Renewal Project :: The Film

Comments about Renewal

The religious environmental movement is potentially key to dealing with the greatest problem humans have ever faced, and it has never been captured with more breadth and force than in Renewal. I hope this movie is screened in church basements and synagogue social halls across the country, and that it moves many more people of faith off the fence and into action.

—Bill McKibben

Renewal, Marty Ostrow and Terry Kay Rockefeller’s latest documentary, offers a comprehensive overview of what different religions are doing about the awesome devastation of Earth’s life systems now taking place. The filmmakers’ vision of the problem and understanding of viable solutions show rare depth of perception and are matched only by their sense of the urgency of action if we are to realize our hopes for the future.

—Thomas Berry

I watched this film with admiration and hope millions of others will have the chance to see it. You will be stirred to discover people of different faiths who are engaged in an exhilarating stewardship of the earth that offers our best chance to yet save creation.

—Bill Moyers

Renewal is a path breaking film that gives us for the first time stories of the emerging movement of religious environmentalism across the United States. Here we witness the inspiration of religious ideas in practice for the healing of the Earth. Such a film is invaluable for religious leaders and laity alike. Moreover, it will renew those working on behalf of future generations.

—Mary Evelyn Tucker & John Grim
The Forum on Religion and Ecology
Yale University

I feel like our congregation was jump-started for more eco-commitment simply from seeing the video.

—Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale
Reformed Church of Highland Park, NJ

Living in WV, reading daily about the death and destruction, flooding, etc. caused by coal mining here and elsewhere, one can easily get very depressed. Over the last 30 years I often have felt that our situation is hopeless. Watching this film, with these eight stories, I finally had a feeling of hope - as I have while watching some of the recent MTR films, especially B.J. Budmundsson’s - “God’s Gift of a Wild and Wonderful Land” and “Rise Up! West Virginia.” It’s so easy to watch films about wrong-doing. It’s another to show people how to help stop it.

—Steve Fesenmaier
West Virginia Gazette

Renewal is an inspiring look into how people of diverse faith traditions are organizing, teaching, and joining together to celebrate and protect the environment. Without being at all preachy, each of the eight discrete segments of the film provides a window onto a different part of this growing and critically important movement.

—David Atcheson, Co-chair, the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival, Seattle, WA
[chosen Best of Fest, 2008, Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival]

It’s been a wonderful tool for us so far, and we’re about to launch our speaker’s bureau in which we train seminary students to do introductory talks for us. One of those talks will use the two sections of the film in which we appear. So we’ll be making the very most of it, and are so grateful to have it.

—Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield
Director
Faith in Place
and the Illinois Interfaith Power & Light Campaign

I’ve been using Renewal in religious-environmental education programs for more than a year. It’s an engaging film that sparks excellent conversation while giving people an image - often their first - of what religious leadership for the earth actually looks like.

—The Rev. Fletcher Harper
Executive Director
GreenFaith

Faith in Place has been grateful to be along for the ride in the creation of this film from the beginning. The final product is one that we use with our partner congregations frequently - it’s a wonderful tool to introduce the idea of religious environmentalism into a congregation of any faith in away that is hopeful and open-ended. Not only have I found it to be an invaluable instructive tool, I have found it to be personally inspiring, and a reminder to myself of why I engage in this work.

—Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield
Director
Faith in Place
and the Illinois Interfaith Power & Light Campaign

I have used this film dozens of times in workshops, classrooms, major lectures and conferences, and it never fails to get people interested, excited and motivated. I think it is the best film out for use in a range of courses that touch on religion and environmental issues. It is essential for any seminary concerned with preparing religious leaders for tomorrow.

—Laurel Kearns
Drew Theological School
Green Seminary Initiative

Regardless of where your church is on its journey for eco-justice, Renewal can serve as an inspirational tool. It provides wonderful examples to inspire action in churches that are just getting started in eco-justice work, as well as churches that have long been active and may be looking for new ideas or a new option for eco-justice education.

—Katie Holmes
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Environmental Ministries Action Network

Katherine Hayhoe

Check out this recent profile of Katherine Hayhoe, climate scientist and Evangelical Christian – from PBS’ NOVA scienceNOW!

