“Toward a Greener Attica:  Preserving the Planet and Protecting its People”
An International Symposium called by
His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
August 5 – 8, 2018
Athens and the Saronic Islands, Greece
The Reverend Thomas Carr

	“Toward a Greener Attica:  Preserving the Planet and Protecting its People” is the ninth major ecological symposium sponsored by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church.  The purpose of the symposium was to bring together international leaders from different sectors of society – religion, science, economists, business, government, environmental and journalists – for four major purposes.  One, to share knowledge of the existential crises of climate change, water, food scarcity, human rights and the extreme vulnerability of millions of people and Earth herself.  Secondly, to share what is happening from a variety of perspectives to address the crises.  Third, to discern what more can be done to deal with these crises, rapidly, using the expertise of the various international, national and local sectors of civilization.  Fourth, to develop and/or deepen the relationships among the participants and their various organizations, a time for networking and “steps forward.”  For a description of the program and participants, see https://greenattica.patriarchate.org/
Greece was a very appropriate location for the symposium for at least two reasons.  One reason is the one million refugees that have flooded Greece over the last several years fleeing the fruits of environmental destruction including war and political oppression.  Secondly, Greece has its own local environmental issues including, but not limited to the fact that much of the Agean Sea has been nearly “fished out.”  It is important in dealing with global issues like climate change, world-wide food scarcity and other crises to begin locally.  As Greece native, Alexandra Mitsotaki of the World Human Forum, reminded us on the last day, “If you want to change the world it will not come from the top down.  Change comes from the bottom up.”  Though the symposium was international, we were often reminded of the importance of local concerns, customs, ways of doing things; it is “local folks” in “local places” who know their particular areas and needs, and what works and what doesn’t to address them.  
A Pre-Symposium Gathering
	Prior to the start of the symposium on Tuesday night, nearly 20 people gathered at noon on top of the Areopagus, the rocky hill of ancient Athens, Greece that served as a legal court and a place for discussion about matters religious and philosophical.  This was the place the Apostle Paul went to talk to Athenian philosophers in the book of Acts, chapter 17.  There, we sat for an hour in the hot sun and shared what we were doing in our various communities related to climate change and eco-justice, prayed and considered how we might work together in our common struggle to preserve God’s planet and people.  For me, it was a moving experience to sit and listen with the heart to others and the Spirit to help discern how God may be calling us today in our common work.  Following our time on the Areopagus, I wrote the following:
“The psychological and spiritual impacts of climate change and other ecological devastation needs to be acknowledged.  People feel this.  We know this in our bones, in the deepest places of our selves because we are connected with all life, deeply connected.  We experience climate change, species extinction, deforestation, war, etc, whether we are consciously aware of these things or not.  This must be named – by all of us but particularly clergy, psychological counsellors, spiritual directors and others, to help people face the crises and deal with it in the way of the heart, in a spiritual way.”

First Session
	The opening session was held in Athens, at the Acropolis Museum.  Words of welcome and greetings were offered by several representatives of the Greek government, the United Nations, the Orthodox Church of Greece, a representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Turkson of the Vatican who read a letter from Pope Francis (see Appendix).  Cardinal Turkson (from Ghana) was one of two official representatives sent by the Vatican; the other was John Cardinal Olorunfemi Onaiyeakan from the Archdiocese of Abuja, Nigeria.  
	His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch presented, what I considered a very powerful opening address.  In it he reminded us that the root of the ecological and human crisis is spiritual and moral, and that a transformation is needed in the way we look at and live in the world.  The following statements spoke to me and were the heart of his remarks:
1)	 “Never before has there been more knowledge and more technology, and never before has human alienation from Earth and each other been greater.”
2)	“Any alienation from nature and the human self is a distortion of the Christian faith.”
3)	“Our human civilization will not be judged by our financial accumulations but by how the poor are cared for and how Earth is treated.”
4)	“We are challenged and called to change.  When we conserve, we must serve.  When we look into the face of our neighbor, we are looking into the face of every living being and God.”
5)	“Our ultimate hope as Christians is the descent of Christ to this Earth to make all things new.”

