Category Communications and Engagement

Is Your Money Green?

pile of coins with a green sprout coming up from them

It’s budget season! For many congregations and organizations, the last quarter of the year is when members of the community pledge their financial support for the coming year. This is also a great time for us to individually review our spending and plan our household budget for next year...

That’ll Preach!

Male Clergy Preaching in an outdoor setting

We are living in a climate changed world and the impacts are increasing in frequency and severity. Climate change intersects with and impacts everything we care about, from our health and food security to the economy and racism...

Celebrating Earth Day

Woman with curly brown hair wearing clerical collar leaning back in a chair smiling.

Spring has arrived in Kentucky where I live, and it is nourishing my spirit. The chirping of the birds, the scurrying of the squirrels, the beauty of the landscape, and the sunshine make my heart sing and give my body energy. Spring weather calls me outside and reminds me of the sacredness of the earth...

We Cannot Fast from Clean Air

View of Los Angeles from afar with pollution over the city.

During Ramadan, Muslims ideally sacrifice some of their own comfort while focusing on compassion, mercy and charitable giving to the hungry, thirsty, poor and disadvantaged. However, while one can fast from food and water for specific periods of time, our bodies cannot fast from air because clean air is the most life-giving force upon which we rely...

You Are Invited to the 2024 National Climate and Faith Forum

Congregations actively living out their faith create a ripple effect on the world with the greatest impact in local communities. There has never been a more important time for congregations to lead, reminding ourselves and each other of the power of God. There are over 300,000 houses of faith in the United States, more than twice the number of cities, school districts, post offices, and Starbucks locations combined. Congregations serve as gathering spaces and backbones of local communities, with a legacy of organizing, serving, and leading social change.

Our Ocean

Many of us are daydreaming about a beach vacation this summer, laughing and playing amongst the waves and swells of the ocean. But not only is the ocean a wondrous, magical, vast body of water...

One World

Photo of Raj Patel

When I served as a congregational pastor, I sometimes used the string game with groups of youth or adults to demonstrate our connectedness. The string activity requires that the group stand in a circle throwing a ball of string back and forth across the circle while holding on to your piece of the string...

2023, The year for climate action!

Photo of a silhouette of a person raising their arms in front of a sunset at the beach

For the first time in my life as a climate-faith leader, I don’t feel as if I am walking while leaning forward against a strong wind. A shift has taken place recently that feels as if the strong wind has been reduced to more of a breeze, and at times it is even against my back. More and more people of faith are engaged in climate solutions, and a series of federal legislation recently enacted (Federal Government Climate Initiatives) are making climate solutions more accessible, even to congregations.

White House Meeting

Photo of Rev. Tom Carr and Rev. Carol Devine in front of the White House

My journey of creation care advocacy began in 1987 when I followed the Garbage Barge (https://www.retroreport.org/video/voyage-of-the-mobro-4000/) on the news. That situation propelled me to act. I began working in the American Baptist Church, USA to help “green congregations” and serve on the board of Creation Justice Ministries. I worked with the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network which helped clean up Connecticut’s “Sooty Six” power plants and helped stop the expansion of Hartford’s enormous landfill into low-income communities of color. In 1999, I joined the National Coalition for Creation Care (NRCCC) an organization that represents all faith communities that have issued public statements on care of creation and when NRCCC became a partner of Blessed Tomorrow (BT), I became involved with BT.

A School Bus for Kivalina, AK: The Consequences of Climate Change

A yellow school bus on a dark road

On November 9, 2022, the children of Kivalina, a small Inupiaq village on the coast of the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean in Western Alaska, rode a bus to school for the first time ever. There has never been a school bus in the village of Kivalina, a community of about four hundred people where a person can walk the entire length of the village in about 15 minutes. In fact, there’s never been a bus of any kind! For the village’s entire history, no one could have imagined Kivalina would ever need a school bus. But then the loss of sea ice and increased storm activity on the Chukchi Sea–both the result of climate change, increased coastal erosion and the village began to be washed into the sea.

How Creation Care Fared at COP27

Logo that reads "COP27 Sharm El-Sheikh Egypt 2022"

The 27th Conference of Parties (COP) (https://cop27.eg/#/), attended by over 35, 000 people, took place November 6 - 20th in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. These global gatherings on climate were established at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Annual COP meetings are held in various locations around the globe most years and are attended by environmental experts, ministers, heads of state and non-governmental and faith organizations.

When the Land Owns Us

A field surrounded by trees beneath a blue, partly cloudy sky

Edgar Villanueva, a non-profit leader and member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, wrote the book, Decolonizing Wealth, to share indigenous wisdom about the ways we acquire, manage, and spend money. At one point, he quotes the philosopher Derek Rasmussen, who observed, “What makes a people indigenous? Indigenous people believe they belong to the land, and non-indigenous people believe the land belongs to them.”

