Climate Change and the Faith-Based Community

PBS's Bill Moyer's just did a show called "Is God Green" about faith-based groups going green, climate change is included. You can watch it online, it may give you some ideas. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/green/watch.html http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/green/index.html

In response to Stephan's email, one great source of information and insight on the environmental movement within the faith community is the Evangelical Environmental Network (www.creationcare.org ). Also, there is a new book out by Matthew Sleeth titled "Serve God, Save the Planet", that can also provide insight into the possible motivations towards stewardship within these groups.

Wendy Spaulding

Education Specialist-
Visitor Experience Programming
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
5400 N. Pearl St. Tacoma, WA 98407
(253) 404-3665

Brett

I am sure people will send questions so I thought I would mention some of our experience as we do a lot of similar work - trying to draw together different stakeholders with different ideas and directions. We are also contacted by a number of organisations that start the process themselves and get bogged down so ask for help to unravel what they have done to generate meaningful results. So while the questions are important, the final results are more so. We have found that to start with the end in mind can make the development of a survey process much more effective. Things to consider are: * What output would be used by the Councils e.g. a short summary of results, a detailed, integrated analysis or perhaps an agenda of items for discussion at all Council meetings over the next year or other more practical idea. It is worth canvassing their ideas on this first otherwise you may go to a lot of effort for nothing * Will all Councils respond to the questionnaire in the same way ? -ergo will the results be considered valid. Some Councils may delegate a junior officer to respond while others will have a combined council workshop. The results may be substantially different and difficult to analyse. You may need to agree a standard process across all 12 Councils. * How will you analyse the responses? To get quantitative material, questions will require yes, no or a Likert scale or something similar. This may not suit the questions that you need to ask. If you plan to ask qualitative questions, how will you analyse them - e.g. keywords search, if so, do you prompt with keywords beforehand to make the process more valid, or do you leave the process open to see which ideas emerge. * It is worthwhile to test the questionnaire first e.g. with 4 Council representatives in differing situations to make sure that the questions are not perceived as biased, leading or confusing. * What level of detail do you require? You need to have enough to adequately understand the responses but not waste people's time or be swamped with data that takes months to analyse. One specific idea you may wish to consider - we have recently completed a process that encouraged 5 Councils in one region to map their most important resources, current situation and planned priorities in addition to a very simple questionnaire survey. Then the maps were analysed and a series of regional sectoral maps produced with supporting text. While there are always concerns about what is included in priorities from a parochial viewpoint , there was general consensus on the directions.

Good Luck
Dorothy Lucks

Executive Director
Sustainable Development Facilitation
92 Aclare Road Barragup WA 6210
Tel: (08) 9582 9228
Fax: (08) 9582 9226 0413 766 299

Hello,

Here is a UK based organisation - Christian Ecology Network. I don't know much about them, but they should be able tohelp you out. http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk

Cheers
Heidi

Hi Stephan

Here are a couple of other sites that give more information about stewardship in faith-based communities: The John Ray Institute http://www.jri.org.uk/index.htm and Arocha http://en.arocha.org/home/index.html Hope you find these useful. I am currently working within my church to encourage more sustainable behaviour and better stewardship of resources. I have produced a few brochures that encourage responsible behaviours. Each brochure treis to cover an area small enough that people can understand the issue without getting overwhelmed but big enough that they can feel that they are making a difference by changing that aspect of their lifestyle. The idea being that people sign-up to doing one of the brochures and are open to other people in the church holding them accountable to actually changing their lifestyle. Once this change has been successfully incorporated into their lives they come back for another brochure and start working on another area. The programme has only just started so I still don't know how successful it will be but if anyone does want a copy of some of the brochures please email me directly - any feedback would be welcome - the brochures cover both environmental issues and issues of trade / social justice.

Regards
Brett

This news item was in this morning's edition of the (Portland) Oregonian about the director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, David Leslie: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/living/
116096371035140.xml&coll=7

Yet another resource - here in Canada, "Faith and the Common Good" (http://www.faith-commongood.net/) recently received a grant from the Ontario Power Authority's Conservation Fund to develop outreach to faith groups.

Regards,
Kevin Devitt,
Toronto, ON Canada

Many thanks to all of you who responded to the subject post. I have been flooded with a wealth of leads and resources.

Best Regards to Everyone,
Stephan

Just last week there was a one-hour documentary on PBS about evangelicals and "creation care" (aka environmental stewardship). The need to address climate change was prominent during the discussion with several pastors as well as the director of the Washington DC-based National Evangelical Association. The title of the documentary was "Is God Green?" and the documentary was produced by Bill Moyers.