The Ecumenical Patriarch has been the boldest and longest standing international figure from a religious perspective, to be leading on eco-justice.  I am grateful for his persistent leadership.
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	The format of the remainder of the symposium was a series of panel presentations followed by question and answers from the participants.  Each speaker was given between eight and fifteen minutes (I never did understand how that was determined but for the most part, it worked very well).  Plenty of time was given in-between sessions for lengthy conversations among participants, time for networking and strategizing.  This report focuses mainly on the panel presentations and will not include every speaker.
	Early in the morning of the second day, the entire symposium boarded a boat and sailed to the island of Spetses, a beautiful Greek island where most of the remaining sessions were held.

Second Session:  Religion, Science and Environment
	Dr. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact, who is one of the top climate scientists in the world, gave a powerful summary of what is happening related to human caused climate change, some of the climate models and the realities of what is happening “on the ground,” today.  He used several charts that show some of the most critical impacts of rapid climate change.  Two of these are, 1) the Tipping Points of climate change, on which he commented:  “If the whole of the Paris Climate agreement is implemented, temperatures will still rise by 2.6 degrees Celsius,” and, 2) Extreme heat showing places in the world that will become uninhabitable by the end of the century, and 1.5 billion people who are and who will be severely impacted by sea level rise.  (I put in my notes while listening to his talk that this is something our American Baptist International Ministries and Home Mission Society must take into account in looking into the future.)  
Schellnhuber concluded by offering these words of hope and challenge for dealing with this current and future catastrophe: “It is never too late; we CAN do it; we MUST do it; and we must do it now!”
	*“Welcome to the Anthropocene,” was a phrase used on several occasions which came to mind during Schellnhuber’s remarks.  For years, scientists have referred to the current geological epoch as the Holocene.  But now, as a result of human beings completely transforming planetary life through climate change, species extinction and the spread of synthetic toxins, more and more people are using “Anthropocene” as a way to name the truth of our current situation.  The challenge of this new epoch is leadership to help us to move forward; leadership from every realm and order of civilization.* 
	Another one of the panelists that spoke to me in this first session was Raj Patel, author and activist.  Patel is completing a documentary on climate change as it is being felt, recognized and dealt with, or denied, by Evangelical Christians in Africa, and rural Wisconsin.  In the documentary, after interviews with both families separately, Patel brings four people from Africa to Wisconsin to meet and discuss their situations, which includes their perspective of faith.  For the Africans, climate change is disrupting their entire way of life; for the climate deniers in Wisconsin, they believe God is in charge and will take care of everything so there’s no need for concern.  I look forward to the completion of the documentary.  Patel also had a very interesting perspective on hope, claiming that despair is necessary because despair comes when our illusions die, and in the case of climate change, what is needed is the death of the illusion that we can keep on living the way we are living.
	The final panelist was Sophie Kivlehan, one of the 21 young people who are plaintiffs in the “Our Children’s Trust” lawsuit against the United States government.  The key to the claim, which will begin with trial on October 28th of this year, is the following:  “Our rights as young people to liberty, the pursuit of happiness and property, are being taken away by climate change.”  Are not young people, people, Sophie asked us?  Do not young people deserve protection under the law?  The fossil fuel industry and the U.S. government have known about this for more than four decades and have not taken action to prevent it.  To quote Sophie: “As a young person, I’m angry because they are pretending to be concerned about climate change.  We must go after the fossil fuel industry, the most powerful human institutions on the planet, as well as the government for their collaboration.”
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	*After dinner that evening, I presented His All Holiness with a letter of greeting from the Reverend Dr. Lee Spitzer, General Secretary of the American Baptist Churches, USA, along with his Pastoral Letter to American Baptist Churches in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.  See the Appendix for both of these documents.*
Third Session:  Global Trends – Economy, Ethics and Spirituality
	This was a powerful session led off by Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, an economist with particular focus on how the global economy affects Earth’s life systems and people.  Sachs had to leave the symposium immediately following his talk because he had been invited to the Vatican to meet with the Pope and Oil Company executives on the future of the planet, a meeting that took place the following day.  He pulled no punches in his 20 minute talk, reminding us of how the whole understanding of economy has shifted radically through the centuries.  For Aristotle, economics entails the use of wealth for the supreme good, the good of life, and we only achieve this supreme good through wisdom.  For Jesus, economics entails justice as he overturned the tables of the money lenders – today’s money lenders, according to Sachs, are Wall Street, Oil companies and mega-corporations.  The essence of the economy for Jesus was this preferential option for the poor.  Following the Reformation, the great reversal of our moral thinking related to economics emerged:  what was once the vice of self-interest became the virtue of will, which is celebrated today, in the words of Adam Smith, that economies are built on self-interest.  And when Limited Liability for Corporations became law first in the 1600s, this became the organizing principle of our modern economy.  It unleashed the greed and impunity as whole economies are now designed on a lack of responsibility and monetary profit, and corporations are now more powerful than most governments, including the United States government. 
	The alternative is a market economy within the boundaries of moral values – regulations (what are the Ten Commandments if not regulations?).  500 years of economies driven by greed hasn’t lead us to either happiness or survival as people and planet – it has put us on the very edge of total collapse.  We need a brand new way of looking at life – a new cosmology.
	The second speaker that made a big impression on me was Maude Barlow from the Council of Canadians, a long-time advocate on water issues.  She spoke of the world-wide water crisis we face, in the present and future.  By 2030, demand for fresh water will outstrip sources by 30%.  This will affect 7 billion people.  The main causes of this are overuse, deforestation, destruction of watersheds and the privatization of water.  2 billion people are drinking and using contaminated water.  We need a new ethic of water.  Her three principles for this ethic are:  1) Water is a human right; 2) Water is a public trust, not a private commodity; 3) Water is sacred and must be protected.  She strongly recommended investigation into “Blue Communities,” for religious communities and municipalities.  The World Council of Churches is a Blue Community.  Could the American Baptist Churches, USA and the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network and other groups become Blue Communities?
	The Metropolitan John of Pergamon, a theologian and mystic of the Orthodox Church spoke of “The Way of the Heart.”  He referred to the need to “purify the heart,” because the heart is the locus of the will and the real struggle, takes place in the heart.  More than education is needed to deal with our ecological and human problems.  The transformation begins with gratitude.
	After this session and prior to lunch, all the participants and many residents of the island of Spetses, gathered near the waterfront to witness the release of two rehabilitated Kestrels that had been injured in collisions with motor vehicles by the Ecumenical Patriarch.  Kestrels are endangered on the island and their release was a sign of hope.
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	Early morning of the third day, we took a boat to the island of Hydra and held the fourth session at a museum near an Orthodox chapel at which the Ecumenical Patriarch performed a service of blessing.
Fourth Session:  Local Impacts – War and Migration, Refugees and Poverty
Moving People, Sheltering People, Feeding People

