It is the fifth and final week of the Season of Creation. On October 4, some Christians commemorate Saint Francis of Assisi as a patron saint of God's creatures. In his spirit, they sometimes conduct animal blessings in October. If you participate in an animal blessing, please share photos on social media at #BlessTheAnimals and #SeasonOfCreation.
About Our Work The Creation Justice community protects and restores God's bio-diverse creation through prayer, awareness-raising, habitat protection, and advocacy. We encourage faith communities to honor International Endangered Species Day, which will be on May 15 in 2020. We have cosponsored animal blessings in Washington DC, and we are promoting one in the Rayburn US House Office Building Courtyard at 3:30pm on October 17. We encourage faith communities to use their land as habitat protection for local creatures. This may involve choosing native plants, tending pollinator gardens, or conserving natural lands and waters on property in your stewardship. We also advocate to uphold the Endangered Species Act and protect vital habitats and wildlife corridors on our public lands. Learn more about our work, and get involved at www.creationjustice.org/endangered In the News In May 2019, the United Nations Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services released a report on the extinction crisis. If you missed it when it came out, please take a look. It is an important read. Only months after the release of this report, the Trump Administration announced a new policy for the Department of Interior: economic analysis will help decide whether a species warrants protection. Action: Uphold & Strengthen the Endangered Species Act Call your members of Congress at 202-224-3121. Here are some talking points:
As we wrap up the 2019 Season of Creation, we hope our email series has helped you get to know more opportunities to become active in the Creation Justice community's efforts to educate, equip, and mobilize people of faith to protect, restore, and more rightly share God's creation.
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Each week during the Season of Creation, we are focusing on one part of our shared ministry for God's creation. This week, we focus on the ocean.
About Our Work The Creation Justice community has worked together to uphold and expand protections for marine sanctuaries. Relatively untouched, marine sanctuaries serve as hotbeds of biodiversity for God's marine creation. Marine sanctuaries contribute not only to the healing of marine species, but also toward lasting positive impacts on human lives. We are also hosting ocean leadership trainings as well as roundtables. We have events coming up this Saturday, September 28 in Newport News, Virginia and October 4 in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. So much of the ocean is unexplored, and the wonders of God's marine creation are still being discovered the deeper we are able to go. We have a moral responsibility to ensure God's marine creation sustains life and inspires wonder for generations to come. In the News Today the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. This report covers the state of the world's ocean, as well as high mountain snowy areas and polar regions known collectively as the cryosphere. It explains the ocean and cryosphere's roles in the climate system, as well as current and projected climate change impacts on fisheries, coral reefs, coastlines, and the people that rely upon them. The findings in this report indicate that there will be serious impacts on all of God's marine creation unless humans take swift action to reduce emissions. These impacts include unprecedented sea level rise, changing behavior and migration patterns for marine life, stronger and more frequent tropical storms, flooding, food insecurity, and impaired water quality. Simply put, the global ocean is responsible for 97% of all water on planet Earth. We have a moral responsibility to do everything in our power to safeguard this vast and magnificent, yet limited, gift of God's creation. Download the IPCC report hereAction: Protect Marine Sanctuaries This week, we encourage you to take the time to read this report and engage with your communities on the impact climate change will have on all of our marine creation. We have one ocean, and a duty to protect it for generations to come. We also invite you, if you haven't already, to take our featured action for September. Reach out to your members of congress and ask them to take action to protect marine sanctuaries. Take ActionFeatured Education Resources: S.acred O.cean S.eas is a former Earth Day resource with great content to consider as you talk with your communities on the importance of protecting our ocean and all of the marine life within it. Climate Partner to Watch: Blue Theology Mission Station Creation Justice Ministries partners with Blue Theology Mission Station on our marine creation work. We plan to send a team of ocean champion faith leaders out to Monterey Bay to learn from and with Blue Theology in Spring 2020. If you, or someone you know, would be a good fit for this opportunity, we encourage you to nominate/apply here. We also want to give a shout-out to Interfaith Oceans. Their website is rich with ocean resources. Each week during the Season of Creation, we are focusing on one part of our shared ministry for God's Creation. This week, we focus on climate.
