Palm Sunday, March 28th may seem like a long time from now, but it’s time to order your eco-palms now.

Why?

To avoid over harvesting and clear cutting God’s forest, eco-palms are not harvested until they are ordered. To ensure yours are ready for Palm Sunday, you should place your order soon.

Why eco-palms?

Reading Luke’s story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19: 28-40), I am struck by Jesus’ words to the Pharisees who tell him to order  his disciples to stop shouting “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in Heaven”.  Jesus responds, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” All of God’s Creation worships God!

Our worship of God should not silence the praise of God’s Creation or our neighbors. By purchasing eco-palms we can take a step toward praising God in chorus with Gods entire Creation because forests are not clear cut, not toxic pesticides or fertilizers are used and workers are treated well and earn a fair wage.

How?

www.ecopalms.org is now excepting orders for eco-palms.  They Partner with Lutheran World Relief, the EcoPalm Project of the PCUSA, and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)

Happy New Year to you all!

Let me first apologize to those who were following my Copenhagen blog at the end of last year. The last week of the negotiations (when things really got interesting) I fell off the face of the earth. unfortunately, due to too many people being registered for the summit and the internet problems in my Copenhagen apartment, i was unable to get online for the last 3 days of my trip. So the blog died and then I went on vacation.

But during that vacation, I spent a lot of time reflecting on all that happened and all that didn’t happen in Copenhagen and I have come to a few conclusions that I wanted to share.

First, I think most of us know by now that we didn’t achieve all that we would have liked to achieved in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen Accord, which emerged from this process, does not mandate the necessary emissions reductions to truly protect God’s people and God’s Creation from the worst impacts of climate change . . . . so regardless of anything else, there is still much work to be done. People continue to suffer and when each country delivers their anticipated emissions reductions targets at the end of the month (as mandated by the Accord) I have a feeling we will all be underwhelmed by what is put on the table.

So thats the bad news . . . . and for some that is the end of the story, but for me its the beginning.

There are some glimmers of hope that emerged from this process. First Secretary Clinton and the Obama Administration established a commitment level of $100 billion dollars for developing nations by 2020. This money would come from the public and private sector and would be used to help address mitigation, adaptation and likely forestry issues around the world. And though the details have yet to be hammered out, this is the first commitment of its kind from the US or the developed world addressing the needs of those who are living in poverty and most impacted by climate change. You can read the press statement that the NCC put together on this here:

http://www.ncccusa.org/news/091218clinton.html

The next thing that I believe is worth lifting up is the involvement of China and India in this process. In the last day, and really the final hours of the summit, China, India and the US were able to establish an accord that could bring everyone to the table. In doing so, China and India recognized that they will have to reduce their emissions to successfully address climate change on a global scale. Remember what I said before, the emissions reductions aren’t enough, so even though they are at the table, they will have to do more. But they are at the table. And at the table because President Obama helped to get them there.

So with all of this, there is one final note that I would like to make. Though the Copenhagen Conference didn’t turn out the way we all would have liked, we have a unique opportunity in front of us. Leading up to Copenhagen, it became clear that we would not have an international treaty emerging from these talks. But President Obama did state that whatever came out of Copenhagen would be used to reached an international treaty in 2010. Ew have a unique opportunity to ensure that the US lives up to its promise and continues to pursue an international treaty that will address this issue. We can no longer say that China and India aren’t doing anything because we are the ones that brought them to the table. We can no longer stick our heads in the sand and pretend like nothing is happening.

This is the year for the US, the administration, and each and every one of us to step up to the plate. We are running out of time, and we are running out of the Kyoto Protocol. We need a strong and effective next step that will truly meet the needs of those who are suffering and who are likely to suffer if we fail to act.

As one of the many signs so aptly put it – we’ve heard enough of the “blah, blah, blah” – the time for action is upon us.

When I heard the news yesterday about the earthquake that brought Haiti to its knees yesterday, it broke my heart. The national palace, churches, the general hospital, homes, schools, and even sides of mountains crumbled. hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and at least a third of the population is in great need of support. Among the dead is the Archbishop of Port au Prince, Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot. This is the worst earthquake in over 200 years.

One of the causes for this tragedy stems from Haiti’s distinction of the most deforested country in the hemisphere. Just days before the earthquake, there had been days of heavy rain that saturated the soil that did not have the benefit of trees to help soak up the water. With the advent of the earthquake, this lead to landslides and erosion. Many homes built on hillsides came crashing down during the quake.

Faith communities are responding. Fritz Gutwein, my former colleague who wrote for this very blog now works for Haiti Reborn, a project of the Quixote Center. They are raising funds for the earthquake disaster and continue to fund their ongoing reforestation project with women religious based in Haiti. You can support their ministry here.

