In her book, Judy Canuto tells the beautiful story of how Nate Sears, a landscaper working on a house, saved three stranded 10-foot pilot whales on the shores of Cape Cod. His human touch calmed the frantic whales, and he was able to turn the first two and send them back out to sea. Then, with the help of the National Sea Shore Service, he was able to do the same for the third whale.
Since its inception, ICCT has held the firm belief that together, faith communities will make a powerful impact on the growing climate crisis. Happily, earth care practices at the 78 ICCT faith communities are bubbling up everywhere. To learn from and inspire each other, ICCT’s Earth Friendly Practices Action Team has created a survey for network congregations.
The survey is meant to develop a picture of the many local earth-friendly activities by focusing on 6 categories:
- Limiting Carbon Dioxide;
- Land Use Practices;
- Transportation;
- Advocacy for Eco-Justice;
- Education;
- Youth Involvement from congregations.
Think how helpful it will be to find out who’s doing what! Who has installed solar panels, what did it cost, and who did they work with? There are so many creation care stories waiting to be told in the Triangle!
As part of the survey’s development, the EFP Team conducted a pilot to determine how to best analyze and share the data. To date, 15 surveys have been completed from diverse faith traditions implementing a variety of climate-friendly actions. As more surveys are completed, plans are to provide opportunities for collaboration with other faith communities.
Whether your congregation is beginning its Creation Care Ministry or has a long history of environmental efforts, survey results are intended to develop solidarity in our efforts to impact the growing climate crisis by learning from each other. It has been said that the ‘We’ is mightier than the ‘Me.’ Together we can work together to heal the gift of creation.
Survey Background
Purpose: to gather information about creation care activities from local faith communities. Survey results will serve as a reference and inspiration to help congregations implement earth-friendly practices.
How to use: You may want to speak to a number of people within your community to answer all questions accurately. We advise printing the PDF version to gather answers before going to the live link. You will find the information gathering will stimulate conversations with decision-makers about earth care opportunities. After submitting survey results online, a report will be emailed to the address entered in the form for your community to continue creation care planning.
Privacy: With the exception of the name of your faith community, no personal information will be published. Instead, personal information will be used by ICCT to help congregations network and communicate as they specify.
Your Faith Community’s ICCT Survey is important!
Please complete the survey!
