by Vickie Machado (Eco-Steward alum and Program Leader)
“The tide is rising and so are we…”
Last month young adult leaders from around the country gathered in Seattle to reflect on how to navigate the environmental issues of the Pacific Northwest with regards to climate change and fossil fuel transport within the context of Christian faith. Collectively our group of seven EcoStewards and four leaders examined Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home. We reflected upon these words on the shores of Lake Washington and Bellingham Bay, while connecting them to the actions of many of the people and organizations we visited.
The 2016 Seattle Eco-Stewards meet with Lummi Nation activists on the shores of the Salish Sea.
Folks at the Sightline Institute introduced us to the danger coal trains pose to many small towns as cargo loads bring the possibility of explosions, coal dust, and traffic issues rather than the promise of local jobs. Earth Ministry discussed their push to engage churches in these issues primarily teaching churches to act as allies to local Native American tribes. Wednesday we met with the Backbone Campaign as they offered insight into artful activism and their success in the mass organization of kayaktivists to stop oil rigs and protest fossil fuel extraction and transport. And finally, the Lummi Nation graced us with their stories and wisdom as they shared the generations’ long fight for equality and their more recent move (and victory) to prevent construction of a coal terminal at Cherry Point.
The Eco-Stewards discuss Pope Francis’ call to earth stewardship in his encyclical, Laudato Si’.
In all of these instances, words from the encyclical and deeper understandings from our faith tradition appeared as we navigated how to serve God while caring for creation and our fellow brothers and sisters. We contemplated this call while meeting with others, communally preparing and sharing meals, singing songs, worshiping together, sharing our personal eco-faith journeys, exploring the city by public transit, and kayaking Puget Sound. Within this week we learned and grew from those around us, recognizing the impact we all have in our world and that it takes every bit of effort to make a difference. The tide may be rising, but as Rabbi Shochana Meira Friedman’s song says, “the world is ready and so are we.”
The Eco-Stewards take to the waters of Elliott Bay.
Tonight, a wonderful group of seven young adult Eco-Stewards and four Program Leaders will gather at Mount Baker Presbyterian Church in Seattle, Washington. We’ll spend the week together reflecting on Pope Francis’ Laudato Si encyclical and talking to faith-based, environmental, and tribal groups about the creative and inspiring ways they are peacefully protesting energy transport projects in the Pacific Northwest. Please keep our community in your prayers this week.
And if you have a moment, check out our new video from our Gainesville program in 2014 when we explored a Southern foodshed and swam with manatees! You can view the video here.
We’re happy to share that we’ve received some wonderful applicants for our upcoming Seattle Eco-Stewards Program in June!
We can admit a few more candidates, so please keep spreading the word to young adult leaders in your midst!We’ve extended our application deadline to April 13.
Our focus this year will be on Creativity and Power: Theological Reflection and Action on Climate Change. Please be in touch with Rev. Rob Mark (revrobmark@gmail.com) with any questions.Here is a link to the 2016 application.
The April 1st deadline for Eco-Stewards Seattle is quickly approaching and we need your help recruiting some young adult leaders (ages 20-30) to participate in this amazing program that will focus on creativity, climate change and theological reflection on Pope Francis’ encyclical on caring for the environment. Applications are due April 1 and some financial aid is available to help with travel expenses. Better yet, help us by sponsoring a young adult to attend the program! Download the the 2016 application. Email revrobmark@gmail.com with any questions.
We need your help in recruiting young adults (ages 20-30) to apply for our June 2016 program in Seattle, where we’ll focus on “Creativity and Power: Theological Reflection and Action on Climate Change.”
We have an awesome poster and a hot-off-the-press 2016 application available for promotional purposes. The application deadline is April 1 with rolling admissions. Please download the poster and tack it up on an old-school bulletin board at your local church, college and coffee shop! Or promote us on social media with this link to our program website:
Our warmest wishes for the holidays. May there be Peace on Earth and in our hearts. Stay tuned for our electronic Fundraising Appeal Letter that will be arriving soon in your Inbox from MailChimp.
Help us spread the word about our upcoming 2016 program in Seattle. We have an awesome new poster that you can download here. Read on to learn more about our exciting program that connects Pope Francis, climate change and the power of organizing.