Additionally, Church World Service, the United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee are also collecting funds for the relief.

1/15 Update: here are a few more denominations/faith-based organizations that are collecting funds. Please check your faith tradition’s website to learn about what they are doing if not listed in this post.

United Methodist Church
www.umc.org

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America/Action by Churches Together www.elca.org/disaster

The Episcopal Church http://www.er-d.org/

Jesuit Refugee Service USA
www.jrsusa.org

Lutheran World Relief
www.lwr.org

Mennonite Central Committee
www.mcc.org

African Methodist Episcopal Church http://www.ame-church.com/disaster-relief/

American Jewish World Service
www.ajws.org

Catholic Relief Services
www.crs.org

Congregations across the country are making a commitment to renew God’s Creation through renewable energy. From coast to coast, many congregations see installing solar panels as a way to practice stewardship of God’s Creation, invest in their local communities and set their churches up for future financial savings.

According to Rev. Scott Benhase, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Washington, DC decided to install their solar panels because they recognized that there is “a moral dimension to the energy choices we make”. The congregation refers to their solar panels as our “newest stained-glass windows”, comparing the stories of traditional stained glass windows telling of God’s redeeming love to the story told by the solar panels shining on the church roof.  “They tell of God’s love for us by giving us this beautiful Earth and our responsibility to care for it wisely” says Rev. Benhase. St. Alban’s is not the only congregation to reduce their carbon footprint and care for God’s Creation through solar panels. First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, FL installed solar panels and has saved enough energy to power one home for one year!

Solar Panels at St. Albans Episcopal Chruch DC

Some congregations and schools are motivated to install solar panels in order set an example of good stewardship practices for those in their communities. Trinity Episcopal school in Austin, Texas has installed 270 solar panels on the roof of its Blue House Hall, giving them the largest solar panel array in the city. Head of School Pat Adams said, “In addition to allowing the school to devote more resources to the classroom as a result of the cost savings, these initiatives also set a powerful example and offer a valuable teaching tool for our students.” Similarly, Faith United Methodist Churchin Champaign, IL is first LEED certified building in Champaign-Urbana and the first church in Illinois to be so to designated. Faith UMC was given the LEED silver certification in 2006. One of the green features of their green building is a solar water heater. According to Doug Abbot, Director of Church Administration, “the congregation decided to build a LEED certified building because they wanted to serve as a model for other churches and organizations in the community.”

Central Baptist Church in Wayne, PA made an investment in clean, renewable energy and installed 48 solar panel arrays on the church roof. These 48 panels produce 9.6 KW of electricity and will supply approximately 30 percent of the 40,000 kWh of electricity that the church uses per year. The congregation estimates that if their solar panels generate 11,600 KWh of electricity per year they will save approximately $1,740 annually at current electric rates. The congregation can also generate income through the sale of renewable energy credits. Central Baptist Church funded their solar project largely through grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Energy Harvest Program and the Department of Economic and Community Development.  They aren’t the only congregation who has come up with a creative way to fund their solar project. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek, CA has also developed a creative way to finance their solar panels.

Click here to read more stories about Green Congregations.

Email info@nccecojustice.org to submit a story of your own.

Yesterday marked the celebration of Epiphany – the traditional recognition of Christ’s revelation to the Gentiles, or the Theophany for the Eastern church – the celebration of Jesus’ baptism and the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God. Either way, it is a celebration of the gift of Christ to this world – and has incredible bearing as we turn toward a new year of work on eco-justice.

We live in a broken world – a world where God’s Creation is calling out for healing and for rebirth. And it is just this gift that this day of celebration is there for!  Our efforts to address climate change, to respond to environmental justice, to bring healing to our lands and waters, to maintain the biodiversity of Creation, or to make our communities more healthy – we are responding to the gift of this holiday.

Check out the resources we have for download, and in response to this glorious gift we have gotten in Christ, plan an Earth Day celebration. Take steps to bring the healing that comes to this world in Christ to the world around you. In the celebration of Epipany or Theophany, celebrate the coming of God into this world – the revelation of who Jesus Christ is!  And bring healing to Creation.

Happy Monday to all out there – there is much to report from Copenhagen.

A lot happened over the weekend and we are heading into the “climate summit” part of the negotiations when more than 110 heads of state will be gathering to weigh in during the Copenhagen gathering.

But first, an update from the weekend.

