Please click here to view the Briefing Summary!

EESI sponsored a briefing which discussed religious community perspectives regarding global climate change. In the past decade many constituencies with many voices have spoken out regarding their various views and concerns about global climate change. Over the years an increasing number of religious leaders began to look at the issue of global warming much more closely, to better understand its science, potential impacts, and whether and how it should be addressed. The Religious Partnership for the Environment was established. Issues of stewardship over the Earth’s natural resources began to be discussed more broadly. Increasingly questions began to be raised about what role and responsibility communities of faith have to the global climate change issue. Do environmental concerns fit within the mission of the religious community, and, if so, how should this be manifested?

This session was particularly timely as Earth Day 2000, was celebrated April 22 in thousands of communities across the globe, with a special focus on the potential threat of global warming. Many churches and other religious groups focus attention on "protection of the Creation" each year around the time of Earth Day.

The briefing panel was comprised of religious leaders drawn from a number of religious faiths:

• Rev. Dr. James Ball, executive director, Evangelical Environmental Network.



• Paz Artaza Regan, National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Working Group.



• Sister Pat Daly, Tri-State Coalition on Corporate Responsibility. She is a leader in promoting shareholder resolutions on global warming, which have been credited with modifying the climate change positions of some major corporations.

This briefing is part of EESI's series in support of Earth Day 2000!