Recent News

Interfaith Creation Festival

By Christine Dubois The Catholic Northwest Progress May 31, 2007 Derek Eisel leads work parties for Heron Habitat Helpers, cares for a stretch of stream-side habitat in Carkeek Park, and writes a blog celebrating the good work volunteers are doing in Seattle.

Integrating Creation Care into the Life of Faith

By Julie Lehman Vantage May 01, 2007 Unless your denial skills are uncanny and extend to all things seen and heard, you are probably aware that the world is in bad shape. Those of us who have been paying attention to the overwhelming evidence realize that for the first time in human history humans are capable—and apparently willing—to threaten not just their own survival but that of all life on the planet.

Spring 2007 Earth Letter

This issue features articles from each of the four keynote presenters of the Interfaith Creation Festival. In addition, Bill McKibben, one of the nation's most articulate writers on environmental concerns, highlights the complementary roles of youth and older generations in the environmental movement.

Can you hear the faith-based call to clean up the environment?

By LeeAnne Beres and Rev. Steve Grumm
Seattle P-I
February 01, 2007
Amen. That was the first word that came to mind after reading Mark Trahant's Jan. 21 column calling for real solutions to climate change ("Moving climate debate into solution arena").
As Trahant states, there is a clear scientific consensus that Earth is warming, and it's high time that our political leaders take concrete action to reverse this dangerous trend. What he didn't mention is that there is also a growing religious consensus that climate change is one of the largest -- if not the largest -- moral issue of our time.

Sound Thinking: Local groups push legislators for a clean Puget Sound

By Rosette Royale
Real Change
January 10, 2007
Every morning, LeeAnne Beres performs the same ritual: She walks along the shores of Alki Beach. Occasionally, she’ll be gazing out to the water when the head of a sea otter breaks the waves. Or perhaps it will be a sea lion, or the dorsal fin of a dolphin. “It renews my soul,” says Beres, executive director of Earth Ministry, an organization that mobilizes the Christian community to play an important role in creating a just, sustainable future.

Winter 2006-2007 Earth Letter

The central focus of this issue is a closer look at the mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches' involvement in political advocacy. We will hear from activists both local and national. This issue provides a number of windows through which we can see the Christian calling to political activism in action. We hear from persons within our government, from writers, and citizen activists.

Autumn 2006 Earth Letter

In this issue, we seek to gain some perspective on the varying definitions of stewardship. To accomplish this task, we have enlisted the help of four capable people. We offer a personal story of serving in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, a look at the connections between stewardship and the cultural issues of poverty and wealth, a perspective from a non-profit that preserves environmentally-significant land, and a primer on "takings", a law that makes environmental protection difficult.

Summer 2006 Earth Letter

This issue of Earth Letter focuses on the contributions of youth and young adults to the environmental justice movement within the Protestant and Roman Catholic communions. If you look at the average age of the membership in many of our mainline churches, you find a lot of gray-haired people. On the other hand, if you look at secular environmental organizations, you see many active young adults, and a lower percentage of the gray-haired crowd. We have asked these young folks to tell us their story.

Spring 2006 Earth Letter

This issue focuses on the June 2006 National Council of Churches' Eco-Justice Conference in New Orleans. The conference brings together church activists from across our nation. It offers education, inspiration, and a network of fellow activists. The choice of New Orleans as the host city is central to this year's conference. Since Hurricane Katrina devastated that region, the city has become the focal point for environmental, social, racial, and economic justice concerns.

Winter 2005-2006 Earth Letter

This issue focuses on "lessons from Katrina". If September 11, 2001 is emblazoned in the mind of America as the day we lost our sense of invulnerability to attack, then August 29, 2005 should stand as the day mainstream American began to see the intimate interconnections between environmental issues on the one hand and poverty, race, and privilege on the other.