Greetings, Creation Care Team members! A growing number of Creation Care Teams are school-based or parish (with a school) based and they are beginning a new school-year. To help them plan creation care projects, this email focuses on resources and ideas for school-based CCTs. If you are a parish CCT, share the resources with your school’s leadership and see if a school-based student and staff led CCT is a good idea. Many of these resources/ideas may also help non-school based CCTs, so check them out!
We are also in the midst of the Season of Creation. Let me know how you are celebrating! Will you be hosting a Feast of St. Francis program? Send me photos!
Finally, I hope that all CCTs have been able to speak with their pastor, school principal, or institutional leadership about the Catholic Climate Declaration. Though the deadline to present signatures at the Global Action Summit has passed, we will continue to accept institutional and individual signatures.
As always, if there are specific needs or challenges that you are facing, please emailme so we can set up a phone call to chat.
Blessings,
Paz
How will you take action?
Reflect
A Reflection for the Season of Creation
(Click on graphic to download)
Act Together
Ten Minutes
Watch this short video focused on Saint James Parish and Academy’s Creation Care Team’s efforts to live more sustainably. It may give you some ideas for your CCT.
Half Day
Whether you are just beginning a CCT in your school, or even of you have an established CCT, I encourage you to schedule a half-day (about 3-4 hours total) to discuss and plan what your team will work on during this school year. Projects that have buy-in from the students are the projects that are most successful.
- Brainstorm and decide on your teams’ vision. Have students work on a vision statement that summarizes their ideas of why they are participating in a Creation Care Team. The vision statement should state what the students and/or school community are striving to achieve and why they are working on this issue. This is where the students discuss how their faith informs their care for creation goals.
- Determine goals: What are your CCT’s goals? Do you wish to focus on studying Laudato Si’? Are you going to tackle projects such as waste reduction/recycling, composting, water conservation, and energy conservation? Do you wish to focus on creating a school garden? Be sure to pick goals and projects that are achievable and appropriate for your community.
- Look at the curriculums (ideas below) that are available and see how you can integrate them into your school community.
- Pick one or two projects for the year. Projects should connect to your goals.
- Students should decide what their roles/responsibilities will be.
- Talk with school leadership and get their “buy-in” on the projects.
- Talk with school staff, such as office staff, cafeteria staff, and custodians, since many of your projects may impact their workloads.
- Integrate creation care themes into your worship times during the year.
Check out these Creation Care Team toolkits:
- Youth Ministries toolkit gives you the resources you need to make the connection between care for creation and youth ministries.
- Getting Started toolkit gives you an overview of top steps to get your team off the ground.
- Our team Road Map helps you understand where your team will head in the next year.
Ongoing
Resources for School-Based Creation Care Teams
Regardless of what creation care projects your team decides to pursue, the team will need some background educational material. The following are good places to start:
Curriculum:
Laudato Si' Interdisciplinary Secondary School Curriculum
Carmelite NGO produced the Curriculum on Laudato Si', which teaches high school students around the world the wisdom of Pope Francis' earth-care Encyclical. The Curriculum is for grades 9-12, with an adult Study Guide for college classes and study groups.
Healing Earth is a free, online environmental textbook produced by the Jesuits covering the key issues of biodiversity, natural resources, energy, food, and water as they relate to global climate change. Increasing awareness and probing ethical implications of the current environmental crisis, Healing Earth both challenges readers and calls us to action to address this critical issue. It can be viewed here.
The Pastoral Center also has some great resources, especially for younger students, on Laudato Si’. (Note: Some of the resources are free and some are for sale)
The 2017 Earth Day program, Know the Creator through Creation has some excellent material for students in re-k and up. Be sure to check out the videos!
Interfaith Power and Light has a wonderful resource list with lessons and activities for children and youth on climate and energy issues and creation care.
Other resources and project ideas:
University/College: CRS I Am Climate Change: Part of CRS’s Catholic Campus Engagement program, the I Am Climate Change program equips university students to advocate on climate change issues.
Campus Eco-Challenge: (Best for colleges, universities, and theological schools) A customizable sustainability engagement program for class and campus engagement. Campus EcoChallenge provides tools and inspiration and gives participants a fun and social way to think about and act on proven solutions that make a difference for you, your community, and the planet. Over 100 actions within nine Challenge categories provide participants with diverse options to take action.
Ignatian Carbon-Challenge: For the past two years The Ignatian Solidarity Network has invited high schools in the Ignatian and Catholic community to bring Laudato Si’ to life in their classrooms and institutions. They are revamping the program and will re-launch it in a couple of weeks. Be on the lookout for more info in the October email!
Recycling Bins Art Project (suitable for high-schools and universities)
Great resource for elementary and middle schools: Oregon Green-Schools Tools and Activities
A great idea for schools to connect with recycling efforts:
Crayola ColorCycle: Crayola and schools across North America are banding together to help kids understand the importance of their role in protecting the environment. That’s why they launched Crayola ColorCycle. Through this initiative, students in K-12 schools across the continental United States and parts of Canada can collect and repurpose used Crayola markers. ColorCycle is also a great opportunity for teachers and their students to explore eco-friendly practices. Specially developed standards-based lesson plans are available to enrich instruction and promote lively class discussions.