Resources for Practicing “Love as Economic-Ecological Vocation”

The following resources only illustrate the multitude of organizations and networks in which readers who want to practice “love as an ecological-economic vocation” may engage. By connecting with any of these networks, you will encounter a world of others. 

These resources pertain to five of the ten “modes of action” identified in Chapter Nine. Readers may suggest additions to this resource list by using the “contact” option on this website.


These organizations help people become engaged in legislative advocacy through various types of civil engagement such as policy-specific campaigns and petitions.

“Trade generates incredible wealth, and links the lives of everyone on the planet. Yet millions of people in poor countries are losing out. Why? Because the rules controlling trade heavily favor the rich nations that set the rules. Something’s very wrong with world trade. We’re committed to putting it right.”

The Network of Spiritual Progressives is working to build a spiritually progressive movement to create a New Bottom Line to build a spiritually progressive movement to create a New Bottom Line so that government, institutions, corporations, and organizations are judged by the extent to which they are economically and socially just, promote love and care, kindness and generosity, strengthen our capacity to treat others with respect and dignity and treat the universe as sacred.  We provide regional Transformative Activist Trainings that help nurture people who wish to bring greater psychological and spiritual sophistication into social change movements. Legislative Advocacy and Electoral Advocacy.

“FCNL’s nonpartisan, multi-issue advocacy connects historic Quaker testimonies on peace, equality, simplicity, and truth with peace and social justice issues. FCNL fields the largest team of registered peace lobbyists in Washington, DC.”

The Network of Spiritual Progressives is working to build a spiritually progressive movement to create a New Bottom Line so that government, institutions, corporations, and organizations are judged by the extent to which they are economically and socially just, promote love and care, kindness and generosity, strengthen our capacity to treat others with respect and dignity and treat the universe as sacred. We seek to build local coalitions around our proposed Global Marshall Plan tikkun.org/gmp and the ESRA—Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the U.S. Constitution tikkun.org/ESRA.

“Friends of the Earth strives for a more healthy and just world. We are members of Friends of the Earth International, a global network representing more than two million activists in 74 different countries. […we] urge policymakers to defend the environment and work towards a healthy environment for all people.

“Faith Action Network (FAN) is a [Washington] statewide interfaith advocacy 501(c)3 non-profit organization through which thousands of people and over 65 congregations across Washington State partner for the common good. Together, we are a powerful voice of the faithful building a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world.

“Move to Amend is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and tens of thousands of individuals committed to social and economic justice, ending corporate rule, and building a vibrant democracy that is genuinely accountable to the people, not corporate interests. We are calling for an amendment to the US Constitution to unequivocally state that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns.

“Public Citizen serves as the people’s voice in the nation’s capital. Since our founding in 1971, we have delved into an array of areas, but our work on each issue shares an overarching goal: To ensure that all citizens are represented in the halls of power. “Public Citizen serves as the people’s voice in the nation’s capital. Since our founding in 1971, we have delved into an array of areas, but our work on each issue shares an overarching goal: To ensure that all citizens are represented in the halls of power.

Community Organizing Campaigns

These organizations work to organize campaigns and build power to change systems, laws, and patterns of life. They are grouped into major categories, while we note that many of these organizations work across issues.