Thanks to the leadership of young people, climate change is in the public spotlight with a major Climate Strike planned for Friday, September 20. Some of our members and partners have created faith resources for the Climate Strike. About Our Work The Creation Justice community roots our climate justice ministry in ecumenical Faith Principles on Climate Change. Educating, equipping, and mobilizing faith communities about climate issues and climate solutions has taken on many forms. In addition to our curricula, we have facilitated dozens of workshops at churches and religious conferences on topics such as "Faith for Energy Equity," "Climate Justice and Christianity," and "Just Transition in Appalachia." We advocate to uphold public policies that help protect vulnerable communities from climate change, and we support our members that participate in international climate negotiations. Looking Ahead to 2020 I am excited to announce our Earth Day Sunday 2020 theme will be "The Fierce Urgency of Now." It will mark 50 years since the first Earth Day, offer theological reflection on our Kairos moment, encourage people to become Creation Care Voters, as well as help faith communities interpret dire reports we have seen from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Also, Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2020 theme is: Imagine! God's Earth and People Restored. This annual conference will take place April 24-27, 2020, bringing together nearly 1,000 Christians in Washington, DC. Creation Justice Ministries is once again on the planning team. We hope you can come! Throwback Thursday Many people of faith are unaware that their faith communities have been active on climate issues for decades. It is both sobering and fascinating to see faith perspectives on climate issues from the early 1990s in the National Religious Partnership for the Environment film God's Creation and Global Warming. Action: This week, take a faithful stand for God's creation and our health. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to roll back methane pollution standards that require oil and gas industrial operations to plug leaks. Methane is a fast-acting dangerous greenhouse gas, and the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that come with methane leaks disproportionately cause devastating illnesses in vulnerable communities. When you press the "Take Action" button, you will get a form letter to President Trump and Administrator Wheeler. This action alert is a shared effort by Creation Justice Ministries and Interfaith Power and Light. Take ActionFeatured Education Resources: The Next Generation Rises With education, prayer, preaching and action resources, honor the ways young people are leading the way to protect, restore, and more rightly share God's creation. Other climate education resources of interest include African Americans and Climate Change, Sustainable Food in a Changing Climate, Ethics of Energy, and the report Climate and Church: How Global Climate Change Will Impact Core Church Ministries Climate Partner to Watch: Interfaith Power and Light Creation Justice Ministries frequently partners with Interfaith Power and Light, which provides a religious response to global warming through 40 state affiliates. Each week during the Season of Creation, we are focusing on one part of our shared ministry for God's Creation. This week, we focus on our public lands. Our public lands can provide a sanctuary for us to retreat to for spiritual and physical renewal. In the Bible, wilderness areas have often served as places for people to go and discover God. In the Gospels, Jesus would often retreat into the wilderness for times of prayer and solitude.
About Our Work The Creation Justice community has been active in the establishment and protection of wilderness areas, monuments, parks, and wildlife refuges. We support public policies which protect public lands such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Wilderness Act, and the Antiquities Act of 1906. The Creation Justice community pays special attention to places that are considered sacred by their current or ancestral inhabitants. For example, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge encompasses the "sacred place where life begins," which is the site of the creation story known to the Gwich’in people. Action: This week, we celebrate the third birthday of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. The Creation Justice community was instrumental in building the momentum to establish this first national monument in the Atlantic Ocean and the only national monument established with a primary goal of supporting marine climate science. Unfortunately, marine sanctuary protections are in danger of being rolled back. Please write to your members of Congress in support of marine sanctuary protections. Take ActionFeatured Education Resource: Out of the Wilderness: Building Christian Faith and Keeping God's Creation Public Lands Partner to Watch: A Christian Ministry in the National Parks: This is a grassroots, student-led ministry started in Yellowstone National Park in 1951. They work to provide a Christian Community for those who are visiting our National Parks. Thanks again for your continued support during the Season of Creation. We hope that you will continue to find ways to enjoy and preserve our public lands so that future generations will be able to enjoy them! Throughout the Season of Creation, our team will present a weekly theme honoring one aspect of God's amazing creation. This week's theme is water.
