Literature, prayers, and additional resources

Below are a number of resources detailing the history and research conducted by the NRCCC

Climate

Pope Francis Calls for Moral Action on Climate Change

On June 18, 2015, the Vatican released Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change Laudato Si (full text available here). Several friends and leaders of the NRCCC have written a series of opinion pieces on this powerful call to climate action. Here are their op-eds:

Margaret Bullitt-Jonas: Praised Be: Thank You, Pope Francis
Marybeth Lorbiecki: With Earth on Our Heads? Pope Francis’ Encyclical and An Eycyclical Filled With Lyric Love, Confession, and Calls to Action to Save Our Common Home, the Poor and Our Joy
Dr. Richard Millar: Midland Voices Pope wisely shows climate urgency
Rev. Charles Redfern: The real Drama Behind Pope Francis’ Encyclical
Rabbi Lawrence Troster: what the Pope’s Climate Change Edict Means for Jews and Pope Renews Dialogue on Ecology

The NRCCC’s Initiative to Help Pakistan Plant Ten Billion Trees

Pakistan, Climate Change, and Public Policy – A paper by A. Karim Ahmed from the National Council for Science and the Environment in Washington, DC details the climate change conundrum in Pakistan. At present, Pakistan is the single most challenged nation with such a large population from the impacts of climate change. Read the full paper here.
Pakistan plans to plant 10 billion trees to fight climate change
The NRCCC’s Letter to Imran Khan, Prime Minister of the Islamic State of Pakistan

The Connecticut Campaign

In Connecticut Rev. Tom Carr and the Interfaith Ecojustice Network initiated their activities with an enthusiastic gathering of over 200 clergy and concerned laity at the Hartford Theological Seminary on November 7, 2013. Many regional religious leaders participated. Together they produced “The Hartford Declaration,” which calls for action on climate change by all of Connecticut’s religious organizatons.

The authors of this statement declare that a time comes in every generation when citizens must respond to the urgent moral issues that face society. For us, they declare, “That pivotal moment has arrived. We can no longer ignore the plain facts of climate change.”

“Earth is increasingly under threat from climate change and global warming,” they declare. This is “endangering human beings and other life-forms in all regions of the globe. As a result, recent storms, floods, droughts, wildfires and heat waves have begun to have serious impact on our lives. Continuing increases of these extreme events threatens to destroy the underlying basis of human civilization as we know it.” …

They conclude their statement. “Given the urgency of the current situation, we solemnly pledge to: foster a reflective and prayerful response to… global climate change; live sustainably; encourage people of faith to … use safe, clean, renewable energy; witness for action on climate change… in the public sphere; and advocate for local, state, national and international policies” and… “enable a swift transition from dependence on fossil fuels to safe, clean, renewable energy.”

Next, they plan to take this Hartford Declaration to every house of worship in the state.

The Maryland-DC Campaign

A similar process is beginning in the State of Maryland. Dr. Lise Van Susteren, MD, founder of the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate network (IMAC), has already mobilized a collection of religious and climate change activists to initiate a statewide campaign. The first goal is to awaken Maryland people of faith to the need for lifestyle change and the adoption of clean energy in order to address climate change.

On Saturday, December 7th, 2013 a dozen leaders gathered in the offices of the Chesapeake Climate Network in Takoma Park to develop a plan that will promote clean energy. Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action group and an active member of the Presbyterian Church USA, hosted and chaired the meeting. Representatives from a variety of religious and climate action groups attended. These included Interfaith Power and Light for the DC area; the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life; the environmental committee for Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Church; the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); the Unitarian Universalist Association; the United Methodist Church; and The Sierra Club.

This emerging coalition set goals of reaching all of the Houses of Worship in Maryland, Washington, DC and Northern Maryland; bringing them into awareness of the seriousness of the climate problem; and teaching the need to embrace practical solutions, the most obvious of which involves the use of clean renewable energy.

The North Carolina Campaign

Taking a slightly different approach in North Carolina, the NRCCC sponsored the North Carolina Conference on Religion and Climate Chnage in partnership with ten local organizations including local branches of 350.org, Citizens Climate Lobby, Triangle Interfaith Alliance, the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate, Applichian Voices, and the Franciscan Action Network. The innagural conference was hosted at the Chruch of the Good Shephard in Raleigh North Carolina on October 12, 2014. At the end of the conference, attendess created a pledge and declaration for all people of faith in North Carolina to act on climate change.

For the future other states will develop their own Religious Campaigns for Clean Energy. Dialogue is now taking place to identify those next states.

Energy

A future of clean, renewable energy

American Clean Energy Agenda is endorsed by 36 grassroots organizations including Christians For The Mountains.

The technology is available. The costs actually save money. See reports by Synapse Energy Economics and Civil Society Institute.

On April 25, 2012, the Civil Society Institute released a national opinion poll conducted by ORC International finding that:

More than three out of four Americans (77 percent) – including 70 percent of Republicans, 76 percent of Independents, and 85 percent of Democrats — believe that “the energy industry’s extensive and well-financed public relations, campaign contributions and lobbying machine is a major barrier to moving beyond business as usual when it comes to America’s energy policy.”
More than eight out of 10 Americans (83 percent) – including 69 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of Independents, and 95 percent of Democrats — agree with the following statement: “The time is now for a new, grassroots-driven politics to realize a renewable energy future. Congress is debating large public investments in energy and we need to take action to ensure that our taxpayer dollars support renewable energy– one that protects public health, promotes energy independence and the economic well being of all Americans.”

Additional resources:

Forests

Reshaping forest conservation

A Declaration on Forest Conservation For the 21st Century

Relating reading:

Oceans

[We] must change our attitudes toward the ocean. We must regard it as no longer a mystery, a menace, something so vast and invulnerable that we need not concern ourselves with it…. Instead we want to explore the themes of the ocean’s existence—how it moves and breathes, how it experiences dramas and seasons, how it nourishes its hosts of living things, how it harmonizes the physical and biological rhythms of the whole earth, what hurts it and what feeds it—not least of all, what are its stories.

– Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910-1997)