Indigenous people sing “songs of resistance” as they march following a People’s Plenary held on the final day of the United Nations climate summit, COP30, that took place in Belém, Brazil, Nov. 10-21. Photo: Albin Hillert/LWF

[Episcopal News Service] After 12 days of calling for centering environmental advocacy and justice around Indigenous voices at the 30th United Nations climate conference, or COP30, in Bélem, Brazil, church leaders are reflecting on what they learned and how Episcopalians can work to address climate change.

Several Episcopal and Anglican leadership who traveled to Brazil last month for COP30 spoke about the experience in a Dec. 1 church webinar. 

Despite the geographical differences of COP30 participants, “one of the things I noticed that is both sad and hopeful is that, like in all of the panels, the story [of Indigenous people worldwide] is so much the same,” the Rev. Isaiah “Shaneequa” Brokenleg, The Episcopal Church’s interim Indigenous Ministries missioner, said during the webinar.

At the U.N. conference, Indigenous leaders representing different tribes worldwide shared how they have engaged in tribal sovereignty initiatives to protect lands and local food supplies. For example, Brokenleg said, some Māori people from New Zealand shared their efforts to regulate jade mining to prevent further land destruction.

Brokenleg, who is Lakota, represented Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe at COP30 in the church’s 11th consecutive year participating in the conference.

Brokenleg’s participation at the Nov. 10-21 climate conference supported an Anglican Communion delegation led by Archbishop of Brazil Marinez Santos Bassoto, who also serves as Anglican bishop of the Amazon, where the world’s largest rainforest is located.

During COP30, world leaders, policymakers, climate scientists, activists, corporate executives and faith representatives addressed multiple issues related to climate change and environmentalism, including waste management and agriculture. This was the first year the United States didn’t formally send representatives to the conference, though California Gov. Gavin Newsom led an alternate delegation of more than 100 U.S. lawmakers.

Faith representatives participated in an ecumenical march and vigil for the Earth and a worship service at the Catedral Santa Maria. Brokenleg described the service as “beautiful.”

Martha Jarvis, the Anglican Communion’s U.N. representative, explained during the webinar the “Lungs of the Earth” initiative, which describes how Anglicans can be involved in working to restore and protect three vital ecosystems: forests, oceans and frozen landscapes. This includes participation in reforestation initiatives like the Communion Forest, and also amplifies environmental and advocacy work from Anglican provinces around the world and celebrates the work of Anglican environmental activists, including Green Anglicans and the Anglican Communion Environmental Network.

“This focus on being in the Amazon, the importance of the COP being right at the center of one of the ‘lungs of the earth,’ made it into many political declarations, many written statements …  This focus was one of the things that was recognized quite consistently in the political declarations,” Jarvis said.

More than 90 countries supported a deforestation roadmap, but the measure failed to reach a final agreement. Last year, 8.1 million hectares of forest were lost globally, according to data from the Forest Declaration Assessment 2025, which was published in October.

COP30 did, however, result in some victories. For example, several countries pledged $7 billion for the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, a multilateral fund to help developing countries preserve their tropical forests.

“There is so much work that is left to do, and hopefully the spirit has touched each of us with our particular charge and call for action in our particular dimensions,” Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church’s U.N. representative, said during the webinar. “It takes all of us together.”

At 8 p.m. Eastern tonight, The Episcopal Church and the Green Caucus will host its monthly creation care Compline via Zoom. Click here to register. 

Episcopalians can learn more about the church’s commitment to addressing the global climate crisis on its website.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

“If the Amazon is the lungs of the Earth, then the Indigenous peoples are her voice, and if we cannot hear them, we are not breathing,” the Rev. Lester Mackenzie, The Episcopal Church’s chief of mission program, told the more than 140 people gathered for the service, which occurred on the opening day of COP30 – the 30th session of the Conference of Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

He was referencing remarks made previously by the Most Rev. Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto, primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church in Brazil and bishop of the Amazon, who said that the voices of Indigenous people, as well as advocacy for environmental justice, must be central to conference discussions.

Organizers adapted the service, which was based on the Compline liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer, for the occasion. The Scripture readings all had creation-care themes, as did many of the prayers. The Rev. Payton Høegh, a deacon in the Diocese of Los Angeles and program director of the Center for Spirituality in Nature, led the service.

The Rev. Payton Høegh, a deacon in the Diocese of Los Angeles and program director of the Center for Spirituality in Nature, leads a Nov. 10 service of Compline offered by The Episcopal Church to mark the start of COP30, the United Nations’ annual climate conference. Photo: Zoom screenshot

The Rev. Isaiah “Shaneequa” Brokenleg, the church’s interim Indigenous missioner, is representing The Episcopal Church at the conference in support of the Anglican Communion delegation led by Bassotto. This will be the 11th year The Episcopal Church has participated in the annual climate conference.