About Our Work The Creation Justice community educates, prays, and acts to uphold our sacred relationship with water. We offer curricula about water stewardship. We support religious authors publishing letters to the editor and opinion editorials about safe water. We have also supported dozens of faith community leaders in a prayer campaign for better water stewardship. We host convenings. In 2018, we held a "Healing Waters Retreat" in Michigan, and we will host another retreat in West Virginia this October. These retreats gather people who have lost access to safe water with faith-rooted water justice advocates. We have also cosponsored the State of Appalachia conference, which always includes a water justice component. We stood with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as Water Protector allies, and we have advocated to protect the Bristol Bay, the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake, and the Boundary Waters. We have championed public policies such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Stream Protection Rule as well as the Waters of the US Rule. We also call on policy makers to uphold and strengthen the Clean Water Act. Action: Nominate a faith leader who is doing extraordinary work to protect water. This could include advocating for safe and affordable drinking water, watershed stewardship, care for rivers and lakes, or care for the ocean. A small committee of the Creation Justice Ministries board will review nominations and choose honorees. We will feature honorees on the Creation Justice Ministries website, and they will win a trip to the Blue Theology Mission Station in Monterrey Bay, California where they can pray together, learn from each other, and enjoy God's marine creation. NOMINATE TODAY. Featured Education Resource: Water, Holy Water has Christian education material about water use, pollution, and the challenges facing watersheds. It also includes sermon starters and a liturgy. Download it today. Water Partner to Watch: Ecumenical Water Network The Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) is an ecumenical initiative of the World Council of Churches, based in Geneva. This network of churches and church-related organizations promotes the preservation, responsible management and equitable distribution of water for all, based on the understanding that water is a gift of God and a fundamental human right. We highly recommend their Lenten resources. Through the waters of our baptism, we are reminded of how God's redeeming grace cleanses and renews us. God provides all of creation with clean water for good reason. Clean water is essential to health and habitat. It keeps us hydrated, healthy, and turns our homes, our recreation sites, and work spaces into safe places. During this Season of Creation, we hope you will continue to seek out new ways to treasure God's creation, and perhaps consider becoming more active in the Creation Justice community. If you read about any initiatives that interest you, please write to us and let us know how you'd like to get involved. ![]() In honor of World Environment Day, we uplift the leadership of Mary F. McCormick. She has been a caretaker of God’s Earth throughout her whole life. Read more about Mary McCormick below. Mary F. McCormick, born in 1932, raised in Seminole, OK, is an enrolled member of the Sac and Fox Nation located in Stroud, OK. She is an educator with Master degree in Secondary Education. She served as Vice President, Anadarko area, of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), OEA Delegate, Seminole County, National Education Association, Representative, an active member of the American Indian Cultural Society, and board member of National Tribal Chairman’s Association. In her local community, Mary served on the Board of Directors of Seminole Historical Society, City of Seminole’s Housing Authority, and has been a Sunday school teacher for over 40 years. While her contributions to the Sac and Fox Nation are too numerous to list, Mary served as the elected Secretary of the Sac and Fox Nation and Principal Chief for many years, in which she was instrumental, through various Tribal Programs and grants 40 acres of Tribal land was reclaimed, developed a Recreational Vehicle Park, purchased back 80 acres of Tribal land (no other Tribe had ever bought back any of their original landholdings). She further identified damages to the Tribal Reserve by oil companies and filed suit against Tennecco Oil company, fighting for environmental justice of Tribal lands, after almost 20 years of litigation, in 1996, and agreement was finalized with 2 important items: 3 - 40 acres tracts were included in the settlement to provide adequate drinking water to the Tribal Reserve and damaged land erosion was repaired. Without the patience, expertise and service of Mary, that agreement would never have been possible. She continues her environmental justice efforts for the Sac and Fox Nation as a leader, volunteer and Governing Council member. Recently, she promoted the development of a Tribal Community Garden to include Sac and Fox Traditional foods such as the Three Sisters: multicolored maize (Indian Corn) and yellow corn, beans, squash. This recognition of Mary McCormick’s work was brought to the Creation Justice community’s attention by Dee Manatowa, former Environmental Justice Fellow for Creation Justice Ministries.
A press release from the annual Creation Justice Ministries Board Meeting May 13-14 in Flint, Michigan, dozens of representatives of major religious bodies comprising the board of ecumenical membership organization Creation Justice Ministries gathered to pray, learn, and act for water justice.
