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Faith and the Environment
Faith in Action: People of Faith Speak Out
As the threats to our health and heritage have increased in recent years, people of faith have been responding like never before. Religious leaders and local congregations have been engaging in the public dialogue on issues from global climate change to species extinction to pollution's disproportionate impact on poor. "Creation Care" groups have formed in local churches and synagogues, and national leaders are speaking out about stewardship of the planet and irresponsible government policies that threaten the health of future generations.
- Sierra Club joined with the New Mexico Council of Churches to organize a citizens' conference on sustainable energy in 2004. Workshops explored the effects of climate change and solutions from energy efficiency to renewable energy technologies. An active coalition resulted from the partnership, and participants are now preparing to engage in the governor's stakeholder process on energy futures for their state.
- In Maine, Club members partnered with the Maine Council of Churches to build environmental community through regular potluck dinners and to hold special preview screenings and global warming dialogues around the movie, The Day After Tomorrow. The Council of Churches also took a lead role in a successful "No Idling" campaign to reduce pollution and improve air quality in Freeport, Maine by encouraging residents to turn off running vehicles at schools, drive-throughs, and parking lots around town.
- In Kentucky, Sierra Club has partnered with religious, public health, social justice and workers from the poultry industry to form the National Poultry Justice Alliance. Together, they work to educate the public about the "morality of food" including local food production, antibiotic free meat and corporate farm pollution.
- Sierra Club sponsored a U.S. tour by Honduran environmental leader Father Andres Tamayo to educate the Spanish speaking public about the dangers of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. He presided over mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Jose, California and spoke about the environment to thousands of Hispanic Catholics.
- Christians Who Love Mountains? A new network is forming in the Appalachian Mountains that seeks to address the exploitation and abuse to many of the people and much of the land, air, water, and living things in the region, especially certain mining processes like mountain top removal and the mine acid leakage into streams. The network leaders plans to educate other Christians in the region about "stewardship of creation" by giving PowerPoint presentations, hosting flyovers in devastated by mountaintop removal, and encouraging voluntary preservation of land by private landowners as a tithe. Sierra Club works alongside Christians for the Mountains to stop destructive mining practices in the Appalachian region as part of its Environmental Justice Program.
These are just a few of the growing partnership opportunities between Sierra Club and people of faith across the country. For more information and to learn about what might be going on in your area, contact: Lyndsay.Moseley@sierraclub.org.
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