Earth Day resources

Since the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, Earth Day has been an annual event for people around the world to celebrate the earth and renew our commitment to building a safer, healthier and cleaner world for all of us. It is a wonderful opportunity to embrace all of God's creation, raise awareness and pray for "this fragile earth, our island home." (Eucharistic Prayer C)

There are many resources and websites to assist in the planning of your education offerings and worship celebrations on this day - click on resource for link:

Earth Day Network

Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz!

Green Stories from Episcopalians

Update on Greening Efforts around the Episcopal Church

Worship and Formation Resources

Sample Sermons

Congregational Greening Resources and Ideas

Millennium Development Goal #7 resources

Climate Change and the Church

Healing God's Creation

Lord of Creation: Celtic Spirituality

Lessons Plans from the NCCC Eco-Justice Network! The Poverty of Global Climate Change . .

Thanks to Living In-Formation - a newsletter from Church Publishing.

Beef and the environment

Why going meatless saves the Earth. Michael Bluejay offers some reasons for becoming a vegan. Charts show how much fuel, water and land it takes to make one calorie of of protein from various foods.

This chart shows the calories of fossil fuel used to make 1 calorie of protein for various feeds:




Read more here.

Earth Hour

World Wildlife Fund is sponsoring Earth Hour around the world. According to a press release:

With less than a week to go, participation in Earth Hour has grown dramatically as nearly 200 cities, including 35 in the U.S., join millions of individuals and businesses around the world in turning off their lights on Saturday, March 29th from 8 – 9 pm local time in a dramatic symbolic gesture in support for action on climate change.

Find out more here.

Christian Science Monitor reports plans in Chicago:

Guests at the Inn of Chicago on the city's Magnificent Mile will walk into a darkened, candle-lit lobby. And when they look out at the iconic skyline, it will look different: the Sears Tower, the Hancock Building, the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier, and some 200 downtown buildings plan to turn out the lights at 8 p.m.

It's all part of "Earth Hour," an international climate-change awareness campaign that started last year in Sydney, Australia and that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is taking global this year. Starting in New Zealand, and rolling out through dozens of cities, including Bangkok, Thailand; Dublin, Ireland; and Tel Aviv; the campaign is urging individuals, businesses, and landmarks to go dark between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Read more here.

Healing Our Planet Earth

Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12, a national Episcopal conference seeks to engage the Church in understanding and actively addressing the crisis of climate change. While this conference is hosted by Episcopalians, it welcomes participants from other denominations and faith traditions.

“The crisis of climate change presents an unprecedented challenge to the goodness,interconnectedness and sanctity of the world that God created and loved." Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

“Ultimately, the control of climate change and the welfare of the environment is an issue of survival for everybody. It’s not a question that can be addressed by one society alone, by one religious tradition alone, by one state alone; it’s something that demands collaboration…. So the challenge that faith communities in particular face at the moment is the challenge of holding up before our governments and our societies, a clear moral vision.” Archbishop Rowan Williams

Now is the time to step forward as people of faith - all faiths - to address the crisis of global climate change. We invite you to join others from around the nation to learn how we can "get the word out" and join in a covenant to make a difference.


Watch Bp. Charleston's Sermon on the Genesis Covenant at Washington National Cathedral on February 24, 2008


Major Presenters
Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA. In addition to her theological expertise she has a Ph. D. in oceanography and worked for NOAA for twenty years.

Dr. Steven Charleston is President of the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA. Prior to this position he served as the Episcopal Bishop of Alaska. He is a Native American elder.

Dr. Sallie McFague is a Distinguished Theologian in Residence at Vancouver School of Theology, in Vancouver, B.C. Prior to that she was Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. She has written extensively on environmental theology.

More information on The Genesis Covenant here.

To register for the conference Click here.