Brian Webb wants more conservative Christians to get involved in climate action.

“The church is really missing the ball on this,” he says. “We are not actively engaging with what is one of the most complicated and important issues facing humanity today.”

Webb is the sustainability director at Houghton College, a small Christian college in New York State.

This spring, he’s teaching an online class called “God, Country, and Climate Change” that helps Christians engage with global warming.

To reach people who may be skeptical, the course starts with the common ground of faith:

“This idea of God made the world and called it good. This idea Jesus says that the two most important things you can do is love God and love your neighbors,” Webb says. “Well, how are we loving God if we are intentionally disregarding and trashing the world that he has made? And how are we loving our neighbors if we’re not proactively working to care for the ways that they’re being impacted by the climate crisis?”

The course also includes climate science and features guest lecturers who are experts in their fields.

Houghton College has made the class available to the public for free. And Webb says when it ends, the class recordings will be available online.

“The topic is too important to not get it out there in front of people as widely as possible,” he says.

Reporting credit: Stephanie Manuzak/ChavoBart Digital Media.