Links
This collection of resources is offered to enrich your knowledge of and participation in the religious-environmental movement.
You will find links to organizations and information, as well as suggested readings grouped under several headings:
Religious-Environmental Organizations
National Programs and Projects
Regional Projects with National Reach
Specific Religious and Spiritual Traditions
- Baha’i
- Buddhist
- Catholic
- Eastern Orthodox
- Hindu
- Interfaith
- Jewish
- Muslim
- Native American and Indigenous
- Protestant
- A Crime Against Creation
- Going Green
- Food for Faith
- Ancient Roots
- Compassion in Action
- Eco-Justice
- Sacred Celebration
- Interfaith Power and Light
Environmental Organizations and Resources
Please note that some links appear under more than one heading.
Religious-Environmental Organizations
National Programs and Projects
The Forum on Religion and Ecology is the largest multi-religious project dedicated to bringing together the field of religious studies with academic and activist discourse on the environment. With its conferences, publications, and comprehensive website this groundbreaking organization is engaged in exploring religious worldviews, texts, and ethics in order to broaden understanding of the complex nature of current environmental concerns.
https://fore.research.yale.edu
The National Religious Partnership for the Environment is an alliance of major faith groups and denominations across the spectrum of Jewish and Christian organizations in the United States.
https://www.nrpe.org
The Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) is a ministry initiated by World Vision and Evangelicals for Social Action as part of a growing movement to respond faithfully to the biblical mandate for stewardship of God’s creation.
www.creationcare.org
COEJL - The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life engages Jewish institutions and individuals in bringing the moral passion of Jewish tradition and social action to environmental stewardship.
https://www.coejl.org
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Environmental Justice Program calls Catholics to a deeper respect for God’s creation and engages parishes in activities that deal with environmental problems, particularly as they affect the poor.
https://wwwmigrate.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/environment/
The Green Seminary Initiative is a movement among seminaries designed to foster an ethic of ecological care for God’s Creation on seminary campuses and to provide theological education for a sustainable future.
https://www.greenseminaries.org
Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies works to integrate knowledge of the Creation with biblical principles to bring the Christian community and the general public to a better understanding of stewardship of God’s creation.
www.ausable.org
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a national organization with state chapters that works to encourage Buddhists to engage in progressive social change.
www.bpf.org
The Interfaith Climate Change Network’s goal is to pursue justice for the poor around the world and to protect all life on Earth by taking action to address global climate change.
https://protectingcreation.org/
The National Catholic Rural Life Conference is a membership organization grounded in a spiritual tradition that brings together the Church, care of community and care of creation.
www.ncrlc.com
The North American Coalition for Christianity and Ecology works to encourage the many strands of Christian tradition in the work of healing the damaged Earth.
www.nacce.org
The Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) lead communities of faith to a deeper understanding of stewardship of creation. The IPL program mobilizes religious communities to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation.
www.theregenerationproject.org
Religious-Environmental Organizations
Regional Projects with National Reach
Earth Ministry’s mission is to engage individuals and congregations in deepening relationships with all of God’s creation in order to transform personal lives and our culture. These transformations include simplified living, environmental stewardship, justice for all creation, and a world view which sees creation as a revelation of God.
www.earthministry.org
Eco-Justice Ministries is an independent, ecumenical agency that helps churches answer the call to care for all of God’s creation, and to develop ministries that are faithful, relevant and effective in working toward social justice and environmental sustainability.
www.eco-justice.org
Faith in Place creates hopeful and welcoming spaces for people of all faiths to fulfill the two great responsibilities common to all faiths: to love one another and to care for creation.
www.faithinplace.org
Green Muslims in the District is a network of Muslims in the Washington, D.C. area working to help Muslim communities implement sustainable and eco-conscious ways of living and relate them to the Islamic faith.
https://dcgreenmuslims.blogspot.com/
GreenFaith was founded to inspire, educate and mobilize people of diverse spiritual backgrounds to deepen their relationship with the sacred in nature and restore the environment for future generations. GreenFaith’s Certification Program was created to assist congregations everywhere to go green.
