truth.” -
Religious Statements on Climate Change from Interfaith Power and Light
Interfaith Power & Light has compiled a list of different religious community’s statements on climate change. The list includes statements from different denominations including: Baha’i, Buddhist, Christianity, Hindu, Interfaith, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and Unitarian Universalist. -
Bread for the World: Have Faith. End Hunger.
Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging the nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. By changing policies, programs, and conditions that allow hunger and poverty to exist, they provide help and opportunity at home and abroad to end hunger.
“God’s grace in Jesus Christ moves us to help our neighbors, whether they live in the next house, the next state, or the next continent.” -
The Biblical Basis for Advocacy to end Hunger
This document from Bread for the World provides nine biblical themes that guide their mission to end hunger. They cite scripture for each theme to show why they believe it is their duty to love all people and ensure that no person goes hungry. -
Meet Sālote: a Young Witness to Climate Change
"Meet Sālote: a Young Witness to Climate Change" is a video produced by Operation Noah that aims to hep Christians around the world recognize the human cost of climate change, and particularly its impact on women and children. The video was made in partnership with World Day of Prayer and is inspired by real-life accounts of present-day climate change impacts. -
Religion and Environment Songs: Nobody’s Fault by Aerosmith
Song Picks by Natalie
The first verse of Nobody’s Fault by Aerosmith says:
Running for the sea/
Holy lands are sinking/
Birds take to the sky/
I think that the first three lines are describing the destruction of the earth and the line “holy lands are sinking” is alluding to rising sea levels taking precious land. The next lines:
The prophets are all stinking drunk/
I know the reason why/
Eyes are full of desire/
Mind is so ill at ease/
Everything is on fire.
I think that “The prophets are all stinking drunk” is referring to people no longer listening to the teachings of God. In the next lines, I believe the lyrics are saying the reason people are no longer listening to the teachings of God and therefore destroying the earth is because of human’s desire for more. This has led to an uncomfortable society where our minds are “ill at ease and everything is on fire.” The last chorus of the songs states:
Man has known/
And now he’s blown it/
Upside down and hell’s the only sound/
We did an awful job/
And now we’re just a little too late/
I think that these lines are saying humans have known we shouldn’t be destroying the earth, but we did it anyways, and now, everything is not how it should be. Humans have ignored the warnings and now it’s too late.
-
Columbus Diocese 150th Anniversary Tree Planting
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Diocese of Columbus, they are encouraging all parishes to plant at least one tree in recognition of the historic milestone. The commitment should be done before April 22nd, Earth Day, when Bishop Cambpell will celebrate Mass to recognize the anniversary. The Diocese is also offering a Blessing of a Tree that can be downloaded.