• About
    • Join Our Email List!
    • Mission
    • Staff
    • Work with Us >
      • Hiring: Church Engagement Manager
    • Board of Directors
    • Members and Partners
  • Action
    • Be a Creation Justice Advocate
    • Protect Endangered Species
    • Protect NOAA Funding
    • Protect Clean Energy
    • Protect Public Lands
  • Programs
    • Faithful Resilience >
      • Participatory Education in Faith Communities for Climate Resilience
    • Thriving Earth
    • EcoPreacher Cohort
    • One Home, One Future
    • Events >
      • Refugia, Restoration, and Resilience Retreat
      • Land Acknowledgements and Beyond
      • Sacred Shade: Dinner and Conversation
  • Donate
    • Monthly Giving
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Resource Hub
    • EcoPreacher Resource Hub
    • Green Lectionary Podcast
    • 52 Ways to Care for Creation 2025
    • Truth and Healing
    • The Power of God
    • Earth Day Resources
CREATION JUSTICE MINISTRIES
  • About
    • Join Our Email List!
    • Mission
    • Staff
    • Work with Us >
      • Hiring: Church Engagement Manager
    • Board of Directors
    • Members and Partners
  • Action
    • Be a Creation Justice Advocate
    • Protect Endangered Species
    • Protect NOAA Funding
    • Protect Clean Energy
    • Protect Public Lands
  • Programs
    • Faithful Resilience >
      • Participatory Education in Faith Communities for Climate Resilience
    • Thriving Earth
    • EcoPreacher Cohort
    • One Home, One Future
    • Events >
      • Refugia, Restoration, and Resilience Retreat
      • Land Acknowledgements and Beyond
      • Sacred Shade: Dinner and Conversation
  • Donate
    • Monthly Giving
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Resource Hub
    • EcoPreacher Resource Hub
    • Green Lectionary Podcast
    • 52 Ways to Care for Creation 2025
    • Truth and Healing
    • The Power of God
    • Earth Day Resources

‘America the Beautiful’ Plan Organizational Comment

11/17/2021

0 Comments

 

The goal of protecting and preserving 30 percent of public lands and waters by the year 2030 (“30x30”) is an important goal that we cannot miss. The climate crisis is ever worsening and we do not have the luxury of waiting any longer to rightly care for God’s creation. As Christians, we see the world as creation -- a gift from God that blesses us with life and health. We also have the responsibility to care for creation -- protecting, restoring, and rightly sharing the abundant natural world. We see 30x30 and the America the Beautiful report as more than a governmental or environmental document. We see it as a moral vision that would increase our flourishing with each other, our lands, and our waters.

The ocean is not only a place of majestic creation but a place of rejuvenation and solutions.  In addition to the beautiful creatures that reside in the ocean there are so many ways the ocean can contribute to the fight against the climate crisis. Mangrove forests, tidal salt marshes, kelp forests, and seagrass meadows are all ecosystems that suck up carbon from the air and leave our earth better.  These ecosystems flourish when we take protections seriously and protect marine areas. While large sections of ocean on the West Coast in the Pacific are protected, we have neglected to protect marine areas in the Atlantic at the same rate. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Sanctuary is the first fully protected marine sanctuary in the Atlantic. We do not have the luxury to wait longer to designate more marine areas.  There are species in the Atlantic that are endangered that do not have much more time, such as the Northern Atlantic Right Whale. 30x30 and the America the Beautiful plan will enable us to rightly care for the earth and all of God’s creation.

Protecting lands is an important way to honor all who see their lands as sacred and to protect those sacred lands from extractive practices like mining and drilling. We applaud the administration’s decision to return Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments to their original size and encourage similar actions across the country. If protected from extraction, our public lands can be important tools for fighting climate change. It is important that the administration protects these places from extractive threats that are harming local communities and our global climate.

We support the United States’ national 30x30 goal and applaud the Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful report. We support the administration’s efforts to take an interdisciplinary and community-based approach to conserving 30 percent of our lands and waters. In particular, we are supportive of the following in the Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful report:
Honoring of Indigenous and Tribal-led priorities Emphasis on locally-rooted and community-driven conservation Rootedness in the best available conservation science

As NOAA and other agencies prepare the next America the Beautiful report and design the implementation of 30x30, we urge the following:
- Development of science-driven conservation guidelines for marine and terrestrial protected areas 
- Geographic diversity for marine conservation, with a particular focus on areas in the Atlantic 
​- Reestablishment the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee (MPAFAC) to solicit stakeholder and expert input (from NRDC scientists letter)

​                                                                                      ###

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About this Blog

    This blog shares the activities of Creation Justice Ministries. We educate and equip Christians to protect, restore, and rightly share God's creation.

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All
    2025 Annual Resource
    Climate Justice
    Conservation
    Energy Ethics
    Indigenous Peoples' Rights
    Oceans
    Public Lands
    Racial Justice
    Resilience
    Season Of Creation
    Superfund Sites
    Water

    RSS Feed

Creation Justice Ministries

 Address

110 Maryland Ave. NE #203
Washington, DC 20002

Email

[email protected]

Phone

(240) 528-7282‬
‪
Picture

Photo from johndillon77
  • About
    • Join Our Email List!
    • Mission
    • Staff
    • Work with Us >
      • Hiring: Church Engagement Manager
    • Board of Directors
    • Members and Partners
  • Action
    • Be a Creation Justice Advocate
    • Protect Endangered Species
    • Protect NOAA Funding
    • Protect Clean Energy
    • Protect Public Lands
  • Programs
    • Faithful Resilience >
      • Participatory Education in Faith Communities for Climate Resilience
    • Thriving Earth
    • EcoPreacher Cohort
    • One Home, One Future
    • Events >
      • Refugia, Restoration, and Resilience Retreat
      • Land Acknowledgements and Beyond
      • Sacred Shade: Dinner and Conversation
  • Donate
    • Monthly Giving
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Resource Hub
    • EcoPreacher Resource Hub
    • Green Lectionary Podcast
    • 52 Ways to Care for Creation 2025
    • Truth and Healing
    • The Power of God
    • Earth Day Resources