Episcopalians can learn more about how The Episcopal Church is engaging with COP30 on a dedicated website here.

Ahead of COP30, the Anglican Communion Office has been sharing information about the “Lungs of the Earth” initiative, which describes how Anglicans can be involved in working to restore and protect three vital ecosystems: forests, oceans and frozen landscapes.

This includes participation in reforestation initiatives like the Communion Forest, and it also amplifies environmental and advocacy work from Anglican provinces around the world and celebrates the work of Anglican environmental activists, including Green Anglicans and the Anglican Communion Environmental Network.

A Creation Care Compline, an offering from The Episcopal Church and the Green Caucus, takes place on the first Monday of every month.

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.

In advance of the 30th United Nations climate conference, COP30, The Episcopal Church hosted an Oct. 27 webinar on “Climate Action and COP30,” where Episcopalians talked about climate mitigation projects and why creation care is important for everyone. Photo: Screenshot

[Episcopal News Service] Ten years after nearly 200 countries signed the Paris Agreement promising to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, global dependence and investment in fossil fuels still dominate the energy sector over renewable resources. And at the same time, surface temperatures continue to reach record levels, and severe weather events like droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, heavy rain and floods are increasing.

In advance of the 30th United Nations climate conference, COP30, The Episcopal Church hosted a webinar on “Climate Action and COP30,” where Episcopalians talked about climate mitigation projects and why creation care is important for everyone. 

In the Lakota language, “Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ means we are all related. But when we say that, we’re not just talking about people, we’re talking about plants and animals and all of creation,” the Rev. Isaiah “Shaneequa” Brokenleg, The Episcopal Church’s interim Indigenous Ministries missioner, said during the Oct. 27 webinar. She will represent The Episcopal Church at COP30, the 11th consecutive year The Episcopal Church has participated in the conference.

During COP30, world leaders, policymakers, climate scientists, activists, corporate executives and interfaith representatives will gather Nov. 10-21 in Belém, Brazil, to address multiple areas of climate change and environmentalism, including waste management, agriculture and more. In an interview with The Guardian ahead of the conference, António Guterres, the U.N.’s secretary-general, said overshooting the target in the Paris Agreement will have “devastating consequences” for the world.

Anglican Archbishop of Brazil Marinez Santos Bassotto, who also serves as bishop of the Amazon, has called for Indigenous voices to be at the center of the discussion. Brokenleg’s participation at COP30 will support the Anglican Communion delegation led by Bassotto.

“We’re really there to engage with all of [Bassotto’s] plans and her witness within Brazil and globally. We’re also there to play our part in the worldwide church’s witness on this topic,” Martha Jarvis, the Anglican Communion’s U.N. representative, said during the webinar. “We work ecumenically with other church denominations and with other faiths to say that this is an issue that matters to our God and to influence the negotiations, through symbolism, through one-to-one meetings, through the stories that we’re able to get the media to carry and through events that we host at the COP itself.”

COP30 will focus on the efforts needed to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the presentation of new national action plans and the progress on the finance pledges made at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

By engaging in climate action, “we are choosing justice over convenience,” the Rev. Lester Mackenzie, The Episcopal Church’s chief of mission, said during the webinar.

Barbara “Barbie” Okamoto Bach, co-chair of the Diocese of New Jersey’s environmental commission and a founding member of the House of Deputies’ Green Caucus, said that “baby steps” are key to long-term environmental impact.

For example, “Before asking the cathedral and all the congregations to eliminate disposable utensils and single use plastics from hospitality events – coffee hours, receptions – first we have to research and recommend appropriate compostable cups, plates and forks and spoons to replace volumes of trash,” she said.

Henry Bibelheimer, who volunteered with the Young Adult Service Corps in the Episcopal Church in the Philippines between 2018 and 2020, said he learned about asset-based community development while in the Philippines, including sustainable, cooperative approaches to banana and coffee plant harvesting.

“Organizations that function similarly to a co-op can be a powerful tool for community action,” he said.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. No U.S. delegates are expected to participate in COP30.

“It’s a particularly important time to take a moment to consider, given some of the political narratives around us at the moment, where our church globally can play an important part in offering a different way, a third way [of approaching climate action],” Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church’s U.N. representative, said.

Episcopalians who are interested in participating in COP30 remotely can find ways to do so here. 

