Churches in USA expand campaign to fight global warming
Update, February 2011:
The National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE) continues to form coalitions for education and advocacy work on global warming throughout the USA.
Since 2002, the four organisations that make up the partnership (the National Council of Churches of Christ, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Evangelical Environmental Network and the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life) have, between them, launched numerous campaigns to promote environmental education.
Some of the work done by the four partners:
- The National Council of Churches’ Eco Justice programme currently has a range of USA-wide environmental campaigns, covering issues such as carbon reduction, water conservation, environmental justice and many more.
They also ran a campaign specifically for the Gulf oil disaster in 2010, encouraging faith communities to help towards restoring the Gulf coast.
- In 2006, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life launched a USA-wide Four-Part Climate Change Campaign, which aimed to engage the Jewish community in awareness, advocacy, and concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Also in 2006, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops launched the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, which tackles issues such as the moral implications of climate change.
- In February 2006, the Evangelical Environmental Network launched the Evangelical Climate Initiative, originally signed by 90 key evangelical leaders across the nation.
For more information on the four partners of the NRPE and their continual campaign and coalition work, please click on the following links:
NCE Eco-justice
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
Creation Care
In 2000 the US National Council of Churches (NCC) and the National Religious Partnership for the Environment pledged to expand their successful state-by-state effort to form coalitions for education and advocacy work on global warming across the nation.
Through this sacred gift the NCC – which is an affiliation of 35 Protestant, Eastern Orthodox and African-American denominations representing more than 40 million Americans - is building a moral consensus on the need to combat climate change through action by both private citizens and public officials.
The campaign plans included running major training events on climate change - as well as developing and distributing statements on climate change by key religious leaders and engaging the public to advocate urgent action for the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.
It was in light of this Sacred Gift that in 2002 the NCC spearheaded opposition to President Bush’s decision not to endorse the Kyoto Protocol: a campaign which saw religious leaders from all main faiths lobbying the White House.
The NCC continues to push for the USA to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
This Gift extends more than a decade of activity on climate policy by NCC member denominations, working both nationally and internationally (with the World Council of Churches).
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