An Episcopal Vision for Care of Creation

The Jesus Movement is the ongoing community of people whose lives are centered on Jesus of Nazareth. We follow him into loving, liberating, life-giving relationship with God, with each other and with Creation.As a whole church, we have promised to place the care of God’s Creation at the heart of our common life. Together, we have taken up church-wide action in order to safeguard the integrity of Creation and to sustain and renew the life of the Earth. Learn more about our shared call at www.episcopalchurch.org/creation.

Below are goals and a vision for Care of Creation, developed by the Presiding Bishop’s Office and leaders of the Advisory Council on Stewardship of Creation and in alignment with actions by the 79th General Convention (concurred resolutions indicated with titles like A013 or C008). Search for the resolutions at www.generalconvention.org/legislative-information-gc2018.

Loving – Goal #1 – Create and sustain a network of Episcopalians dedicated to the care and protection of the whole Creation, especially by providing grants and cultivating circles for Story Sharing among practitioners in local and regional ministries.

Introduce new staff position with special attention to Care of Creation (A013)
Continue Care of Creation Grants program (A013, A008)
Facilitate development of networks of practitioners, by state and/or affinity (A008)
Link with Story Sharing work like Beloved Community Story Sharing Project, Called to Transformation, and Climate Reality to prepare to share stories of our love for God and Creation

Liberating – Goal #2 – Stand in solidarity with the most vulnerable victims of the impact of climate change – particularly women, poor people, and people of color – as part of seeking the liberation and flourishing of all God’s people.

Develop 2-3 eco-justice sites where the church invests significant energy and resources
Oppose environmental racism, sexism, classism (A011, B027)
Support advocacy and governmental engagement via the Office of Governmental Relations, the Episcopal Public Policy Network, and participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,Conference of Parties (A018, COO8)
Advocate to protect vulnerable people/lands/species, especially in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge(Resolution X023)
Inhibit exploitative extraction practices (A011)

Life-Giving – Goal #3 – Set climate mitigation benchmarks as individuals and as a church, in order to live more simply, humbly, and gently on the Earth. Develop, curate and distribute formation resources to support Episcopalians who wish to commit to simple, humble, gentle living on the Earth

Support use of the carbon tracker at www.diocal.org/climate (C008)
Promote conscious food decisions and local, sustainable agriculture (C049)
Support use of the carbon tax and carbon offsets (A014, C020)
Ask diocesan officials to track energy use as part of the parochial report, and promote energy and waterefficiency across the church (C039, A213)
Adopt the Paris Accord at state, regional and local levels (A010)
Work toward regenerative agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and habitat restoration (D053)
Help communities to transition to clean energy economies and encourage stewardship of creation withchurch-owned lands (D081, D053)
Promote ocean health and phase out use of bottled water in church-related facilities (C063)
Incentivize renewable energy and track fossil fuel divestment/reinvestment (A020, C021)

Interested? Sign the pledge here.