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

The Most Rev. Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto is primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church in Brazil and bishop of the Amazon.

[Episcopal News Service] The Most Rev. Marinez Roa dos Santos Bassotto, primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church in Brazil and bishop of the Amazon, on Oct. 20 said that the voices of Indigenous people and advocacy for environmental justice must be central to discussions that will take place at COP30, the United Nations climate change conference taking place Nov. 10-21 in the Brazilian city of Belém.

Her comments were made during an online press conference of ecumenical faith leaders, facilitated by Christian Aid, a U.K.-based nonprofit that works globally to end poverty, and shared by the Anglican Communion News Service.

Bassotto, who is also the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Amazon, is in the U.K. through Oct. 24. She will also meet with Norwich Bishop Graham Usher, the Church of England’s lead bishop for the environment, and take part in a round table discussion about climate justice at Lambeth Palace with U.K. church leaders and activists.

She will also play a major role in the People’s Summit, a parallel event to COP30 taking place Nov. 12-16 that will provide a platform for civil society, social movements and marginalized communities to voice their concerns and demands for climate justice.

The bishop is adamant that the voices of the Indigenous people of the region must be heard. She said, “I hope that their participation will be central and impactful. Their voices need to be at the center of discussions, because they are the ones who hold the ancestral and practical knowledge necessary for preservation. “

She added, “Climate justice will only be achieved when the territorial and cultural rights of these communities are fully recognized and respected. We want their voices to influence the negotiations, because their influence is the key to ensuring that the commitments made at the Summit are translated into concrete, effective and fair action.”

Mass deforestation continues to cause harm in Brazil, where in the Amazon 68.9 million hectares of forest cover have been lost between 2001 and 2023, which threatens biodiversity, displaces Indigenous peoples and accelerates climate change.

During a May 2025 visit to Trinity Church in New York City, Bassotto said that from 2016 to 2023, Brazil saw a dismantling of environmental policies that had been in place for more than 40 years. As a result, “We saw Indigenous peoples lose access to their traditional lands, the return of banned pesticides, mining on previously protected land, and an increase in deforestation and slash-and-burn agriculture.”

Bassotto was also the lead signer on a March 20, 2025, statement by faith leaders and organizations across Latin America and the Caribbean calling for action in the face of the climate crisis.

In it, they said, “Our territories, understood by us as sacred, are being destroyed. We witness the destruction of the Amazon, other ecosystems and the people who live there, caused by large-scale agriculture, mining, and fossil fuel extraction.” They noted, “Those who protect our lands – environmental and human rights defenders – are increasingly being persecuted.”

The Episcopal Church will be represented at COP30 by the Rev. Isaiah “Shaneequa” Brokenleg, the church’s interim Indigenous missioner, who will attend the conference in support of an Anglican Communion delegation led by Bassotto. This will be the 11th year The Episcopal Church has participated in the U.N. climate conference.

“As a winkté [two-spirit] and person of faith, I know that the Creator calls us to be good relatives, in right-relationship, to ALL of Creation.  In Lakota culture, we end our prayers with “mitakuye oyasin [we are all related], which reminds us of this truth,” Brokenleg told Episcopal News Service. “Indigenous voices at COP30 are vital because our spirituality, teachings, and ways of life testify to the world that caring for creation is not simply a policy choice, but a sacred responsibility; rooted in relationship, reciprocity and love.”

In a press release, the Rev. Lester Mackenzie, chief of mission program, said: “We are looking to partner more closely with those on the front lines of climate change, particularly with Anglican Communion partners. “We aim to lift up the voices of Indigenous siblings for the People’s Summit, recognizing the unique perspective and witness they can offer.”

Episcopalians also can learn more about the church’s commitment to creation care and climate justice during an upcoming two-part webinar:

• Oct. 27, 2 p.m. Eastern: “Climate Action and COP30.”
• Dec. 1, 2 p.m. Eastern: “Climate Action Beyond COP30.”

Registration is available here.

“Climate change impacts everyone. Our world will continue to be affected by our individual choices and collective decisions in response. Indigenous peoples are central to our understanding and practice of healthy relationships between people and planet,” Lynnaia Main, the Episcopal Church’s representative to the U.N., told ENS. “Episcopalians have an opportunity to listen and learn, and amplify Indigenous voices, by participating virtually during COP30 and sharing their own stories of local climate action. Learn more about how to participate on the Episcopal Church’s COP30 webpage.”

Ahead of COP30, the Anglican Communion Office has been sharing information about the “Lungs of the Earth” initiative, which describes how Anglicans can be involved in working to restore and protect three vital ecosystems: forests, oceans and frozen landscapes.