  • Global Poverty
    • Oxfam (www.oxfam.org)
      “Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty.”
  • Human Rights and Food Justice
    • Global Witness (www.globalwitness.org)
      Global Witness runs pioneering campaigns against natural resource-related conflict and corruption and associated environmental and human rights abuses.”
    • Amnesty International (www.amnesty.org)
      “Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.”
    • Bonded Labor Liberation Front (www.bllfpak.org/about.htm)
      “Our mission is total eradication of the bonded labour, injustice, illiteracy inequality and poverty in south Asia.”
    • Ecumenical Advocacy Network’s Food For Life Campaign (http://www.e-alliance.ch/en/m/food/)
      “The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance focuses on food in order to overcome hunger and to improve livelihoods in harmony with creation and social justice.”
    • Food Democracy Now (www.fooddemocracynow.org)
      “Food Democracy Now! is a grassroots movement of more than 650,000 farmers and citizens dedicated to building a sustainable food system that protects our natural environment, sustains farmers and nourishes families.”
    • US Food Sovereignty Alliance  (usfoodsovereigntyalliance.org)
      “The US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA) works to end poverty, rebuild local food economies, and assert democratic control over the food system.”
    • Enough Project  (www.enoughproject.org)
      “The Enough Project fights to end genocide and crimes against humanity, focused on areas where some of the world’s worst atrocities occur. We get the facts on the ground, use rigorous analysis to determine the most sustainable solutions, influence political leaders to adopt our proposals, and mobilize the American public to demand change.”
    • Jewish World Watch  (www.jewishworldwatch.org)
      “Jewish World Watch (JWW) is a leading organization in the fight against genocide and mass atrocities. Since its founding in 2004 based on Jewish experience and values, JWW has grown from a collection of Southern California synagogues into a global coalition that includes schools, churches, individuals, communities and partner organizations that share a vision of a world without genocide.”
    • Global Exchange  (www.globalchange.org)
      An international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world.
  • Climate Change and Earth Justice
    • The Wise Earth Network  (http://www.wiser.org)
      “Wiser.org is run by the not-for-profit organization, WiserEarth, a women-led organization since 2009. Our mission is to help the global movement of people and organizations working toward social justice, indigenous rights, and environmental stewardship to connect, collaborate, share knowledge, and build alliances.”
    • 350.org  (www.350.org)
      “350.org is building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis. Our online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions are led from the bottom up by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries.” Find your local chapter: http://local.350.org
    • Union of Concerned Scientists  (www.ucsusa.org)
      “The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet’s most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.”
    • Deep South Center for Environmental Justice  (www.dscej.org)
      “A major goal of the Center has been the development of minority leadership in the areas of environmental, social, and economic justice along the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor.”
    • Climate Justice Now  (www.climate-justice-now.org)
      A network of organizations and movements from across the globe committed to the fight for social, ecological and gender justice.
  • Workers’ Rights
    • Worker Rights Consortium  (www.workersrights.org)
      “The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) is an independent labor rights monitoring organization, conducting investigations of working conditions in factories around the globe. Our purpose is to combat sweatshops and protect the rights of workers who make apparel and other products.”
    • Fair Trade Town  (fairtradetownsusa.org)
      “Fair Trade Towns unites conscious consumers, dedicated activists, members of the business and retail community, local communities of faith and other community organizations, and your city or town government in the effort to ensure that we are all playing a part in supporting those who provide us with so much in the US market.”
    • Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign  (www.letjusticeroll.org)
      “With over 100 member organizations, the nonpartisan Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign is the leading faith, community, labor, business coalition committed to raising the minimum wage to a living wage at the state and federal level.”
    • Wake Up Walmart  (makingchangeatwalmart.org)
      “Making Change at Walmart is a campaign challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families. Anchored by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), we are a coalition of Walmart associates, union members, small business owners, religious leaders, community organizations, women’s advocacy groups, multi-ethnic coalitions, elected officials and ordinary citizens who believe that changing Walmart is vital for the future of our country.”
    • Walmart Worker’s Association  (forrespect.org)
      “We envision a future in which our company treats us, the Associates of Walmart, with respect and dignity. We envision a world where we succeed in our careers, our company succeeds in business, our customers receive great service and value, and Walmart and Associates share all of these goals.”
    • Business Leaders and Investors for a Living Wage  (http://faireconomy.org/responsible_wealth)
      “Responsible Wealth is a network of business leaders, investors, and inheritors in the richest 5% of wealth and/or income in the U.S. who believe that growing inequality is not in their best interest, nor in the best interest of society.”
  • Broad Organizations
    • Network of Spiritual Progressives  (www.spiritualprogressives.org)
      “Members of the Network of Spiritual Progressives passionately seek to manifest our values in the world by inspiring leaders, influencing legislation and incarnating community.”
    • Alliance for Democracy  (www.thealliancefordemocracy.org)
      “A new Populist movement — not a political party — setting forth to end the domination of our economy, our government, our culture, our media and the environment by large corporations. The Alliance brings people together to build a progressive populist movement to end the corporate domination of our economy, our government, our culture, our media and the environment. “
    • Reclaim Democracy!  (reclaimdemocracy.org)
      “Reclaim Democracy! works to create a representative democracy with an actively participating public, where citizens don’t merely choose from a menu of options determined by elites, but play an active role in guiding the country and its political agenda. We believe that one’s influence should be a direct result of the quality of one’s ideas and the energy one puts into promoting these ideas, independent of wealth or status.”
    • U.S. branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom  (wilpfus.org)
      “WILPF works to achieve through peaceful means world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, and to establish those political, social, and psychological conditions which can assure peace, freedom, and justice for all.”
    • United for a Fair Economy  (www.faireconomy.org)
      “UFE raises awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart. We support and help build social movements for greater equality.”
    • Tikkun Magazine (www.tikkun.org)
      Tikkun magazine, online and in print, provides insight on how to bring a utopian vision into reality. We build bridges between religious and secular progressives by delivering a forceful critique of all forms of exploitation, oppression, and domination while nurturing an interfaith vision of a caring society. Tikkun is not just for religious or spiritual people, yet it also encourages the emergence of a Religious Left that can not only counter the power of the Religious Right, but can also cross certain Left/Right boundaries by speaking to the deepest needs of human beings and highlighting the need for a nonviolent path to replace global capitalism with an economy that gives priority to love, generosity, environmental sustainability, social justice and peace.

