Heroes of Restoring Eden
Tri Robinson, Suellen Lowry, the Gwich’in and Calvin College

Restoring Eden’s mission is to make it theologically and culturally safe for Christians to love, serve and protect God’s creation. We declare this in our call to make hearts bigger, hands dirtier and voices stronger for all of creation – human and nonhuman.

As I travel around the country speaking at churches and colleges, I hear people say they don’t want to become political, or “they don’t do activism.” Sometimes there is a slight barb to their words as if activism is dirty, fraught with danger or somehow inherently contentious. It is as though becoming an activist means you have take a detour from the high road of faith to the low road of secularism. But this prejudice against activism is rooted in narrow thinking and needs to be re-negotiated.

Restoring Eden works to promote creation care at three levels – nature appreciation (hearts bigger), environmental stewardship (hands dirtier) and public advocacy (voice stronger). We do not expect nor demand every person within our community will be a visible advocate for creation, but we want to constantly encourage and create opportunities to do so.

In this issue of CreationVoice, we will discuss why Restoring Eden believes that activism is an essential part of our call to be stewards of God’s creation. This essay will focus on friends who have made a real difference - Tri Robinson, Suellen Lowry, the Gwich’in and Calvin College.

Lesson 1 - We need to expand the concept of activism

What many people consider political activism are hostile ‘in-your-face’ debates, street demonstrations, signature gatherers or hippies sitting in trees. But activism simply means to become active. We have to expand expression of activism into all realms of life and all spheres of culture. Setting up and maintaining a recycling station at church is activism. Teaching a Sunday school class about creation care is activism. Organizing a summer camping trip for your home group is as much activism as is writing a letter to an elected official.

Tri Robinson, Vineyard pastor of a mega-church in Boise, Idaho, is one of the most activist religious leaders I know. Serving a large and diverse congregation, Tri avoids overtly environmental controversies, and instead he has encouraged his congregation to express its activism through hands-on projects. The church has a large organic garden that they use to feed the poor through their food bank ministry. They sponsor a community-wide recycling center at the church and encourage their members to ‘tithe their trash’ and they have a second hand outlet that allows recycled household items and clothes to be given to the needy. Following the destruction of hurricane Katrina they sent numerous teams to rebuild southern Mississippi and Louisiana by sponsoring a community wide cell-phone recycling program that raised thousands of dollars and kept toxic chemicals out of the landfill. Every summer the church sends out dozens of volunteer work teams into the Idaho wilderness to partner with the Forest Service in trail maintenance and construction. For more information, www.letstendthegarden.org

Lesson 2 - Activism is how civil democracies make tough decisions

Political activism can be difficult for centrists because so much of political debate is framed by the shrillness of the far-left and the stridency of the far-right. Both sides suffer from an overdose of self-importance and self-righteousness. As such, many of us in the middle have stepped away from political advocacy to our world’s detriment. Christians active in culture and politics represent an important way the Kingdom of God is being expressed in our society.

Ugly examples of partisan politics colored by finger-pointing and name calling abound in our daily news stories. As such, it is easy to forget how privileged North American’s are to live in a democracy where we have the privilege and even the obligation to influence the governing of our communities. In many foreign countries decisions are by an edict of a totalitarian regime or are made at the end of a gun barrel.

Suellen Lowry is the head of the Noah Alliance, a collaborative group that advocates for biodiversity and species viability. (Restoring Eden is a member.) Suellen grew up in a political family, went to law school, served as a policy director for a U.S. Representative and later became a lead lobbyist on endangered species for the environmental group Earthjustice. Over the many years I have worked with Suellen, she has constantly reminded me of the power of citizen involvement in changing laws. Her message is simple – political engagement is how civil societies allocate limited resources and make tough decisions. We used to call it civics and it was considered a positive responsibility of a citizenship. Citizen involvement in the political process is essential to maintain political and corporate accountability. It is how we become a voice for the common good and for the powerless of society. For more information www.noahalliance.org

Restoring Eden encourages hands-on service projects such as tree planting and wetlands restoration that can redeem thousands of acres of land, but I have also seen how one bad law can allow millions of acres of land to be destroyed.

Suellen brings together teams of scientists and religious adherents to meet face-to-face with their elected officials. Suellen is tireless. She spends days on the phone recruiting people to call, write or visit their elected politicians to speak out for the integrity of nature. She has taught me that one person can make a big, big difference. And a small group of people can change the world.

Lesson 3 - Activism leverages the strength of a few and the power of the grassroots

The Gwich’in tribe of Alaska believes that they have been entrusted by God to protect the caribou birthing grounds of the Arctic Refuge. Since their conversion to Christianity in 1847¹, the Gwich’in have felt a divine call to protect the area from environmental destruction. They have stood against the power of international oil companies and the politicians they fund. Jonathon Solomon, a tribal elder and leader of the Gwich’in Steering Committee once said to me that he loves three things; “the Lord Jesus Christ, my people the Gwich’in, and the land and caribou we survive on.” His quiet, humble manner hid a warrior spirit always willing to fight for his people and the land they consider a sacred trust.

I have also prayed and cried with Luci Beach, the director of the Gwich’in tribe’s political efforts, as legislation to drill in the birthing grounds seemed unstoppable. Her heart was wearied by the constant need to fight back the oil barons who had million of dollars to her few thousands. I have traveled with and worked with other Gwich’in leaders such as Peter Solomon, the Rev. Trimble Gilbert and his grandson Matthew Gilbert at Christian colleges across the country. Calling our campaign The Cross and the Caribou, they would share with students a faith that sees environmental activism as a natural extension of their devotion to God. For more information www.gwichinsteeringcommittee.org

One school we went to was Calvin College where we spoke at a justice and development conference. It turned out to be God-ordained timing. A group of pro-drilling congressmen thought they had discovered a way to force drilling by building oil revenues into the Federal budget. Since budget items cannot be filibustered or vetoed and since the budget bill also had financial support for troops in Iraq, they thought no politician could afford to vote against it.

But they didn’t know about Dave Warners, a mild-mannered and easily-amused biology teacher at Calvin College. A bit indignant at this ploy, Dave helped craft a letter protesting use of the budget process in an unprecedented attempt to avoid a healthy political debate. He recruited fifty other faculty and administrator signers on the letter and then hand-delivered it to Congressman Vern Ehlers (R-MI), a fellow Christian and former physics professor at Calvin.

Representative Ehlers was persuaded by the biblical, moral and justice arguments in the letter and made the tough decision to defy his powerful Republicans caucus pushing for drilling. In addition, he recruited a block of 24 moderate Republicans and persuaded them to stand together against this budget gambit, telling their party leaders that they would not vote for the budget if it included language forcing drilling in the Arctic Refuge. This block was enough to force their hand and the budget bill was revamped, removing the controversial policy.

So, because of the efforts of a small group of Christians, I got to pray a second time with Luci Beach of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, only this time it was a prayer of thanksgiving. We won because of the tireless efforts of a few people. That’s why I believe in grassroots activism. It will always be an essential part of Restoring Eden’s mission.