USA: Benedictines engage students in civic eco-action
In 2000 the Catholic Benedictine Sisters of Erie,
Pennsylvania offered the Sacred Gift of expanding their
innovative environmental education programme to cover
three states in Canada and the USA.
In 1999
the
Glinodo Earth Force Programme
(GEFP) was based in just 30 schools in Western
Pennsylvania.
A year later, as a result of
the Sacred Gift, the Benedictines more than doubled
their existing programme in Pennsylvania and,
subsequently extended it to New York State and Ontario,
Canada.
It has had particular impact already
on Lake Erie - one of the Great Lakes of North America
which between them contain one fifth of the world’s
fresh water. Students carry out water monitoring as an
important part of the Gift, and are encouraged to engage
in civic action to change public policy and achieve more
environmentally sustainable management of these
important freshwater resources.
The GEFP is
supported by local government departments, universities
and environmental groups, and involves students
identifying local problems related to the overall health
of the Lake Erie area, and taking action to address
them. Through this Gift fifty new educators will be
trained to develop
watershed projects
in schools – reaching out to a student population of
approximately 50,000.
The sisters of Erie,
Pennyslvania belong to a worldwide religious order
founded in the 6th century by St. Benedict. It is an
explicit policy of Benedictine monasteries and
communities worldwide to apply environmental stewardship
principles to their land, buildings and work. In Erie,
the Benedictines’ commitment to ecological practices
includes promoting forest stewardship schemes as well as
using FSC materials and renewable energy resources,
including wind generators and geothermal heating.
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