In peace,
The Eco-Stewards Leadership Team
Eco-Stewards 2016: Seattle, Washington: June 13-18, 2016 “Creativity and Power: Theological Reflection and Action on Climate Change”
Join us in the beautiful Pacific Northwest as we gather and delve into the climate justice movement through the lens of faith. This unique part of our country stands at the current nexus of energy debates and hopes for a more sustainable tomorrow—battling powers of coal, oil and gas with the new alternative powers of wind, sun and water. We will dive into these issues to contemplate our call to address climate change as people of faith newly inspired by Pope Francis’ clarion invitation to care for Our Common Home. We will spend this placed-based learning week listening to local faith-based communities who are responding to the challenges of energy in creative, inspiring and powerful ways. A good portion of our time together will also focus on daily theologically reflection of the Pope’s encyclical and sharing our own Eco-Faith Journeys with one another. Applications are forthcoming. For more info, email revrobmark@gmail.com
We arrived Saturday late morning into La Habana, eager to take part in Pope Francis’ momentous journey. None of the young adults in my group had been to Cuba. For me, this was not only my first time to this island, but it was also my first real experience outside the United States. Though less than an hour’s plane ride from Miami, Cuba seemed new and untainted. All eyes were on this small country, a place devoid of advertisements, saturated with infrastructure from the 1950s, and crawling with news cameras expectantly awaiting the Pope’s arrival. Like the other pilgrims, I was greatly looking forward to seeing Pope Francis and hearing the message he carried with him.
After checking into our “vintage” hotel, we hit the streets of Vieja Habana, exploring plazas, snapping photos, grabbing lunch at a nearby paladar and purchasing our allotment of Cuban cigars. The shock set in when we drove to Calle 30 y 31 in Miramar to wait for the Pope’s motorcade. The media was everywhere. Everyone wanted to take part in this historic moment. NBC National followed our group, taking photos, filming video and conducting interviews as we waited for a glimpse of the Holy Father. As Pope Francis rode by— a bit faster than expected—the hype increased. The crowd was flooded with energy and the media was quick to start their questioning. Michael Williams of NBC News asked me if this was a life changing experience. With hardly a minute to reflect, I responded that it was definitely life enhancing. It was a less than ideal answer and didn’t make the news. I thought about this question more at dinner and into the night. Do I consider the few seconds it took for the Pope’s caravan to drive by, a life changing moment?
I continued to ask this question as I listened to his Mass on Sunday morning in the Plaza de la Revolución packed with thousands of Cubans and other pilgrims. A beautiful Cuban choir led up to his Mass. Gaining bits and pieces, the leader of my group, Rosemarie, translated his sermon about the importance of service. Still, I wondered if this was a life-changing experience.
Vickie Machado, an Eco-Steward alum and leadership team member, awaiting Pope Francis. Machado traveled to Cuba with a young adult program sponsored by the Archdiocese of Miami.
It was the young adult gathering Sunday evening where the magnitude and importance of Pope Francis’ presence and my own journey set in. After distributing rosaries, bracelets and t-shirts, my group found a shady spot under a tree to await the Pope’s arrival. We had plenty of time— arriving at 2:30 pm, four hours before Pope Francis was scheduled to address the crowd. During this time, I started talking with a couple young people, a 26-year-old former bartender and a 20-year-old student studying information technology. They practiced their English, which was quite good, while I worked on my Spanish. I learned a great deal about life in Cuba: jobs, wages, rations, past times, music, and general understandings. Although Cubans make roughly a dollar a day, goods such as cars, clothing, cell phones and travel are still incredibly expensive: $30-92 for shoes; $25,000-250,000 for a car; $200 for a passport. More than once I was told the math used in the States does not apply to Cuba, since one US dollar converts to one CUC or 25 CUPs (used for purchasing rationed food).
Furthermore, it blew my mind to hear the Internet was only recently introduced (my new friend said in January 2015!). Still people must go to WiFi (pronounced “weefee”) spots and pay $2 per hour to gain web access. While change may seem slow to me, it is rapidly increasing and it seems to be commonly felt among many young Cubans. Pope Francis’ visit further extended this feeling as he has repeatedly voiced his stance concerning the U.S-Cuban embargo.
Talking with these young adults added tremendous depth to my pilgrimage. My journey meant so much more to see the passion in their eyes and understand the hope in their hearts. There was so much joy, love, and kindness in their stories, reflecting the message presented by Pope Francis.