The Producers

Marty Ostrow has been a producer, writer and director for public, commercial and cable television for more than 25 years. His award-winning films include the acclaimed 90-minute documentary America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference, for the PBS series The American Experience. In addition to history, Marty has made many films about science, for NOVA, PBS’s Discover the World of Science, and the Discovery Channel. He was the producer of two hours in the ground-breaking documentary series Race to Save the Planet, the first large-scale PBS effort to bring environmental issues to national consciousness. Excerpts from the extended archival interview Marty produced with cultural historian Thomas Berry are released as Thomas Berry Speaks. Marty’s work is known for the intimate portrait style he brings to his subjects. His public television films about the arts have earned him three Emmy Awards. Marty’s films have been seen in festivals around the world.

Terry Kay Rockefeller has over 25 years experience producing and executive producing award-winning documentaries for PBS. She was a member of the team that created the long-running science series, NOVA. Terry also produced episodes of ODYSSEY, which told anthropological and archaeological stories; The Ring of Truth with MIT professor Phil Morrison; Eyes on the Prize, the celebrated history of America’s civil rights struggles, and The Great Depression. She was series producer of America’s War on Poverty, and I’ll Make Me a World, an examination of African-American arts in the 20th century; and executive producer of Hopes on the Horizon a feature-length documentary produced with a largely African production team. Terry was also executive project manager of On Common Ground, a CD-ROM documenting the religious diversity of present-day America, produced with Harvard professor Diana Eck.

RENEWAL Production Credits

PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY
Marty Ostrow
Terry Kay Rockefeller

EDITED BY
Peter Rhodes

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
John Baynard

NATURE MEDITATIONS PHOTOGRAPHED BY
Dan Kowalski

MUSIC COMPOSED BY
Sheldon Mirowitz

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Michael Chin
Brent Dey
Julius Evans
Morgan Fallon
Tom Hurwitz
John Kelleran
Stephen McCarthy
Marty Ostrow
Adam Singer
Herb E. Smith
David A. Wolf

SOUND RECORDISTS
Raimund Carrillo
Dennis DeVries
Ivan Hawkes
Claudia Katayanagi
Mike Lake
Shirley Libby
Shawn Lind
Benjamin Logan
Gabe Monts
Dave Moon
John Murphy
Brian Peterson
Andy Turrett

AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
Brian Heller

POST PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
Benjamin Mayer

ADVISORS TO RENEWAL
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Yale University

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Dick Bartlett

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Laura Pacheco

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Bonnie Rosenbaum

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND ANIMATION
Edgeworx

ASSISTANT EDITOR
Maud Dillingham

ASSOCIATE ASSISTANT EDITORS
Ricardo Caban
Craig Carpenter
John Meehan

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Julia Kowalski
Duncan Kowalski
Logan Rockefeller Harris
Rosemary West

ONLINE/COLORIST
Dave Allen

AUDIO POST PRODUCTION
Heart Punch Studio

SOUND MIX
Greg McCleary

SOUND DESIGN
Geof Thurber

LEGAL SERVICES
Sandra Forman

NEW MEXICO AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF
LightHawk

HURRICANE KATRINA FOOTAGE COURTESY OF
Alisha Tanner
Daniel Trochesset
Mike Yaxzin
Cheryl and Gerald York
WLOX-TV

Factory Farm Footage Courtesy of
Farm Sanctuary
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)

ADDITIONAL STOCK FOOTAGE
America By Air
Corbis Motion
Framepool
Getty Images
Thought Equity Motion

MUSIC

“The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power”
Composed by Andrae Crouch
© Copyright 1966, Renewed 1994 by Manna Music
Courtesy Manna Music All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission (ASCAP)

“Now is the Cool of the Day”
Composed and Performed by Jean Ritchie
©1971 Jean Ritchie
Courtesy of Geordie Music Publishing Company

Deep gratitude to
Jerry Hardt and Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
for their invaluable help

SPECIAL THANKS
Alonzo Printing
Lisa D’Angelo
Berkeley Bowl Marketplace
The Thomas Berry Foundation
David Carnochan
James Carpenter
Center for Social Media, American University
Lance Davis, The Mississippi Press
Derrick C. Evans
Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
Frank Gerratana
Rev. Kent Gilbert
Brian Heller
Diane Ives
Peter Jaszi
Joaquin Miller Park
Martin Kaplan
Tim Kautza
Laurel Kearns
Catherine Lerza
The Magazine PAPER Project
New Leaf Paper
City of Oakland Film Office
Tovis Page
Lolita Parker, Jr.
Melanie Perkins
Holly Pope
Rev. Carla Pryne
Kate Raisz
Resurgence
Merry Schroeder
Representative David Scott
Brian Shields and Amigos Bravos
Sun Farm Network
Rabbi Lawrence Troster
Susan Walsh

The producers wish to express their appreciation to
The Forum on Religion and Ecology
for its groundbreaking scholarship
and profound inspiration

This film was made possible
by a generous grant from
The Kendeda Sustainability Fund of Tides
Foundation

Renewal’s Engagement Campaign
Designed by Active Voice

Produced by Fine Cut Productions, LLC
in association with
The Center for Independent Documentary

©2007 Fine Cut Productions, LLC
All rights reserved

FAQ

These are some of the frequently asked questions about The RENEWAL Project. If you don’t see the answer to your question here, please feel free to email us, using the form at left. Thank you.

