Faithful Connections: Interfaith Action and Climate Change
As climate change affects us all, we can work across faiths to amplify our voices and work toward a better future for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our entire world. Read below to hear more!
Growing up in Nebraska, an agricultural state that is frequently in extended periods of droughts, I was keenly aware that the climate determined my area’s way of life. In church on Sundays, we often prayed for rain and the farmers whose crops and livestock ensured the economic success of this area. Yet, we did not talk about climate change. In fact, many of the people I interacted with on a daily basis didn’t believe that climate change was real or something to be worried about. The weather we experienced was believed to be the way the world worked, and we didn’t have any part in it. However, by 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned that the temperature of the entire state had warmed by at least one degree Fahrenheit and rainstorms were intensifying, increasing the threat of flooding (EPA, “What Climate Change Means for Nebraska, 1). Indeed, in 2019, Nebraska endured “one of the worst inland flood events in US history” (Joseph Meyer, “March 2019 | Historic Flooding Across Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri,” 2024). I watched helplessly as my triple landlocked state began to look like a giant lake filled with family homes, businesses, and farms. While we all banded together and took care of each other, I saw firsthand how disastrous and abnormal weather events could destroy lives of entire communities. Unfortunately, this experience is not reserved to Nebraska.
Areas throughout America and around the world are contending with the disastrous impacts of climate change. Around the globe, temperatures are rising, weather events are becoming more severe and frequent, and we are losing species that are essential to ecological health. Climate change impacts the most vulnerable populations the hardest, leading to significant health issues and inaccessibility to resources. However, in the face of the horrific impact of climate change, our shared experience also gives us a point of unification. As Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’, “‘We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all… We require a new and universal solidarity’” (NCR Editorial Staff, “Climate Action Requires Interfaith Collaboration, 2023). As members of various religions, we are called to be good stewards of the earth, sustaining the environment for future generations and respecting the sanctity of the world. While we should always be sure to implement sustainability into our lives in practical ways, our voices are stronger together. In the face of climate change, collaboration is more important than ever. We are all embedded in the climate crisis whether we like it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not. Therefore, to care for the earth is to care for each other, our communities, our families, and ourselves.
Thankfully, there are already great ways to learn more and get involved in this work! For instance, Georgia Interfaith Power and Lights (GIPL) has so many opportunities for people to collaborate across faiths to combat climate change and fight environmental injustices. They educate, advocate, and engage in community service (especially through the work of local Green Teams - faith communities engaged and dedicated to sustainability and environmental action), working across faith communities to make a better and healthier environment in Georgia. GIPL “exists at the intersection of environment, science, and faith” (GIPL, “Our Story”). They stand as an example of the immense good that can be done when we collaborate across religions for the common good. Learn more about this amazing organization here: https://gipl.org/impact.
We all have the responsibility to be good stewards on our common home: the earth. Whatever action you can take: lobbying our legislators on issues that protect the environment, getting involved with GIPL, engaging in community service, advocating for environmental justice, shopping with the environment in mind, bringing discussions around climate change to those who may not know about it, or even just beginning to recycle or compost, we can make our world a better place. Interfaith work is vital to these efforts as we work across our differences to sustain our environment for the next generation.
Resources:
“What Climate Change Means For Nebraska”: https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/climate-change-ne.pdf
“March 2019 | Historic Flooding across Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri”: https://www.3newsnow.com/weather/weather-history/march-2019-historic-flooding-across-nebraska-iowa-and-missouri
“Climate Action Requires Interfaith Collaboration”: https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/editorial/editorial-climate-action-requires-interfaith-collaboration
GIPL “Our Story”: https://gipl.org/story
