Made in partnership with Community Mennonite Church of Harrisonburg, VA, the carbon tax calculator is a resource for individuals or congregations who are interested in calculating their carbon footprint, and potentially paying a “carbon tax” through offsetting or donations. Fill in the different categories and select your location to find the approximate carbon tax for your footprint.
A resource that highlights the connection between the climate crisis and racial and social inequities. This page offers a synthesis of recommended learning materials, such as videos, podcasts, articles, and books. As stewards of God’s creation, we cannot be for the planet, without also being for the people. In short, we cannot truly protect the environment unless we tackle social justice, too.
Mennonite Central Committee, one of the core partners of the Center has a useful resource page on how to be an advocate. The page offers insights for people in the Anabaptist tradition who are interested advocacy. From a Biblical basis for advocacy, explaining how scripture instructs Christians to interact with the government, to practical advice for contacting members of Congress, and using social media as an advocacy tool.
Shifting Climates is a faith-based podcast “persistently having good conversations about faith, hope and climate change”. Through conversations across the professional and generational spectrum, Shifting Climates wants to be a catalyst in shifting the needle on climate change for the Mennonite church. Their podcast began as a senior capstone project in 2017, and produced 15 episodes between 2 seasons from 2018-2019 with the Center.
The Creation Care Action Plans are designed to help congregations see creation care as a part of God’s redemptive work and take part in God’s vision of reconciliation for all creation. Each plan strives to meet churches where they are at and empower them towards further creation care action. The plans were developed as a part of CSCS’s Climate Futures Fellowship program in 2020 and are informed and inspired by the experiences of Anabaptist pastors in the US and Canada.
Every Creature Singing is “a curriculum for followers of Jesus who want to connect their faith with their place.” Developed by one of the strategic partners of the Center, Mennonite Creation Care Network, this 12-session course is a great place to start for any person of faith looking to answer the questions that arise when bringing together faith and issues of justice and creation care.
The Greener Congregation Score Sheet is a tool built by one of the strategic partners of the Center, Mennonite Creation Care Network. The score sheet allows congregations to evaluate their present attention to creation care and plans for the future. The score sheet covers a wide variety of categories, from orienting worship services towards creation care, to evaluating energy use and building design. The score sheet is free to download on their website.
This issue of Mennonite Central Committee’s regular publication, Intersections, deals with ways in which members of MCC have encountered climate change in their work. Their work in the Global South focuses on building healthy communities, creating sustainable livelihoods, and promoting peace, which has all been impacted by climate change. It’s a great introduction to the relationship between climate change and the Global South from an Anabaptist perspective. It also features Tammy Alexander, Oversight Board member at the Center, and Jennifer Schrock, Director at Mennonite Creation Care Network, one of the Center’s Strategic Partners.
In the winter of 2017, CSCS worked to establish a baseline understanding of its various constituents’ beliefs regarding sustainability, climate change, and creation care. This data-driven foundation is designed to help inform the use of resources and assist in measuring progress towards the goals of advancing thinking and action toward climate change mitigation in faith communities.
Climate change is one of the most urgent issues facing modern society, and it is important to approach this topic from an informed and objective position. This online guide has been created to assist in finding additional resources that offer nonpartisan and scientifically accurate information. In addition, there is a downloadable election resource on climate change at the bottom of the guide.
A survey conducted by CSCS in 2019-2020 at the seven Mennonite colleges in the United States asked students about their thoughts on climate change. Given the importance of youth in general on this issue, and the historical role of college campuses as change agents in society, this survey was undertaken to understand the knowledge, attitudes and practices of students at U.S. Mennonite campuses.