Since 2014, Flint, Michigan has not had reliable accessible clean drinking water. Although the local government has closed their water and food distribution centers, lead is still present in the water supply. In 2019, most Flint residents still don't trust safe water will flow from the tap. Creation Justice Ministries Executive Director Shantha Ready Alonso spoke to why the board gathered in Flint in 2019: “Collectively, religious communities have had a long-standing presence in Flint: before and after the notorious water crisis. Today, the news cameras have gone away, but communities of faith must continue to renew our relationships in Flint. The city has powerful lessons for faith communities as we consider how to grapple with how we relate to God's gift of water, to racial inequities, to crises in our democracy, and to our nation’s just transition away from extractivism.” Reformed Church in America representative to the Creation Justice Ministries board, Dr. Monica Schaap Pierce said of her experience,"In Flint, signs of hope mingle with evidence of degradation and loss. As I listen to stories of pain and healing, I became very aware of God's redemptive work even in the midst of this crisis." The meeting began with a pre-screening of “Flint: the Poisoning of an American City,” a documentary by David Barnhart and Scott Lansing of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. This was followed by an environmental justice tour of Flint. The tour guides, Jan Worth-Nelson of East Village Magazine and Pastor Greg Timmons of Calvary and First Trinity United Methodist Church, explained how poverty and race deeply intersect with access to potable water. The board saw how neighborhoods were segregated. In one part of the city, the streets were lined with mansions and in other parts, the homes were deteriorating. Too many members of the undocumented community in Flint stay in falling-apart homes due to fear of detention and deportation. These same families lacked Spanish language materials and government identification that would afford them access to information and services. The group visited a brownfield site where the once booming Chevrolet industry was in its heyday. The expansive factories are now gone, but the far- reaching and seemingly unending concrete remains. There was also a drive-by at the Flint Water Treatment Plant. Much of the tour was also about resilience. The group saw the Flint Culture and Arts Center, a community garden started by a United Methodist community, and a Field House rich in history and current sporting activities: all centers of hope and resilience in the city, particularly helping youth. The tour also stopped by the Flint River to learn about revitalization efforts which have given Flint residents and visitors opportunities to enjoy novel outdoor activities such as kayaking. The board meeting ended the following day with a planning session for Creation Justice Ministries further education, prayer, and justice work on water issues in Flint and beyond. Delivered by Shantha Ready Alonso at the 2019 American Climate Leadership Summit. The Visualization was inspired by this year's Earth Day Resource theme "Next Generation Rises". Download the resource here. ![]() THE BOX Let's begin by centering ourselves. If you are comfortable closing your eyes, you can shut them at this time. Or, as an alternative, relax your gaze and let it stay on an inanimate object nearby. We are going to take a few minutes to journey inside the mind. Each of us came to this gatehering with a long to-do list of chores and work deliverables. I invite you to give yourself the gift of being fully present today. Pack up your concerns from home, from your job, and put them into a box under your chair. Don't worry, they will be there for you to retrieve and attend to once again later today. THE VISUALIZATION I invite you now to join me in an exercise to reflect on some of the important reasons why we are all here. Think of a young person who you deeply care about. It could be a child, grandchild, niece, nephew, godchild, friend, student, mentee, or neighbor. As this person becomes the focus in your mind, remember some details about them. Replay some of the good times you spent with them, which highlight what makes them so special to you. *PAUSE* Maybe you see their smile, or you remember a day you received insight into this young person's way of seeing the world. Maybe you shared a moment of solemnity or deep meaning. *PAUSE* In 30 years, what are your hopes for the life you want your young loved one to lead? Where might they live? What might their home be like? How will they spend their time? What are they passionate about? What do they hold sacred? Who might they count among their loved ones? (A baby born today will be 31 years old in the year 2050.) *PAUSE* Now, picture your loved one in that future setting, 30 years from now. Your loved one is telling a story about you. What is your young loved one saying about your lifework, and the impact you had? *SHORTER PAUSE* Is there something about the example you are setting today which you hope your loved one will emulate in the years to come? *SHORTER PAUSE* CLOSE Travel back to the present with me now, but hold your loved one close to the center of your attention. In climate work, we often say our actions today will have a profound impact on future generations. This work is personal. I invite you to dedicate your activities today to your loved one's future. Remember that box we wrapped up at the beginning of this session? Keep it closed for the conference today, as much as you can. May we be present to one another by bringing our full physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual attention here. I invite us all to break the silence now by speaking aloud the name of the young person to whom each of us dedicates this day. When I count to three, please speak that person's name aloud. 