Q: How can I get a copy of RENEWAL?

A: DVDs are for sale by just going to the PURCHASE A DVD menu on this site.

Q: How much do they cost?

A: A single DVD for home or community use is $19.95, but you can also order in bulk for substantial savings. There are separate rates for educational institutions and libraries who receive a different use license.

Q: What was the RENEWAL Circle?

A: The RENEWAL Circle was a one-time membership that the RENEWAL Project offered to diverse groups who were interested in testing the RENEWAL DVD in its earliest stages of release. In exchange for receiving a free RENEWAL DVD, members were asked to report back their experiences about using it.

Q: Can I still join the RENEWAL Circle?

A: The RENEWAL Circle membership was in effect for a period of time that has now expired. While you can no longer join the Renewal Circle, you can still take advantage of it by checking out the many exciting field reports that members have posted on our website. Please visit The RENEWAL Circle.

Q: Since I missed the RENEWAL Circle, what can I do to become active with RENEWAL and the religious-environmental movement?

A: Watch the film and read the Study Guide for a broad range of ideas about becoming active with the religious-environmental movement. Check out the Action Steps [live link] on our website. And be sure to contact others who are doing this work by using our Forum.

Q: Can I watch RENEWAL on TV?

A; Yes. RENEWAL is being broadcast across the country by American Public Television. Check out the APT Broadcast Schedule for your public television station, and always double check your local listings.

Trailer

Jews are helping children experience the bond between nature and spirituality. Interfaith Power and Light is mobilizing people of all faiths in a religious response to global warming.

For the first time, the combined energy of these diverse activists is the driving force behind a feature-length documentary, entitled RENEWAL. Veteran film producers Marty Ostrow and Terry Kay Rockefeller have crisscrossed the country to capture these exciting stories of people whose passion and deep moral commitment are making a difference in a time of grave ecological threats.

Biohabitats Film Review: RENEWAL

by Amy Nelson 12-22-15

As people involved in environmental restoration we understand the power of transformation in the landscape, even the kind which can take decades. Amidst the mounting onslaught of environmental doom and gloom, these transformations offer us hope and provide glimpses of a possible future that differs from the apocalyptic and conflict-fueled visions so common in the media these days.

In the documentary film RENEWAL, we witness a different, but equally inspiring kind of transformation within religious people, communities, and organizations in the U.S. who are reexamining what it means to be in communion with Earth and gaining a new understanding of their role in caring for the environment. Produced in 2007 by documentary filmmakers Marty Ostrow and Terry Kay Rockefeller, RENEWAL is billed as the first feature-length documentary film to capture the vitality and diversity of religious-environmental activists. The 90-minute film is broken into eight vignettes that feature Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Native Americans, and several interfaith organizations.

Whether you view RENEWAL in one sitting, or watch it in segments as we did at Biohabitats this fall, you will likely walk away feeling encouraged by the power of transformation—both physical and spiritual—invoked in these stories, and the progress being made by religious environmentalists within their spiritual communities.

Some of the stories show incremental progress, such as the segment about a husband/wife minister team in Highland Park, NJ who aim to lessen the environmental footprint of both their church facility and congregation through education and action. With guidance from the interfaith organization Greenfaith, the ministers lead congregants in retrofitting their church with a solar array and energy efficient lighting, conducting a trash audit, and changing church practices and operations to reduce consumption.

Other vignettes feature a contagion of deep, far-reaching transformation that extends across religious differences. Such is the case with the story of Taqwa, an initiative that forges bonds between Muslims in northern Illinois, urban communities, and sustainable farms. This program, coordinated by the interfaith organization Faith in Place, encourages organic farming by connecting

farmers with the growing Muslim community while teaching them about Halal preparation requirements; increases Muslim demand for organic meat and produce by informing the community of the environmental, health, and spiritual benefits of eating food grown and raised organically, sustainably, and ethically; and furthers
the Islamic concept of “Sadaqah” (charity) by gathering and distributing donated organic food to people in need through a mosque in Chicago’s South Side.
All of the stories convey momentum at the intersection of environmental stewardship and religion, and all offer hope when it comes to people of varying faiths taking action to care for Earth, often in dialogue with like-minded individuals of other faiths.