	As the title suggests, this session was about conflict, poverty, refugees and the work of addressing all of these.  The lead speaker was Phillippe Leclerc, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees who gave us the broad picture of refugees around the world and particularly, in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions.  One of his concerns is that with an increase in refugees world-wide which is becoming a literal flood with climate change impacts, how will countries respond?  What is beginning to happen is that countries are closing borders not managing borders.  In the Q&A, Leclerc made the following statement:  “We ALL need to be prepared for an increasing flood of refugees.  The question is, do you do this out of compassion and love, or out of competition and with a military response?”
	Mohammed Aby-Nimer, born in Palestine, who has lived in Washington, DC for the last 30 years and university professor around the world, has been dealing with war and conflict resolution beginning with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the early 1980s.  He said that war is built on the de-humanizing of other people.  Shaming, threats, fear will not change behavior; only hope and positive action, and developing relationships will do this.
	*I had a 20 minutes conversation with Mohammed on the boat-ride back to Spetses.  There, we talked about the need for activists to take care of their emotional and spiritual selves, about how burn-out can easily arise which leads to anger and bad decisions.  I talked about spiritual direction and my hope that there might be a place for spiritual directors and counsellors to work with activists.  It was a wonderful conversation which was interrupted when two dolphins began following the boat, leaping with joy out of the water.*
	Vandana Shiva, from India, is a physicist and internationally known activist with global food issues.  A brilliant, passionate woman and an advocate for food security, Shiva made the bold, and in my opinion, true claim that feeding people is to care for creation.  She said that industrial agriculture is an act of war on the planet and people, as the same chemicals used in the concentration camps are now used in pesticides.  Most cancers are caused by the synthetic toxins spread around the world with only 5% of cancers having a genetic base.  In addition, 40-50% of greenhouse gases came from industrial agriculture.  Poisoning the world is sin, she says (which is very close to a statement made by the Ecumenical Patriarch 20 years ago, the first major religious leader to call ecological devastation a sin).  And, much more food can and is produced around the world through small, local farms using “natural” methods of food production.  During the Q&A, Vandana, a Hindu, called upon Christians to “re-claim bread as a sacrament.”  I like that; a lot.
	One of the most moving speakers of the symposium was Mohammad Vahedi, of SOS Children’s Village, Greece, a home for refugee children and youth that works to educate and integrate young people into Greek life.  Mohammad, who is about 30 years old, told his story of being a refugee from Iran 18 years ago.  It was a dangerous journey because he had to come alone.  As a young teenagers, he didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to his parents who were under death threats by the government of Iran.  He eventually came to Greece but was sent back to Turkey three times and once, the Turks tried to deport him to Iran.  This all effected his psychological and emotional development but he was cared for by the Church in Greece and is now working on a PhD in psychotherapy, supervises refugee children and offers psychological help through SOS Children’s Village.  His last statement was this: “Most children’s stories don’t turn out like mine.”  I was stunned when he sat down.
	An important point was made by Phillippe Leclerc.  When the UN has surveyed refugees from around the world, what they found is that 85% want to return to their home countries.  “Europe,” he said, “is not in the dreams of the refugees; neither is the United States – they want to go home. Almost all of them come because they are desperate, they are fleeing for their lives.”
	Following this session, I wrote the following:
“We are being called upon in every place, to be a sanctuary for all people and all species of life.  We must move from a period of greed and nationalistic self-interest, into one of compassion and love for all. We need a much broader view of life.  Yes, we are Americans and Christians and parents and teachers, etc, and that is good – but it’s too small. We are Earth-lings, as Genesis 2 reveals, first and foremost, and we need a compassion and love that is as big and wide as the entire planet.”

