Earth Day 50

April 22 2020 is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. As people all over the world focus on fifty years of modern environmental awareness and activism, the Lausanne/WEA Creation Care Network is partnering with the Earth Day Network and with organizations all over the world to make this a major celebration in the global evangelical community. If you’re interested in some history, here’s a look at Earth Day through the decades.

Together, we want to…

  • Celebrate God’s good gift to us in his creation.
  • Connect with our friends and neighbors who in their concern for God’s creation, love something that he loves.
  • Create and participate in concrete actions that will heal some part of God’s creation.

Here are some ways you and your family, congregation or student group can join this effort:

Many of these topics are described in greater detail on the Earth Day Network website. We have selected those that seem most appropriate for the LWCCN community. You can also write to us if you would like assistance in your planning process.

Church, Fellowship Group or Campus Group Activities

The best way to influence both your Christian family and the larger community is by organizing creation-related activities in groups that are already meeting. For example,

  • Creation-themed worship programming
  • A praise and prayer service for creation and those impacted by environmental challenges
  • Creation-themed lessons in Sunday School
  • Church or fellowship group cleanup efforts (see next section)

Talk to your pastor or group leaders. They’re waiting to hear from you. Need resources? There are a lot of great resources on the internet, but one of the best is from LWCCN partner A Rocha International. Their At Your Service page includes articles, children’s activities, music, poetry, prayers, sermons, small group materials, and more. Another great source of family and church friendly ideas and resources is WEA’s Live The Change website.

Be sure to register your event on the main Earth Day website so your friends and neighbors can find it! We suggest you include “LWCCN” as part of the organizational field so we can track how many LWCCN projects have been registered.

20 ’25 The Global Evangelical Clean Energy Initiative

This great program is from the WEA Creation Care Task Force, one of the implementing partners in the Lausanne/WEA Creation Care Network. The idea is simple: To see 20% of the global evangelical footprint – educational institutions, medical facilities, churches, and households – powered by clean, renewable energy by 2025.

The project is new this year – joining up would be a great way to make your Earth Day 50 commitment an ongoing reality. Check it out!

The Great Global Cleanup

This is one of the easiest ways to get involved. There are no places where human beings live, work and play that can’t be cleaned up. While it doesn’t solve the bigger problems were facing, cleaning up your street, neighborhood, playground or campus is a practical way to demonstrate that we care.

You can join a cleanup that is already being organized in your city, or organize your own and register it on the Earth Day website so others know about it and have the opportunity to join you.

These are the cleanup projects registered on the Earth Day website as of January 29, 2020. There are lots of gaps still to be filled in! Why not organize the first cleanup in your country?

Earth Challenge 2020

This project is all about citizen science. While many members of our Creation Care network are scientists, most of us are not; Earth Challenge 2020 will be an opportunity for all of us to work together to document what is happening in God’s creation, providing data that can be used to respond to the global environmental crisis. Starting in April 2020, the campaign will use a mobile app to collect billions of observations in air quality, plastic pollution and insect populations, providing a platform and valuable environmental insight to promote policy change in these areas.

This should be of particular interest to families and teachers. Let’s get our kids involved in understanding God’s world as well as working to clean it up!

This project will be rolled out in April, but you can sign up now to receive updates and information.