For this reviewer, one of the most compelling stories featured evangelical Christian leaders on an interfaith helicopter tour of mountaintop removal sites in Appalachia. The tour, organized by the grassroots organization Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, aims to help religious leaders understand what mountaintop removal is doing to the landscape in eastern Kentucky. Because mountaintop removal is difficult to see from ground level its degradation can go unnoticed by those not living immediately adjacent to mining sites. The evangelical church has not historically embraced environmentalism, so watching these tour participants take in the vast, birds-eye view of mountaintop removal, and hear them describe it using emotionally charged terms like “sin against creation” and “assault on a mountain” was powerful. When one tour participant, a former physician turned minister, says, “As a Christian and a doctor, the first word that comes to mind is rape,” the hairs on my arm stood up. One minister wonders aloud, “Have we lost our souls?” At the end of their tour, they climb to a ridge and sing the hymn “Amazing Grace” while mining blasts boom in the background. Watching their reactions, you sense that their understanding of their personal culpability (in terms of reliance on fossil fuels) and their responsibility as religious leaders has been transformed by what they have seen. All of them leave having signed a faith statement on care of creation, a message they take back and preach to their congregations and communities.

So how did a film about religious environmentalism come to be? After producing two documentaries in the PBS scientific environmental series, Race to Save the Planet in the 1980s, producer/director Marty Ostrow became interested in exploring a different aspect of the environmental crisis: the human spiritual dimension. After attending conferences in the late 1990s which ultimately led to the creation of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, Ostrow began to see increasing reports of people of various religious backgrounds re-examining their relationship with the natural world and taking action to improve the environment.
“That’s when the light bulb really turned on,” said Ostrow. “This is the way to tell the story – focus on people like you and me who are courageously making a commitment to the earth, from the deepest place within themselves.”

In 2004, a time Ostrow describes as “a period of relative national disinterest in the environment (pre-Katrina, pre-An Inconvenient Truth)” he connected with Terry Kay Rockefeller to begin creating Renewal. “We saw the promise this emerging movement has to bring about deep and lasting behavioral changes that can affect the ways we live and our impact on the earth,” he said.
According to Ostrow, the film has been received positively by both religious and secular audiences. “Renewal has been warmly greeted by audiences from church basements to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine,” he said, “as well as the many homes around the nation during its broadcasts via American Public Television.”

Renewal received an equally warm reception in the Biohabitats conference room, a place where—quite honestly—the subject of religion has rarely been discussed. A sampling of my colleagues’ comments:

“The traditional version of Christianity placed people above creation or nature, but the tide seems to be changing, and that is so encouraging.”

“Religion seems like a natural way to get people motivated and excited about conservation. It’s nice to see examples of this actually happening.”“The stories were very uplifting. All of the people in the film seemed like they were really getting things accomplished.”

“There’s a perceived divide between faith groups and environmentalists, but this film reveals just how incredibly powerful the connection between spirituality and environmental stewardship can be!”

Though some of the film’s stories may now seem a bit dated (they are, after all, nearly 10 years old), they all involve transformations that reinforce its title.

From children at a Jewish outdoor education center who gain a new appreciation for worship simply by praying outside in nature …to a Baptist reverend who discovers that his calling as a religious leader includes addressing environmental justice and the connection between the oil industry, chemical contamination, and the health of his poor congregation…to a group of Catholics and Native Americans whose joint ritual celebrating water led to joint activism to protect water and land in the South Valley of Albuquerque.

“Many people are discovering that environmentalism is not only about endangered fish or imperiled birds or wilderness areas that most of us will never see,” said Ostrow. “It’s about our deepest connection with the entire web of life, and with our Creator. And ultimately — it’s about the choices that each of us makes, day to day.”

One choice I recommend—one that just may transform your thinking about the potential role of religion in the environmental movement—is to watch this film.

Biohabitats Film Review: Renewal

All of the stories convey momentum at the intersection of environmental stewardship and religion, and all offer hope when it comes to people of varying faiths taking action to care for Earth, often in dialogue with like-minded individuals of other faiths.