Final Session:  Mapping the Future
	The final session was held on the boat as we returned to Athens and was led off by John Cardinal Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, who, like Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch (and all who practice eco-justice), urged the symposium to listen to both the cry of the poor and the cry of the Earth which, though unique, are one cry.  He also pleaded for wisdom to guide science and technology.
	Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, human rights advocate with the Charter of Compassion began his remarks this way: “We Jews came out of the fire; how can I ever despair?  When my wife and I were born in 1943, there was zero chance that we would be here; but here we are. With the probable end of civilization [because of what we are doing to the planet and people], we come together and the rooms have been filled with compassion.”  He urged everyone to begin and end with compassion and love, to work together in an interfaith, inter-disciplinary way.  “The tent of Abraham and Ishmael is for all people.  The ark of Noah is for all creation.”  
	Pratap Chatterjee of Corp Watch, reminded us that there are millions and millions of workers who are below a live-able wage and if we don’t deal with this, then to confront Exxon or Shell, will never bear fruit.  He talked about the power of two things in the economy:  1) the power of transparent audits; and, 2) the power of purchasing.  Four companies (accounting firms) audit 97% of corporations – can we make sure those audits are transparent?  And in terms of purchasing, could we commit that we will only buy from those companies that treat workers justly and then promote those companies?
	Christiana Figueres is the director of Mission 2020, former chief UN negotiator on climate change and chair of the 2015 Paris Climate negotiations.  Figueres responded to a question the Ecumenical Patriarch often asks:  “What does the world want and what does the world need?”  She responded this way:  The world wants less pollution and that’s what the world needs; the world wants less poverty and that’s what the world needs; the world wants more stable food prices and needs to reduce its dependence on oil; the world wants food security and needs to restore degraded lands that can produce enough food for the people.  “What we want IS what the world needs.”  Now is a kairos moment, she said.  By 2030 in India, all vehicles will be electric.  This year, China will produce 5 million electric cars costing $8,000 each.  Currently, $54 trillion is invested in renewable energy around the world and $54 trillion is invested in fossil fuels.  This is the first time that as much money is being invested in renewable sources of energy as fossil fuels.  Finally, she called upon the faith communities to do two things:  1) expand and strengthen the arc of faith – we need to inject hope into the world; and, 2) expand the arc of love – be inclusive; do not exclude others from this sacred work, especially your enemies.
Conclusion
	After the symposium, Peg joined me in Athens for four days of touring and taking in all we could.  We returned to the Areopagus and then to the ruins of the Agora, the marketplace or civic center of ancient Greece.  The Areopagus is named for the Greek god, Ares, the god of war, and Ares-Erinyes who was the underground goddess of punishment and revenge.  In the ruins of the Agora, just as you enter, at one of the low points of the area, is an Altar of Ares.  When you look up from there, you can see the Aeropagus.  As I stood in that spot, I was struck that the Apostle Paul would be bringing the good news of the God of peace on a place named for a god of war and a goddess of revenge and punishment.  
	Like Paul, our call is to bear witness to the God of peace, love and light in an age of destruction and violence for God’s planet and for all people.  This symposium was one important part of that work, a time of renewal and encouragement to return to our work in the light of love.  I am grateful to His All Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and all the participants for a remarkable time of learning, inspiration, networking, renewal and empowerment to continue in our common work for the sake of God’s good creation and all people.

