We continue to be impressed by what we hear from the continent of Africa and from our Green Anglican friends in particular. Green Anglicans has just launched in the country of Kenya with plans to plant 15 million trees this year according to this report from The County website:

The Anglican Church of Kenya is set to plant and grow 15 million trees by end of 2026 as their contribution towards conserving the environment.

Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit said it is time the church also contributes to taking care of mother nature by planting at least two million trees every year.

Speaking on Sunday at St Joseph ACK church in Kabireng, Nandi County during the official launch of Green Anglicans Movement (GAM), Sapit said the church is passionate about collecting waste products and educating people on the importance of preserving the environment by planting trees.

“The earth belongs to God and today we gather here to surrender our service to him by taking good care of the environment. Let us make green our various institutions including schools, churches, colleges among others,” he said

GAM of Kenya has three Thematic areas which include Climate Justice Advocacy, Theology of Creation and Communication as the cross-cutting themes.

The vibrant movement encourages members to take up their roles in being good stewards of God’s creation and ensure that the future generation will have a better place to live in.

The Anglican Archbishop further called for adoption of clean and efficient energy to reduce carbon emission of Anglican households and institutions through adoption of 100,000 energy efficient cook stoves and 50,000 solar energy solutions by 2026.

He said the use of wood energy for cooking has led to increased cutting down of trees hence threatening conservation efforts calling on Kenyans to use a cook stove that uses less charcoal and emits less smoke.

” First majority of women in rural areas are greatly affected by smoke produced when cooking and this puts them at great risk of getting respiratory diseases. This intervention will help reduce their vulnerability to health conditions and safeguard their dignity,” he pointed out.

Sapit called on Kenyans to develop a culture of proper waste management systems in institutions in order to keep the environment clean and healthy.

We have received the following report on a major tree-planting effort in Ghana. This came from LWCCN member Rev. Ebenezer Yaw Blasu: (note, this was a pre-event announcement, but the event was successfully concluded according to news reports):

Here In Ghana, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor has launched the Green Ghana Programme as part of activities to mark this year’s International Day of Forest. The initiative will take place on June 11, 2021. This period coincides with the major rains in the Southern regions of the country for natural watering accessibility. A total of five million trees are expected to be planted on the day across Ghana. It will form part of effort to encourage Ghanaians to plant more trees to preserve and protect Ghana’s forest cover and the environment. The initiative is planned as a joint responsibility for which more broad-based support is needed including Faith based organisations and individuals. Thus, Christians, churches, and para-church groups are vigorously involved, encouraging the active participation of local community churches and their members.

It is only for historical purpose that a date is chosen to plant five million trees. The main aim, however, is to help raise national consciousness of the need to protect the environment and the forests. Therefore, the planting exercise as awareness and motivational campaign could start earlier depending on the rain availability. On Friday 4^th June 2021 when the first rains started at Sokpoe in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region, the local (Langhorst) congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Sokpoe decided to begin the Campaign with their school children. The idea was to ‘Catch them young’ with a Christian motivation for creation care so they will not depart from it growing up (Prov. 22:6). The author of African Theocology: Studies in African Religious Creation Care, the Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Yaw Blasu, who led the campaign explained that, at Sokpoe, the outdooring rites performed on the 8^th day after birth ecologically grounds and primes babies for creation care. Yet no practical actions follow the babies growing up to enable them to live out what the rituals of outdooring expect of them. Hence, launching this year’s tree planting campaign in the basic schools is in the right direction. He encouraged the pupils to  nurture the seedlings and water them at least once a week on their day of birth.

[Exciting things happening in your country? Tell The Pollinator about it!]

The 2019 dry-season Amazon fires drew attention from political leaders and church organizations worldwide, not only because of their number and intensity, but also due to their worldwide environmental impact and the reaction of Brazilian and other government officials.

Yet, these still-burning Amazon fires are only a part of an extremely complex web of events related to an increasing planetary crisis.^[1] As such they raise important questions about an appropriate Christian response. This article addresses each of these issues: the fires themselves, their worldwide impact and significance, and worldwide and national government responses, as well as guidelines for a Christian response.

https://www.lausanne.org/content/lga/2020-03/devastating-fires-churchs-mission

Tim concludes with a call to action that we can agree with:

The single most strategic action to resolve the long-term effects of the Amazonian fires and deforestation is the mobilization of local churches and Christian organizations to plant trees. Nearly half of the world’s trees have been destroyed since the start of human civilization. Reforestation is the top climate change solution advocated by most scientists and the United Nations, along with programs to reduce emission of carbon and the preservation of current forests. Worldwide, approximately one trillion trees need to be planted, representing an area about the size of the US. While that number seems astounding, there is enough available uncultivated land in the world to meet that demand. Churches and Christian organizations can play their part in pilot programs and promote commercial and government initiatives at local and international levels to do the same.^[14]

Read the article here.

I grew up attending churches surrounded by parking lots and populated by congregations that didn’t connect their spirituality to ecology. So when I first heard about the church forests of Ethiopia, I was intrigued.

One of my great passions has been the environment, fighting for it, telling stories of its abuse and our need to be caretakers and champions of our shared home. I was eager to meet people whose religion had some built-in practice of respecting trees and preserving biodiversity. And that belief, coupled with the ballooning threat of climate change and a growing sense of despair, propelled me to visit the church forests of Ethiopia.

A few months later I was in the office of a forest ecologist, Alemayehu Wassie Eshete, who started his interview by telling me, “A church, to be a church, must be enveloped by a forest.”

I had never heard those words before or that idea, but I was hearing a truth I already knew: The church should be immersed in creation, enjoying and protecting the forest and shores and mountains, the whole earth.

The film is available here, and appears to be free to view and share with others.

• Be a family to them
• Help them enjoy their childhood
• Create a safe environment for them
• Help bring wholeness to a broken child

At the campaign’s launch recently, 200 tree seedlings were given out with the assignment to “be responsible toward’s God’s creation, both nature and children.”

Clean up and tree planting in Kenya: The Anglican Church in Kenya posted this report of activities taking place in Machakos district a few hours drive southeast of Nairobi:

The Green Anglicans Movement in Machakos Diocese has upscaled its reach to the villages all in the spirit of inspiring care for creation. Over the weekend, the movement cleaned ikalaasa town area and planted trees. They also made use of the opportunity to evangelize the town.
They were led by the Diocesan Mission Coordinator, the Administrative Secretary clergy and Christians around the diocese for the full day of clean up. The event was organized by the Diocesean Youth Organizer, Rev. Simon Kavita.

https://www.facebook.com/AnglicanChurchofKenya/posts/508800309699430

Taking on Single Use Plastic: The Anglican Church of Southern Africa recently passed a resolution regarding single-use plastic. Here is the last section of the resolution:

[The Anglican Church of Southern Africa] Resolves to:
Call on ACSA to become a #zerowaste Church and call on Parishes and Dioceses to commit to becoming Zerowaste by;
1. Not using plastic bottled water;
2. Not using Styrofoam;
3. Reducing paper as much as possible;
4. Setting up compost heaps and food gardens where possible;
5. Installing recycling bins for church and, if possible, for community;
6. Not using plastic cutlery, cups, water bottles and straws;
7. Displaying a #zerowaste signs at the church;
8. Calls on the governments of South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique and St Helena to ban single use plastic as a matter of urgency.

https://www.facebook.com/GreenAnglicans/posts/2384874014941334

Thank you, sisters and brothers in Africa, for being an example and a light to the rest of us. Now, where are the Green Baptists, Green Presbyterians, Green Charismatics? Now it’s your turn!