Dear First Name,
Happy New Year! The Covenant staff, partners, and board look forward to working with you in 2018 to continue to educate and inspire the U.S. Catholic community in ways that advance core Catholic principles, including care for creation and care for the poor.
As 2018 begins, let me thank you for your generosity in our year end fundraising campaign. Near the end of the campaign we raised the goal to $60,000, thanks to an anonymous benefactor who gave a sizable gift. We exceeded this goal handily, raising $72,202.60.
These funds will be put to good use. We anticipate at least two major efforts this year: 1) We believe our Catholic Energies program will gain real traction. Please consider Catholic facilities in your sphere of influence that might benefit from the program; 2) We will need to rely on your active public engagement to encourage members of Congress to be champions of the environment and those impacted by our neglect as well as to hold the Trump Administration accountable as they continue to reverse important gains in reducing greenhouse gas pollution.
Are you ready?
In Peace,
Dan
Dan Misleh
Founding Executive Director
Catholic Climate Covenant
Action of the Month:
Submit A Comment Supporting the Clean Power Plan
Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP) and introduce a replacement rule. The CPP is the nation’s best existing mechanism to reduce carbon pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to seek public comments regarding its proposed repeal of the CPP. Catholic Climate Covenant provided comments during the only public hearing held on November 28-29 in West Virginia. You too can submit comments to the EPA. Please submit your comment before January 16, the deadline for comments. Ask EPA to create a replacement rule that meets or exceeds the CPP’s public health and carbon reduction coals, and for the existing CPP to continue up until the time the replacement rule is operational.
Faithful Action On Climate Change
We Invite You to Join Us for Our First Webinar of 2018!
Protecting Health and Life: A Catholic Response to Proposed Clean Power Plan "Replace and Repeal"
Wednesday, January 10th, 2:00 pm (eastern)
This webinar will get you ready to act on the Trump Administration's proposal to “replace and repeal” the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). Stakeholders have until January 16th to comment on the proposed repeal. Join us to learn more about what’s at stake with the repeal of the CPP and how to respond effectively.
In this one-hour webinar we will explore:
- Why the repeal of the Clean Power Plan risks damage to our air and people’s health, particularly the poor and vulnerable.
- Why the Clean Power Plan’s emissions reductions are seen as our best path to achieve our nation's commitments to the Paris Agreement (the global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions).
- How might we respond to EPA's likely action to repeal and replace the CPP?
Presenters: Lyndsay Moseley Alexander, Assistant Vice President and Director of the American Lung Association's Healthy Air Campaign and Jose Aguto, Associate Director, Catholic Climate Covenant
Register to Receive the 2018 Earth Day Program
Plan now to host an Earth Day celebration in April 2018! Register to receive the 2018 Earth Day program in mid-to-late February. Beyond a Throwaway Culture: Reduce Waste-Grow Community will complement the Earth Day Network’s A World Without Plastic Pollution campaign. Let's work together to inspire, equip, and mobilize the Catholic community to reduce the amount of disposable plastic it uses and switch to sustainable alternatives. Register here.
REGISTER FOR EARTH DAY PROGRAM
Celebrating Creation Care Teams
There are over 300 Creation Care Teams in the United States, actively guiding their parishes, schools, and religious communities in theological reflection/study on creation care and helping them learn how their consumer choices impact our common home and our more vulnerable neighbors. Read about the inspirational activities and programs some of the CCTs have done on this new page of our website! If your CCT has stories and photos, please send them our way to highlight them on this page!
Diocese of San Diego CCT
Laudato Si’/St. Francis Pledge
Have you taken the Laudato Si’/St. Francis Pledge? Start the year by resolving to “Pray, live, and advocate Laudato Si'! Take a few minutes and take the pledge and to share it with family, friends, and others in your parish, school, or religious community. For a printable copy of the pledge, suitable for tabling or sharing with your community, go here.
Catholics Leading the Way
All Creation Is Connected: Voices in Response to Pope Francis's Encyclical on Ecology
Edited by Catholic Climate Covenant Consultant Daniel R. DiLeo.
The book explores why we should care about the environment and how Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’answers the question: “Because all of creation is connected”. The book is a collection of essays presented during a 2015 conference sponsored by the Catholic Climate Covenant, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America: All Creation Is Connected: Voices in Response to Pope Francis’s Encyclical on Ecology. Order it here.
Lenten Creation Care Calendar
Deepen your Lenten practice with a “Creation Care” calendar. This daily devotional, created by the Inter-religious Working Group on Extractive Industries, will give those looking to nurture their spirituality daily prayer, educational, and action-oriented activities. You’ll strengthen your relationship with God, with your sisters and brothers, and with all creation. The calendar will be available in early February.
The Inter-religious Working Group on Extractive Industries is a Washington, DC based coalition of faith, human rights, and environmental organizations concerned about the negative impacts of extractive industries on creation, which includes both the human and natural world.