https://www.greenfaith.org/together/certification.html
Interfaith Network for Earth Concerns, in Portland, OR, creates programs for justice and the renewal of the earth, working to foster an awareness that care for creation is integral to a life of faith.
https://www.emoregon.org/earth_concerns.php
Specific Religious and Spiritual Traditions
The Baha’i Faith website offers information on Baha’i, the youngest of the world’s monotheistic religions. Learn about its beliefs in unity for all world religions and all peoples, as well as its longstanding devotion to sustainability.
https://publicaffairs.bahai.us/what-we-do/sustainable-development
The International Environment Forum is a Bahá’í-inspired organization with resources and materials on sustainability and climate change including a nine-week online course on the scientific and spiritual dimensions of climate change.
https://iefworld.org/climate.htm
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a national organization with state chapters that works to encourage Buddhists to engage in progressive social change.
www.bpf.org
Learn about Green Sangha’s spiritually engaged environmental activism at:
www.greensangha.com
The Buddhist tradition has produced a practice called “Deep Ecology.” Learn more at
https://www.joannamacy.net/html/deep.html
You may especially find the ritual of the Council of All Beings of interest. https://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/deep-eco/cabcont.htm
The Ecological Buddhism group offers an activist Buddhist response to global warming that includes important statements from the Dalai Lama
https://www.ecobuddhism.org/index.php
Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds, Duncan Ryuken Williams and Mary Evelyn Tucker, eds. Harvard University Press, 1997. Twenty authors examine Buddhism’s understanding of the intricate interconnectedness of the entire web of life and how it encourages our need to protect the earth.
Cultural historian Thomas Berry has inspired numerous religious and secular environmentalists with his thinking about the human connectedness to the universe. He has been particularly influential for many Catholic women-religious (i.e. “green nuns,” like Sister Joan Brown). Two of his seminal books are The Dream of the Earth, Sierra Club Books, 1988 and The Great Work, Random House, 2000.
A DVD, Thomas Berry Speaks is available at:
https://finecut.org/thomasberry.htm
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Environmental Justice Program calls Catholics to a deeper respect for God’s creation and engages parishes in activities that deal with environmental problems, particularly as they affect the poor.
www.nccbuscc.org/sdwp/ejp
The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change examines the moral and justice implications of climate change, encouraging the Catholic community to change its carbon footprint. https://www.catholicsandclimatechange.org
The Catholic Climate Covenant, which is sponsored by the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is an initiative to care for creation and care for the poor. https://catholicclimatecovenant.org
The National Catholic Rural Life Conference [NCRLC], an arm of the US Catholic Bishop’s Conference, assists rural families and the faithful in addressing concerns of creation care related to food production, water and climate change through spiritual renewal, education and advocacy on food policies.
www.ncrlc.com
St. Francis of Assisi, the saint who composed the Canticle of the Creatures, preached to the birds and prayed in the woods, is frequently regarded the patron saint of ecology. To learn about St Francis, explore these websites and a book on Franciscanism and ecology.
https://www.americancatholic.org/messenger/Oct2007/Feature1.asp
https://ncronline.org/news/ecology/creation-care-return-love-love
Ilia Delio, osf; Keith Douglass Warner, ofm and Pamela Wood. Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth. St. Anthony Messenger Press, Cincinnati, Ohio
Read The Venice Declaration, signed by Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, A Common Declaration on Environmental Ethics https://www.columban.com/veniced.htm
The Catholiic Bishops of the Northwest, have written a powerful and poetic Pastoral Letter about the Columbia River (Caring for Creation and the Common Good)) that urges all peoples to join together to protect one of the planet’s essential watersheds. https://www.columbiariver.org/
The Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Bartholomew, was the first major Christian leader to put the environment at the top of his agenda, calling environmental pollution a ‘sin’. His ship borne symposia on seas and rivers have brought together scientists and diverse clergy, the media and environmentalists to find solutions to the growing crises of the planet’s water systems. https://www.rsesymposia.org/index.php
DVDs The Green Patriarch, The Amazon, and The Arctic, about the Ecumenical Patriarch’s water-focused missions are available from:
www.becketfilms.com
Eco-Sikh works to connect Sikh values and environmental responsibility. https://www.ecosikh.org
Resources being developed.