This past weekend here in Copenhagen was deemed the “people’s weekend/gathering” here in Copenhagen. The events started with a faith gathering on Saturday morning in preparation for the climate justice march that took place that afternoon. More than 500 people of faith from around the world including every Lutheran Bishop from Norway, gathered outside the Cathedral of Copenhagen to be in fellowship and march together to join the larger climate march. From there, the faith community joined more than 60,000 people (some are estimating there were 100,000!) as they marched for climate justice.

Here are a couple of stories that covered the march on Saturday – though much of the focus is on the arrests that were made in conjunction with the demonstration, those who were in attendance for the climate march were generally a very peaceful crowd.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/science/earth/13climate.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=copenhagne%20climate%20march&st=cse

I also have photos from the faith gathering and from the march that i will post in a Copenhagen gallery posting later today.

Then on Sunday, the international faith community asked Desmond Tutu to deliver more than 500,000 Countdown to Copenhagen postcards to Yvo De Boer, the head of the UN Climate Negotiations. This event was attended by more than 600 people of faith from around the world with hundreds of youth in the audience cheering on Archbishop Tutu as he danced on the stage demanding climate justice for those living in poverty around the world.

Click here to read more about the event and see photos – http://countdowntocopenhagen.org/

Finally yesterday, the US delegation was invited to participate in the ecumenical service at the Cathedral of Copenhagen. The Queen of Denmark as well as the Prime Minister were in attendance and the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered the sermon lifting up 1 John 4:18 and calling on all of God’s people to truly love Creation and cast out the fear that many of us have about addressing climate change.

It was a wonderful weekend and one that I am grateful I was here for.

During the people’s weekend, the UN negotiations conintued on the other side of town as climate delegations worked to get their last words in before heads of state descend upon Copenhagen this week.

To capture all the political posturing that happened by each and every country the first week of the negotiations would be impossible. But here is an attempt to outline the emerging challenges in the process and the themes that many are seeking to address in the coming days.

The largest question is centered around what type of agreement will emerge from this process. Many of the small island states and least developed countries wnat to maintain the Kyoto Protocol and develop a second agreement that could be separate or in addition to the Kyoto Protocol but would lay out the future engagement of nations around climate change. However, there is some question about the willingness of the emerging developing countries (such as China and India) to agree to something of this nature. In addition, the US, having not ratified the Kyoto Protocol is wroking on the development of the next treaty with not as much focus on the role of the Kyoto Protocol as we move into the future. This small but decisive difference has been the point of much contention this past week and will be the point that the negotiations are focused on for much of this week. In addition, there is a continued push to ensure that developed countries provide adequate funding for both adaptation and mitigation as we move forward to ensure that developing nations have the ability to cope with the impacts of climate change and develop in a low carbon manner as we move into the future.

As recently as this morning, Senator Kerry urged President Obama to come to the negotiations with a strong commitment for international adaptation assistance but the question is . . . is it enough for others around the table.

Financing of both adaptation assistance in mitigation assistance is really important to these negotiations as we seek to ensure assistance for developing nations in a variety of capacities. African nations, Asia and many of the countries in South and Central America are desperate for financial assistance as they seek to provide for their communities who are already suffering from the floods and droughts and do not have the capacity to adapt.

As of today, the negotiations are at a standstill as African nations and the G-77 have walked out of the process, demanding stronger emissions reductions and a second period for the Kyoto Protocol.

Click here for an article on why they left:

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/developing-nations-walk-out-of-climate-talks/story-e6frfku0-1225810384368

Looks like these negotiations are at a standstill and it remains to be seen where the this time in Copenhagen will lead us.

more updates soon . . . . .

Its Friday morning here in Copenhagen and the first week of negotiations is coming to a close while the global ecumenical community is gearing up for a weekend of prayer, action and climate justice events.

First a wrap up of where the negotiations are headed. After an intense 5 days of conversation and discussion, the big development here in Copenhagen is the role that developing countries are playing in the negotiations. Many of the small island nations and the least developed countries are uniting to demand a concrete second agreement that will be complementary to the Kyoto Protocol. This would allow countries such as the US to engage in the new agreement while maintaining the structure created under the Kyoto Protocol.

Many of the emerging developing countries such as China, India, and South Africa do not support this and would like to find a way to develop a new potentially weaker agreement that would shift us away from the Kyoto Protocol. This disagreement has slowed the negotiations dramatically and many are hoping that it can be settled by the end of the week. Stay tuned for more information on where the negotiations are headed in the coming days and how this vital question about the next stages of the UN climate process unfold.

Just as important as the negotiations are the faith events that will be taking place this weekend. Tomorrow (Saturday) the faith community will be marching for Climate Justice. Desmond Tutu will be sending us off in the morning and then, along with thousands of other climate campaigners we will march from downtown Copenhagen out to the conference center to speak out about the importance of protecting God’s people and God’s planet.

