Eco-theology: On Earth as it is in Heaven
Our shared home, planet Earth, is a miracle. I’ve known this intuitively since I was a child growing up under the expansive skies of the Saskatchewan prairies. Stunning sunsets, stars, aurora borealis, long winter nights and long summer days with brilliantly clear skies, thunderstorms rolling in from a distance. All of this was a source…
Avoiding an environmental shipwreck
Every time you walk into the church building, that threadbare carpet stares up at you. Everyone agrees it’s time for a change, but how do you replace a worn-out carpet without destroying the planet? In the age of environmental awareness even a flooring choice goes well beyond a discussion of colour and price. Is the…
‘A matter of principle’
Mennonite Church Canada is backing up the establishment of a new Sustainability Leadership Group (SLG) with a $220,000 upgrade to its head office in Winnipeg. The goals of the new group were approved by MC Canada’s Joint Council in January 2020. Based on a report to Joint Council in October, the volunteer group will make…
Learning to farm with droughts and deluges
The weather patterns in Nepal used to be regular about 15 to 20 years ago, says Durga Sunchiuri, who grew up helping his parents farm their land in the mountainous terraces of Nepal’s Terhathum District. Not anymore. Today, he says, the monsoon season lasts just a month or five weeks, instead of three to four…
Watch: MEDA helps Colombian car company
The climate crisis is top of mind for many these days, so here’s a story about Maureauto Colombia (AVIS), a car rental company in Bogotá, Colombia that is reducing its environmental impact. In 2015, Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) awarded Maureauto Colombia a sustainability innovation grant. The grant has allowed the company to install Trabold…
‘Shaping a sustainable future’
Even urban Mennonites lay claim to an agrarian heritage. According to many speakers at Rooted and Grounded: A Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship, held last month at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), this is important despite the urbanity of most Mennonites and North Americans in general. More than 170 academics, farmers, pastors and laypeople…