Education and Consciousness-Raising

The resources below provide access to news, entertainment, and educational materials that are aimed at social and ecological responsibility. 

  • Alternative Sources of News and Information
    • Yes! Magazine  (www.yesmagazine.org)
      “YES! Magazine reframes the biggest problems of our time in terms of their solutions. Online and in print, we outline a path forward with in-depth analysis, tools for citizen engagement, and stories about real people working for a better world.”
    • IPCC  (www.ipcc.ch)
      “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts.”
    • Democracy Now  (www.democracynow.org)
      “Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.”
    • Green America  (www.greenamerica.org)
      “Our mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.”
    • United for a Fair Economy  (www.faireconomy.org)
      “UFE raises awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart. We support and help build social movements for greater equality.”
  • Film and Theatre

     

    • The High Cost of Low Prices
      “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices” is a feature length documentary that uncovers a retail giant’s assault on families and American values. The film dives into the deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities struggling to fight a goliath.”  (YouTube link to film)
    • Nero’s Guests  (http://www.nerosguests.com)
      “Nearly 2, 00, 000 farmers have committed suicide in India over the last 10 years. But the mainstream media hardly reflects this.
Nero´s Guests is a story about India’s agrarian crisis and the growing inequality seen through the work of the Rural Affairs Editor of Hindu newspaper, P Sainath.”
    • Blood in the Mobile  (bloodinthemobile.org)
      Blood in the Mobile is a documentary by director Frank Piasecki Poulsen focused on the impact of cellular phone production in DR Congo.
    • The Corporation (www.thecorporation.com)
      “Taking its status as a legal “person” to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist’s couch to ask “What kind of person is it?” The Corporation includes interviews including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore.”
    • Life and Debt  (www.lifeanddebt.org)
      “Utilizing excerpts from the award-winning non-fiction text “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, Life & Debt is a woven tapestry of sequences focusing on the stories of individual Jamaicans whose strategies for survival and parameters of day-to-day existence are determined by the U.S. and other foreign economic agendas.“
    • A Sea Change  (www.aseachange.net)
      “A Sea Change follows the journey of retired history teacher Sven Huseby on his quest to discover what is happening to the world’s oceans.
    • Climate Refugees  (www.climaterefugees.com)
      A film that is changing the way the world is looking at climate change. There is a new phenomenon in the global arena, climate refugees. A climate refugee is a person displaced by climatically induced environmental disasters. This film catalogues brilliantly the political-personal reality of the rise of climate refugees.
    • The Renewal Project  (http://www.renewalproject.net)
      Across the USA, people of faith are standing up for the environment. Evangelical Christians are fighting mountaintop removal, a coal mining process that is decimating Appalachia. Muslims are supporting sustainable farming. Jews are helping children experience the bond between nature and spirituality. Interfaith Power and Light is mobilizing people of all faiths in a religious response to global warming. For the first time, the combined energy of these diverse activists is the driving force behind a feature-length documentary.
    • An Inconvenient Truth  (www.takepart.com/an-inconvenient-truth/film‎)
      An Inconvenient Truth takes a look at former Vice President Al Gore’s passionate crusade to halt global warming’s progress by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. This film shows that global warming is no longer just a political issue but is the biggest moral challenge facing human civilization today.
    • Blue Gold: World Water Wars  (www.bluegold-worldwaterwars.com/)
      Blue Gold: World Water Wars uncovers truths about water management that the world needs to understand and act upon immediately. This film examines environmental and political implications of the planet’s dwindling water supply and showcases how wars in the future will be fought over water.
    • Coal Country  (www.coalcountrythemovie.com)
      Coal Country is a film that tells of the dramatic struggle around the use of coal, which provides over half of electricity in America. The filmmakers of Coal Country seek to understand the meaning behind promises of “cheap energy” and “clean coal” and if they are achievable and at what costs. Featuring coal miners and activists who have joined together to  battle coal companies in Appalachia.
    • Flow  (www.flowthefilm.com)