This includes participation in reforestation initiatives like the Communion Forest, and it also amplifies environmental and advocacy work from Anglican provinces around the world and celebrates the work of Anglican environmental activists, including Green Anglicans and the Anglican Communion Environmental Network.

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.

The Diocese of East Tennessee headquarters building is located in Knoxville. Photo: Andrew Morehead

[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of East Tennessee wants to reduce the electric bills at its diocesan headquarters in Knoxville to zero. By installing solar panels on the roof, it estimates it will save $8,000 a year, and it plans to pay those savings forward by investing in other energy efficiency projects in the diocese.

“God told us that we’re the stewards of this creation and we’re to take care of it,” Brother Andrew Morehead, the diocese’s missioner for communications and evangelism, told Episcopal News Service. “We need to be able to take what things we have and tools we have that best serve God’s creation and then put them into good use.”

Some of those tools are quite ordinary. The diocese, for example, already has swapped out less-efficient light bulbs for LEDs in its offices. It also installed motion sensors, so the lights automatically turn off when people leave rooms, and it upgraded to “smart” controls for its HVAC system.

And at a time when many dioceses and congregations across The Episcopal Church are adding solar power to fulfill churchwide conservation goals, East Tennessee is embarking on its first solar project, in the hopes that it will inspire similar initiatives around the diocese.

The original inspiration was provided by the 80th General Convention, which pledged the church in 2022 to “commit to a goal of net carbon neutrality in its operations and the work of staff, standing commissions, interim bodies, and General Convention by 2030.”

The resolution also encouraged Episcopalians at the local and diocesan level to work toward the same goal “through a combination of reducing emissions from travel, reducing energy use, increasing energy efficiency in buildings and purchasing offsets from duly investigated, responsible, and ethical partners.”

In 2024, members of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Knoxville proposed a resolution at East Tennessee’s diocesan convention to act in response to General Convention’s encouragement, and the diocese agreed to form a task force to lead efforts in support of carbon neutrality.

At the diocesan headquarters, located on land adjacent to an Episcopal school, “we’ve done as much as we can with the building itself” to improve its energy efficiency, Morehead said. Diocesan leaders, with Bishop Brian Cole’s support, began researching renewable energy options. They hired a company, Solar Alliance, to assess the diocesan building and determine what was possible there.

Solar Alliance produced a plan to create a 44-kilowatt system of 83 rooftop solar panels and a 30-kilowatt backup battery at a cost of $163,000. That would be enough power to cover the building’s electrical consumption while storing excess power by battery for use on cloudy days, at night or during outages.

The diocese is moving forward with the project and hopes to have the solar panels online within the next month or so, after which the energy savings will take about 15 years to match the cost of investing in the project.

East Tennessee isn’t paying for the project by taking out a loan. Instead, it is drawing cash from a reserve fund, so it can begin realizing immediate savings from solar power – and use those savings to spur energy efficiency efforts at its congregations, particularly those with fewer than 75 people on an average Sunday.

The congregations could make a difference by simple upgrades, like LED lights and motion sensors, Morehead said. Some also may be interested in researching solar options at their own buildings.

“Part of this project was so we as diocesan leadership … had experience in this to provide them with the knowledge,” he said. Solar power, he added, “comes with its own intricacies.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Compline is a nighttime liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer that completes the Daily Office cycle of prayer services. The Creation Care Compline will be offered at 9 p.m. Eastern Oct. 6 on Zoom. Register in advance here.

The service is for “anyone who is seeking a few moments of serenity, calm and peace, who wants to pray for the establishment of peace in their heart and on Earth,” said the Rev. Daniel Tamm, a deacon in the Diocese of Los Angeles who leads the team organizing the Creation Care Compline.

The service will incorporate Scripture and prayers oriented toward themes of creation and the environment. Participants will give thanks for the gifts of God and ask forgiveness for the ways God’s people have fallen short in their call to preserve those natural gifts.

Tamm told Episcopal News Service he and other members of the Green Caucus had enjoyed attending such services in the past. The Creation Care Compline had been held on the third Monday of each month but went on a hiatus after the 81st General Convention in June 2024. General Convention chose not to form a new interim body focused on environmental issues during the current triennium. Previously, that work had been conducted by the Task Force on Care of Creation and Environmental Racism.

Separately, a group of deputies to General Convention formed the Green Deputies Caucus last year, and it later broadened to become the Green Caucus of The Episcopal Church, a group that now welcomes “any Episcopalian with a heart for creation care.” Its mission includes publicity, networking, lobbying, communications and participation in various creation care initiatives around the church.

