By this time, all the Earth Day and Earth Month celebrations are over for the year, and the organizations that work hard to prepare for them are probably thinking about next year. SCOCO volunteers and volunteers from other organizations should be patting themselves on the back for a job well done. Several celebrations—there were 25 Earth Day events on the SCOCCO calendar—touched the hearts and minds of thousands of people in our County through the arts, ecological education, storytelling, and volunteering. We have to soak up all the good news we can. It’s good to remember there are ways to prepare a better future for humans and the planet.
In a recent interview with Ken Woodward in Notre Dame Magazine, former Religion Editor at Time Magazine, Chrisitan Smith, author of Why Religion Went Obsolete, painted a sad picture of traditional religious institutions in the United States. Smith focuses on Christian and Jewish groups, but surveys show that “Less than 30% of Generation Z—those now between the ages of 13 and 28—attend a traditional religious service at least once a month.” That's half of what it was in the 1980s. There are reasons for that, including church scandals that lead to mistrust of religious institutions. Some religious groups profess a more nationalistic worldview that does not value the kinds of beliefs and practices advancing care for creation as a whole. Smith poses another reason. “People have so much drive and pressure to earn incomes, to go out and spend money, to buy things, to have experiences. It changes the notion of a self; the good life becomes the goods life.” However, religious organizations can point beyond the focus on things to a focus on values and practices that express deep connections among human beings and between us and the planet we live on.
Earth Day and Earth Month celebrations in Contra Costa County included some sponsored by religious organizations whose shared love of creation signals that there is much more that unites than divides us.
Interfaith San Ramon Valley (I-SRV) has sponsored, for the past three years, InterFaith EarthFest, a gathering that celebrates environmental success stories and hopes for the future for us and our planet and inspires local actions to address the crisis of Global Climate Change.
California Interfaith Power and Light (CIPL) is the California chapter of a national organization that helps churches be more energy efficient and use renewable energy. The organization sponsored Faith Climate Action Week 2025, Grounded and Growing, Planting the Seeds of Change. This year’s focus was on trees and the importance trees play in our ecological—and spiritual—health and well-being. CIPL sent out Faith Climate Action Week digital kits for free to religious organizations. The kits included guides and reflections, book and movie recommendations, activities for children, prayers, and poems.
Like the other organizations listed here, the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County (or I4C) is busy all year advocating for and providing opportunities to care for the Earth and its inhabitants. I4C advocates for affordable housing, among other things, and brings member religious organizations together for a common cause. Through I4C’s ICARE program, they offer volunteer opportunities that serve local communities.
Interfaith Climate Action Network of Contra Costa County (ICAN) began its life on Earth Day in 2015 and meets monthly. It consists of more than 100 leaders in religious organizations brought together by CIPL to work towards mutual support and coordinating action to address climate change. On Friday, April 25th, ICAN and SCOCCO presented its Green Movie Night "Common Ground” to the public at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Pleasant Hill. The focus on “Common Ground” is on familiar ground—particularly soil—that can feed primarily people or profit through agriculture.
Perhaps it will be common action towards addressing Global Climate Change that will bring young people back to “church” and the profound wisdom that religious organizations can offer through preaching and action.
Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash
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