      Flow investigates the world water crisis. Flow showcases interviews with scientists and activists who intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, while introducing the many governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab. The films also reveals the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and developing new technologies which are becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.
    • Food, Inc.  (http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/)
      Food, Inc. unveils America’s food industry showing how the nation’s supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers, and the environment. Food, Inc. reveals surprising-and often shocking truths-about what we eat, how it is produced, who we have become as a nation, and where we are going from here.
    • Gasland and Gasland II (http://www.gaslandthemovie.com)
      Gasland documents filmmaker Josh Fox on a cross-country journey investigating the world of natural gas and hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The film uncovers a trail of secrets, lies, and contamination. One of many contamination stories that Fox discovers is residents of a Pennsylvania town who reports that they are able to light their drinking water on fire.
    • Sisters on the Planet  (http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whoweare/sisters-on-the-planet)
      Sisters on the Planet film tell the story of four women, Martina-Uganda, Muriel-Brazil, Sharon-Mississippi, and Sahena-Bangladesh and their fight different struggles brought on by climate change in their respective communities. The Sisters on the Planet Imitative created by Oxfam brings together women leaders to raise awareness about climate change and to help vulnerable communities adapt to the crisis.
    • The Story of Cap and Trade  (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-cap-trade/)
      The Story of Cap and Trade is a fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. The film introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this issue and reveals the “devils in the details” in current cap and trade proposals, such as, free permits to big polluters and fake offsets.
    • The Story of Stuff  (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/)
      The Story of Stuff is an animated documentary about the life cycle of material goods. The Story of Stuff aims to expose the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls for people to band together to create a more sustainable and just world.
    • Tapped  (www.tappedthemovie.com)
      Tapped gives a behind the scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of the water industry that aims to privatize the one resource that should not become a commodity: water. Tapped is an examination of the big business of bottled water from the plastic production to the oceans that many empty bottles end up.
    • Water Front (www.waterfrontmovie.com)
      The film The Water Front poses the question…What if you lived by the largest body of fresh water in the world but could no longer afford to use it? The Water Front follows the personal journey of Vallory Johnson, who transforms her anger into an emotional grassroots campaign, defending affordable water as a human right in Highland Park, Michigan.
    • Who Killed the Electric Car  (www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com)
      Who Killed the Electric Car investigates the events leading to the quiet destruction of thousands of new, radically efficient electric vehicles. This film paints the picture of an industrial culture whose aversion to change and reliance on oil may be deeper than its ability to embrace ready solutions.
    • Further Audio/Visual Resources

       

  • Fiction

     

    • Foreign by Sonora Jha
    • Solar Storms by Linda Hogan
  • Education about Alternative Progress Indicators (alternatives to GDP)

     

    • The Human Development Index  (hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi)
      “The first [UN] Human Development Report introduced a new way of measuring development by combining indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment and income into a composite human development index, the HDI. [It is] a single statistic that serves as a frame of reference for both social and economic development.”
    • Triple Bottom Line  (www.economist.com/node/14301663)
      “The triple bottom line (TBL) thus consists of three Ps: profit, people and planet. It aims to measure the financial, social and environmental performance of the corporation over a period of time. Only a company that produces a TBL is taking account of the full cost involved in doing business.”
    • Greenhouse Development Rights Framework  (gdrights.org)
      “Greenhouse Development Rights (GDRs) is a Equity Reference Framework that is designed to support an emergency global climate mobilization while, at the same time, preserving the rights of all people to reach a dignified level of sustainable human development free of the privations of poverty.”
    • Genuine Progress Indicator  (genuineprogress.net)
      “With 26 indicators, the GPI consolidates critical economic, environmental and social factors into a single framework in order to give a more accurate picture of the progress – and the setbacks – we have made.”
  • Educational Programs and Centers

