Young Christians demand climate action from D.C.

by Brandon Rhodes

Thirty student leaders from Christian colleges across America converged in Washington D.C. last month to challenge America’s elected and faith leaders to take stronger action on climate change. The students presented the Evangelical Youth Climate Initiative, a document signed by over 1,500 young Christians concerned about climate change, at a press event before heading to Capitol Hill to present the Initiative to their Senators. (sign it here)

The campaign wraps up an exciting year for Christians concerned about climate change. In February, over 80 evangelical leaders, including Rick Warren and Brian McLaren, presented the Evangelical Climate Initiative to the public. In the summer, Restoring Eden gave away thousands of free tickets for Christians to see the global warming movie, An Inconvenient Truth through our “Inconvenient Christians” campaign. This fall, events were held at Christian colleges and churches across America to discuss and mobilize on climate change. And throughout the year, several books were published about our biblical duty to love, serve, and protect God’s creation.

The EYCI, available here, underscored the growth of Christian concern about environmental stewardship by showing that the next generation of Christ-followers consider it to be a moral and biblical crisis which demands action. The resounding response from the Senate offices was that the EYCI was a real breath of fresh air.

The student leaders also helped draft a letter which was sent to President Bush, Speaker Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Reid. The letter said that, “We implore you to collaboratively pass and sign strong laws to combat climate change – soon. We challenge Congress to draft such laws and President Bush to promise specific actions on climate change in the State of the Union Address.” It can be read here.

The summit was also an exciting opportunity for student leaders to connect with one another and share stories of the creation care work they are doing on their campuses. Some leaders are fresh to the conversation and are still getting recycling on campus, while others are staging enormous campaigns on their campus to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Already the students are connecting to scheme together online through websites like Facebook and MySpace.

The Evangelical Youth Climate Initiative and D.C. event was a delightful collaboration between Restoring Eden and the Evangelical Environmental Network. We are excited to continue partnering with the EEN as this campaign marches on.