Today, religious communities sent a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives expressing support for a bipartisan bill that could jump start economies in coal communities: the RECLAIM Act of 2017.
 
The RECLAIM Act brings hope for real help for Appalachian communities most in need of economic revitalization. According to the Appalachian Regional Commission 2010-2014 poverty rate report, the combined Appalachian regions of Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia have a poverty rate that is 4 percent higher than the national average.

Co-coordinator of Catholic Committee of Appalachia Michael Iafrate said of the legislation, “People in Appalachia have been working to change the dominant story we tell about the region in an effort of reimagining their communities and forging new paths forward beyond coal. The RECLAIM Act is a reasonable first step in assisting these communities to bring these efforts to life as we continue to have difficult conversations about our region and its place in this nation's history.”
 
Signed by 40 religious denominations and faith-based organizations, the letter provides faith communities’ reason for supporting the RECLAIM Act:
“...we are deeply invested in ensuring every person has the opportunity to reach his or her God-given potential. We also believe in our moral responsibility to ensure God’s creation continues to help future generations thrive. For these reasons, we urge you to look towards real solutions for a just transition for coal communities.”
 
West Virginia Council of Churches Executive Director Rev. Jeff Allen said, “In West Virginia alone, the RECLAIM Act could help us work on an estimated $1.5 billion worth of abandoned mine clean-up work. The people and the lands of Appalachia have made sacrifices to provide energy for this country. It is a moral responsibility for our country to re-invest in our region for new economic opportunities and to heal God’s creation.”
 
The letter called on House leadership to bring the RECLAIM Act of 2017 to the House floor for a vote as soon as possible.

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Creation Justice Ministries represents the creation care policies of 38 Christian communions, including Baptists, mainline Protestants, Historically Black Churches, Peace Churches, and Orthodox communions. Learn more at www.creationjustice.org

As a student from the UC Irvine in California, I was privileged to have the opportunity to spend a quarter in Washington, D.C. interning and living here for several months. I am truly thankful that I was able to spend my time interning here with Creation Justice Ministries, it has been a pleasure to be in such a warm and resilient space.

Creation Justice Ministries has provided me with a space to truly put my faith in action. Here I have been able to use my research skills to help the people we serve and expand my knowledge about environmental issues and the field. I attended various conferences and connected with clergy and many other environmentalists. Advocating for indigenous peoples rights and public lands became the large part of my work here. Since, I have been educating myself about indigenous peoples and have come to understand the benefits of public lands, and particularly the barriers for people of color. Before coming to D.C., I had never visited a national park and am planning to visit these lands that tell a rich history and positively impact one’s mental health.  

Being here has restored much of my personal faith because I was able to see all these clergy, who when I had conversations with them, I realized they were really just regular human beings that experience a lot of the same things I do. Yet these clergy have committed their lives to serving others and fighting for justice. Creation Justice Ministries is such an important organization because it provides a space for all these different groups to come together, from faith groups to environmental groups, but particularly because of the populations that we work with. As a person of color, I have found that many spaces are dominated with white folks in the environmental field advocating for the earth and few for persons of color. Few organizations are truly emphasize on the experiences that environmental injustice impacts communities of color, or if they do, they have little representation of us in the room involved in the core of the work. I was able to contribute my perspective as a Latina, and am grateful that Creation Justice Ministries focuses on protecting not only the earth and animals, but also the people being harmed by environmental injustices.

It has been an honor to intern here and not only have taken a lot from my experience, but also having greatly contributed.
Lastly, I am grateful for having worked alongside an amazing staff team Chloe, Megan, and Simon, and having support from my strong and incredible supervisor, Shantha. 

Yesterday, President Trump signed a presidential proclamation to diminish the size of Bears Ears National Monument by more than 85 percent, and a presidential proclamation to reduce Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by about half. With these proclamations, over two million acres of public lands are now more vulnerable to harm. President Trump’s two proclamations mark the biggest rollback of public land conservation protections in U.S. history. 
 
Resident of Torrey, Utah and Chair of the Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance Ty Markham said of the decision, “President Trump took away some of Utah’s greatest treasures. Public lands hold our collective memory of our spiritual, cultural, and natural heritage. They are places of Sabbath where we learn, play, and pray. We have witnessed a lack of reverence for the sacred.”
 
President Trump’s decision puts tens of thousands of Native American sacred sites in southern Utah at renewed risk of looting and vandalism. It also threatens wildlife habitats, archeological sites, and breathtaking natural landscapes. 
 
President Trump’s reduction of Bears Ears National Monument is particularly an affront to Native Americans. Designated in December 2016 by President Obama with strong religious community support, the Bears Ears National Monument was the result of the leadership of the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Indian, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni. Obama’s proclamation establishing the monument created the Bears Ears Commission of Tribes, an advisory body of appointees from five tribes with ancestral ties to the Bears Ears region. In the Commission’s first meeting in March 2017, it explicitly requested the Trump Administration work closely with them, and uphold existing protections for the monument.
 