1...2...3... [NAMES] Annika Harley, the Creation Justice Fellow gave the Earth Day sermon at Washington City Church of the Brethren on Sunday April 28th. Read the text of her sermon below. I work at Creation Justice Ministries through Brethren Volunteer Service. Today I want to talk about generational environmental justice. Right now some of the biggest advocates for God’s creation are kids and youth. Across the world, children are demanding courageous climate action by protesting each Friday instead of going to school. Additionally, twenty-one kids are suing the federal government through the Our Children’s Trust lawsuit because the government has failed to take responsible climate action to protect their future. Kids are giving us hope for the future because they can see that the previous generations have failed to act. We adults have been negatively affected by the choices our ancestors have made and we can choose to continue down the path of destruction or to protect and restore God’s beautiful creation as well as care for generations to come. I started working in the environmental justice field when I was I Junior in college living in Quito, Ecuador. My first job in the field was for Union de Afectados por Texaco/ The Union of People Affected by Texaco. I worked in the advocacy branch of the law firm that was and still is suing Chevron-Texaco for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste water into the Ecuadorian Amazon’s land and water ways. Although this illegal act of intentionally polluting the Earth and the people who inhabited that region happened 40 years ago the pollution has still not been cleaned up. Birth defects, miscarriages, and cancer have skyrocketed in the region ever since the initial dump. This is a deep issue that is paralleled all over the world by industry choosing to poison land and population far away from themselves. In addition to the severe health impacts felt by the Amazonian Ecuadorians they also suffered culturally. The pollution harmed the land where they traditionally found medicine and food. Instead of being able to search for food the way they had throughout history, they had to go to pharmacies and grocery stores instead of living off the land. They had to start working more and the only business big enough to employ the workers was Chevron Texaco. This is such a harmful cycle. Kids have stopped using their original language and have started to only learn Spanish which creates a disconnect between the older and younger generations. Extraction may look like simply a climate issue from the outside but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Of course the initial extraction is highly dangerous at the time of the project but also for years afterwards. Generations of children and grandchildren have been poisoned from this process. The damage goes further than the individual community. The oil pumped from the ground is transported around the world to fuel cars, businesses, and other pollutants that contaminate the air we breathe from perceived safety of our homes and neighborhoods here in the US. By investing in crude oil we harm the next generation, not protect it. Similarly in Alaska, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is in danger of extractive practices. It follows that if these projects begin the ground and water will be polluted but so will the culture of the people who live there. The Gwich'in Nation inhabits the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and would be deeply harmed by extraction. The Gwich'in Nation is also known as the Caribou people because their migration patterns match that of the caribou. The proposed drilling is located in the caribou migration corridor, this dig would alter the traditions of the Nation forever. Their breeding ground is considered sacred to the Gwich'in people and disrupting this would not only cause pain and pollution at the time of the extraction, but for the generations to come. In my time with Creation Justice Ministries, we have stood with the Gwich’in to protect their sacred ancestral lands. Much closer to home, Appalachia is known for its beautiful scenery as well as coal mining in the mountains. Mining is a dangerous job for the individual miners but is also problematic for the physical health of workers and community members in mining towns. Coal ash is dangerous to constantly breathe in - especially for children. At a time like the present alternative green renewable energy is on the rise and readily available. Communities that transition from coal, oil, or gas to wind or solar are setting a standard for their kids, their grandkids and their great grandkids. They are choosing to protect the health of the future and to protect the beautiful Appalachian mountain range for the next generation to enjoy. Coal extraction is a major contributor to water pollution in West Virginia where much of the economy of the state comes from coal. In 2014 a coal cleaning chemical known as MCHM spilled from Freedom Industries causing nine counties in the Charleston area to no longer have access to clean drinking water. To this day, West Virginians are still working for reparations and accessible clean water. At the moment the state legislature is proposing to roll back water protections to what they were in the 80s, Instead of mandating that industry be more responsible. This is very curious because everyone needs to drink water; no one can survive without clean water. In my work with Creation Justice Ministries, we help faith communities see the ways water connects us all as human beings, and our sacred responsibility to protect it for the community of God’s creation. At Ecumenical Advocacy Days, an Christian conference we cosponsor that gathers about 1,000 people in DC each year, we host a slate of ecojustice workshops. One of our presenters was a West Virginia water activist and she shared a very encouraging story from her community. She told a story of a small Presbyterian church of about seven older adult members in a small town in West Virginia. The church also rented out space to a preschool. The church chose to make the switch to green renewables in the coal centered environment. They installed solar panels on their roof and now 50% of their energy use is covered by solar power. Even in a state powered by coal this small group of church members got together and made the transition to green renewables. This story is so encouraging to me because it proves that a small group of people can make a big difference, and they are not waiting for their state legislature to mandate green renewables first. They are leading the way by following God’s mandate to be good stewards and care for the Earth and its inhabitants. Jesus