Consider this: The major faiths and their networks embrace 85% of the world’s population. So, a healthy collaboration between faith communities and conservation scientists is not just interesting to think about—its lies at the core of our wellbeing. This idea will be explored by faith leaders at the “Green My Church” workshop offered by Bozeman’s Tributary Fund at the host Hope Lutheran Church on Tuesday, November 9.

You know the unsettling situation. Globally, infants are born with an astonishing array of carcinogens and pollutants in their systems. Families live in massive garbage dumps that dot the planet. Common songbirds and frogs are vanishing along with polar bears in the masses. Glaciers are melting, oceans are warming and rising, natural disasters are occurring with an unnatural ferocity, and the seasons are shifting. In response, leading scientists and theologians say we must rise to a new level of collaboration to steward the planet, or perish with it.

As we face these environmental crises, world religions can offer both hope and guidance. Take response from the Christian faith here in Montana as an example. Could organized churches become major constituencies in support of environmental solutions? Can conservation groups collaborate with ministries to develop scientific conservation strategies? A resounding “yes” from The Tributary Fund (TTF) and several other national and international organizations such Harvard’s Forum on Religion and Ecology, Interfaith Power and Light, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, and the National Council of Churches. They have emerged to work with faith leaders to help build a proactive community response to environmental issues–and this through the distinctive history and core teachings that faiths already embrace. It’s more than learning how to recycle, plant trees or protect watersheds . . . it is about reinforcing a long-term environmental commitment within faiths and their constituencies, with a modern sense of our natural world. Likewise, it requires an attitude shift of scientists as they begin to value religious leaders as spokespeople for scientific research. The active discourse on faith and the environment is in full swing.

Buddhist leaders are embracing the process. TTF found that after six years of workshops and collaborations between Buddhist monks and scientists in Mongolia, results are visible. These include reforestation efforts, creation of community green spaces, new ecology curricula for monastic schools, and also bigger societal shifts that include appointment of a new Environmental Affairs Department at Mongolia’s Center for Buddhism. Building solid relationships with top scientists researching snow leopards, wolverines, taimen fisheries, bustards, sanitation and alternative energy resources was essential to the process.

Here in Montana, the Montana Association of Churches has helped promote “Green My Faith” workshops to churches interested in ecological issues relevant to our local environment, stories and teachings from sacred texts and oral traditions that illustrate conservation practices, and actions that congregations can adopt to protect waters, landscapes, human communities and other species. TTF suggests building this commitment in three levels:

1) HOME: Implement carbon footprint reduction measures in your house of worship—create a model for congregations.
2) COMMUNITY: Empower congregations. Offer ways to conserve in daily living (energy alternatives, consumerism, food sources, alternative economies).
3) GLOBAL: Eco-twinning. Collaborate with a church abroad (or rural-urban exchange) to help with their water, energy, forest practices and wildlife management needs.

Christian leaders in Montana are expressing great interest in the role they can play. Often considered the American Serengeti, Montana is vulnerable to species depletion and vast energy development—harboring, for instance, 25 percent of the nation’s, and eight percent of the world’s, coal supply. Species that exist here today proliferated when Lewis and Clark traveled through with the Corps of Discovery. With its abundance of resources, Montana is particularly vulnerable to resource exploitation, but is also in the intriguing position of setting a global example for future international energy, land and water management practices.

A recent report by Governor Schweitzer’s Climate Change Advisory Committee calls for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions in Montana to 1990 levels by the year 2020. The concept was echoed after famed wildlife conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, spoke at Montana State University in April 2008. Her “A Reason for Hope” presentation challenged communities, schools, churches and individuals to take action on all levels to protect the earth and its species. TTF then sponsored a workshop later that year in Great Falls asking clergy to provide feedback on how churches can engage. Not only can there be obvious steps—making church buildings more efficient, using low energy light bulbs, initiating recycling programs—they edge to more profound, long-lasting initiatives like creating messages from the pulpit and beyond to active church groups on social justice, holistic management, community energy auditing, and fair trade. In fact, they confirmed that people of faith are better environmentalists with their faith than without it, and that simply installing efficient light bulbs in churches and homes can be an act of faith. Many want their messaging to proclaim creation as shared by all species; humans are simply a partner in the cause. Pastors are being asked by congregations for more inspiration and leadership on this topic. And, qualified congregation members are looked to as trusted professional resources.

Of late, TTF notes the work of the Bozeman’s Pilgrim Congregational Church, which created a teen youth group curriculum for Eco-Sunday School during Spring 2010. At the close of the weekly series, the students conducted the entire Earth Day worship service, including the sermon. Each Sunday prior to that, they studied the community public transportation system, the Farm to Schools local food program, solar energy sites, and garbage control. Contemporary books by Bill McKibben and Matthew Fox are providing some fuel.

The November 9 “Green My Faith” workshop runs from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is open to all clergy and congregation members interested in active conservation programming in their churches and communities. Rev. Rebekah Simon-Peter (Executive Director of BridgeWorks) will offer the keynote, and several panelists will present case studies on church community gardens, environmental curricula for church groups, church building energy efficiency and sample sermons connecting scripture to creation care. Registration fee before November 1 is $25, $35 thereafter, and includes lunch and a complimentary copy of “Simple Steps to Green Your Church” by Simon-Peter. Hope Lutheran Church is located at 2152 West Graf Street, off South 19th. To learn more, please contact The Tributary Fund at 406-585-5560 or by email at information@thetributaryfund.org. The workshop brochure can be downloaded at www.thetributaryfund.org.

The Tributary Fund is a non-profit organization engaging religious, scientific and local leaders in strategies for sustainable community development, wildlife protection and habitat conservation. Its offices are located in Bozeman, Montana and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Susan Higgins, The Tributary Fund