Climate Change

On May 20th, the Climate Witness Project had the privilege of hosting a book talk with professor and author Finis Dunaway. His new book, Defending the Arctic Refuge: A Photographer, an Indigenous Nation, and a Fight for Environmental Justice, takes a look at how photographer Lenny Kohm’s grassroots advocacy alongside the Gwich’in people helped protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. - Isaiah 26:7 

"I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice" - Proverbs 8:20

How do you grow vegetables when the soil is dry, space for farming is extremely limited and there is no water available? The answer lies in an innovative combination of fish, plant tubs, pumps and pipes! In southern Honduras, World Renew partners with Diaconia Nacional of Honduras for an agricultural project that’s having a big impact using aquaponics. 

President Joe Biden ordered a pause on new oil and gas leases on public lands in an executive order issued Jan. 27 to address the climate crisis. He also committed his administration to an ambitious conservation goal — to protect 30 percent of U.S.

It may be tempting to think that the call to care for creation is more political than theological, and at best whisked away to a few obscure passages of Scripture; that all the talk about churches and solar panels, reducing carbon emissions to love the creation, and reconnecting to the land are outside of the purview of the church. And yet, a deep dive into the Scriptures shows that the people of God and their well-being are intimately tied up in how they treat the land, the creatures, the sea, and the sky. 

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." - Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice."  - Proverbs 8:20

The Bible has many references to the word “hope”. There is one verse in particular that buoys those of us who are called to end the climate crisis. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.” I think that passage says that those who are hopeful that God is working in the world to protect God’s creation will not grow weary, but will engage in their work vigorously.

Lord, You are the source of all rightful authority. All things hold together in you.  Forgive us for the ways that, when it comes to politics, we have worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. - A Prayer Responding to the Events at the U.S. Capitol