{"id":1994,"date":"2014-09-29T16:14:22","date_gmt":"2014-09-29T23:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/earthministry.org\/?p=1994"},"modified":"2014-09-29T16:23:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-29T23:23:08","slug":"standing-with-faith-communities-at-the-peoples-climate-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/standing-with-faith-communities-at-the-peoples-climate-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing with Faith Communities at the People’s Climate March"},"content":{"rendered":"
LVC alumni and previous Outreach Coordinator, Betsy Cannon, reflects on her experience participating in\u00a0the People’s Climate March with Earth Ministry and Interfaith Power & Light. She joined Executive Director LeeAnne Beres and current Outreach Coordinator Jessica Zimmerle to march\u00a0for climate action with 400,000 others in New York City on September 21, 2014.<\/p>\n
Alumni Stand with Faith Communities at the People’s Climate March\u00a0 Lutheran Volunteer Corps Leader Letter\u00a0 September 25, 2014\u00a0 Betsy Cannon\u00a0<\/p>\n
I served as a Seattle LVC member\u00a0in 2011\u00ad2012. My placement, Earth\u00a0Ministry and Washington Interfaith\u00a0Power & Light, has provided a\u00a0moral voice on environmental\u00a0justice for more than 20 years. As\u00a0Earth Ministry\u2019s Outreach\u00a0Coordinator, I led their Greening\u00a0Congregations Program, working\u00a0with churches who were fully\u00a0committed to creation care. They started community gardens and donated their produce to the\u00a0local soup kitchen. They celebrated St. Francis by holding a blessing of the animals. They met\u00a0with their legislators and advocated for clean energy policy. The determination and impact of\u00a0these faith communities inspired me.<\/p>\n
At the end of my year of service, I packed my bags and headed cross country to New York, NY. When searching for a congregation in the city, finding a church committed to social and environmental justice topped my list. St. Lydia\u2019s, an emergent church where people build community and discuss theology around the dinner table, felt like coming home in part because of the values and ELCA roots that it shares with LVC.<\/p>\n
![\"People's](\"http:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Peoples-Climate-March.jpg\")
<\/a>Given my Earth Ministry background, when I first heard of the People\u2019s Climate March happening in NYC on September 21st, I knew I had to participate. The march had a section devoted entirely to people of faith. Muslims, Buddhists, Methodists, Unitarians, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and others gathered together to say that we have sinned in our care of creation and to demand action to reverse climate change. I was thrilled to have St. Lydia\u2019s marching in the frontlines for climate justice.<\/p>\n