wfn.org | NCCCUSA Climate Change Mailing

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NCCCUSA CLIMATE CHANGE MAILING

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Internet: c/o carolf@ncccusa.org

For a packet or information, contact: Wendy McDowell, 
NCC, 212-870-2227

NCC2/25/97   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC CLIMATE CHANGE MAILING GOES TO 51,000 CONGREGATIONS 
FOR EARTH DAY, ENCOURAGES LETTERS TO PRESIDENT CLINTON

 NEW YORK, Feb. 25 ---- A National Council of 
Churches (NCC) mailing calling on people of faith to send 
letters and pictures of children to President Clinton to 
urge him to protect all the world's children from climate 
change has been sent to 51,000 congregations in 
preparation for Earth Day (April 22, 1997).

The resources in the NCC mailing encourage 
congregants to pray, study and send letters to the 
President asking him to raise automobile fuel economy 
standards, which would decrease the harmful emissions 
responsible for climate change.  The alert asking 
congregants to write letters to President Clinton 
suggests Christians include pictures of their children, 
grandchildren, Sunday School class or children in a 
developing country more immediately affected by climate 
change to call on the President to "protect our 
children's and grandchildren's future" from the dangers 
of climate change.

"Concern for the environment is a matter for people 
of faith, not only because we are called to be stewards 
of God's good creation but because we are part of God's 
redemption of the world," explained the Rev. Richard 
Killmer, Director of the NCC Environmental Justice 
Office.

 The three-piece mailing includes a five-session 
study guide for congregations entitled "It's God's World: 
Christians, the Environment and Climate Change," a church 
bulletin insert and the action alert.  The mailing went 
out to congregations of the NCC communions participating 
in the Eco-Justice Working Group (see appended list).  
The national denominations wrote cover notes for their 
own congregations.  The grant the NCC receives from the 
National Religious Partnership for the Environment 
underwrites mailing costs.

 The resources point to the dangers of climate 
change, which is brought on by an increase in carbon 
dioxide that traps the sun's rays in the atmosphere like 
a blanket.  The dangers of this human-made phenomenon 
include new and erratic weather patterns, lost species, 
the spread of infectious diseases, damaged economies and 
rising sea levels.

 The resources stress the injustice inherent in 
climate change, wherein wealthier areas of the world such 
as the United States are the primary consumers of fossil 
fuels but those who are seeing the earliest and most 
severe effects of climate change live in poorer regions 
of the world.

 Member churches of the NCC usually celebrate Earth 
Day on the Sunday nearest to the date.  The Sunday falls 
this year on April 20.  With the help of these resources, 
many congregations among the NCC's 33 Protestant and 
Orthodox denominations will hold special services, Bible 
studies and discussions on environmental issues.

-end-

DENOMINATIONS IN THE NCC ECO-JUSTICE WORKING GROUP

African Methodist Episcopal Church
American Baptist Church
Church of the Brethren
Episcopal Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
The Orthodox Church in America
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Reformed Church in America
United Church of Christ
United Methodist Church

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