Rev. Tom Carr, IREJN’s co-Founder and co-Chair, will receive the prestigious “Steward of God’s Creation” award from the National Religious Coalition on Creation Care on May 12, 2014. The Steward of God’s Creation Award is bestowed annually on an individual who “exhibits courage and commitment in the keeping of the earth in a heroic, distinguished, and effective manner.” Past recipients have included Bill McKibben, Wendell Berry, and James Hansen.
Carr, who is also the senior pastor at Second Baptist Church of Suffield, has been working to inspire communities to care for the planet for over twenty years. He said he was initially inspired by the Islip garbage barge, which was a garbage barge that traveled from New York to Belize in the spring of 1987 in search of a place to dispose of the garbage. Carr said that scene, played out in the news day after day, inspired him to search his heart and his theology for the answer to the environmental crisis before him. He found that caring for the planet was a moral, ethical, and spiritual issue, one that was supported by every faith tradition. And so he began to call for action and reflection from people of faith to deeply reflect on the teachings of their religion and how they connected to caring for God’s Earth.
Since that time, Carr has been a leader for creation care both locally and nationally, advocating for environmental justice and climate justice both in CT and in Washington DC. He has challenged faith leaders to put aside their fears of offending people in the pews and tackle the issue of climate change directly as the greatest moral crisis facing humanity today.
Rev. Carr will receive the award at the National Religious Coalition for Creation Care’s annual prayer breakfast on Monday, May 12 at 10:00am at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington, DC.
