Creation Care at St. James Church
Committed to practice loving formation, liberating advocacy, and life-giving conservation for God's creation.
St. James wichita
Creation Care
A few tips to consider when caring for God’s creation:
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- Reduce your consumption, reuse, and up-cycle things you already have, recycle items that have the recycle ♻ symbol that has a 1-5 in it (numbers 1 and 2 indicate plastics that are frequently recycled.)
- Volunteer to help clean up natural areas, parks, and trails.
- Educate yourself; share knowledge and insights you gain.
- Reduce your water usage.
- Choose sustainable seafood.
- Buy fewer plastic items and use reusable shopping bags.
- Use energy efficient light bulbs (such as LED bulbs).
- Plant trees and native plants.
- Look for and use non-toxic cleaners.
- Walk and bike when you can instead of driving.
St. James plans to do an energy audit each year. Basically, this is an inspection and analysis of the energy-efficiency of the building.
The Creations Care Task Force of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas has a Facebook page! Check it out and see what people are sharing!
What is the Episcopal Church’s position on Creation Care issues, Social Justice, and other areas of concern?
Creation Care has been exploring advocacy at the Kansas Legislature. Sign up for the weekly eTower to read updates on Legislative items.
Look up House bills HERE
Find your state Representatives and Senators HERE
The Creation Care Committee offers the following reading list with a few suggestions that might cheer or challenge you:
- Berry, Wendell. Jayber Crow: A Novel. Washington D.C.: Counterpoint, 2000
- L’Engle, Madeleine. Penguins and Golden Calves: Icons and Idols in Antarctica and Other Unexpected Places. Colorado Springs CO: Shaw Books, 2003.
- Macdonald, Helen. H is for Hawk. London: Jonathan Cape, 2014.
- Merton, Thomas. When the Trees say Nothing: Writings on Nature. Edited by Kathleen Deignan. Notre Dame IN: Sorin Books, 2003.
- Muir, John. Meditations of John Muir: Nature’s Temple. Edited by Chris Highland. Berkeley CA: Wilderness Press, 2001.
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Note: because we’ve started here with some well-loved classics that may have fallen off your list, this collection tends toward the inspirational rather than the instructive or organizational. Let us know what you’re reading and what you love—our To Be Read piles can always use another book!
Bishop Cathleen’s Challenge: Sustain Island Home
Bishop Cathleen is challenging us to reduce our carbon footprint. Launched by the Diocese of California, Sustain Island Home is a tool for individuals and congregations to measure carbon footprint and then take measurable actions ranging from easy to challenging. Learn more and register at https://www.sustainislandhome.org/.
Other Resources
Native Land locator: https://native-land.ca/
Episcopal Public Policy Network: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/office-government-relations/eppn-sign-up/
Harvesting Abundance: Local Initiatives of Food and Faith, By Brian Sellers-Petersen:https://www.churchpublishing.org/harvestingabundance
Anglican Alliance: content for a DIY Climate webinar: https://anglicanalliance.org/content-for-a-diy-climate-webinar/
Christianity and the Renewal of Nature: Human Responsibility and the Environment
by Sebastian Kim & Jonathan Draper (Recommended by the Bishop)
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0281063311/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_0ZEBRDA73A20FAFKYN0M?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
EDoK Care of Creation Task force website: https://episcopal-ks.org/care-of-creation/
EDoK Care of Creation Task force Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/edokcreationcare
Care of Creation Liturgical Resources: https://episcopal-ks.org/care-of-creation-liturgical-resources/
WRI: World Resources Institute: https://www.wri.org/
The Diocese of Kansas has been selected to participate in this grant-supported project
Good News Gardens: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/good-news-gardens/
Agrarian Ministries Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2564507933827285/
Food and Faith podcast: https://foodandfaithpodcast.podbean.com/
Faithlands Agrarian Trust: https://agrariantrust.org/faithlands/
Edible Theology: https://www.edibletheology.com/
Brian Sellers-Petersen Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brian.sellerspetersen or goodnewsgardens@episcopalchurch.org