At 6:40 pm, the Pope spoke about hope to the young adult crowd of 5,000. Hope is hard work, but it is worth working for. It is the path of life and deeply within our faith. Meeting my new friends enlivened the Pope’s message. Though this was simply a moment—drawing from Pope Francis—it is memory and discernment, which makes the path of hope that we must follow.
When practicing my Spanish, my new friends told me poco a poco, little by little. Often times we forget that change is a process. We don’t realize a life changing moment when we are in it. Sometimes it takes some reflection and understanding to connect the dots.
Poco a poco my journey began to make sense and hold a deeper meaning. Yes, seeing the Holy Father was an incredible sight, but it was the context—the young Cubans I met, gaining an understanding of their livelihoods, and connecting it to the Pope’s message and that of my own Christian faith—that carried the most meaning for me.
Like my pilgrimage, life is a journey. It is what we take from these moments that offer the impact. It is exciting to think how people will take this experience and enact it in their own lives, community, and world. The Pope is reiterating the Gospel—Love God and love others. Love is an action. Now, more than ever, faith in action is needed. It’s coming poco a poco.
Todd Wynward ‘s Rewilding the Way: Break Free to Follow an Untamed God, does an incredible job of weaving Christianity with environmentalism. Tackling issues like affluenza, over-consumption and climate change, Wynward goes beyond the notions of a collective creation care and takes a look at individual practices and underlying themes in relation to faith. How does one follow Jesus Christ, a teacher who traveled the region spending time with low society characters? More so—how do we as children, sisters, brothers, mothers, and fathers live in the world but not of the world? How does one negotiate the realm of work, family life and spirituality? Drawing from his wilderness experience, Wynward advocates a return to the wild. He asks his readers to go cimarron, “a Spanish term for a slave or domesticated animal gone free.” He pushes his readers to re-evaluate not just life but the paths Christians embark on as he re-invigorates scripture stories and parables.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of this book is that Wynward provides readers with conviction. This is not the fire and brimstone conviction but rather a grace-filled understanding of life. As Christians, we must continue to strive to love God and love our neighbors. With our rapidly expanding world, this means looking at our choices and evaluating our lifestyles, while still considering how to live in the world. Wynward does not condemn the sinner or the over-consumer, but rather recognizes we all fall a bit short in this world. At the end of the day, God’s love is delivered to us all.
It’s been close to a year now since I headed down to Gainesville, FL with the rest of the Eco-Stewards crew, but I’ve found myself thinking back to it more and more these days as the 2015 visioning trip is in the works. I joined Eco-Stewards because of a recommendation from my boss at the time at John Knox Ranch, a Central Texas summer camp where I was filling a brand new position as Environmental Stewardship Director for the summer (great place – check it out if you’re ever in the area).
The Eco-Stewards group was comprised of an amalgamation of people from various backgrounds united in the common interest of Presbyterian Earth Stewardship. This offered a pretty unique opportunity for us all to meet and share ideas with people with similar interests, but different areas of expertise. Over the week, we got to experience some pretty incredible things, ranging from working on some organic farms to speaking with community members who were active in food systems sustainability, to learning about Florida hydrogeological systems with the Florida Springs Institute.
We stayed in a local church (located at the corner of 22nd and 22nd – hilarious Gainesville design flaw in my opinion) full of nicely broken-in couches and lots of character. We helped cook and serve meals at the Gainesville Catholic Worker House, spent some time taking in the smells of freshly-grown sunflowers and strawberries at local farms, and enjoyed a week in the Florida sun. Not to mention the group’s close encounters with the alligators, giant tree snakes, and sea cows of the Florida swamplands, all the time serenaded by the omnipresent songs (snorts, really) of the Florida Pig Frog.
The week not only introduced me to some new ways of thinking about local food systems, but also familiarized me with the whole world of Presbyterian Environmental Ministries. As a unofficial-Presbyterian who had been working at a Presbyterian summer camp for a few years, I wasn’t fully aware that things like the Eco-Stewards Program, Young Adult Volunteers, or Presbyterians for Earth Care even existed. This great group of people at Eco-Stewards opened a whole bunch of new doors for me to consider in the next few years and were a pleasure to share time and space with.
In summary, this program both introduced me to loads of new people, experiences, and opportunities, and also helped me more fully conceptualize the true connection of food and faith. Furthermore, the broader connection of people and place. Connections like these will become increasingly important in coming years considering obstacles like urbanization, water shortages, and climate change. This one week spent analyzing food systems in Northern Florida won’t save it all, but it’s certainly a place to start.
This June, the Eco-Stewards Program will host a visioning retreat in Montana, the site of our 2011 program trip. Read more here to find out who is invited to help us vision the future of The Eco-Stewards Program…
The 2011 Eco-Stewards hike through the prairie of Eastern Montana.
Who? Past Eco-Stewards, Program Leaders & Steering Committee Members
Where? Montana (Luccock Park Camp & Greenwood Farm)
When? June 1-7, 2015
What? Since 2007, The Eco-Stewards Program has been a wonderful experiment working to combine faith with environmental stewardship. Realizing the importance of beginning each journey thoughtfully and prayerfully, we’ve decided to use this year as a way to discern our vision for the future by considering such questions as: What will be the focus and location of our programs for 2016, 2017 and beyond? What will be our role in the larger faith and environmental community? From June 1-7, we will meet to discuss the future aspirations, goals and intentions of The Eco-Stewards Program. We want to move into the future purposefully and sustainably. Together, we’ve decided to return to Montana (site of the 2011 Eco-Stewards Program) for this Visioning Trip. This event will be open to past Eco-Stewards, leaders and steering committee members in an effort to guide the program into the future. Check back for updates on our Visioning Trip.
What if I’m new to the Eco-Stewards Program? We hope you can join us for our 2016 program (details to come after this Visioning Trip.) In the meantime, please stay connected with us by signing up for our blog updates (see the right-hand sidebar) and joining our Facebook page (The Eco-Stewards Program). Better yet, introduce yourself over email by writing to Rev. Rob Mark at revrobmark@gmail.com.
It’s been a while since I was blessed to travel to Gainesville to participate with the Eco-Stewards in a week of education, communion with nature and overall bliss. But since then, I’ve been pretty busy. Too busy in fact, to reflect much on how that trip helped shape my values around the sacred nature of earth care, and particularly, how it challenged my views surrounding food justice issues. As a Seminarian, I have spent the past several months learning and reflecting on academic aspects of theology, not necessarily practical ones. And though I am taking a class next semester focused on Food and Scripture (!!!), most of my theology classes deal little with land and food issues, if they do so at all.
However, during my Christmas break, I was given the opportunity to do some service work with my mother. My parents live in Florida, in a county a few hours south of Gainesville that is known for its food insecurity. My mother volunteers once a week with the local school district, packing bags of non-perishable food for each school’s homeless youth. Though these youth usually have shelter of some sort, it’s not a home, but rather a hotel, or a temporary stint in a relative’s house; and so on weekends, they receive supplemental food when the Federal school lunch and breakfast programs aren’t available to them.
For a few hours, I helped my mother stuff bags with 2 breakfasts, 2 main meals, fruit, and 2 snacks—most of which, because they must be both non-perishable and kid-friendly, have little to no nutritional value. I was helping to feed the working poor—those most traditionally vulnerable to diabetes, hypertension, and stroke—with Pop-Tarts, sugar cereal, fruit in syrup, and sodium-laden Ramen dinners. While I am not a food snob, and while I know any food is better than no food, I also know through the thoughtfulness of the Eco-Stewards Gainesville Program, that another, better means of providing food for hungry people is possible.
Our trip to the Gainesville Catholic Worker Hospitality House exemplified how programs attempting to thwart food insecurity can provide not just food, but nourishment, in a way that is community-focused, nutritionally-dense, and ecologically- sustainable. As our host and fellow Eco-Steward Daniel Loya explained, folks in Gainesville aren’t calorie-deficient—there are plenty of feeding programs throughout the city—they are nutrient deficient. Through partnering with local farms and home-cooking multiple meals a day, as well as serving, hosting, and sharing those meals with all who show up hungry for food and community, Daniel and his fellow Catholic Workers and volunteers are directly fulfilling Christ’s call to feed His sheep, as well as gaining strong relationships with those they serve, and with one another.
Eco-Stewards share a nutritional meal at The Catholic Worker House in Gainesville.
Another “feeding” program that focused on health and nutrition that we were blessed to visit in Gainesville was through the Alachua County School District. We visited a local elementary school, where we not only shared a nutritious and delicious lunch, but also learned about how the school has busied itself implementing both a USDA Farm to School Grant as well as their Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. We were told about how students have been exposed to new varieties of vegetables, such as “atomic red” and “purple dragon” carrots, and how through such exposure, they’re consuming more vegetables. We also learned about how the Alachua County School District is sponsoring family events, to get parents and grandparents on board about nutrition. The Alachua County Farm to School program even has a Farm to School Work Hub through Loften High School that gives students agricultural skills and lets them share the produce they grow with their fellow students through the school lunch program!
