Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Environmental Health & Mindful Living

By Beth Anderson, Outreach Associate

As I’m sure you’ve heard, April is now Earth Month—we have a whole 30 days for environmentally-focused action! Now that the busyness of holy week and Easter are behind us, I urge you to consider how you and your faith community might celebrate (and help protect and preserve) creation.

One of the most pressing environmental and justice issues of our time is the presence of toxic chemicals in everyday products. Environmental health can be a difficult subject to discuss—it can seem as though the problem is too big for us to handle.

To that end, Earth Ministry and the National Council of Churches are offering a free, downloadable toolkit for facilitating an adult forum or small study group around the topic of toxics.

The primary resource, Mindful Living: Human Health, Pollution, and Toxics, includes detailed information about some of the most dangerous and pervasive chemicals we all encounter in our daily lives. It also includes a theological discussion about our mandate to care for creation and especially for our bodies—our sacred “temples.”

To make it easy for people to organize a group study, there is an accompanying Gathering Guide with ideas for how best to incorporate the Mindful Living material into your congregation’s adult education program.

Download the Mindful Living: Human Health, Pollution, and Toxics resource and its companion, the Mindful Living Gathering Guide, today!

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