INterfaith working group
The Interfaith Working Group of FCAC works to encourage faith communities in Fairbanks to be faithful stewards of the earth, to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable among us, and to personally and collectively make the changes needed to make our community more sustainable and resilient.
As representatives of many different interior faith communities we offer:
Spiritual grounding for FCAC activities
Connecting with, and support for faith communities engaged in creation-care projects
A faith-based perspective on care and concern for the earth and a fair and just transition to a sustainable future for all.
Our focus areas:
We provide mini-grants for local faith communities for energy upgrade projects.
We facilitate prayer circles, which are an opportunity for local faith communities to join together and offer prayers from all manner of faiths in support of care for the earth.
We’ve partnered with Native Movement and Deenaadàį' Productions to produce a series of short films highlighting local faith communities engaged in climate and community-care projects. We aim to use this film project as a jumping-off point for faith communities to start working on their own creation-care projects.
We create materials that amplify the calls in nearly all faith communities to address climate change.
We host creation-care events, including movie nights, earth day events, and hosted talks, which create an opportunity for more people to get involved in this work.
What we believe:
Stewardship and reverence for creation are central tenets of all faiths. We believe that people of faith will respond more readily to a call to action on climate justice if they see it as a moral and spiritual issue rather than only a scientific, economic, or political one. To that end, we are working with faith leaders in our community to encourage them to commit to the statements endorsed by their national and international organizations regarding the moral imperative for immediate and decisive action.
Education & Outreach
We have focused our attention on faith communities by showing films in a public gathering and encouraging congregations to show the film to their own groups and discuss how they might make changes to be more sustainable. The Interfaith Working Group has the following resources available to faith groups who wish to gather to consider ways their place of worship can be more sustainable.
Films on hand:
Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution. Directed by James Redford
Renewal A documentary about people of faith building a sustainable future. Statement from Bill McKibben: “The religious-environmental movement is potentially key to dealing with the greatest problem humans have ever faced, and it has never been captured with. More breadth and force than in Renewal. I hope this movie moves many more people off the fence and into action.”
Love Thy Nature Takes viewers on a cinematic journey through the beauty and intimacy of our relationship with the natural world. The film shows that a renewed connection with nature is key both to good health and to solving our environmental and climate crises.
The Human Element We humans are the fifth element, along with earth, air, water, and fire. From the producers of Chasing Ice, this film Features subjects who are often overlooked victims of climate change. The photographer, Jame Balog, argues that humans are part of the whole system of nature and not apart from it.
Bidder 70 Award winning documentary about Tim DeChristopher, who disrupted a controversial BLM Oil and Gas leasing auction by bidding on 22,000 acres of land he had no intention of paying for (or drilling on). “You can steer my commitment to a healthy and just world if you agree with it, but you can’t kill it. This is not going away. At this point of unimaginable threats on the horizon, this is what hope looks like. In these times of a morally bankrupt government that has sold out its principles, this is what patriotism looks like, and it will only grow.” Tim De Christopher
Paris to Pittsburgh A documentary of how cities across America, such as Pittsburgh, have taken up the mantle of adhering to the Paris Climate Accord despite the Trump Administration’s actions to withdraw the U.S. from the agreements made there.
Books on hand:
Rising to the Challenge: The Transition Movement and People of Faith, by Ruah Swennerfelt, 2016.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2013.
Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change, by Sherri Mitchell, 2018.
The Green Bible. Includes introductory articles on reading the Bible through a Green lens by the Division of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America, 1989.
50 Ways to Help Save the Earth: How You and Your Church Can Make a Difference by Rebecca J. Barnes