Confronting climate change: Facing down the emotional and psychological costs of environmental chaos

This article by reporter Steve Pfarrer of Daily Hampshire Gazette includes an interview with Margaret Bullitt-Jonas about her new book, ROOTED & RISING, co-edited with Leah Schade. The original article includes many photos (Dec. 24, 2019). As the digital revolution has sped up the pace of life, with cell phones, Twitter, Facebook and 24/7 news coverage seeming to leave no “off” switch, so does the news of climate change seem …

Pray for Boldness The path that most of society has traveled for the past two hundred years has led to an unprecedented human emergency: we are hurtling toward climate catastrophe and watching the web of life unravel before our eyes. Great populations of creatures – even entire species – have vanished in less than 50 years. In what scientists call a “biological annihilation,” human beings have wiped out more than …

Rising as fire: Keynote address for “Reality, Hope and Action in an Age of Climate Change”

Fire is on our minds these days. Many of us have watched videos of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager with the round face and the straight blonde hair and those fierce, unyielding eyes, speaking with such intensity to the US Congress, to the UN COP meeting, to the World Economic Forum, telling the world – telling the adults who have failed to take action – “The house is on fire.” …

God in the Machine: In certain moments, under certain circumstances, technology can offer just what we need

ONE NIGHT LAST SUMMER, I lay awake staring at the ceiling, gripped by despair. The climate crisis can do that to me — to any of us. The web of life is unraveling before our eyes and some say that human civilization could be at risk of collapse. What then shall we do? How shall we respond to the climate crisis and the ecological emergency in which we find ourselves? …

Sustain Island Home: Standing up for life

We know that climate change is upon us. The world is already starting to experience its effects – from extreme storms to floods, droughts, rising seas, and refugees on the move. What we may not know is that we have the power, in our own households, to make a significant difference in combating climate change. If all Americans made better choices in five areas (how we heat and electrify our …

We resolved to make a difference in 2019

I want to thank the congregations across our diocese that are moving forward to implement the resolution that our Diocesan Convention passed unanimously last October, “Creation Care in our Congregations: Living Lightly on God’s Good Earth.” Our diocese is increasingly recognized as a Creation care leader in The Episcopal Church. Thank you for all the ways that you are stepping up to safeguard the web of life, which needs our …

Environment: Q&A with Rev. Bullitt-Jonas about finding hope in face of climate change

By GRETA JOCHEM NORTHAMPTON — The Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas’ home office has a cross on the wall and titles such as “God’s Politics” and “The Water Will Come” — a book about sea level rise — lining her bookshelf. Since 2014 she has been the missioner for creation care for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ, a job that sends …

Opposing Rollbacks to Magnuson-Stevens Act

What God has made is fearful, wondrous and still beyond our comprehension. Despite the advances of science and technology that shape our world today, we do not even know within an order of magnitude how many species there are on our planet. God’s mysterious wisdom continues to delight and enlighten us as it unfolds over time and space. The oceans are one of the most mysterious realms of life on …

Faith & Science Joint Appeal for Climate Action

The Faith & Science Joint Appeal for Climate Action was released in Boston on May 23, 2018, and on May 29, Episcopal News Service published Margaret’s article about science and religion joining forces to fight climate change. [Episcopal News Service] Bishop Alan Gates of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and Bishop Doug Fisher of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts joined Cardinal Seán O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston and other local faith leaders and scientists on May …

Small Island States Imperiled by Climate Change

Margaret is extensively quoted in “Responding to Small Island States Imperiled by Human-Forced Climate Change: An Ethical Imperative for Christians,” by Jame Schaefer, Anglican Theological Review, Winter 2018 issue (Volume 100, Number 1).  A sample: “God’s love and presence are everywhere—not just in church, not just inside a sanctuary built by human hands, but also outside, in the sea and sky, in the humble tomato plant valiantly trying to grow …