Photo Credit: http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ explorations/topics/climate-change/websites-organizations
The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life is the Jewish Resource for environmental health and sustainability. It has everything from success stories to resources, and is a great source of information. To check out the full website, follow this link.
Photo Credit: http://www.yecaction.org/partners/
The Evangelical Environmental Network is a valuable source of information on sustainability and environmental awareness. It shows how people can come together in the church community and help make it a better place. To see what all is available, check out their homepage here.
Faith In Place is an Illinois based interfaith community that seeks to help congregations take the necessary steps to becoming more sustainable.
Photo Credit: http://www.faithinplace.org/
One great way that they encourage people to get involved is by starting a “Green Team”. Green Teams will help spur environmentally friendly changes from within the community, making them much more effective and likely to be adopted by the community as a whole. To see some more great ideas on how to help your congregation become more sustainable, check out their website here.
Photo Credit: http://olgseattle.org/facility-use
Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Catholic parish located in Seattle, Washington, has recently undergone the transition to become more sustainable. With the help of Energy Star, city grants, and their own agenda, this parish has implemented changes that help the environment as well as cut costs to their budget. New buildings have been constructed and old ones have been retrofitted to reduce energy consumption as well as teach people about sustainable living. To see what this parish has done, and possibly get some ideas for your own parish, check out the full story here.
African American faith communities are demonstrating how important environmental issues are. These minority congregations are becoming more sustainable in the hopes of helping to reduce the effects of climate change. They are an inspiring group, seeking to make a difference in their communities. To learn about # Green For All, which is where this story was found, you can find their homepage here. Check out this video below that gives a good look into what these churches are doing.
Video Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBKY1l5Ehv8
Founded by UNICEF, The Global Interfaith Wash Alliance is a coalition of different faiths. Their goal is to provide access to safe drinking water as well as spread knowledge of sanitation to people all around the world. They are achieving this goal by working together with faith leaders who can help spread this information much more effectively than any other group could. To check out what they have done or get involved with them, check out their home website here. Below is a video providing a brief explanation of how GIWA came to be.
Video Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H85RhyCn_Ug&feature=youtu.be
Photo Credit: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bengal-gearing-up-for-ganga-sagar-mela/article8058979.ece
The Ganga Sagar Mela Fetival is a meeting of million of pilgrims to cleanse themselves in the Ganges Delta. However, due to a lack of access to toilets and sanitary knowledge, it has also become a site for massive amounts of human waste. That’s all changing as the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance of India teams up with UNICEF to have faith leaders of different creeds teach followers how to begin using more sanitary practices. To see how these two different groups are coming together to achieve this common goal of human health, read the full story here.
Photo Credit: http://www.ifmaoregon.org/?page=19
Catholic Churches have been attempting to go green for years. One resource that has helped them to achieve this goal is a series of steps explained in the National Catholic Reporter. This site shows simple and easy steps that a congregation can take to being green, from conserving water and energy to educating and building communities. To learn more about these easy steps, click here.
Photo Credit: http://www.faithcommunity alliance.org/
The faith Community Alliance of Greater Cincinnati is a group of interfaith communities who have gathered to share stories and come together to support environmental initiatives. Typically, they will look into what the government is doing and urge for better policy. To read more about this group, or get involved, click here.
Photo Credit: http://www.drukpa.net/
A Buddhist tradition, the Naropa ceremony, is held once every 12 years. The Drupka, or a religious leader in Mahayana Buddhism, is excited to conduct this ceremony. One principle of Mahayana Buddhism is caring for the environment. This ceremony will help spread the concerns that the Drupka has about the environment, and raise awareness for the issues at large.
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To see other ways that The Drukpa is getting involved with the environmental movement, check out this website.