Appendices
1.	Letter of Greeting – Dr. Lee Spitzer to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
AMERICAN BAPTIST CHURCHES USA 
 
May 14, 2018

His All-Holiness Bartholomew 
Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch 
Rum Patrikliği, 342 20 Fener-Haliç  
Istanbul, TURKEY 
 
Dear Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: 
On behalf of the 5,000 congregations and the 1.3 million members of the American Baptist Churches USA, greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! 

For many decades, the American Baptist Churches USA has advocated for creation care and justice. We recognize that our corporate witness must be combined with the voice of the entire Christian community of faith, and indeed with others from other religious traditions. Accordingly, I am very encouraged by the upcoming international symposium being organized and hosted by you, “Toward a Greener Attica: Preserving the Planet and Protecting its People,” on June 5-8, 2018. 

I am most pleased that Rev. Thomas Carr will be participating in the symposium. Rev. Carr is the co-founder of the ABCUSA Creation Justice Network. Please receive him as an official representative of the American Baptist Churches USA and as a spokesperson for me, the General Secretary.  

As you continue your efforts to promote environmental stewardship across the globe, please consider the American Baptist Churches USA as a partner and friend. 

God bless the symposium and your ministry! 
 
Yours in Christ,  

Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer, General Secretary      American Baptist Churches USA

2.	ABC,USA General Secretary, Pastoral Letter 
Journeying Toward the Summit by the Sea
A Pastoral Letter on Environmental Care and Creation Justice
in observance of the 48th Anniversary of Earth Day
April 22, 2018

by Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer, General Secretary 
American Baptist Churches USA

“The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1) 

2018 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the passage of the American Baptist Policy Statement on Ecology, which was based on this beautiful verse. As the Psalmist proclaims, God is the Creator of our world and all living things. Similarly, John’s Gospel introduces Jesus, “the Word,” as the one through whom “all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3; see v. 10). Paul links Jesus’ role in the universe’s creation to his roles as Savior and Lord of the church:

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,...all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20)

Salvation, reconciliation, discipleship, creation care and justice all find their source in God through Jesus. Environmental concern and stewardship has been a life-long aspect of my personal spiritual journey. As a new Christian dedicated to integrating science and spirituality, I served as the president of my high school’s ecology club, aptly called “S.A.V.E.” (Students Against Violence to the Environment). Through this expression of activism, I became friends with a fellow student, Lois, who would subsequently express her own faith in Jesus as her Savior and Lord. We have now been married for over four decades, and as grandparents, we continue to feel a responsibility to preserve and enhance our global eco-system so that future generations might enjoy the God-given beauty of nature and life.