Voting as an Act of Faith

Image of circular green logo that reads "Proud Climate Voter #GOTV"

Climate is on the ballot for every election, including the November 8, 2022 election. These 2022 midterms can make or break our future to live in a safe and healthy world. One of the most important things that we can do to solve the climate crisis is to vote for candidates who want to protect, care, and heal the earth. And since climate intersects all justice issues, voting for climate also supports every justice issue that people of faith care about.

Season of Creation

Road through tree canopy with red fallen leaves on road

As a pastor, I very much enjoyed honoring and celebrating creation for a month each fall. Besides being a lot of fun, focusing on creation for more than one Sunday helped me learn to see Scripture through a creation lens and weave it in worship all the time. In the month of September, the Season of Creation is celebrated in churches around the world. This year, Blessed Tomorrow partner and friend, Margaret Bullit-Jonas, along with  Rev. John Elliott Lein compiled a new Season of Creation liturgical resource. Margaret joined me on Let’s Talk Climate this month to discuss the Season of Creation,  the new resource, and other resources. 

Environmental Justice: Youth Taking Action

headshot, young Latinx man, very short hair, mountain background.

Environmental injustice looks different in different locations. Injustice impacts community members’ mental, physical, and spiritual health. In this episode of Let's Talk Climate, Cesar, Will and Zavia share what injustice looks like in their communities. We learn what it is like to attend a school that has practice drills in order to be ready in case of an emergency at an oil refinery. We hear about the impacts that building and expanding roads and highways can have on a tight knit community and important culture. We hear of the layered injustice that heat and poverty have on marginalized communities in an urban city.

Kentucky Flooding and Climate Change

There is no issue more important than climate change and I want to do all I can to be part of the solutions. I bring to this position a lifelong passion for creation care, 14 years of experience as a pastor, a commitment and history of interfaith work, founding and leading a climate and faith organization, a yearning for a viable future for my children and future generations and a growing network of friendships and connections with folks doing this work.

Environmental Justice: Science and Theology

There is no issue more important than climate change and I want to do all I can to be part of the solutions. I bring to this position a lifelong passion for creation care, 14 years of experience as a pastor, a commitment and history of interfaith work, founding and leading a climate and faith organization, a yearning for a viable future for my children and future generations and a growing network of friendships and connections with folks doing this work.

Clergy Bridging the Gap

There is no issue more important than climate change and I want to do all I can to be part of the solutions. I bring to this position a lifelong passion for creation care, 14 years of experience as a pastor, a commitment and history of interfaith work, founding and leading a climate and faith organization, a yearning for a viable future for my children and future generations and a growing network of friendships and connections with folks doing this work.

Environmental Justice: An Advocate’s Triumph

Huda Alkaff wearing a bright pink hijab and is smiling.

There is no issue more important than climate change and I want to do all I can to be part of the solutions. I bring to this position a lifelong passion for creation care, 14 years of experience as a pastor, a commitment and history of interfaith work, founding and leading a climate and faith organization, a yearning for a viable future for my children and future generations and a growing network of friendships and connections with folks doing this work.

Juneteenth and Climate Justice

Hands of black person moving away from each other breaking chains with words: June 19, Juneteenth, Let's Celebrate Freedom Day"

There is no issue more important than climate change and I want to do all I can to be part of the solutions. I bring to this position a lifelong passion for creation care, 14 years of experience as a pastor, a commitment and history of interfaith work, founding and leading a climate and faith organization, a yearning for a viable future for my children and future generations and a growing network of friendships and connections with folks doing this work.

Uniquely Equipped

group of people in a circle with hands reaching toward center

There is no issue more important than climate change and I want to do all I can to be part of the solutions. I bring to this position a lifelong passion for creation care, 14 years of experience as a pastor, a commitment and history of interfaith work, founding and leading a climate and faith organization, a yearning for a viable future for my children and future generations and a growing network of friendships and connections with folks doing this work.

Breathing with God

city with smoke stack releasing pollution into the air

There is no issue more important than climate change and I want to do all I can to be part of the solutions. I bring to this position a lifelong passion for creation care, 14 years of experience as a pastor, a commitment and history of interfaith work, founding and leading a climate and faith organization, a yearning for a viable future for my children and future generations and a growing network of friendships and connections with folks doing this work.

Farming, Climate and Judaism

Right hand holding two radishes recently plucked from the ground.

There is no issue more important than climate change and I want to do all I can to be part of the solutions. I bring to this position a lifelong passion for creation care, 14 years of experience as a pastor, a commitment and history of interfaith work, founding and leading a climate and faith organization, a yearning for a viable future for my children and future generations and a growing network of friendships and connections with folks doing this work.