The Interfaith Climate Change Network’s goal is to pursue justice for the poor around the world and to protect all life on Earth by taking action to address global climate change.
https://protectingcreation.org/
The North American Coalition for Christianity and Ecology works to encourage the many strands of Christian tradition in the work of healing the damaged Earth.
www.nacce.org
The Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) lead communities of faith to a deeper understanding of stewardship of creation. The IPL program mobilizes religious communities to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation.
www.theregenerationproject.org
Interfaith Network for Earth Concerns, in Portland, OR, creates programs for justice and the renewal of the earth and works to foster awareness that care for creation is integral to a life of faith.
https://www.emoregon.org/earth_concerns.php
Faith in Place creates hopeful and welcoming spaces for people of all faiths to fulfill the two great responsibilities common to all faiths: to love one another and to care for creation.
www.faithinplace.org
GreenFaith was founded to inspire, educate and mobilize people of diverse spiritual backgrounds to deepen their relationship with the sacred in nature and restore the environment for future generations.
https://www.greenfaith.org
The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development in Jerusalem brings together all faiths in a quest for a better future: htpp://www.interfaithsustain.com
COEJL - The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life engages Jewish institutions and individuals in bringing the moral passion of Jewish tradition and social action to environmental stewardship.
https://www.coejl.org
Shomrei Adamah (Guardians of the Earth), the first Jewish environmental organization in America was founded by Ellen Bernstein.
https://www.shomreiadamah.org/
Ellen Bernstein’s book, Let the Earth Teach You Torah, offers stories, activities and lessons about our relationship with Creation. A sample chapter about how prayer and blessings are basic to an ecological perspective, is available at:
https://ellenbernstein.org/shomrei-lettheearthteach-sample.htm
The Shalom Center is directed by long-time peace, justice and environmental activist/author Rabbi Arthur Waskow, who has written several of the most influential books about Judaism’s deep roots with the earth. The Center.offers many insights into healing the world via sustainability.
https://www.shalomctr.org/
Canfei Nesharim (The Wings of Eagles) creates educational materials, using a Torah-based approach to enlighten Orthodox Jews about the blessings of the natural world, and our obligations to protect it.
https://www.canfeinesharim.org/
To learn more about the Teva Learning Center and explore their educational resources, visit https://hazon.org/teva/
The Teva Seminar, is an annual four day experiential program that offers adults – of all faiths – the tools to facilitate environmental education.
https://www.jrf.org/teva-seminar
Hazon is commited to creating a healthier and more sustainable world for all. Two of their vital programs include a series of Jewish Environmental Bike Rides and an educational focus on food and agriculture through the prisms of Jewish tradition and contemporary life.
https://hazon.org/
Green Muslims in the District is a network of Muslims in the Washington, D.C. area working to help Muslim communities implement sustainable and eco-conscious ways of living and relate them to the Islamic faith.
https://dcgreenmuslims.blogspot.com/
Islam and Ecology A Bestowed Trust, Richard C. Foltz, Frederick M. Denny, and Azizan Baharuddin (eds.) describes the Islamic view of the cosmic order and reviews the ways an Islamic world view can be applied to our current need for environmental protection and the alleviation of human poverty. Harvard University Press, 2003.
Native American and Indigenous
Native American Perspectives
Christopher Vecsey, and Robert W. Venables. American Indian Environments: Ecological Issues in Native American History. Syracuse, New York, 1980. An early study of ecological consciousness among Native North American peoples.
