For Episcopalians, caring for God’s creation means taking care of the Earth and seeking justice for the poor.

Church steeple

These concerns have motivated American Episcopalian leaders to speak up about climate change, which they see as a threat to both.

JEFFERTS SCHORI: “The impacts of climate change fall on the poorest, what Jesus called ‘the least of these,’ the people who are most vulnerable, have the least ability to adapt to climate change. They’re the first to starve when food production plummets. They’re the first to be made homeless when there’s a flood.”

That’s Katharine Jefferts Schori, the [former] Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States. She’s seen the disproportionate impacts of climate change.

JEFFERTS SCHORI: “Our Micronesian congregations, for example, live in a part of the world where they and their neighbors are seeing their food production possibilities reduced because of increasing salinity in their soils and the rising water table. Our partners in Bangladesh are seeing their coastlines repeatedly inundated.”

As a result, Episcopalian clergy are urging their congregations to translate their values into climate change action at home and at church.

Reporting credit: ChavoBart Digital Media.
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Episcopalians Confronting Climate Change

Lisa Palmer is a freelance journalist and a fellow at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, SESYNC, in Annapolis, Md. Her writing covers the environment, energy, food security, agriculture,...