Seat at summit for faith groups

All major traditions stress caring for the Earth, the vulnerable

In San Francisco this week, Gov. Jerry Brown and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg led a Global Climate Action Summit with government, business, science, nonprofit and faith community leaders. Events over three days included an interfaith service and faith-based workshops.

“Every major faith tradition calls us to care for the Earth,” said the Rev. Susan Hendershot Guy, president of Interfaith Power & Light. “And every major faith tradition calls us to care for our neighbors and those who are most vulnerable. Climate change impacts both of those.”

For many congregations, the environmental focus is nothing new. Many houses of worship have community gardens or encourage members to write letters to the editor of their local newspaper. An Interfaith Power & Light program called Cool Congregations helps congregations reduce their carbon footprint while saving money.

Some faith leaders have taken time to call or meet with local policy makers — an important step, said Hendershot Guy. “We can all change a light bulb,” she said. “But at the end of the day we need the right policies in place in order to get where we need to go as quickly as we need to get there.”

A number of faith-based organizations backed a California law, signed by Brown this week, that requires the state to get all its power from renewable sources by 2045.

Bishop Marc Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California said his denomination has been working on corporate and individual action and remains committed to the Paris climate accord, even though President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement.

The denomination has also passed a number of resolutions focused on creation care.

The resolutions include encouraging churches to serve and promote locally grown food, promoting energy and water efficiency and advocating for ocean health through public policy advocacy.

Keeping those resolutions, Andrus said, is easier said than done, so the church is helping create an app to assist people with keeping their commitments. The app, Sustaining Earth, Our Island Home, will help people make five changes in their life and then tracks their progress. The app is expected to go live in January.

Kristin Barker, co-founder of One Earth Sangha, which brings practices from the Buddhist tradition to ecological issues, said it’s important to personally commit to the Paris agreement and not wait for the government to enforce regulations.