     

    • Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU  (chrgj.org)
      “The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) is the hub of human rights study at New York University School of Law, the top-ranked program for international law in the country and one of the premier law schools in the world. “
    • Food First  (www.foodfirst.org)
      “The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First analyzes the root causes of global hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation and develops solutions in partnership with movements working for social change.“
    • New Economics Foundation  (neweconomics.org)
      “NEF (the new economics foundation) is an independent think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. We promote innovative solutions to the major economic, environmental and social challenges of today, and aren’t afraid to challenge mainstream thinking.”
    • Institute for Policy Studies  (www.ips-dc.org/)
      “IPS is a community of public scholars and organizers linking peace, justice, and the environment in the U.S. and globally. We work with social movements to promote true democracy and challenge concentrated wealth, corporate influence, and military power.”
    • Institute for Local Self-Reliance  (www.ilsr.org)
      “The Institute’s mission is to provide innovative strategies, working models and timely information to support environmentally sound and equitable community development. To this end, ILSR works with citizens, activists, policymakers and entrepreneurs to design systems, policies and enterprises that meet local or regional needs; to maximize human, material, natural and financial resources; and to ensure that the benefits of these systems and resources accrue to all local citizens.”
    • Rocky Mountain Institute  (www.rmi.org)
      “RMI excels in radical resource efficiency, especially via integrative design. We drive progress chiefly by transforming design, identifying and busting barriers, and spreading innovation.”
    • E.F. Schumacher Society  (centerforneweconomics.org)
      “We combine theoretical research with practical application at the local, regional, national, and international levels—deliberately designing transformative systems and communicating clearly the principles that guide them.”
    • Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy (POCLAD)  (www.poclad.org)
      “POCLAD is a group of 11 people instigating democratic conversations and actions that contest the authority of corporations to govern. Our analysis evolves through historical and legal research, writing, public speaking, and working with organizations to develop new strategies that assert people’s rights over property interests.”
    • Forum on Religion and Ecology  (fore.research.yale.edu)
      “The Forum on Religion and Ecology is the largest international multireligious project of its kind. With its conferences, publications, and website it is engaged in exploring religious worldviews, texts, ethics, and practices in order to broaden understanding of the complex nature of current environmental concerns. The Forum recognizes that religions need to be in dialogue with other disciplines (e.g., science, economics, education, public policy) in seeking comprehensive solutions to both global and local environmental problems.”
    • Political Economy Research Institute  (www.peri.umass.edu)
      “The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) promotes human and ecological well-being through our original research. Our approach is to translate what we learn into workable policy proposals that are capable of improving life on our planet today and in the future. In the words of the late Professor Robert Heilbroner, we at PERI “strive to make a workable science out of morality.”
    • Program for Environmental and Regional Equity  (dornsife.usc.edu/pere)
      “PERE conducts research and facilitates discussions on issues of environmental justice, regional inclusion, and social movement building.”
    • Business Alliance for Local Living Economies BALLE  (bealocalist.org)
      “Within a generation, we envision a global system of human-scale, interconnected local economies that function in harmony with local ecosystems to meet the basic needs of all people, support just and democratic societies, and foster joyful community life. At the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, BALLE, our work is focused on creating real prosperity by connecting leaders, spreading solutions that work, and driving investment toward local economies.”
    • Network of Spiritual Progressives (www.spiritualprogressives.org)The Network of Spiritual Progressives is working to build a spiritually progressive movement to create a New Bottom Line to build a spiritually progressive movement to create a New Bottom Line so that government, institutions, corporations, and organizations are judged by the extent to which they are economically and socially just, promote love and care, kindness and generosity, strengthen our capacity to treat others with respect and dignity and treat the universe as sacred.  We provide regional Transformative Activist Trainings that help nurture people who wish to bring greater psychological and spiritual sophistication into social change movements.

Earth-honoring liturgy, hymnody, biblical hermeneutics, and art

These organizations and networks help faith communities reflect God’s active love for the Earth community.