The Creation Care Compline is closely aligned with that mission, and the Green Caucus is eager to resume the series. “A lot of people remembered that and said we should get it back going again,” Emily Hopkins, a deputy from the Diocese of California, told ENS. She is convener of the Green Caucus, which she described as both a community and an advocacy group.

“Compline is a really soothing kind of office, and I personally kind of need that right now with everything that’s going on [in the world],” Hopkins said. “I hope it will be a spiritual moment, as well as a time to share some hope with other people.”

The group plans to hold the service every first Monday of the month, though it expects to move the November date later in the month to coincide with the United Nations’ annual climate summit, the Conference of the Parties meeting, or COP. The Episcopal Church is planning to partner with the wider Anglican Communion on faith-based witness at COP30, to be held Nov. 10-21 in Belém, Brazil.

A hiker walks in the Los Padres National Forest in California. Photo: U.S. Forest Service

[Episcopal News Service] The Green Team, a creation-care ministry at All Saints by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Montecito, California, is environmentally active in ways you might expect, and some you might not: beach clean-ups, outdoor choruses at dawn, birding trips, boat outings, bat walks, Sunday prayers for endangered species and promotion of efficient energy use.

“We try to get people out and really experiencing creation right here where we live,” Amanda Sparkman, a ministry leader, told Episcopal News Service. Ideally, those experiences in the Santa Barbara area also inspire parishioners to take better care of the natural world, including the nearby Los Padres National Forest.

Now, All Saints’ Green Team and other Episcopalians who care about federally protected wilderness are joining Americans across the country in speaking out in opposition to the Trump administration’s plan to reverse a policy that for more than 20 years has kept large swaths of federal land off limits to automotive traffic, development and resource extraction.

The so-called “Roadless Rule” was established in 2001 to prohibit road construction and timber harvesting in nearly 60 million acres in the National Forest System, including Alaska. Although not all national forest land is covered by the policy, it applies to some of the last remaining undeveloped wild land on the continent.

Much of that protected land is located in the Los Padres National Forest, which totals nearly 2 million acres from Ventura to Big Sur parallel to the Pacific Coast. Its hills and mountains are a popular attraction for hikers, and the Roadless Rule protects much of it from road construction and development.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture under President Donald Trump wants to change that, saying that ending the Roadless Rule is justified because roads are needed to assist with fire suppression and forest management.

“For nearly 25 years, the Roadless Rule has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to action,” Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said in an Aug. 27 news release announcing a three-week public comment period on the change.

Input on the proposed change was received through Sept. 19 in what Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins hailed as “one step closer to common sense management of our national forest lands.”

That contrasts sharply with how Sparkman and other conservation advocates describe the proposed change. “There’s so much science that shows what a bad idea this is,” she said.

Opening federal wilderness to roads could threaten animal populations, reduce biodiversity, disrupt recreational uses of the land and – contrary to the Trump administration’s stated goals of fire suppression – might even make wildfires more common, Sparkman said. More human activity in national forests creates more opportunity for humans and machinery to ignite fires there.

People who live in the Santa Barbara area feel a close connection to the Los Padres, Sparkman added. “It’s our backyard. It’s right here,” she said. “We see it every day. It’s the mountains we live in.”

Rick Eggerth has a similar appreciation for the Cascade Mountains near his home in Bellingham, Washington, just south of the Canadian border. He and other members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church are also speaking out against the proposed change to the Roadless Rule and what it could mean for wilderness in their state.

“The potential impact on those lands would be significant,” Eggerth said in an interview with ENS.

Someone from Bellingham in search of wildlands, Eggerth said, can take Highway 542 east about 60 miles and eventually reach a prominent tourist destination, Artist Point, known as one of the region’s most photographed locations because of the natural beauty of the surrounding mountainous landscape.

Then, after reaching Artist Point, leave the car behind.

“The road ends there, so if you want to go further east,” he said, “you basically have to walk or get on a river. All that area is pretty much roadless.”

Eggerth is opposed to changing the Roadless Rule partly because he doubts the Trump administration is sincere in justifying the change as prudent for forest management. “The only reason to do that would be for extracting industries or logging industries,” he said.

Conservationists call the Roadless Rule “one of the most important conservation policies in U.S. history.” It was first issued in 2001, in the final days of the Clinton administration, out of concern that urban and agricultural expansion was consuming more and more undeveloped land in the United States. At that time, the Department of Agriculture cited estimates that 3.2 million acres of forest, wetland, farmland and open space were being lost each year.