talked about caring for the least among us who have the greatest needs. Kids need to depend on decision makers for protection. Generations to come will be directly affected by our choices. The second half of this teaching is that we may not reap what we have sown and this is very clear when it comes to God’s Earth. Although we may never get to fully reap all of the rich benefits from restoring the climate, the future generations will benefit and they will be grateful. Only a portion of our actions will be visible to us but to the next generation, our positive changes we make will provide an abundance of clean air, water, and land for them to rightfully share. We should look up to the children leading the way for a better future. The kids who protest every Friday are not clouded with the social expectations and excuses adults are burdened with. They see the path clearly and know what needs to happen in order for their generation to survive.This movement is heavy in Europe but kids from over 100 countries have participated. The 21 children suing the government are setting a precedent for law makers. They are taking responsibility to clean up after their ancestors as well as holding them responsible for their actions. We owe it to them to listen. I’d like to highlight a portion of the scripture read earlier from Joshua 1:6 “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.” God commanded Joshua to fiercely protect the Earth for his children and onward. This is a great verse to remember now as we enter into a time where bold action is necessary. The 4th National Climate Assessment indicates that we have 11 more years to make major ground breaking changes to the way we as Americans exist or there will be irreversible damage. This is truly a message of hope. Multiple people have said to me that it is too late to do anything about climate change. That is not true. The solutions have been developed and adaptation strategies outlined. We can choose our future and whether or not we decide to protect the next generation and future of God’s Earth. We now have the opportunity to listen to the children who are protesting, missing school, and suing the government and tell them that we have heard them and we want to make changes so they will live full and healthy lives. As read earlier in Genesis 17:7 God created a covenant between the Earth, adults, and their children. Let us uphold that covenant. If you are interested in writing your own creation justice focused sermon or Sunday school lesson download our Earth Day resource here. The resource can be used anytime of the year.
Annika Harley, the Creation Justice Ministries Fellow gave a testimony at the Mercury Rule Hearing at the EPA on 3/18/19. Read her statement below. ![]() Hi my name is Annika Harley and I am a Fellow at Creation Justice Ministries and an active member in the Mennonite Church. My whole life I have learned and practiced the peace traditions that my faith community has taught me. Our core value is peace and nonviolence which translates into many facets beyond physical violence, including in our natural environment. I have been a lifelong advocate of caring for God’s creation and that is why I am here to say that this proposed rollback is immoral and violent. Rolling back this vital Mercury Rule would undermine the environmental and health progress we have made as a nation since it was finalized in 2011. This environmental and structural violence would cause massive developmental and neurological damage of children and youth. Because infants and children cannot speak for themselves, we must speak for them. It is immoral to harm children for the benefit of industry. As previously mentioned, I am a Fellow at Creation Justice Ministries. At Creation Justice Ministries we work to protect and restore God’s creation through mobilizing faith communities. We represent 38 member communions and denominations ranging from mainline protestant to Orthodox to historically Black to peace traditions. When we speak as Creation Justice Ministries, we speak on behalf of these 38 members. We as a collective say that this rollback is immoral. We in the faith community are convinced that children should not bear the consequences of mercury poisoning simply because coal companies do not want to spend money on environmental protection. How can we look in the faces of infants and children and ethically choose to value coal company profit over their health? This group can’t speak for themselves so it is up to adults in positions of power to make the right decision on their behalf. The children of today will inherit the earth and we in the faith community are determined to make the moral choice to defend it and the lives of those to come. This rule currently protects children and pregnant mothers in marginalized communities where coal pollution is at its worse. If these regulations are relaxed, people of color, and impoverished Americans will bear the costs that the coal companies save. This perpetuates the violent system of racism and inequity. As a Mennonite I am committed to eliminating these vicious structures, not building them up. When the Mercury Rule was first finalized in late 2011, hundreds of religious leaders from a wide variety of faith backgrounds, celebrated alongside concerned parents, scientists, health care professionals and many others. If fully implemented, the plan would have eliminated 90 percent of the mercury emitted by power plants, protecting the developing brains of countless children. These standards are projected to save over 11,000 lives each year. Particularly in lower income communities and communities of color, they have helped prevent some 130,000 asthma attacks each year, keeping kids in school and out of the emergency room. However, the Trump Administration’s proposed rollback of the Mercury Rule would change these statistics dramatically. This potential rollback contradicts the science, professional healthcare opinions, and moral integrity. Mark 9:37 states “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” God calls all people of faith to value and care for children. As a nation our environmental legislation should protect children, not harm them. Rolling back this Mercury Rule would be a dangerous mistake. Thank you. |
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