Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota

With deep gratitude to our Episcopal Environmental Stewardship Commission for underwriting part of the costs of my participating in this conference, I want to bring back to you some of the emphases of, and resource materials for, this informative ecumenical gathering.

I. Emphases: Three major strands in our caring for "the web of life"  were emphasized, namely: ecology, peace, and justice. Commitment to stewardship of our fragile environment requires our participation in all 3 of these complicated areas of work and study. Underlining the long-term nature of such a commitment, one speaker commented: we are planting acorns, not Zucchinis.

Ecology is a recent science that coordinates findings of separate scientific disciplines to formulate a unified view of life processes and their interdependence. That is complicated enough, one might say. But ecology does not in fact stand alone. What we do or fail to do in areas of peace and justice impacts the environment. Human community or lack of it is part of our world's ecology.

Given the complexityboth of the web of life and of any effort to care for it, we in the Church can become effective only when we think and act cooperatively with other bodies in society: political, social, economic; both official and independent foundations and societies. That was the most persistent theme of the conference, repeated in one workshop after another and by one plenary speaker after another. There is correspondence between the complexity of ecology and the complexity of responsible ecological ethics.

Our ecological faith can bear fruit only as we work and research in concert with fellow human beings who share ecological commitments. On one hand, our faith is to be nourished through meditation, biblical studies, and other practices of spirituality. What is distinctive in the Church's ecological theology and Christology is to be emphasized as our unique contribution to ecological ethics. (My own lifework has majored in this.)   And on the other hand, to the extent that "faith without works is dead" our faith reaches out to others beyond the Church in order to become effective partners with them in ecological caring for the web of life.

In accordance with this understanding the conference included expertise in areas beyond spirituality and biblical/theological studies. Among the plenary speakers was an advisor to the World Bank on issues of "environmentally sustainable development." Another is a Congresswoman who serves on Agriculture and Budget Committees in the United States House of Representatives. Another was a delegate to the Kyoto =
Environmental Summit. A workshop on toxic waste was led by the Coordinator of a Tri-State Environmental Council (OH,WV,PA), and she has received awards from Greenpeace, Mother Jones, and Time magazine for her advocacy work with local groups. A workshop on energy efficiency ("Win-Win Solution for the Global Warming Threat") was led by a retired Professor of Electrical Engineering. The workshop "Ecology 101: Scientific Facts and Perspectives" was led by a PhD in Biology who also has become an ordained Presbyterian pastor. Another workshop was led by an American Indian co-founder of a Center for Community Action.

Our EESC cannot, then, practice ecological ethics by confining its goals to spirituality and education within congregations and judicatories of the faithful. Creation cannot be restored only by prayer and a spirituality that is "safe" from opposition. If we heed the main thrust of this conference, which was sponsored both by Presbyterians for Restoring Creation and by the Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches of Christ, then we in the Episcopal Church will also be thoroughly interdisciplinary, ecumenical, and community-oriented in our "environmental stewardship." We will welcome partnership with all stewards of the web of life, whether inside the Church or also beyond it.

II. Resources: Unfortunately I could not buy out the bookstore and bring it back with me. They did not have a list of books included. So I scanned through the displays, and surfaced for air with a few items that seemed to me most useful. Some items fit neatly into only one of the following 4 categories, others fit well into more than one category. To these findings I have occasionally added materials from my own library.

A. Spirituality and Worship Resources.
 

• Belden C. Lane, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality (NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998). This is the book that I most want, once I can buy it at 20% off at a seminary bookstore.  He is both a fine story-teller and a backpacker who lives in St. Louis. There he is Prof. of Theological Studies and American Studies at St. Louis University. "Being saved by the things that ignore us," and thereby learning apatheia, is one of his themes. Another is his caveat against fantacizing or romanticizing desert or mountain. But a therapy may occur there "that doubles as worship." He can be reached via e-mail at: lanebc@sluvca.slu.edu.
• Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart (NY: Ballantine, 1981). This excellent introduction to desert spirituality has for years been a prized book in my collection.
• Larry L. Rasmussen, Earth Community, Earth Ethics (Orbis, 1996). Winner of the Louisville Grawemeyer Award in 1997, and thus a second "must have."
• Ron Sider, Cup of Water, Bread of Life (Zondervan). Sider is President of Evangelicals for Social Action (10 E. Lancaster Ave., Wynnewood, PA 19096-3495; FAX, 1-610-649-8090; 1-800-650-6600), also author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. I found his view of evangelism to be problematically aggressive. But he has gathered stories of life-changing ministries led by Christians around the world who have overcome one-sided faith and thus have combined evangelism and social action.
• Richard Cartwright Austin, Baptized Into Wilderness: A Christian Perspective on John Muir (PO Box 331, Abingdon, VA 24210: Creekside Press, 1987; E-mail at: chestnut@mounet.com); also: Beauty of the Lord: Awakening the Senses (same, 1988), which explores the aesthetics of Jonathan Edwards. Austin's Environmental Theology includes 2 more volumes. I recommend all 4 volumes highly, having been editor for these. Austin has been a Presbyterian pastor in ravaged coalfields of Appalachia, and he organized Citizens to Abolish Strip Mining to get federal control over strip mining of coal. He participates in an organic farming network. Also he organized the Coalition of American Electric Consumers for conservation and utility rate reform. In him spirituality and social action are admirably conjoined.
• Biblical studies that explore creation, time and space, even "trees." Belden Lane, "The Tree as Giver of Life: A Metaphor in Pastoral Care," Journal of Pastoral Care (Spring 1991), 15-22. See also R. C. Austin, Hope for the Land: Nature in the Bible.
• Theological studies, conversations between theologians and scientists, and some autobiographical statements by scientists:
• David & Eileen Spring (eds.), Ecology and Religion in History (Harper Torchbook, 1974), 174pp.
• Ian G. Barbour at Carleton College (ed.), Earth Might Be Fair: Reflections on Ethics, Religion, and Ecology (Prentice-Hall, 1972), 168pp.; also a book he authored, Issues in Science and Religion (Prentice-Hall, 1966), 470pp.
• all books by Loren Eiseley (The Immense Journey, The Unexpected Universe, Night Country, and others).
• Rene Dubos, The Torch of Life: Continuity in Living Experience (a Credo Perspectives book; Simon and Schuster, 1962), 140pp.
• William. G. Pollard (an Episcopal priest and physicist), Physicist and Christian (Seabury, 1961), 178pp.
•  Hans Kueng (Roman Catholic theologian), Global Responsibility: In Search of a New World Ethic (Crossroad, 1991; Preface by HRH The Duke of  Edinburgh, KG !), 158pp.
• Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond: Encounters and Conversations (Harper Torchbook, 1971), 257pp.
• books by William Temple, Anglican.