Those concerns remain top of mind as the Trump administration now tries to roll back the Roadless Rule. More than 600,000 people commented on the proposal during the three-week period, and nearly all supported leaving the rule unchanged.

“Roadless areas globally have been recognized as repositories of biodiversity, clean water, carbon sequestration and storage, and unsurpassed natural values,” the Society for Conservation Biology North America said in a written comment on behalf of its nearly 3,000 members. “The scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the preservation of these areas for the protection of biodiversity, the enhancement of wildfire resilience, and the long-term health of our ecosystems for future generations.”

The organization concluded that the Trump administration was pursuing “a dangerous and misguided policy that runs counter to sound conservation and environmental health science.”

In addition to the ecological arguments for keeping the Roadless Rule as is, there are plenty of human reasons, too. Experiencing untouched wilderness is a pleasure for many Americans like Eggerth, who hikes in the Cascades.

“I enjoy very much when I can get out in nature,” he said, often with a camera. “There’s already too much that’s been taken away.”

The Los Padres are a frequent hiking destination for Sparkman and others in the Santa Barbara area. Opening some of that forest to motorized traffic could be devastating, she said.

“This is a pretty big deal,” Sparkman said, and she feels Episcopalians should raise their voice to oppose the change, “if we profess to be people of God and care about his creation.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

De Prins and other Opelousas residents have become accustomed to frequent boil water advisories. Minutes after his Sept. 22 interview with ENS, he spotted a notice on social media that the city again was advising residents to boil their water before drinking or cooking with it.

“Thanks for your patience and cooperation,” the city’s advisory said.

Even after the city lifts its boil water advisory, many residents still consider the municipal water undrinkable, De Prins said. For years, Opelousas’ tap water – ranging from yellow to brown – has been found to be filled with contaminants  and “may pose a health risk over an extended period of time,” according to a 2023 state report. Many residents opt out of the dilapidated water system entirely by buying bottled water or filling larger jugs for a fee at consumer filling stations, while city officials pursue a costly long-term fix for the failing infrastructure.

A conceptual rendering shows what the water filling station at Epiphany Opelousas may look like what it is completed. Photo: Epiphany Opelousas

Any permanent municipal solution is still years away, so the Epiphany congregation decided to help with a temporary remedy. With a $82,000 grant awarded this year by The Episcopal Church’s United Thank Offering, the congregation plans to purchase and install a water filtration and filling station on church grounds. Once installed, residents will be able to fill up on clean, safe water – free of charge.

The congregation initially considered buying individual water filters to distribute to residents but concluded that option was not financially feasible, De Prins said. “Doing one centralized water filling station made the most sense.”

The church is centrally located in Opelousas, and the congregation envisions building a kind of shed to house the filling station, with two vending windows to accommodate residents who bring their own jugs. The system would use reverse osmosis technology to remove any impurities in the city water and an additional layer of UV filtration to kill bacteria.

De Prins is hopeful that the filling station will be up and running by spring 2026. The congregation has been supportive of the project as a way to follow the Christian call “to meet the needs of our neighbor to love our neighbors as ourselves,” he said.

The church also will benefit. Its own drinking water often comes out of the tap looking dingy and unappetizing, De Prins said.

Opelousas is a city of 15,000 people about a half hour north of Lafayette and an hour west of the state capital, Baton Rouge. Census records show 34% of residents live below the poverty level, a rate nearly twice as high as the statewide poverty average and nearly three times the national average.

That means many city residents may struggle to afford bottled water after still being expected to pay their municipal water bills in support of an unreliable, potentially hazardous public system, De Prins said.

For years, studies have shown that public system to be deficient, a fact residents could see with their own eyes. “The water is brown everywhere,” Kyedric Parker told KLFY-TV in 2022. “We don’t want to be bathing or drinking or cooking with this water. We need it fixed now.”

At that time, city officials blamed a water main break for the brown water. “It is something we address immediately and as fast as we can possibly get somebody on-site at that time,” Mayor Julius Alsandor told KLFY.

But the ongoing scope of the problem is extensive and has not improved. In 2023, a teenage Opelousas resident, Nyla Belton, told the news website Capital B that the poor water quality was contributing to a local environment where she fears for her health and safety.

“It makes me feel unsafe and unsanitary and that everything is dirty,” Belton said. “The water companies and the government don’t really care.”

In 2024, when a city engineer presented the state’s latest analysis of the water system to the Opelousas City Council, the outlook was bleak.

