Between now and Christmas day, a generous donor will match all donations up to $1,000. Since we put out my special Christmas appeal on Monday, 20 members of the Creation Justice community responded to this need, getting us to $870 out of the $1,000 Christmas mini-campaign goal. Our team live updated this blog as we make progress to hitting the goal, with our most recent update on Christmas eve at 3:00pm ET.  Update: By 1am on Christmas morning, we exceeded our goal! We reached $1,425. THANK YOU!
Thanks for being active in the Creation Justice community, and Merry Christmas! ~Annika Harley, Policy & Outreach Associate, Creation Justice Ministries

I'm blessed to be celebrating Christmas this year with my family in Wisconsin. I have enjoyed sharing with my home community, including my Mennonite church, about my ministry in Washington, DC with Creation Justice Ministries. This work allows me to share my sense of urgency with you. 

As I look ahead to 2020, I can't help but think about the United Nations climate change report that warns a catastrophic climate change tipping point is only 10 years away. It can be stopped if we take action now!

I am a member of the generation most adversely affected by the climate crisis. We are the loudest and most strongly committed to making big changes to protect God's Earth. Through Creation Justice Ministries, I have a platform to organize fellow young people convicted by their faith to defend God's Earth. I have the privilege of standing with children, youth, and fellow young adults from many walks of life.

I encourage you to contribute to Creation Justice Ministries today to help uplift the voices of young people as we plead for a future. Next year, our Earth Day Sunday theme will be The Fierce Urgency of Now. I will be leading our Faithful Climate Action youth program, recruiting participants in the Justice for Each Generation sermon campaign, and getting college students involved in environmental leadership training. 

To make all these things happen, we have to meet our fundraising goals. We still have over $7,000 to raise before year-end. By taking advantage of the full $1,000 match by Christmas, we can get to our goal faster. 

If you prefer to donate by check, you can mail a check made out to "Creation Justice Ministries" to:
Creation Justice Ministries
110 Maryland Ave. NE #203
Washington, DC 20002

To see more information about donation options, go to: www.creationjustice.org/donate

Religious communities of the Arizona Faith Network and Creation Justice Ministries applaud Senator Sinema’s introduction of the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act (S. 3127). It serves as a companion bill to the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act (HR 1373) introduced by Arizona-3 Congressman and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva. The House version was passed by the House of Representatives on October 30, 2019 with bi-partisan support. The legislation is necessary due to threats of new uranium mining in the area.  

Arizona Faith Network Executive Director Rev. Katie Sexton said of the legislation, "One of God's greatest creations - The Grand Canyon - has been under threat from uranium mining that would pollute the air, water, and land, as well as risk the health and livelihoods of people throughout the region. Senator Sinema's bill would protect this sacred land and renew our ability to commune with God's creation as God intended. I thank her for her work and commitment to protect the Grand Canyon."

Creation Justice Ministries Executive Director Shantha Ready Alonso noted, “Senator Sinema and Chairman Grijalva have now both demonstrated they are responding to the holy call to responsibly steward God’s creation in the Grand Canyon, thereby defending all living beings who depend on it for bodily and spiritual sustenance. It is my hope and prayer that every member of Congress also understands this call to protect the profound cultural, historical, sacred, and natural heritage that is at stake, and act accordingly.”

Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act passed by the House protects 1,006,545 acres of federal lands in Arizona from toxic mining, including any future land acquired by the Federal government.  Previous mining activities have already contaminated the watershed, poisoning drinking water for nearby Native communities. Abandoned mine site clean-up has already cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

For more information, please contact:
Rev. Katie Sexton, Arizona Faith Network (602) 468-3818 [email protected]
Shantha Ready Alonso, Creation Justice Ministries (202) 618-2501 [email protected]

The theme of the third week of Advent is hope. Hope for the coming Christ Child, but also the restoration of all of Creation. While hope for the future requires patience, we cannot wallow in apathy, despair, or inaction. We must live in hope and vigorously work towards a world where we live justly with all of Creation. This Advent, I invite you to invest in Creation Justice Ministries; invest in the long-term work which builds capacity for urgent action now... and onwards.

Once or twice a year, I run a trail ultra-marathon. This is typically between a 6- and 12-hour endeavor. Though I commute by bike daily, this is the single most immersed I am in nature. Whether deep in a muddy trail before dawn, a strange downpour of slush (also before dawn), winding through a meadow of wildflowers, or eating a quesadilla while running through the beautiful fall light, the immediacy and intensity of such a run is an important reminder of human finitude and God’s good work. It is also a lesson in hope. There is urgency— “just need to make it to the next aid station,” but also patience. I can’t make it go much more quickly, but there are immediate and necessary steps to take right now.

​This coming year’s Earth Day resource is themed "The Fierce Urgency of Now.” Recent studies highlight that the degradation of God’s good earth is even more urgent then previously thought. This urgency requires that we invest in the work of Creation Justice Ministries. Through such investing in the long-term work, we build capacity for urgent action now, and onwards.

In 2019, the Creation Justice community has grown in our understanding of the need for ocean-climate action. Scroll down to take a look at our year of ocean-climate action in pictures.

Few people realize God's ocean has been "taking the heat" of climate change, absorbing more than 90 percent of the excess carbon dioxide in our atmosphere annually.  As a result, God's ocean is now higher, warmer, more acidic, lower in oxygen, less "productive," less predictable, and contributing to more heat waves as well as extreme storms. Yet, God's marine creation is full of blessing and promise. Through proactively taking caring actions now, the natural capacity of God's marine creation to sustain life will make us all more resilient in the climate crisis.

The Creation Justice community has engaged in education and advocacy to protect God's marine creation.

We have been developing partnerships with the Blue Theology Mission Station in Monterrey, California, as well as aquariums and nonprofit peers who are engaged in an Ocean Protection Coalition. We are studying and teaching the results of the Heartwired to Love the Ocean study, which has identified what most motivates the public to care for God's ocean. We co-hosted faith-based ocean-climate leadership trainings in Sarasota, Florida, Newport News, Virginia, and Boston, Massachusetts.  We  interviewed pastors in the Creation Justice community about ways they understand the ocean as a source a spiritual strength. We have also engaged in advocacy visits with members of:
*the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
* the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science Oceans, Fisheries, and Weather
* the US House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee
* the Environmental Justice Task Force
* the Oceans Caucus, both in the US House and Senate

To cap off the year, some of our board members and other partners from the Creation Justice community are attending the United Nations 25th Conference of the Parties (COP) climate conference in Madrid, which has been nicknamed "the Blue COP," signifying this COP is focusing on the ocean.

Now, some members of Congress are starting to talk about a "Blue New Deal" that could accompany a Green New Deal.

As we look to 2020 and the way we think about how to approach the climate crisis, it is clear we have turned a corner. There is no thinking about the climate crisis without including God's marine creation as a place that needs healing and restoration, so it can be a source of resilience.