Patt Opdyke

Oregon State University
Extension Service Citizen Involvement Faculty
18640 NW Walker Rd Suite
1400 Beaverton, OR 97006
503-725-2117
[email protected]

This 'EcoTeam' program for sustainable lifestyle assessment and adjustment is one I've participated in and is organized in an enjoyable, easy and community building manner. It is in a fun, workbook format and is intended for neighbors, friends, any community group, or to bring people together. http://www.empowermentinstitute.net/files/SLP.html#ETtestimonials Due to the 'EcoTeam' program I cut use and the accompanying expense of utilities up to one half. Another easy way to cut down on fuel emissions and air (and noise) pollution is by creating the minimum of lawn on your property, and letting lawn grass get to 4" height, thereby using the lawnmower a fraction of the time. Imagine the positive impact if this practice was followed by every person, business and municipality that tended lawns. That would be a tremendous reduction in the demand for and pollution by fossil fuels. More about sustainable gardening practices and backyard conservation can be found at: http://www.nwf.org/backyard/resourceconservation.cfm

Lorraine Herschkorn

Instructor of nature-based art education +
National Wildlife Federation 'Backyard Wildlife Habitat' volunteer
High Falls, NY

Stephan,

There is some nice work published by Integral Sustainability Institute on communicating sustainability to different worldviews, including to stewardship-oriented religious groups. There are some good ideas here for tailoring communications, as well as some 'watch-outs' to avoid. http://multiplex.integralinstitute.org/Public/cs/files/35/sustainability/entry6206.aspx p.s. if the link doesn't work for you - please email me and I'll send the file.

Lisa Chacon

The Change Agency
Skype: chacona3773
Phone: +1 607 329 0487

Bill Moyers just did a program entitled "Is God Green?" on PBS. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/green/index.html Not sure if it will help you or not, but it was certainly an interesting look at the intersection of faith and environmentalism. He interviews pastors that have begun to tackle this topic from the pulpit. So, it might give you some insight into how some faith-based communities have been reached and how they responded.

Good Luck!
Jocelyn A. Winz

Outreach and Environmental Education Specialist,
SEA Program
360-407-6185
[email protected]

Faith and the Common Good
http://www.faith-commongood.net/ (tremendous resource -- highly recommended)
Transformative Learning Centre is hosting "One Earth Community: Sharing Our Stories - 2nd Spirit Matters Gathering" in Toronto, Canada, April 20-22, 2007. http://tlc.oise.utoronto.ca/gathering2007/

Cheers!
John Watson

Waste Diversion Education Coordinator
The Regional Municipality of Halton
905-825-6000, ext. 8212
[email protected]

Stephan,

We recently interviewed Rev. Jim Wallis, who is an outspoken faith- based advocate for addressing global warming and other sustainability issues. You can watch a few clips from that interview -- and others -- on our Web site at http://www.arnoldcreekproductions.com/ ACPShorts.htm. His organization, Sojourners, also might be of interest at http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm? action=special.display&item=050111_godspolitics. Locally, our Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon represents 16 denominations and also is very active in supporting efforts to address global warming. Maybe you could get direction/information from them or learn about a similar organization in your area. Another active group in organizing on this front is the Baha'i faith. See http://www.bcca.org/ief/ resource.htm. Much is happening nationally and locally on the faith based front.

Doug Freeman

Arnold Creek Productions, Inc.
PO Box 2402 Lake
Oswego, OR 97035
(503) 246-2439 voice
(503) 293-6247 fax
[email protected]
http://www.arnoldcreekproductions.com
Informative and inspirational media on sustainability and health

The Northwest Earth Institute has developed study courses offered in workplaces, in homes or faith centers around the following topics: Deep Ecology *Voluntary Simplicity *Choices for Sustainable Living *A Sense of Place *Globalization & its Critics *Healthy Children, Healthy Planet *and the newest course, still being pilot tested is Global Warming Groups gather to explore the material in a supportive atmosphere. They are offered in all 50 states. To learn more, go to www.nwei.org or call 503.227.2807

Theresa Cross, MS RD CD

Health Educator
Tobacco Prevention and Education Program
Clark County Public Health
1601 E. Fourth Plain Blvd.
Vancouver WA 98661
360/397-8000 ext. 7378

There is a program in Michigan that may be of interest - Michigan Interfaith Power & Light (MiIPL). The following description is taken from their website: MiIPL is a coalition of over 100 congregations across the State of Michigan whose mission is to involve communities of faith as stewards of Gods creation by promoting and implementing energy conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy and related sustainable practices. The MilPL website: http://www.miipl.org/ There is also a national program called The Regeneration Project - didn't see an AR contact. The Regeneration Project website: http://www.theregenerationproject.org/

Best of luck!!