Michael Oren Fitzgerald, ed. Thomas Yellowtail, forward, Indian Spirit. World Wisdom. Inc., 2003, is a clear and resonant short compilation of quotes from Native American leaders about US indigenous spirituality and thought.
www.worldwisdom.com
Donald Hughes. North American Indian Ecology. El Paso, 1996. One of the earliest texts on the environmental thought and practice of Native North American peoples
Jace Weaver, ed. Defending Mother Earth: Native American Perspectives on Environmental Justice. Maryknoll, New York, 1996. A examination of Native American attitudes toward environmental perceptions and problems largely written by native academics and activists.
Richard K Nelson. Make Prayers to the Raven: A Koyukon View of the Northern Forest. Chicago, 1983. This study continues to be a classic in the field of traditional environmental knowledge, traditional conservation practices, and insight into the deep affectivity for the natural world among indigenous peoples.
Harrod Howard, The Animals Came Dancing: Native American Sacred Ecology and Animal Kinship Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 2000.
Keith H. Basso, Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque, 1996. The classic study of place-based knowledge and wisdom among the Apache peoples in southwestern North America.
DVD Native Spirit and the Sun Dance Way As Told by Thomas Yellowtail to Michael Fitzgerald, World Wisdom.
www.nativespiritinfo.com
Indigenous Perspectives
J. Grim, ed.,Indigenous Traditions and Ecology: The Interbeing of Cosmology and Community (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Divinity School Center for the Study of World Religions, 2001)
Debroah Bird Rose et al., eds. Country of the Heart: An Indigenous Australian Homeland (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2002)
R. Ellen and H. Harris, “Introduction,” in Indigenous Environmental Knowledge and Its Transformations: Critical Anthropological Perspectives (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000)
Julian Berger, The Gaia Atlas of First Peoples (London: Gaia Books, 1990)
David Suzuki, and Peter Knudtson. Wisdom of the Elders: Sacred Native Stories of Nature. New York, 1992. An anthology of popular insights and concerns of indigenous peoples that is helpful in the classroom and useful for generating discussion.
Lawrence E. Sullivan, Icanchu’s Drum: An Orientation to Meaning in South American Religions New York, 1988. An overview of diverse indigenous peoples’ symbolism with particular attention to ritual and cosmological connections.
The National Council of Churches’ Eco-Justice Working Group facilitates efforts by national bodies of the Protestant and Orthodox denominations to work together to protect and restore God’s creation.
www.nccecojustice.org
The Lutheran Earthkeeping Network of the Synods is a network of synod-level groups devoted to the task of Earthkeeping in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
www.webofcreation.org/LENS/synods.html
Presbyterians for Restoring Creation is a grassroots organization that works to help the church fulfill its environmental policies and educate its members about eco-justice.
www.prcweb.org
Quaker Earthcare Witness is a spiritually-centered movement of Quakers and like-minded people seeking to integrate concern for the environment with Friends’ long-standing testimonies for simplicity, integrity, peace, and equality.
www.quakerearthcare.org
The Unitarian Universalist Ministry for the Earth provides environmental education and resources for discussion and action that help Unitarian Universalists address environmental concerns on both personal and institutional levels.
www.uuministryforearth.org
The Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) is a ministry initiated by World Vision and Evangelicals for Social Action as part of a growing movement to respond faithfully to the biblical mandate for stewardship of God’s creation.
www.creationcare.org
Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies works to integrate knowledge of the Creation with biblical principles to bring the Christian community and the general public to a better understanding of stewardship of God’s creation.