As Christ’s followers, American Baptists have throughout the years heard God’s call to respect, love and tend to our environment. In addition to the 1988 Policy Statement, creation care and justice have been highlighted in several resolutions and policy statements. In the American Baptist Churches Policy Statement on Human Rights (1976), “the right to a secure and healthy environment, clean air, pure water, and an earth that can nurture and support present and future generations” was cited as a fundamental human right. Statements can be found on a range of environmental and creation justice issues, including energy (1977), nuclear power (1982), the disposal of hazardous and radioactive waste (1982), environmental concerns (1983), the Law of the Sea treaty (1983), clean air (1990), individual lifestyles for ecological responsibility (1990), the CERES Principles for environmentally responsible economies (1991), and global warming (1991). American Baptists continue to respond generously and sacrificially to environmentally related events, such as massive fires in the western U.S. and hurricane relief, through One Great Hour of Sharing and ABHMS coordinated disaster relief efforts. Globally, our IM missionaries engage in life-changing development work, such as clean water projects and sustainable agriculture. Many regions and Green Lake offer opportunities to grow spiritually in settings that inspire a deeper appreciation of nature.

ABCUSA’s commitment to creation care and justice has been consistent and longstanding, and as General Secretary, I call upon all American Baptist related churches, institutions, leaders and members to continue this tradition of environmental activism. Before I assumed this pastoral position, the ABCUSA Board of General Ministries approved the formation of the ABCUSA Creation Justice Network to encourage our denomination’s witness on environmental matters. In November 2017, the Board approved the network’s proposal to enter into a partnership with ecoAmerica and its faith community arm, Blessed Tomorrow (http://blessedtomorrow.org). 

The upcoming Biennial Mission Summit in Virginia Beach, Virginia (June 21-23, 2019) is the perfect setting for us to reaffirm our commitment to ecological care as we gather for our family-wide Summit by the Sea. VBS-style programs focused on appreciating God’s creation will be offered for children (elementary through high school). Come and enjoy the beautiful coastal ecosystem and the majesty of the ocean as it meets the shore. Our seas are very sensitive to environmental challenges, such as global warming, the melting of glaciers, and pollution from plastics. I would like to encourage our spiritual family to prepare for this Summit by the Sea by embracing spiritual disciplines and practices such as:

Clergy and Lay Leaders: Please consider offering a preaching or teaching series on creation care and justice. There are many Scriptural texts to base such messages on, which maximizes individual creativity in approaching this complicated concern. Send us your message, and perhaps we will spotlight it on our website, or even at the Summit by the Sea!

Congregations: Please consider taking the positive and proactive steps necessary to become an ABCUSA Creation Justice Church. This is a new initiative, which I hope you’ll support! There are 3 levels of participation. The brochure describing this initiative can be downloaded by visiting our ABCUSA Creation Justice website at (https://www.creationjusticenetworkabc.org). 

Individual Disciples: Please consider specific lifestyle choices and practices that will demonstrate your and your family’s appreciation for our environment and its health. 

Support Camping Ministries: Please partner with our ABC camping/outdoor ministries. Our camps play a key role in counter-balancing our hurried lives and calling us to enjoy nature’s beauty.
Environmental care is not solely a political issue, but a matter of faith and stewardship. We are not motivated by any partisan political purpose, and it is regrettable that this issue has been politicized to such an extent that it has caused confusion and inaction. Part of our unique witness as a politically diverse spiritual family (joining in witness with others) involves showing the world that climate change can be addressed on a higher moral and spiritual plane that transcends divisive political discourse.

As inhabitants of this world and citizens of the wealthiest country in history, we share responsibility for the future of our planet. Global environmental protection requires cooperative steps between all the countries of the world. Multi-national companies also play a key role in impacting how natural materials are utilized. Although thoughtful people may reach different conclusions on how to address the various pressing issues the earth’s ecosystem faces, I would encourage all of us to appreciate the contributions of scientific research in helping to guide policy decisions, to resist the temptation to deny that environmental changes are taking place, and to support international treaties and agreements on ecological concerns. 

