• About
    • Mission
    • Staff
    • Work with Us
    • Board of Directors
    • Members and Partners
    • History
  • Campaigns
    • Take Action!
    • Climate Resilience
    • Ocean
    • Public Lands >
      • Public Lands & Church Camps
      • Public Lands: Prayers and Sermons
    • Pastoral Care for Climate Retreats
    • Conservation >
      • What is 30 x 30?
      • California
      • Grand Canyon
    • Youth & Young Adult Engagement
    • Water
    • Endangered
    • Energy >
      • Coal
      • Ideas for Toxic Free Living
    • Climate Change >
      • Climate Change - Get Involved
  • Donate
    • Monthly Giving
  • Resources
    • Resource Hub
    • Resource Hub (blog)
    • Earth Day Resources
    • Racial Justice Resources
    • Video Resources
    • Events >
      • Pastoring for Justice & Healing in a Climate Justice
      • Pastoral Care for Climate North Carolina
    • Services
    • News
  • Blog
  • Policy Statements/Letters
  • Faithful Climate BIPOC Fellowship
  • New Page
CREATION JUSTICE MINISTRIES
  • About
    • Mission
    • Staff
    • Work with Us
    • Board of Directors
    • Members and Partners
    • History
  • Campaigns
    • Take Action!
    • Climate Resilience
    • Ocean
    • Public Lands >
      • Public Lands & Church Camps
      • Public Lands: Prayers and Sermons
    • Pastoral Care for Climate Retreats
    • Conservation >
      • What is 30 x 30?
      • California
      • Grand Canyon
    • Youth & Young Adult Engagement
    • Water
    • Endangered
    • Energy >
      • Coal
      • Ideas for Toxic Free Living
    • Climate Change >
      • Climate Change - Get Involved
  • Donate
    • Monthly Giving
  • Resources
    • Resource Hub
    • Resource Hub (blog)
    • Earth Day Resources
    • Racial Justice Resources
    • Video Resources
    • Events >
      • Pastoring for Justice & Healing in a Climate Justice
      • Pastoral Care for Climate North Carolina
    • Services
    • News
  • Blog
  • Policy Statements/Letters
  • Faithful Climate BIPOC Fellowship
  • New Page

Religious Communities Celebrate US Senate Passage of the Great American Outdoors Act

6/17/2020

0 Comments

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:       Shantha Ready Alonso, Creation Justice Ministries 202-618-2501 (mobile)  shantha@creationjustice.org

Washington, DC --- Today, the US Senate passed the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422) with a strong bipartisan 73-25 vote. This bill, for the first time, will permanently and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) with $900 million annually. The bill also will create a five-year fund to reduce the current $20 billion deferred maintenance backlog on federally managed public lands. Now, the US House of Representatives must pass the companion bill, so a final version can be signed into law.

Creation Justice Ministries Executive Director Shantha Ready Alonso commented on the passage of the bill, “Religious communities strongly support increasing peoples' access to parks. Faith communities know first-hand that in this time of a pandemic and profound reckonings with our country’s racism, we are all in desperate need of the physical and mental healing power of God's creation. The Land and Water Conservation Fund is particularly suited to provide much-needed access to safe, well-maintained parks in communities of color, and it is long past time to rectify disparities in access to outdoor recreation opportunities. I look forward to a near future when park planners can leverage these new resources to prioritize recreation spaces in under-served communities.” 

Religious communities know much is at stake for their local communities to benefit from public lands funding. In years leading up to the bill’s passage, religious communities have shown support, most recently with a letter from 50 Arizona clergy to Senators Kyrsten Synema and Martha McSally which stated, “Beloved places such as South Mountain Park, Cortez Park, Sahuaro Ranch Park, White Tank Mountain Regional Park, and Veterans Memorial Park have benefited from LWCF, and this must continue.” Organizer of this letter Rev. Katie Sexton of Arizona Faith Network said of the Senate Bill's passage, "As people of many faiths, we are grateful that our Senators recognize the sacredness of creation and have worked to protect it. In these anxious times, God's creation helps to heal our wounds. Today's vote brings us one step closer to ensuring God's creation continues to endure as a place of Sabbath, refuge, and joy for generations to come.”

Religious communities are responding pastorally and practically to economic distress from the pandemic, and also welcome the job opportunities that will come from this legislation. The bill will put tens of thousands of people back to work and deliver real, enduring benefits to our public lands and the US economy. Research on the impact of the LWCF shows that $1 spent generates $4 in economic value from natural resource goods and services alone. A just-released economic analysis shows that every $1 million invested in LWCF could support between 16.8 and 30.8 jobs. Alternative uses of the funds would create fewer jobs - for instance, the oil and gas industry would support half as many jobs per $1 million investment.
###
Creation Justice Ministries is a membership organization that represents the creation care and environmental justice policies of 38 Christian denominations, communions and fellowships from Orthodox, Mainline Protestant, Baptist, Peace, and Historically Black church traditions. Through its members, it serves approximately 100,000 congregations and 35 million people.

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

    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
    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

info@creationjustice.org

Phone

Picture
‪(240) 528-7282‬


  • About
    • Mission
    • Staff
    • Work with Us
    • Board of Directors
    • Members and Partners
    • History
  • Campaigns
    • Take Action!
    • Climate Resilience
    • Ocean
    • Public Lands >
      • Public Lands & Church Camps
      • Public Lands: Prayers and Sermons
    • Pastoral Care for Climate Retreats
    • Conservation >
      • What is 30 x 30?
      • California
      • Grand Canyon
    • Youth & Young Adult Engagement
    • Water
    • Endangered
    • Energy >
      • Coal
      • Ideas for Toxic Free Living
    • Climate Change >
      • Climate Change - Get Involved
  • Donate
    • Monthly Giving
  • Resources
    • Resource Hub
    • Resource Hub (blog)
    • Earth Day Resources
    • Racial Justice Resources
    • Video Resources
    • Events >
      • Pastoring for Justice & Healing in a Climate Justice
      • Pastoral Care for Climate North Carolina
    • Services
    • News
  • Blog
  • Policy Statements/Letters
  • Faithful Climate BIPOC Fellowship
  • New Page