Changing the Columbia River Treat

Many groups, including faith communities, have called for a restructuring of the Columbia River Treaty. The original treaty was written in 1964, and has become outdated. The people calling for the change want the river to be valued for its ecosystem services that were not included in the original treaty. To read the full letter to government officials in Canada and the United States, click here. To read an overview article about this story that goes into more of the history of the treaty, click here.

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Photo Credit: http://www.wildsalmon.org/projects/columbia-river-treaty/for-immediate-release-conservation-fishing-and-faith-communities-call-for-u-s-and-canadian-government-collaboration-as-essential-to-modernize-the-columbia-river-treaty.html

Water Shield

Saffet Catovic showing a girl how to do Wudu with 1/4 cup water

Photo Credit: http://www.greenfaith.org/programs/greenfaith-shield/greenfaith-water-shield

Water Shield is a program hosted by GreenFaith. It is a program that helps congregations learn how to conserve water as well as maintain high water quality. This program promotes stewardship, and can help gain a community recognition for their efforts in the environmental awareness world. To check out all that this program can do and everything it has to offer, follow this link.

The Importance of Forests to Faith

Photo Credit: http://www.arcworld.org/projects.asp?projectID=265

The Alliance of Religions and Conservation is working with faith communities all around the world to help them manage and preserve sacred forest lands. In almost every religions, trees have a powerful symbolic role. Partnering with churches will allow ARC to further promote conservation of trees and the rapidly disappearing forested lands on the earth. To read more about the Alliance of Religions and Conservation and what they do, click here.

Fit to Eat

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Photo Credit: http://hazon.org/jewish-food-movement/jewish-food-movement-educational-materials/fittoeat/

Hazon has recently released a guide to help Jewish Communities come together to more effectively fight food shortages. This guide shows how a better food system can be made to benefit everyone. To read up on this piece of literature and get some ideas on how you can help, check it out here.

How to Live Sustainably Individually

Photo Credit: http://blog.foodem.com/sustainable-living-are-we-walking-the-walk/

Many churches and groups have started excellent initiatives to promote sustainability within their congregations. However, it does not need to stop there. Taking a look at your individual lifestyle can help further the impact you have on the environment. For some faith based tips of how to lessen your own carbon footprint, check out this link.

 

Faith in Water

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Photo Credit: http://www.faithinwater.org/the-issues.html

Faith in Water is an online resource that helps involve faith communities with water problems all over the world. Faith communities are excellent at creating support for the needs of the poor and people in need. Faith in Water is helping these faith communities focus their efforts on providing clean drinking water to people as well as information on sanitation or hygiene. To get involved with Faith in Water, or just learn more about what they do, follow this link.

World Help Providing Water for Kirinda, Uganda

World Help, a Christian organization, is raising money to provide clean drinking water to the people or Kirinda, Uganda. They are attempting to fund three major projects, a water well, piping, and irrigation. There is no clean source of water for the people who live here, causing diseases and hardship. To get involved with this movement, or get some ideas for starting your own movement with your faith group, check out their homepage here or the video below.

Video Credit: https://worldhelp.net/world-water-day/

World Water Day Synopsis

World Water Day is an annual event, celebrated on March 22nd. As water is an integral part of many religions, faith communities from around the world are getting involved. The most common way in which faith communities get involved is by raising money to provide safe and clean water for people all throughout the world. With the recent crisis in Flint, Michigan, it is important not to take safe water for granted. To learn about World Water Day, its history, and its impacts, Click here. To learn more about World Water Day and how you can get involved, follow this link here.

Photo Credit: https://blogs.state.gov/stories/2014/03/22/world-water-day-us-tech-h2o-shows-present-and-future-water-innovation

A Sermon for World Water Day

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Photo Credit: http://wp.production.patheos.com/ blogs/faithforward/files/2016/03/ shutterstock_309642824.jpg

Susan Barnett recently released a sermon on World Water Day. In it, she discusses the importance of water to almost every single religion. She also discusses the problems that millions of people have due to their inaccessibility to a clean source of water. To read about all of the issues that people around the world are facing when it comes to water, as well as solutions to these problems, check out the full sermon here.

 

Earth Day Network

As Earth Day approaches, we are reminded of how important it is to get involved with conserving and protecting our environment, regardless or race, religion, or creed. Religions have always been able to push for social change, and the people at Earth Day Network are urging religious leaders and members to call upon their elected officials in government to help make the world more sustainable. You can find the Earth Day Network webpage here, and a message from Pope Francis on Earth day from 2015 below.

Video Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLghtahCDag