Creation Care Ministry • Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral

About the Creation Care Ministry

The Creation Care Ministry of Saint Mark’s Cathedral strives to faithfully address the crisis of climate change. As stewards of the life-giving goodness of God’s creation, we will work with the Saint Mark’s and broader world communities to educate ourselves and take action together to preserve our shared planet and sustain life for the generations to come. We recognize our commitment as a unique opportunity and responsibility in our time to address the many social justice issues tied to the climate crisis. And through engaging in collective action that makes an effective impact, we will grow into the joy of transcending our fears and sense of powerlessness around the issue of climate change.

The Vestry has adopted the goal for the entire Saint Mark’s campus and community to have a net zero carbon footprint by the year 2030. We encourage parishioners at Saint Mark’s to sign up with the Episcopal Church Carbon Tracker at www.sustainislandhome.org, a tool to help our community measure its collective carbon footprint and take action to reduce that footprint.

Click here for more detailed instructions about how to use this resource. See the resources and recording from a Climate Conversation about the importance of reducing our household carbon footprints and ways to better use the Episcopal Church carbon tracker tool. Why is measuring your carbon footprint is important? Listen to this excellent podcast about why our collective actions really do make a difference!

The Creation Care ministry has researched several carbon offset programs and suggests that parishioners donate to the Carbon Offset Fund here at St. Mark’s when making offset contributions. These funds will then be directly passed through to either the Carbon Offset Cooperative Mission | The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia (ecww.org) or to COTAP.org.

For an update and more information about the Carbon Offset Cooperative Mission partnership between the Olympia Diocese and the Diocese of the Southern Philippines, view this short webinar here.

Environmental Justice

We recognize our commitment as a unique opportunity and responsibility in our time to address the many social justice issues tied to the climate crisis. And through engaging in collective action that makes an effective impact, we will grow into the joy of transcending our fears and sense of powerlessness around the issue of climate change. Saint Mark’s is a member of Earth Ministry (earthministry.org) and Earth Day NW 2020 (earthdaynw2020.org) If you are interested in being a part of this work at Saint Mark’s, please contact ministry co-leaders Marjorie Ringness or Kathy Minsch.

Earth & Spirit: Sunday Forum with Gordon Miller

SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 10:10 A.M., Bloedel Hall

In this Sunday morning Forum on 19 March, on the eve of the vernal equinox, Saint Mark’s parishioner and Emeritus Professor of Environmental Studies at Seattle University Gordon Miller will share ideas and images from two of his books: Wisdom of the Earth, which displays relatively unknown ecological riches of the Christian tradition, and The Metamorphosis of Plants, his photographic edition of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 18th-century botanical classic that encourages readers to look beyond the surface of the natural world to its nonmaterial depths.

Climate Conversations

SECOND TUESDAY OF THE MONTH, 6:30–7:30 P.M., (NOTE NEW DAY & TIME!) online via Zoom

Looking for practical ways to reduce your impact on the environment? Saint Mark’s Creation Care Ministry is hosting Climate Conversations about everyday things in our lives. These monthly conversations will be held on environmentally-friendly Zoom on the ~~first~~ second Tuesday evening of each month. UPDATE: Climate Conversations will be offered on the second Tuesday of the month and begin at 6:30 p.m. going forward.

Register to participate using this link. You can be part of any or all of these conversations with the same Zoom link each month. Learn more and find resources and video of past offerings here.

APRIL 11, 2023: Recycle
Recycling sounds easy, and separate waste bins for recycling and food waste make it seem simple. The reality is harder. Figuring out what to do with coffee cups, different types of plastic, digital devices and more becomes complex. We’ll look at a slew of different items that cause consternation when people try to figure out whether they’re recyclable, and we’ll provide answers about what you can do and where you can recycle them.
MAY 9, 2023: Family Fun to Save the Planet
JUNE 13, 2023: Eat Great Meals and Reduce Food Waste
JULY 11, 2023: Simple Seattle Solutions to be a Voice for Conservation and Creation Care
AUGUST 8, 2023: Find Great Deals for Local Foods and Plant-Based Meals
SEPTEMBER 12, 2023: Embracing a Creation Care Mindset
OCTOBER 10, 2023: Insights from Saint Mark’s Carbon Tracker

Previous 2023 Climate Conversations — resources, slides and videos of past conversations may be found here.

MARCH 14, 2023: Reuse
FEBRUARY 7, 2023: Reduce
JANUARY 3, 2023: Advocacy for Systemic Change

2022 Climate Conversions — resources, slides and videos of past conversations may be found here.

DECEMBER 6, 2022: Creation Care Perspectives on Shopping at Christmas Time
NOVEMBER 1, 2022: Investing with Your Values
OCTOBER 4, 2022: What you can do about Transportation
SEPTEMBER 5, 2022: What you can do on the Carbon Tracker
AUGUST 2, 2022: What you can do about Water
JULY 5, 2022: What you can do about Energy
JUNE 7, 2022: What you can do about Food

Local, National, and Global Updates

Convention News

A highlight of 2022 was the adoption of resolutions related to Creation Care at both the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (8 resolutions) in July and the Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of Olympia (2 resolutions) in October. The General Convention also included passage of the Mind of the House on Climate and Our Vocation In Christ from the House of Bishops.

Joint Message for the Protection of Creation

On September 7, 2021, three of the world's top Christian leaders—Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby—issued a press release and joint statement warning of the urgency of environmental sustainability, its impact on poverty, and the importance of global cooperation. Read the full statement here.

The COP27 U.N. Climate Change Conference

Last month the Episcopal Church sent a delegation at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt. The delegation include the Diocese of Olympia's Missioner for Climate Care and Climate Justice, John Kydd. John wrote a series of reports from the event, which can be found here.

One of the greatest achievements of the conference was the creation of the "Loss and Damage Fund," a development which Saint Mark's member Dr. Lisa Graumlich discussed over a year ago, in an article written during the COP26 Conference in Glasgow: "Loss and Damage: Why these two words hold the key to a just transition in a warming world."

Visit the Episcopal Creation Care Facebook page to see this very inspiring video report back from the delegation. More information about the denomination's work can be found here. Our Saint Mark's Creation Care Ministry will be exploring ways to continue to connect with the wider Episcopal Church, as well as with other churches throughout the Diocese of Olympia in the work of Creation Care.