When it became clear the Trump Administration was failing to take tribal leaders seriously, numerous high-level religious leaders, including the heads of the Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church (USA), wrote to Secretary Zinke urging him to listen to the Bears Ears Commission of Tribes’ recommendation to uphold the monument.
  
Rev. Judy Wellington, Akilmel O’odham and Dakota (Sioux), minister with the Presbyterian Synod of the Southwest, was part of an Indigenous Christian delegation that advocated for the preservation of Bears Ears National Monument with officials in Washington, DC. She said, “This action highlights an inability to honor what we thought was an improvement in relationship with our tribal nations. It is sad to see such disregard for the good work that established the Bears Ears National Monument and the Bears Ears Commission of Tribes.”
 
Tribal leaders were quick to respond to Trump’s actions with a collective and forceful rebuke, and they plan to sue the Trump Administration. Their statement points out:
“The national monument took more than 80 years to designate. The original proclamation by President Obama acknowledges a cultural landscape rich in antiquities, with hundreds of thousands of archaeological and cultural sites sacred to dozens of tribes. President Trump’s proposal to shrink the Bears Ears National Monument leaves tens of thousands of sacred sites vulnerable to looting and grave robbing—the very threats the Antiquities Act was designed to protect against—as well as to fossil fuel development and uranium mining.”
 
Creation Justice Ministries Executive Director Shantha Ready Alonso said of the decision, “President Trump’s actions show great disrespect for our nation’s heritage and for tribes. Although President Trump’s actions cause our communities deep grief, we will continue to do all we can to stand with Indigenous peoples, as well as to protect, restore, and more rightly share God’s creation.”  

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Creation Justice Ministries is an ecumenical organization representing the creation care policies of 38 Christian traditions, including Mainline Protestant, Historically Black, Orthodox Christian, Baptist, and Peace Churches.

More than 800 people of faith from 48 states have sent a letter to President Trump urging him to uphold national monuments.
 
Rev. Ginna Bairby, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Taos in New Mexico conveyed why she signed the letter: “Life is sacred: the animal and plant life in our national monuments, the lives of the Native peoples who hold this land particularly sacred, and the lives of the many people in my congregation and community whose economic security depends on the tourist industry that has boomed since the designation of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. Christ calls me to love God and love my neighbors - protecting these national monuments is part of that call.”
 
The letter states:
“As people of faith, we deeply value the ways our country's public lands conserve the natural, cultural, and spiritual riches we have been blessed to inherit from past generations. We believe we have a moral responsibility to pass these riches on to future generations.”
 
The letter was delivered days before it is reported that the Trump Administration will impose the most significant loss of conservation protections for public lands in U.S. history.  On Monday, December 4, President Trump is expected to make an announcement in Utah about the fate of Bears Ears National Monument as well as Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
 
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has recommended dramatically downsizing or reducing conservation protections for ten national monuments nationwide.
 
Bishop David Brauer-Rieke, Oregon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said of the potential diminishment of national monuments, “Without preservation of public lands like those under consideration, our country loses respect and understanding of what God has given us.”
 
The letter urges President Trump to
“Our public lands' conservation requires careful planning. Only the most delicate, culturally significant, and majestic parts of God's creation have been prioritized for the level of care which national monuments receive. Secretary Zinke's recommendations are inconsistent with our stewardship values. Please disregard Secretary Zinke's irresponsible recommendations and uphold all our national monuments.”
 
Some of the signers of the letter were also part of a Native American Heritage Month spiritual journey to Bears Ears National Monument and signed a spiritual leaders’ letter on preserving Native American heritage landscapes as well as sacred sites.

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Creation Justice Ministries represents the creation care policies of 38 Christian communions, including Baptists, mainline Protestants, Historically Black Churches, Peace Churches, and Orthodox communions. Learn more at www.creationjustice.org

QUOTES FROM SIGNERS OF THE LETTER
 
“National monuments are a reminder of the Majesty of creation and what our forefathers found here.”
 ~ Dorothy Rissel of Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Flagstaff, Arizona
 
“…in Genesis 1 we were given stewardship over all living things. It is a Biblical mandate and any policy that would put these lands in danger is just plain wrong. Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, and a nature lover created the Nat'l Park system so we wouldn't ruin every inch of our land. These are incredibly sacred places and need to be preserved for present and future generations”.
~ Rev. Erin Thomas, Co-Pastor, Calvary Presbyterian Church in Riverside, California
 
“The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof. All Gods people should have access to the beauty and history of America and they should be set aside and protected for our children and grandchildren as important and sacred.”
~ Rev. Carol Devine, Minister for Green Chalice; Pastor of Providence Christian Church in Versailles, Kentucky
 
“Public lands are the natural embodiment of American egalitarian values.”
~ Jared Meek, President, Brigham Young University Earth Stewardship
 
“They belong to everyone. They should be preserved in all their wildness, sacredness, and beauty for future generations. They should not be exploited and damaged, and they certainly should not be used for the profit of a few.”
~ Rev. Vanessa Cato, Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Ogden, Utah