In spite of the real and pressing environmental challenges facing our generation, I am hopeful that we will find creative ways to address ecological challenges and its associated justice issues. The whole world is holy, the work of the Creator. God’s breath gives life to humanity (Genesis 1-2) and to all creatures (Psalm 104). We live in a world of beauty and wonder, a world animated and sustained by the love of God. Let us give thanks for the beauty and vitality of the Earth; let us work to preserve God’s Garden!  

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer, ABCUSA General Secretary

3.	Letter from Pope Francis to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
To His Holiness Bartholomew
Archbishop of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarch
On the occasion of the international ecological symposium “Toward a Greener Attica: Preserving the Planet and Protecting its People”, to be held in Athens and the Saronic Islands, Greece, from 5 to 8 June 2018, I offer Your Holiness my warmest fraternal greetings.
With heartfelt appreciation for this worthy initiative, which follows a series of similar symposia in various parts of the world, I also greet His Beatitude Hieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, as well as the authorities, the distinguished speakers and participants.
I recall vividly my visit to Lesvos, together with Your Holiness and His Beatitude Hieronymos II, to express our common concern for the plight of the migrants and refugees there.
While enchanted by the scenery of the blue sky and sea, I was struck by the thought that such a beautiful sea had become a tomb for men, women and children who had for the most part sought only to escape inhumane conditions in their own homelands. There I was able to witness for myself the generosity of the Greek people, so richly imbued with human and Christian values, and their efforts, despite the effects of their own economic crisis, to comfort those who, dispossessed of all material goods, had made their way to their shores.
The dramatic contradictions I experienced during my visit help us to understand the importance of the present symposium’s theme. It is not just the homes of vulnerable people around the world that are crumbling, as can be seen in the world’s growing exodus of climate migrants and environmental refugees. As I sought to point out in my Encyclical Laudato Si’, we may well be condemning future generations to a common home left in ruins. Today we must honestly ask ourselves a basic question: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” (ibid., 160). In the wake of the ecological crisis we ought to undertake a serious examination of conscience regarding the protection of the planet entrusted to our care (cf. Gen 2:15).
The care of creation, seen as a shared gift and not as a private possession, always entails the recognition and the respect of the rights of every person and every people. The ecological crisis now affecting all of humanity is ultimately rooted in the human heart, that aspires to control and exploit the limited resources of our planet, while ignoring the vulnerable members of the human family. “The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life” (Laudato Si’, 2). We cannot ignore the ubiquitous and pervasive evil in today’s situation, “where sin is manifest in all its destructive power in wars, the various forms of violence and abuse, the abandonment of the most vulnerable, and attacks on nature” (Laudato Si’, 66). For this reason, in our Joint Message on the World Day of Prayer for Creation on 1 September last, we stated that “the urgent call and challenge to care for creation are an invitation for all of humanity to work towards sustainable and integral development”.
The duty to care for creation challenges all people of good will, and calls upon Christians to acknowledge the spiritual roots of the ecological crisis, and cooperate in offering an unequivocal response. The annual World Day of Prayer for Creation is a step in this direction, for it demonstrates our shared concern and aspiration to work together in facing this delicate issue. It is my firm intention that the Catholic Church continue to journey together with Your Holiness and the Ecumenical Patriarchate along this path. It is likewise my hope that Catholics and Orthodox, together with the faithful of other Christian Communities and all people of goodwill, may actively work together in local contexts for the care of creation and for a sustainable and integral development.
Beloved brother in Christ, I am profoundly grateful for your commitment to involve religious leaders, scientists, politicians, and business leaders in creating an important network to effectively respond to current challenges. In assuring you of my remembrance in prayer, I exchange with Your Holiness a fraternal embrace of peace.
- FRANCIS

[Original text: English]
© Copyright – Libreria Editrice Vaticana
June 07, 2018 
Francis

4.	For a list of the participants at Green Attica, see the link: https://greenattica.patriarchate.org/