  • Earth Ministry  (www.earthministry.org)
    Earth Ministry is a non-profit organization committed to engaging the Christian community in environmental stewardship. We work in partnership with individuals and congregations to respond to this great moral challenge through education, individual and congregational lifestyle choices, and organizing for social change through environmental advocacy.
  • Cool Congregations (http://www.coolcongregations.org)
    “Cool Congregations express their love of Creation and their concern about global warming by being part of the solution. Cool Congregations strive for energy efficiency and conservation; use renewable energy; create climate-friendly grounds; and inspire people to do the same in their own homes and communities. In the process, they save money on energy bills and develop a closely knit community.”
  • Green Faith  (www.greenfaith.org)
    “GreenFaith provides you with extensive resources, one-on-one coaching, support and networking opportunities to help you do holistic & successful environmental programming.”
  • Green Sisters  (http://www.sisterfarm.org/eco-spirituality-centers.html)
    “At the very grassroots of the Church, Catholic religious sisters have faithfully and steadfastly taken up the mission to heal and restore the life systems of the planet. Beginning with the communal lands in their own backyards, sisters are extending their ecological repair efforts from their local bioregions to those of the world’s poor, who are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution and resource depletion.”
  • Green Seminary Initiative  (www.greenseminaries.org)
    The Green Seminary Initiative fosters efforts by theological schools and seminaries to incorporate care for creation into the identity and mission of the institution, such that it becomes a foundational part of the academic program and an integral part of the ethos of the whole institution.
  • Webofcreation.org
  • Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale
  • Interfaith Power and Light

Lifestyle Changes and Economic Advocacy

These resources listed help individuals, families, and households make conscious changes in their own consumption habits through more intentional purchases of food and everyday goods. It also offers resources for other forms of economic advocacy — socially and ecologically responsible investing and banking, and boycotts. 

  • Everyday Purchases

    • Guide to Ending Sweatshop Labor
      “In this guide, we give you tips and resources for shifting your spending to sweat-free companies, demanding corporate responsibility from the worst offenders, and mobilizing with others to take a stand for fair labor conditions.”
    • The Better World Shopping Guide  (www.betterworldshopper.org)
      “Better World Shopper is a site dedicated to providing people with a comprehensive, up-to-date, reliable account of the social and environmental responsibility of every company on the planet AND making it available in practical forms that individuals can use in their everyday lives.”
    • Fair Trade Federation  (www.fairtradefederation.org)
      “Fair Trade Federation members have one primary purpose: to support farmers and artisans in developing countries through the practice of fair trade.”
    • Green America (www.greenamerica.org)
      “Our mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.”
  • Consumption Levels

    • Carbon tithe: lowering your carbon footprint by 10% a year.

    • Empowerment Institute  (http://www.empowermentinstitute.net/index.php/community/community-empowerment)
      The Empowerment Institute offers several “How to” guides and tools for community change agents to think intentionally and communally about how to lower their consumption levels. They include the Low Carbon Diet program, the Green Living program, the Livable Neighborhood program, the Water Stewardship program, and the Resilient Community program.
  • Boycotts

    • United Students Against Sweatshops  (usas.org)
      “United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is a grassroots organization run entirely by youth and students. We develop youth leadership and run strategic student-labor solidarity campaigns with the goal of building sustainable power for working people. We define “sweatshop” broadly and consider all struggles against the daily abuses of the global economic system to be a struggle against sweatshops.”
    • Green America  (www.greenamerica.org)
      “Our mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.”
  • Local/Regional Small and Medium-scale Business

    • Business Alliance for Local Living Economies
      Within a generation, we envision a global system of human-scale, interconnected local economies that function in harmony with local ecosystems to meet the basic needs of all people, support just and democratic societies, and foster joyful community
  • Socially/Ecologically Responsible Investing

    • Divestment from Fossil Fuel Companies  (gofossilfree.org)
      “Divestment is the opposite of an investment–it simply means getting rid of stocks, bonds or investment funds that are unethical or morally ambiguous. Fossil Fuel investments are a risk for investors and the planet–that’s why we’re calling on institutions to divest from these companies.”
    • The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment  (www.ussif.org)
      The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment  is the US membership association for professionals, firms, institutions and organizations engaged in sustainable and responsible investing.”
    • Local or regional banks and credit unions 

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