www.ausable.org
Learn how the MassReLeaf Ministry, an unusual coalition of local Massachusetts United Church of Christ churches and municipalities, is promoting eco-justice by planting large trees in underprivileged and inner-city communities. https://www.macucc.org/emj/ArborDay.htm
Creation Justice Ministries works with 37 Christian faith groups on environmental justice policies. https://www.creationjustice.org
Individual RENEWAL Stories:
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth is a community of people taking action for social and environmental justice. https://www.kftc.org/
Christians for the Mountains is an initiative to summon faithful Christians to act responsibly on behalf of God’s reation. https://www.christiansforthemountains.org/
Kilowatt Ours, is a film and an outreach project that inspires people to conserve energy and choose renewable power. https://www.kilowattours.org/
Is God Green?, is a film by Bill Moyers about Evangelicals who are beginning to embrace environmental responsibility https://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/green/watch.html
Patchwork Films produces documentaries about Appalachia and mountaintop removal issues. https://www.patchworkfilms.com/wvhills.htm
Learn more about GreenFaith. In addtion to its work in New Jersey, Greenfaith also offers a Fellowship Program for religious leaders and a green Certification Program for religious people and congregations anywhere in the U.S.
www.greenfaith.org
Both GreenFaith and Interfaith Power and Light offer excellent information about solar and other forms of alternative energy, energy offsets, tips about composting, recylcling, waste audits, energy audits and more.
https://www.theregenerationproject.org
Faith in Place is the multi-faith religious-environmental organization in Chicago that helped to organize Taqwa https://www.faithinplace.org/
There is a traditon of eco-kosher or eco-kashrut in the Jewish tradition that re-examines traditional dietary laws in terms of present-day environmental and social justice concerns. You can learn more at:
https://www.shalomctr.org/node/1284
https://home.earthlink.net/~ecorebbe/id14.html
The Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s largest and most effective animal protection organization, is using RENEWAL to support its “All Creatures Great and Small Campaign.”
https://allcreatures.hsus.org/about/default.aspx
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals distributes information on factory farming. https://www.peta.org/
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, explores the environmental ethics of eating meat.
FRESH, a feature-length documentary film, celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.
https://streamingmoviesright.com/us/movie/fresh/
To learn more about the Teva Learning Center and explore their educational resources, visit https://tevalearningcenter.org/
The Teva Seminar, is an annual four day experiential program that offers adults – of all faiths – the tools to facilitate environmental education. https://www.jrf.org/teva-seminar
For information about other Jewish environmental education programs and agricultural communities you might join, look into Kayam Farms in Baltimore https://www.pearlstonecenter.org/kayam.html
The Jewish Farm School in PA (with partner farms around the country) https://www.jewishfarmschool.org/
And the Adamah Jewish Environmental Fellowship https://isabellafreedman.org/adamah/intro
Hazon is commited to creating a healthier and more sustainable world for all. Two of their vital programs include a series of Jewish Environmental Bike Rides and an educational focus on food and agriculture through the prisms of Jewish tradition and contemporary life.
https://hazon.org/
Shomrei Adamah (Guardians of the Earth), the first Jewish environmental organization in America was founded by Ellen Bernstein.
https://www.shomreiadamah.org/
Ellen Bernstein’s books: Ecology & the Jewish Spirit, The Splendor of Creation, Let the Earth Teach You Torah offer stories, activities, meditations and lessons about our relationship with Creation. Samples of the materials and free downloads are available at www.ellenbernstein.org.
The Shalom Center is directed by long-time peace, justice and environmental activist/author Rabbi Arthur Waskow, who has written several of the most influential books about Judaism’s deep roots with the earth. The Center.offers many insights into healing the world via sustainability.
https://www.shalomctr.org/
Learn how the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, IL, entirely rebuilt their house of worship and obtained LEED certification. Take a virtual tour of their certified green building and get ideas for what your house of worship might do as well. https://www.jrc-evanston.org/green_synagogue/building.php
COEJL - Coalition for the Environment and Jewish Life, is a Jewish environmental organization with several active chapters around the nation: https://www.coejl.org/index.php
Alumot a Jewish Gardening Project, offers a complete teaching guide to help children create their own organic garden and understand it as a reflection of their Judaism. Published by the Teva Learning Center, available at: https://tevalearningcenter.org/secure/store1.php
The Jewish Nature Centre of Canada (Torat Ha Teva) Working with schools, synagogues, and community organizations, Torat Ha Teva aims to inspire grassroots environmental activism.
