Presbyterian Mission Agency environmental concerns Archives

War in Ukraine and crises in the Pacific explored

Posted June 2nd, 2022

Activists from two different parts of the world — Fiji and Ukraine — described some of the ways that environmental concerns, including fossil fuel consumption, are interwoven with war and displacement during the latest in the “Connecting the Dots” webinar series.

Minute for Mission: Earth Day 2022

Posted March 24th, 2022

It’s been more than 50 years since the first Earth Day (1970). Spurred by concerns from that time period about oil spills, polluting factories, and dangerous chemicals being used regularly (described in Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”), thousands of college students and concerned citizens came together in mass rallies, across political lines. Later that year, the United States Environmental Protection Agency was formed, and federal environmental laws soon followed: the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act. By 1990, Earth Day began to be celebrated globally. The first United Nations Earth Summit was held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro.

Hillsborough Presbyterian Church works to take care of the Earth

Posted August 21st, 2019

From Sept. 1 to Oct. 4, Christians around the world celebrate the Season of Creation. Some of us pray, some of us do hands-on projects, some of us advocate. We all protect creation. It’s powerfully good work that’s urgently needed.

Preparing for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Posted July 25th, 2019

In 2015, Pope Francis proclaimed Sept. 1 as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, joining Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios I of Constantinople, who earlier extended an invitation for Christians to offer “every year on this date prayers and supplications to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of creation and as petitions for its protection and salvation.”

A pilgrimage of environmental repair and rebirth on the Hudson River

Posted November 9th, 2017

On a chilly Saturday morning in April, 30 people from six congregations in Hudson River Presbytery embarked on a Holy Week journey of education, advocacy and worship called Healing Sacred Sites: From Death to Resurrection.

A cause ‘worth protecting’

Posted May 12th, 2017

Conserving energy and caring for the environment are not new tasks for Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Since the mid-1990s, the congregation has been committed to finding ways to cut energy costs while improving the environment in its own community.

Presbyterian leaders react to executive order on clean power

Posted May 12th, 2017

President Trump’s recent decision to revive the coal industry and closely scrutinize the previous administration’s Clean Power Act has been met with strong opposition among leaders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). While the president has promised that the action will create jobs, many say the executive order will set the country back years in environmental progress.