Eco-Stewards learn about the Alachua County Farm to School program.
While neither of these programs addresses all the links between hunger and the empty calories that lead to health problems among too many of our nation’s citizens, they are drawing attention to the dichotomies of many well-intentioned food service programs, and making a positive, tangible difference in the Gainesville community. Furthermore, both the Gainesville Catholic Worker House of Hospitality and the Alachua County Farm to School program serve as beacons to other communities—giving us hope that we might model them and best meet the needs of the hungry who surround us, seen and unseen, no matter where we live.
I made this pilgrimage as a contributor to the festival, meaning I had the upmost pleasure to be part of a workshop (Decolonize Your Mind First) and a panel discussion (Watershed Discipleship). While the issues of Food Justice embedded within Decolonize Your Mind First evoked memories of Gainesville’s Eco-Stewards Program, it was the panel on Watershed Discipleship that opened my eyes to the purpose and importance of the Eco-Stewards Program.
Folks gather at the Decolonize Your Mind First workshop.Watershed Discipleship Panel
Created by visionary theologian Ched Myers, Watershed Discipleship is a bioregional approach to faith, which grounds our actions in our watersheds. With the reality of climate change, this movement realizes we are entering a “watershed moment that demands serious, sustained engagement from Christians.” We are called to care for creation as we recognize:
We won’t save places we don’t love
We can’t love place we don’t know
And we don’t know places we haven’t learned
Having studied bioregionalism, the notion of placing ourselves in a bioregion, watershed or ecotone, not only made sense to me but it seemed like a natural course of action. Of course, shaping our lives according to – or at least being mindful of – our natural environment is the most sustainable way to live. Not only is it more sustainable, but there is a certain fruitfulness that comes with it.
It is because of our call to care for creation that I see the importance of place-based programs such as Eco-Stewards. Our cultivation of how to learn, know and love places, not only aids our ability to save them, but it also provides ourselves with a spiritual foundation on which to connect to a place. It promotes ‘being’ and presence in a placeless society. In the past four Eco-Stewards’ trips, learning and experiencing how others care for their land has prompted me to further learn how and what I might do to care for my own region. We have been blessed with this Earth, it is up to us to care for it one watershed at a time.
Eco-Steward Colleen Earp biking through Gainesville
I’ve had a few weeks to reflect on the time I spent in Gainesville, so I’m really excited to share some of our adventures! I don’t know where to begin.
And, of course, I would be remiss not to mention that tubing the Ichetucknee lead to swimming alongside manatees as they moved up the beautifully clear spring-fed river. Yep, I just dove in and swam beside these two incredibly beautiful creatures.
Keeping up with them is a lot harder than I would have guessed. They’re so big and slow and graceful, but also very strong. We floated so slowly down the river that I was surprised how hard it was to swim upstream. I was also just a little bit excited, so holding my breath long enough to be underwater, take pictures, and kick frantically without scaring the manatees was a challenge.
It was a really amazing week to come together with other people interested in the relationship between faith and environmental work. As we all reflected on how awesome the Eco-Stewards Program was, and how good it was to connect with this sort of building-less church that the program has created, it came up that these kinds of great experiences kind of carry us for a while. A week like this is fleeting, but so deeply moving. And in the face of the church being a complicated place for many young adults, it’s kind of important to find these beautiful things to sustain us while we sort out the tough stuff and figure it out for ourselves.
While deep in the throes of that conversation, Rev. Rob Mark, one of the trip leaders, piped in, “…like the manatees…” Yes, exactly like the manatees. So incredibly beautiful, and only with us for a very short time, but I think about it every day. Not just manatees. The whole week of connecting with the great things going on in Gainesville and the church.
Will that excitement wear off? Perhaps, just like the manatees kept swimming away up that clear, cool spring. But it leaves me with a sense of hope in what I am doing, and encourages me to keep seeking out the church in the world like this.
Our Eco-Stewards Gainesville trip wrapped up Saturday morning. We had a blast exploring the local food and watershed of North Central Florida. Our journey took us all over the city and into the surrounding area. This is a photo of our group at the geological state park known as Devil’s Millhopper. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Stay tuned for more photos and reflections on our week together.
The Eco-Stewards Program 