Green Environment Creation Care Ideas
Welcome! This page is packed with great ideas for congregations and small groups about going green, environmental action, Creation care, Bible study and learning more about how faith can motivate people to preserve and heal the Earth. What’s unique about this page? It offers great resources you might otherwise overlook! ReadTheSpirit spots and recommends the best we can find—with a special eye toward books, films and other educational resources you’re unlikely to find without our help!
Great Books and Films to Start Going Green
“Claiming EARTH as Common Ground”
Skylight Paths offers this terrific guidebook on “The Ecological Crisis through the Lens of Faith,” prepared by Andrea Cohen-Kiener, head of the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network. Click Here to jump to Skylight Paths and order a copy. We can’t think of a better all-around starting point in this work. The book is part manifesto, part instruction manual and part sampler of important voices. The final 30 pages are among the most valuable, including: a list of “small steps” you can take, a helpful Who’s Who of key figures in this field, a discussion guide for small groups—and more. Andrea Cohen-Kiener is a rabbi whose wisdom stems from the roots of the Jewish-Christian-Muslim family of faiths. She writes broadly about Abrahamic values. A measure of her success is that Bill McKibben, the leading faith-based green activist these days, recommends this book because it takes us to “the heart of transforming our tired and broken relationship with the planet.”
“Dancing My Dream,” a Native American Approach to Earth
Native American Elder Warren Petoskey tells the story of his family through several generations, including some of the beauty, wisdom—and tragedies—his people have experienced. Unlike many Native American memoirs from the Southwest and the Great Plains, Warren’s family is primarily based in the Great Lakes, so many of these chapters cover fresh insights for readers. Click Here for ReadTheSpirit’s overview of Warren Petoskey’s “Dancing My Dream,” a book that ReadTheSpirit developed and published. Among the lines you’ll find from Warren on that page are these: “We live in a world now that is so loud and angry that we can no longer hear the call of our Creator. We have suppressed our spirituality and creativity. But, these gifts of the Creator still are there—waiting for us to reclaim them.” Click Here to jump to Amazon and order “Dancing My Dream” now.
“Examined Life” Jump Starts Awareness of Planet Earth
A great video to jump-start small group discussion of our overall place on this planet is “Examined Life.” The film, new to DVD in 2010, features a wide range of contemporary philosophers literally out on the streets—talking about the basic issues that define our lives and our relationship to life on Earth. Peter Singer, for example, addresses environmental issues head on—and we can guarantee there’ll be no shortage of conversation in your small group after Peter’s done talking! Here is our full review of “Examined Life.”
PEOPLE YOU REALLY SHOULD KNOW!
Shane Claiborne: Transforming Urban Environments
Creation care, green activism—or whatever you prefer to call it—isn’t just about saving wilderness areas and combatting global warming. It’s also about transforming urban environments, reducing our consumption, breaking ground for neighborhood gardens, the list goes on and on. At the helm of urban faith-based activism is Shane Claiborne, a figure with a huge following internationally. Here’s ReadTheSpirit’s latest interview with Shane Claiborne.
Patrick McDonnell & Eckhart Tolle: Exploring Our Spiritual Bonds with Pets
“Guardians of Being” already is considered a classic. At first glance, this innovative work looks like a children’s book—or maybe a collection of comic strips. But it’s far more than that! Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell found a kindred spirit in the writings of Eckhart Tolle. The cartoonist contacted the spiritual teacher—and the result is this book. McDonnell’s love of animals isn’t merely his “day job.” He’s active nationally with the Humane Society. This book is a wonderful way to start thinking about Creation care in your own home. Among Patrick’s insights in our interview is this: “It’s important to raise consciousness. I’m on the board of the Humane Society of the United States and I see all the horrors of how too many animals live their lives. Between dog fighting and puppy mills and all the other bad ways animals are treated, I think there are lots of unaware people out there. We need to realize—as the book says—that we are all sparks of the divine.”
Holmes Rolston: Environmental Scholar Bridging Faith and Science
Too few Americans are aware of this towering figure in environmental activism. Holmes Rolston is an internationally respected academic, noted for promoting the care of creation from an entirely secular point of view. Holmes pioneered the broadest possible approach to environmental ethics—so people of any religious background (or no religion at all) can link hands in this work. Lots of people need to become aquainted with this giant figure. Here’s our interview with Holmes Rolston III. At one point, he says: “There has been a widespread idea that nature is ‘value free’ and only humans bring value to the natural world when we use it or we enjoy experiences in it. In my work, I argue that living things have their own value. And living things value their own lives.”
Want Bible Study? Go Green! “Green Bible,” that is
Many congregations prefer to base their activisim in Bible study. We’ve been covering this movement for readers for quite a while. Christian environmental activist Matthew Sleeth was instrumental in a brilliant new format for scriptures: “The Green Bible.” There’s no question that this is a work in progress. Readers of the “Green Bible” continue to debate whether everything marked in green type really relates to environmental activism—and whether passages were missed in the cover-to-cover search for “green passages.” At ReadTheSpirit, we say: Hey, that’s what makes this a genius idea. People are talking! Here’s our story about “The Green Bible,” including an interview with Sleeth. ALSO, here’s a direct link to get a copy of “The Green Bible” from Amazon. For a shorter, easier-to-carry “green” devotional, here’s a link to “The Green Bible Devotional: A Book of Daily Readings” 
Got a Suggestion for This Page?
We’re always looking for fresh ideas! Email us at readthespirit@gmail.com
(Originally published at www.ReadTheSpirit.com)
