Dear Eco-Stewards Alumni and Friends,
We send you blessings on this New Year’s Eve and “re-send” you this appeal letter for those who might still want to make a small contribution to our grassroots program as we plan and pray for the year ahead– a year that we hope will continue to provide opportunities for us to help shape young adult leaders and build a community where they can explore the connection between their faith and stewardship for our hurting Earth.
In June 2018, our first “Special Edition” Eco-Stewards Program brought a combined group of 20-something young adults and 30-something professionals together in O’ahu’s taro fields, fish ponds, beaches and mountain tops to learn about the Hawaiian concept of Aloha ‘Aina or love for the land.
We asked 24-year-old Kristen Young, one of two participants from O’ahu, to reflect on what the week-long experience meant to her. She writes:
I saw O‘ahu through different eyes, heard both new and familiar stories through hungry ears, with people I had just met, with both faith and environment at the forefront of it all. Before participating in The Eco-Stewards Program, I wouldn’t have really considered myself to be an eco-steward. I was not doing enough for the environment, at least no more than the next person, to call myself a caretaker of the earth. I wondered how I would fit in with the group. What would I be expected to know? What would I be expected to be doing or not doing in my everyday life?
But none of it mattered because regardless of my knowledge (or lack thereof) about ecology and environmental policies or my actions and inactions, I am an eco-steward. You and I are eco-stewards. It is not a term reserved for tree-huggers or people who believe in human-caused climate change or people with environmental knowledge or solutions or people who are taking actions to better our environment or people that participate in The Eco-Stewards Program. The heads of the companies that are polluting our air and waters are eco-stewards, too– maybe not good ones, but they absolutely have the same responsibility to the earth as the rest of us. We are eco-stewards simply because we live on this Earth—we receive from it, we impact it, and we are unequivocally affected by it. (To read more of Kristen’s story, visit our Hawai’i Reflections page.)
On this New Year’s Eve, please consider making a small donation to The Eco-Stewards Program so we can continue to create transformative place-based experiences for young adult leaders like Kristen, who works in youth ministry on the island of Lana’i, Hawai’i. You can make a donation on the website of our partner organization, Presbyterians for Earth Care, but be sure to click on “Eco-Stewards” in the designation box.
As always, please remember to promote our programs to young adult leaders in your midst who may be searching for a creative community that cares about connecting faith and environmental stewardship.
With gratitude,
The Eco-Stewards Program Leadership Team
Rev. Rob Mark
Becky Evans
Vickie Machado
Kathleen Murphy
The Eco-Stewards Program 