“Every well has some issues that need to be addressed,” engineer William Jarrell told city leaders. “Your water treatment facility has to be upgraded or rehabilitated. Your distribution system has an excessive number of leaks and your storage facilities, all of them, need work. So pretty much everything in your system.”

The city has sought outside funding to assist in its pending overhaul of the entire water and sewer system, a fix that is expected to take years to complete.

“There’s just a huge plethora of water issues,” De Prins told ENS. In the meantime, his congregation is working with engineers and contractors to get its water filling station installed and running.

Epiphany’s was one of 27 projects included in a more than $1 million award in June from the United Thank Offering. This round of UTO grants was focused on projects providing water access, sanitation and education.

Most of Epiphany’s grant will be spent on installing the filling station. The design is still being finalized, and De Prins would welcome a design that would allow the church to move the filling station to another community in need, once Opelousas’ public water crisis ends. Until then, the church will also need to pay for the water distributed from its filling station. Epiphany will accept donations but will not charge anyone to fill up their water jugs, De Prins said.

“If we can keep construction costs down to what we had budgeted or less, that provides us more funding [from the UTO grant] to offset the cost of the water,” he added.

De Prins doesn’t know how many people will take advantage of the filling station or what the usage costs will be for the church, but the congregation is eager to get it up and running.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

The initiative will amplify environmental and advocacy work from Anglican provinces around the world and celebrate the work of Anglican environmental activists, including Green Anglicans and the Anglican Communion Environmental Network.

It invites Anglicans to become involved in reforestation initiatives like the Communion Forest, to cut emissions and reduce plastic usage, to advocate and lobby governments for environmental justice, and to support Anglican environmental networks worldwide.

The advocacy focus on oceans, forests and ice caps has been developed with Anglican environmental advocates around the world, particularly Indigenous Anglicans. It will reflect the wisdom, traditions and sustainable practices of Indigenous communities in caring for the planet.

Creation is struggling to breathe

The “lungs of the earth”— our planet’s most vital ecosystems — are facing unprecedented threats that demand urgent global attention. These irreplaceable systems sustain life by generating oxygen, storing carbon and supporting biodiversity through oceans, coral reefs and forests. Meanwhile, ice caps regulate global temperatures by reflecting sunlight and driving ocean currents, helping slow climate change.

However, mounting environmental damage is putting these critical ecosystems at severe risk, creating cascading effects that threaten not only countless species and natural habitats but the health, security and survival of human communities worldwide.

In many parts of the world, Anglican churches are responding to these crises on the front lines. For example, the Church of Pakistan (United) provided relief through the Dioceses of Peshawar and Raiwind in the floods of late August, and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles addressed wildfire impacts in January 2025.

Anglicans at COP30

“Lungs of the Earth” will tie into the advocacy aims of an Anglican delegation attending this year’s COP30, which will take place in Brazil. The chosen city will provide the world with a unique platform to discuss climate solutions, firmly rooted in the heart of the Amazon, one of the lungs of the earth.

The primate of the Amazon, the Most Rev. Marinez Bassotto, will lead dialogues around COP30, with many other Anglicans and environmental activists from around the world. They will advocate for a nature-first response to climate change, including through the protection of marine life, forests and frozen landscapes, as well as changes in how much we consume and produce.

Martha Jarvis, the Anglican Communion’s permanent representative at the United Nations said, “The U.N.’s climate change negotiations have delivered change, but not quickly enough. More action is needed and that can feel overwhelming and disheartening because of the scale of environmental crisis.

“The good news is that when we care for creation, recognizing that as an expression of justice for our brothers and sisters locally, internationally and in future generations, we are responding to God’s call on humankind, not only political processes. We are not alone in our action, because we are joining in with Jesus’s restoration of all things. ‘Lungs of the Earth’ highlights some of the amazing ways in which Anglican churches are showing that restored future is possible now, often following the lead of indigenous Anglicans.

“Together, the worldwide church’s actions and voice adds up and can show that more is possible. I pray it gives your church ideas for action and advocacy, whatever your location and political context.”

Anglican response and restorative action

Anglican churches around the world are already working to protect the Lungs of the Earth. Recent examples include:

Oceans: The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has consistently called for urgent ocean restoration, emphasizing that Pacific futures are inseparable from the health of the seas. Furthermore, it advocates for a fossil-fuel-free Pacific, protection of at least 30% of the ocean and a global ban on deep-sea mining.

Climate Change Commissioner for the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, Fe’iloakitau Kaho Tevi, says “The ocean is not just our highway or our source of food — it is the heart of our identity and our survival… We must end plastic pollution, reject destructive practices like deep-sea mining and act with courage to protect the blue Pacific for generations to come.”