• Climate Change: State of Knowledge (October, 1997; 19pp.) Published by the Executive Office of the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy, Washington, DC 20502; 202-395-7347.
• U.S. Global Change Research Program  (established in 1989).
• In 1990 the UN General Assembly established the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), and the agreement there reached was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1992.
• In 1988 the UN established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
• Vera K. White, It's God's World: Christians, the Environment and Climate Change (A five-session study for congregations published by The Eco-Justice Working Group of NCCC). $1.00@, no date. (Order from: Environmental Justice Resources, NCCC, PO Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515; 1-800-762-0968 or 1-219-264-3102.)
• "The Coming Climate," Scientific American, May 1997, pp. 79-83. Authored by 3 scientists who are members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
• Environmental Justice Notes, free 4pp. Resource List from the Eco-Justice Working Group of the NCCC at Elkhart, IN address above.
• Ross Gelbspan, The Heat Is On (Addison-Wesley, 1997)

• Alternatives for Simple Living (Equipping people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly since 1973). 1-800-821-6153; Fax 712-274-1402. E-mail: AltSimLiv@aol.com. Alternatives, PO Box 2857, Sioux City, IA 51106.
• Earthkeeping News, a newsletter published by the North American Coalition for Christianity and Ecology, PO Box 40011, St. Paul, MN 55104; 612-698-0349. The 3-person editorial board includes 2 Minnesotans: Elizabeth Dyson who is Episcopalian, and Leslie Reindl who is Presbyterian.
• Richard Cartwright Austin, Reclaiming America: Restoring Nature to Culture, 243pp. (Creekside Press, PO Box 331, Abingdon, VA 24210) "To reform a society that is overwhelming the natural environment, Austin proposes constitutional rights for species and living systems, land reform to assure access to the earth, revitalized agriculture to support more people and conserve ecosystems, and a Christian communion that embraces all creatures loved by our Lord."
• Sallie McFague, Super, Natural Christians: How we should love nature (Fortress, 1997)
• Ron Sider's books and articles
• Larry Rasmussen, Earth Community, Earth Ethics (Orbis, 1996).
• Earthaven, an Ecovillage, PO Box 1107, Black Mountain, NC 28711; e-mail to: info@earthaven.org

1. Water:

a.  Clean Water Network, A Prescription for Clean Water: How to Meet the Goals of the Clean Water Act (1200 New York Avenue NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005), 29pp. with Appendix of "State Specific Fact Sheets", (October, 1997; CWN). CWN is a national alliance of 1,000+ organizations working together for cleaner waters.
b.  Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Citizen Lake-monitoring Program needs volunteers to help sample quality of lake water. See MPCA, 520 Lafayette Road North, St. Paul, MN 55155-4194; 1-800-657-3864, Jennifer Klang who is coordinator of the lake monitoring program.

2.  Air:

a.  Center for Health, Environment and Justice, Inc. (150 S. Washington Street, Suite 300, PO Box 6806, Falls Church, VA 22040; 703-237-2249). The Executive Director of this group is Lois Gibbs, of Love Canal fame. They publish Everyone's Backyard, of which the Summer 1998 issue featured an article on "The Clean Air for Children's Health Campaign" in North Carolina.
b.  Lois Gibbs, Dying From Dioxin: A Citizen's Guide to Reclaiming Our Health and Rebuilding Democracy (pub. by CHEJ, which formerly was CCHW, Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste). E-mail: CCHW@essential.org.

3. Other Political Action:

The above sources instance community organizing for political action on behalf of the environment.  See the climate change strategy packet from the NCCC's Eco-Justice Working Group (address above, or 1-800-762-0968).
League of Conservation Voters, 1707 L Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, DSC 20036;email to: lcv@lcv.org  LCV has published a National Environmental Scorecard every Congress since 1970.
POCLAD, Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy at PO Box 246, South Yarmouth, MA 02664-0246.

• links to similar sites in other Dioceses of the Episcopal Church, in the Anglican Communion, and in other Christian churches
• news of environmental stewardship events
• information from churches within the Diocese of Minnesota on how they are doing their stewardship of God's creation.
• other environment-related information  which is relevant to God's creation and Jesus Christ.

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