Then on Sunday, the global collection of Countdown to Copenhagen cards will be delivered to the head of the UNFCCC and other global leaders. We in the US collected more than 20,000 postcards and contributed to the more than half a millions cards that will be delivered on Saturday. After the delivery of the cards, the US faith delegation will join hundreds of others at the ecumenical service taking place at the Copenhagen Cathedral. The Royal family of Denmark, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Liverpool will be in attendance to welcome and worship with the international faith community who are present here in Denmark.

Faith communities around the world are also speaking out about the importance of climate action. here are a few pictures from a lanterns for hope event that the faith community in India put together. 2000 lanterns were released in hopes that a climate pact can be reached here in Copenhagen.

Click here to see photos and s story on the event:

http://abcnews.go.com/meta/search/imageDetail?format=plain&source=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2Fimages%2FTechnology%2F3693af85-d492-44db-b5df-e7e96d699de1

I hope that you will the time to express the importance of these climate negotiations in your own community – you don’t have to organize a march or release 2000 lanterns, but you can tell your friends about whats happening here,say a prayer at your church this Sunday for the negotiations happening in Copenhagen or write a letter to the editor on what faith communities around the world are doing to address climate change and the need for climate justice.

Whatever you do, please do something!

God’s Creation needs your help and US leaders must know that the faith community is committed to seeking climate justice.

more coming soon . . . .

tyler

Its December 10th – 15 days until Christmas, 22 days until the new year but more importantly, the 4th day of the UN climate negotiations here in Copenhagen.

I will be blogging a bit from Copenhagen to give folks at home a sense of what is happening, what the US is doing, and how the global community is working to address global climate change.

There are more than 35,000 people (that i know of) people here in Copenhagen to attend the negotiations and raise awareness about what the global community is doing. 15,000 of those people are here at the negotiations. Wandering around the Bella Center (the Conference center where most of the negotiating is taking place) you can see youth wearing t-shirts asking “how old will you be in 2050″, people of faith wearing collars and crosses, indigenous people in native clothing, and thousands upon thousands of individuals with non-governmental organizations who are here pushing for a strong climate agreement.

Yesterday alone there were two protests and a flash mob that broke out in the middle of the conference center. Both protests were demanding more from negotiators andn calling on countries to address climate change here and now. The flash mob expressed opposition to the development of the tar sands in Canada and was supported strongly but the Canadian Council of Churches and the youth that are here from Canada.

Another great event that took place last night (again, sponsored by the youth of the world) was the storming of a climate skeptic event that took place here in Copenhagen. To view the video go to:

http://bit.ly/4FAljl

There is a lot of energy and passion at these negotiations!

In addition to the formal negotiations, there is Hopenhaven and Kilmaforum which is the people’s negotiations. in addition, there are a whole host of faith events that will be taking place over the weekend.

In the coming days, I will provide more substance about where the negotiations are headed and how folks in the US can get involved to ensure that the US works for climate justice for all of God’s people and God’s Creation. But I thought I would use this blog to give everyone a sense of what is happening here in Copenhagen!

Please keep the negotiations and negotiators in your prayers – it is already proving to be a challenging time and the next 24 hours will prove vital to the process

Blessings from Kobenhavn

tyler

President Obama has announced today that he will attend the Copenhagen climate negotiations beginning in less than two weeks.  Click hereto read the press release. This is definitely something to be thankful for.  As Tyler has mentioned in her most recent blog post, members of the faith community are concerned that the actions taken in Copenhagen will not be enough to curb the impacts of climate change already being felt by communities around the world.  Hopefully the presence of President Obama and members of his cabinet will help to foster a dialogue that will take us further toward reaching our faithful goal of protecting God’s people and God’s Creation.

Thousands of people from the faith community signed Count Down to Copenhagen postcards, delivered to President and members of the senate earlier this month, asking the President to go to Copenhagen. Our voices have been heard. Now we must continue to pray that God will work through our leaders to allow something good to come from Copenhagen.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

I am currently out West visiting family for Thanksgiving. Yesterday my sister, my six-month old nephew, and I went hiking in the hills of the Bay Area. We reached Inspiration Point and took a moment to appreciate the awesome view below. On the one side were rolling hills of pine trees and plants characteristic of Chapparal ecology. Across the Bay, we could see the Golden Gate Bridge surrounded in mist. While the uniqueness of the Golden Gate Bridge is certainly hard to miss, it was certainly the beauty of God’s works and handicraft that predominated. It was quite a sight to see the juxtaposition of this amazing feat of humankind seem so small in light of the natural beauty around it. I left Inspiration Point feeling humbled and reconnected to the Earth, and to God.