Forests: The Anglican Church of Kenya is actively involved in projects like protecting and restoring parts of the Karura urban forest in Nairobi. They have adopted 3,000 hectares and aim to plant 15 million trees in the coming years.  Kenya Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit has encouraged involvement in the Communion Forest, saying, “The Communion Forest is not just a physical forest; it is a spiritual act of worship, where every seedling planted symbolizes a step toward reconciliation with the earth. By planting trees, restoring ecosystems and educating communities about the importance of sustainability, the Communion Forest exemplifies the church’s commitment to honoring God’s creation.”

Ice Caps and Climate Action: The Church of England is pioneering ambitious climate action with its drive to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. The Rt. Rev. Graham Usher, lead bishop for the environment, reported in March that the initiative is already reducing energy bills and making churches fit for the future. Speaking to diocesan environment officers at the British Antarctic Survey, he emphasized that tackling climate and nature crises demonstrates Christian compassion and is simply”‘the right thing to do.”

Building on the momentum of the Season of Creation

The initiative will seek to complement and build on the momentum of the Season of Creation.

Director of Green Anglicans, the Rev. Rachel Mash, said, “The theme for this year’s Season of Creation is ‘Peace with Creation’, based on Isaiah 32:14–18. Isaiah describes a desolate world, lacking peace because of broken justice and humanity’s fractured relationship with God and Creation. Peace will only return when justice is restored. We are called to help ‘restore peace’ with creation. Oceans, forests and ice landscapes — the ‘lungs of the earth’ — are under threat. Churches must act to restore eco-systems and advocate to protect those under threat — for both present and future generations. Biblical hope is not passive waiting, but faithful action — praying, reconciling with Creation and the Creator, and living in unity, repentance and solidarity.”

The crew, including a young woman from the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia, made their voyage in a traditional vaka vessel, the Uto ni Yalo. Setting off on Aug. 21, they sailed from Suva in Fiji to the Solomon Islands, to reach the the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Honiara on Sept. 8.

The Pacific Islands Forum brings the region together to address pressing issues and challenges, and foster collaboration and cooperation in the pursuit of shared goals. Founded in 1971, it comprises 18 members: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The sailors wanted to amplify the voices of Pacific youth, calling on leaders to act as true guardians of the ocean and to take their message beyond the region to the world. They are celebrating the region’s navigation heritage and affirming Indigenous knowledge in addressing today’s environmental challenges.

The “Uto ni Yalo” are Fijian canoe sails, supported by the Uto Ni Yalo Trust, to advance sustainable sea transportation by rejuvenating traditional boat building, navigation and voyaging.

For this voyage, the Anglican Church across the region has rallied to take a leading role in spiritual support. At the outset, the voyage was blessed by the Most Rev. Sione Uluilakepa, archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

Arriving at the meeting, the crew delivered advocacy messages to the forum leaders, emphasizing that healthy oceans are essential for climate stability. Their calls include establishing a fossil fuel-free Pacific with 100% renewable energy, implementing comprehensive ocean management with Marine Protected Areas covering 30% of Pacific waters, resisting militarization while affirming Indigenous ocean guardianship, and supporting ratification and implementation of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele said about the voyage, “As host of this year’s Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, we reaffirm our vision of a blue Pacific that is peaceful, prosperous and united … The Wansolwara Voyage exemplifies the enduring strength of our shared ocean and our ancestral ties. It reminds us that our future lies in honoring and drawing from traditional and Indigenous wisdom, strengthening regional solidarity, and protecting our ocean as a source of life, stability and peace.”

The Pacific Islands have been at the forefront of climate advocacy for many years. Their efforts ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris are the reason the world is trying to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. More recently, the International Court of Justice passed a landmark Advisory Opinion about states’ responsibility to protect citizens from the damage caused by climate change, because of the work of a group of young lawyers from Vanuatu and advocacy from Pacific Island governments.

The climate change commissioner for the Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia, Fe’iloakitau Kaho Tevi, will run a side event at the leaders forum meeting to share more about the voyage and advocate to protect the oceans.

He spoke about the significance of the voyage, saying, “The ocean is not just our highway or our source of food — it is the heart of our identity and our survival. This voyage is a moving prayer, carrying the hopes of a generation who refuse to accept a polluted, dying ocean as their inheritance. Our message is clear: we must end plastic pollution, reject destructive practices like deep-sea mining and act with courage to protect the blue Pacific for generations to come.”

Additional information is on the Diocese of Polynesia Facebook Page or the Uto ni Yalo Trust Facebook page.