Will you Accept this Earth Day Challenge?
It’s April and time to think about plans for Earth Day (April 22) for me, my family and my faith community. I looked online for new resources, but found most of them incomplete and disjointed. I remembered an incredible resource that a friend had shared with me called “31 Days of Climate Action”. It offers a playful, hopeful, inspiring and empowering approach to climate change. You will find ideas and resources that make it easy for you to take climate action with just a few minutes of effort each day.
“31 Days of Climate Action” is the brainchild of Kaitlin Y. Cordes, a human rights lawyer and mother of two young children, who had worked with Columbia University’s Earth Institute. During Covid, Kaitlin took time off from work and took a deeper dive into climate change. She examined her personal grief and anxiety about climate change and started taking personal actions to address climate change. She concluded that “NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US FROM CLIMATE CHANGE, BUT WE CAN STILL SAVE OURSELVES. The more of us that get on board, the faster we will move to a future where we can thrive.” Kaitlin contacted her friend from Columbia’s Earth Institute, Solina Kennedy, who shared many of Kaitlin’s concerns. She had lots of unanswered questions: What really matters? What makes a difference? Where do I start? She was wishing someone would just tell her what to do to address climate change. When asked to help, she eagerly signed on with Kaitlin to develop “31 Days of Climate Action”. Together they have assembled an incredible, easy to do compilation of action items, tricks, recommendations and resources to empower each of us to get started. Open this link to take action and you will quickly discover that you are changing the world along with Caitlin, Solina and the rest of us, who accept this Earth Day Challenge. Get started today!
But wait, what about climate change resources designed for use in faith communities? You can find a wealth of ready to use faith based resources on the ICCT website: Consider viewing our 3 ICCT - 1 hour Drawdown videos to learn easy and powerful actions that your faith community can take to help reverse climate change. Or, view our ICCT recording of Dr. Elizabeth Bagley, Director of Drawdown Learn, as she shares examples of faith communities from across the country engaged in climate action.
Our ICCT faith based resources include religious statements on climate change from many different faiths, as well as creation care prayers and sermons. You can also view stories of Triangle-area faith communities taking action on climate change or listen to recordings of ICCT Zoom webinar events on many topics.
Other science resources include links to three series of short climate change videos. These include the inspiring, informative PBS Hotmess series, as well as, Climatologist Katharine Hayhoe’s award winning children’s series, Global Weirding. Dr. Hayhoe, an Evangelical Christian addresses the issue of religion and climate change in some of her videos. You will also find links to a beautiful, inspiring series of short Conservation International videos.
There are also links to reputable science websites and publications on climate change. You can view the 2019 National Climate Assessment, the NC Clean Energy Plan and more. If you are looking for environmental volunteer opportunities for youth in NC, we offer a long list of possibilities. Finally, book lovers will find a recommended list of both science and faith based books on climate change for adults and children. Thanks to a grant from Wake County, the Pullen church library has a great collection of children’s and adult books on climate change and other environmental topics which are available for check out. For the sake of God’s Creation, please click this link and get started. www.interfaithcreationcare.org/resources
