Loving the Earth
We have located our "Loving the Earth" information under "Love Our Neighbor," but it could easily go in the other categories, too. By placing it here, we acknowledge that the creation is our neighbor, as well as our host. Loving the environment and protecting it is central to our calling as Christians, as are stewarding the creation and examining our behaviors toward it. We take from the land for food and sustainability, but we also need to be good stewards, not exploiting God's creation. The present moment is a critical and urgent one, filled with both challenge and opportunity to act as individuals, citizens, leaders and communities of faith in solidarity with God's good creation and in hope for our shared future.
Read ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton's pastoral statement on creation care and climate solutions to ensure a viable, livable world.
This "God's work. Our hands." video, produced in collaboration with ecoAmerica, shows how the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is making a difference on climate solutions, and why we should all work to care for Creation.
ecoAmerica’s Blessed Tomorrow program is a faith community initiative that empowers climate action and advocacy. The ELCA has collaborated on this program by people of faith, for people of faith, offering ideas, tools, and language that are familiar, compelling and effective in addressing climate change. It provides resources that put us on a path to a positive future while maintaining the distinct voice of the ELCA.
Lutherans Restoring Creation is a grassroots movement promoting care for creation in the ELCA.
Caring for Creation is a social statement explaining the ELCA’s teachings on ecology and the environment, grounded in a biblical vision of God's intention for the healing and wholeness of creation. This statement provides a Christian understanding of the human role to serve in creation, and a hope rooted in God’s faithfulness to the creation from which humans emerge and depend upon for sustaining life. It provides a framework for understanding the human role in creation, the problem of sin and the current environmental crisis. Caring for Creation expresses a call to pursue justice for creation through active participation, solidarity, sufficiency and sustainability, and states the commitments of the ELCA for pursuing wholeness for creation — commitments expressed through individual and community action, worship, learning, moral deliberation and advocacy. You can read or download the full social statement Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice here: SOCIAL STATEMENT (EN)
Learn more about the ELCA's environmental commitment from our advocacy resources.
Quick Actions for Sustainable Living
Lifestyle
Home
Transportation
Policy
Lifestyle
- Take the carbon footprint survey to find out what your carbon footprint is.
- Educate yourself more by reading books and articles on climate change.
- Recycle, recycle, recycle! o Look into carbon offsets.
- Take shorter showers and only wash full loads of dishes to reduce water use.
- Try incorporating more plants in your diet. If you can’t commit to an entirely meat free lifestyle, try committing to one meat-free day a week.
- Reduce your food waste. Buy unpackaged goods, use less produce bags at the supermarket, don’t go to the grocery store hungry, make a list! If you ended up with some food waste, see what you can compost to divert it from a landfill.
- Cut back on plastic straws. They are unnecessary extra pieces of plastic.
Home
- Switch to a renewable electricity supplier.
- See if wind turbines or solar panel installation is an option for you. o Install efficient lighting, appliances, machines.
- Check to see if you have energy efficient HVAC and insulation.
Transportation
- Keep in mind fuel efficiency and the impact on the environment when buying things like automobiles. Consider an electric vehicle, hybrid car, or one with a higher MPG rate.
- Use public transportation, ride sharing, biking or walking as much as possible.
Policy
- Look into companies you support and see if they have any sustainability policies. If not, maybe there is a greener option.
- Call your representative and tell them that you believe climate change is a significant issue that they should be taking action on.