World leaders and government officials from nearly 200 countries are gathering for the next two weeks in Marrakech for the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22), part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
While Presbyterians and more than 500 other clergy gathered in North Dakota in support of the Native American water protectors last Thursday, the Presbyterian Center in Louisville was the site of a prayer vigil held at the same time. The short vigil, organized by staff, allowed Presbyterians and others in and around Louisville to stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
More than 20 representatives from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) joined a 500-person-strong gathering of clergy and lay leaders at the Oceti Sakowin prayer camp yesterday, adding voices of solidarity to self-described “water protectors” at the site and taking part in a ceremony repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery.
From across the United States and the world, indigenous peoples and their allies have gathered at the Camp of the Sacred Stones, north of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation’s northern border. Members of the tribe took the initiative in this witness to protect their sacred sites and waters from environmental harm and to affirm tribal sovereignty and Treaty rights.
The Synod of the Northeast of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted to take immediate steps to divest from the fossil fuel industry. Expressing concern about the impact of climate change on God’s creation, commissioners of the regional body say they are compelled to take action.
For members of First Presbyterian Church of Jeffersonville, Indiana, reducing energy costs means more than balancing the budget. They see it as an opportunity to redirect funds to ministerial outreach.
More than 4,000 people have gathered at Camp of the Sacred Stones, three separate prayer camps north of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, near the northern border of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s reservation.
The gravel road is mostly abandoned now. With only small spots of fallen snow and flurries along the way, one would not believe this was the same road that led masses of people to the world’s highest lift-served ski area at 17,785 feet. After navigating hairpin turns and watching the houses and farmland of the Bolivian altiplano (high plateau) become smaller and smaller (if one dared look over the narrow road’s edge), the Chacaltaya glacier, in all of its nakedness, soon would be revealed. Today’s view of the glacier, however, is much different from that of years past. Now only a few small remnants of ice and snow persist.
If this summer’s Presbyterian Youth Triennium is any indication, more young people are showing an overwhelming interest in critical topics that intersect faith and social justice, such as environmental racism.
When Rick and Kitty Ufford-Chase, co-directors of Stony Point Center—one of three national conference centers of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—gave their Sept. 15 report to the Finance Committee of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB), their enthusiasm was both palpable and contagious.