https://www.torathateva.org/
Learn about Green Sangha’s spiritually engaged environmental activism at:
www.greensangha.com
The Buddhist tradition has produced a practice called “Deep Ecology.” Learn more at https://www.joannamacy.net/html/deep.html
You may especially find the ritual of the Council of All Beings of interest. https://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/deep-eco/cabcont.htm
Learn about the options for making environmentally and economically wise choices about paper at https://www.conservatree.com/
Earth Sangha in the Washington DC area, is another environmental action group that is using Buddhist principles to accomplish practical goals. Their principle focus is an urban ecological restoration program to reclaim native species, control invasive alien plants stabilize watersheds, and protect the Chesapeake Bay.
https://www.earthsangha.org/
The Environmental Justice Resource Center (EJRC) at Clark Atlanta University serves as a research, policy, and information clearinghouse on issues related to race and environmental justice. https://www.ejrc.cau.edu/about.htm
Night Fire by Ronnie Greene recounts the story of retired school teacher Margie Richard’s ultimate victory against oil refinery giant Shell, in a ten year struggle to reclaim her Louisianna town from the ravages of industrial contamination.
Eco-Justice Ministries helps churches answer the call to care for creation, by developing minisitries that work toward social justice and envrionmental sustainability.
https://www.eco-justice.org/
The National Council of Churches has an Eco-Justice Program that brings together Protestant and Orthodox Christians, to protect and restore creation. https://www.nccecojustice.org/
Read about Erin Brokovich’s eco-justice struggle with Pacific Gas & Electric and ask your library if it has Erin Brokovich, the motion picture that tells her story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich_(film)
St. Ysidro and Maria de la Cabesa, the husband-wife patron saints of agriculture, can be learned about at: https://www.ncrlc.com/isidoreandmaria.html
Michael Oren Fitzgerald, ed. Thomas Yellowtail, forward, Indian Spirit. World Wisdom. Inc., 2003, is a clear and resonant short compilation of quotes from Native American leaders about US indigenous spirituality and thought.
www.worldwisdom.com
Amigos Bravos fights for New Mexico water quality and flow, river region biodiversity, environmentally sustainable ways of life of indigenous cultures, and environmental justice.
https://www.amigosbravos.org/
The Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Bartholomew, was the first major Christian leader to put the environment at the top of his agenda, calling environmental pollution a ‘sin’. His ship-borne symposia on seas and rivers have brought together scientists and diverse clergy, the media and environmentalists to find solutions to the growing crises of the planet’s water systems. https://www.rsesymposia.org/index.php
Read the Venice Declaration, signed by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Bartholomew I, a Common Declaration on Environmental Ethics.
https://www.columban.com/veniced.htm
The Catholiic Bishops of the Northwest have written a powerful Pastoral Letter about the Columbia River (Caring for Creation and the Common Good)) that urges all peoples to join together to protect this essential watershed.
https://www.columbiariver.org/
The National Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC), an arm of the US Catholic Bishop’s Conference, assists rural families and the faithful in addressing concerns of creation care related to food production, water and climate change through spiritual renewal, education and advocacy on food policies. Its collaborations are both interfaith and secular
https://www.ncrlc.com/
Link to the national organization Interfaith Power and Light (IPL), and its individual state chapters at:
https://www.theregenerationproject.org/
Learn about options for reducing your carbon footprint and switching to non-fossil fuel electricity now, at:
https://www.nativeenergy.com/
https://www.terrapass.com/
https://www.carbonfund.org/
GreenFaith also offers excellent information about solar and other forms of alternative energy, energy offsets, tips about composting, recylcling, waste audits, energy audits and more. GreenFaith’s new Certification Program was created to assist congregations everywhere to go green.
https://www.greenfaith.org/together/certification.html
Environmental Organizations and Resources
GreenRELAY is a youth-led project that shares stories of the environmental justice movement in Los Angeles and across the country. It also has a directory of community-based environmental justice organizations with which you can get involved.
https://greenrelay.org