For this reviewer, one of the most compelling stories featured evangelical Christian leaders on an interfaith helicopter tour of mountaintop removal sites in Appalachia. The tour, organized by the grassroots organization Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, aims to help religious leaders understand what mountaintop removal is doing to the landscape in eastern Kentucky. Because mountaintop removal is difficult to see from ground level its degradation can go unnoticed by those not living immediately adjacent to mining sites. The evangelical church has not historically embraced environmentalism, so watching these tour participants take in the vast, birds-eye view of mountaintop removal, and hear them describe it using emotionally charged terms like “sin against creation” and “assault on a mountain” was powerful. When one tour participant, a former physician turned minister, says, “As a Christian and a doctor, the first word that comes to mind is rape,” the hairs on my arm stood up. One minister wonders aloud, “Have we lost our souls?” At the end of their tour, they climb to a ridge and sing the hymn “Amazing Grace” while mining blasts boom in the background. Watching their reactions, you sense that their understanding of their personal culpability (in terms of reliance on fossil fuels) and their responsibility as religious leaders has been transformed by what they have seen. All of them leave having signed a faith statement on care of creation, a message they take back and preach to their congregations and communities.

So how did a film about religious environmentalism come to be? After producing two documentaries in the PBS scientific environmental series, Race to Save the Planet in the 1980s, producer/director Marty Ostrow became interested in exploring a different aspect of the environmental crisis: the human spiritual dimension. After attending conferences in the late 1990s which ultimately led to the creation of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, Ostrow began to see increasing reports of people of various religious backgrounds re-examining their relationship with the natural world and taking action to improve the environment. “That’s when the light bulb really turned on,” said Ostrow. “This is the way to tell the story – focus on people like you and me who are courageously making a commitment to the earth, from the deepest place within themselves.”

In 2004, a time Ostrow describes as “a period of relative national disinterest in the environment (pre-Katrina, pre-An Inconvenient Truth)” he connected with Terry Kay Rockefeller to begin creating Renewal. “We saw the promise this emerging movement has to bring about deep and lasting behavioral changes that can affect the ways we live and our impact on the earth,” he said.

According to Ostrow, the film has been received positively by both religious and secular audiences. “Renewal has been warmly greeted by audiences from church basements to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine,” he said, “as well as the many homes around the nation during its broadcasts via American Public Television.”

Renewal received an equally warm reception in the Biohabitats conference room, a place where—quite honestly—the subject of religion has rarely been discussed. A sampling of my colleagues’ comments:

“The traditional version of Christianity placed people above creation or nature, but the tide seems to be changing, and that is so encouraging.”

“Religion seems like a natural way to get people motivated and excited about conservation. It’s nice to see examples of this actually happening.”“The stories were very uplifting. All of the people in the film seemed like they were really getting things accomplished.”

“There’s a perceived divide between faith groups and environmentalists, but this film reveals just how incredibly powerful the connection between spirituality and environmental stewardship can be!”

Though some of the film’s stories may now seem a bit dated (they are, after all, nearly 10 years old), they all involve transformations that reinforce its title.

From children at a Jewish outdoor education center who gain a new appreciation for worship simply by praying outside in nature …to a Baptist reverend who discovers that his calling as a religious leader includes addressing environmental justice and the connection between the oil industry, chemical contamination, and the health of his poor congregation…to a group of Catholics and Native Americans whose joint ritual celebrating water led to joint activism to protect water and land in the South Valley of Albuquerque.

“Many people are discovering that environmentalism is not only about endangered fish or imperiled birds or wilderness areas that most of us will never see,” said Ostrow. “It’s about our deepest connection with the entire web of life, and with our Creator. And ultimately — it’s about the choices that each of us makes, day to day.”

One choice I recommend—one that just may transform your thinking about the potential role of religion in the environmental movement—is to watch this film.

Thomas Berry

(1914 - 2009)

To honor his passing, we offer gratitude for the inspiring influence
that cultural historian Thomas Berry has had in our world for so many years.

His ideas were fundamental in creating a path that would eventually lead to the RENEWAL Project.

Connect with Thomas Berry’s writings.

[ This video is from the DVD Thomas Berry Speaks ]

The Huffington Post on Renewal:

The Renewal of Religious Environmentalism

by Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D.,
founder, The Clergy Letter Project

At least as far back as the publication in 1967 of the seminal but highly controversial essay, “The Historic Roots of Our Environmental Crisis,” by historian Lynn White, Jr., the relationship between religion and environmentalism has been a complicated issue. White argued that Christianity “not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is God’s will that man exploit nature for his proper ends.”

Many religiously affiliated individuals have taken even more extreme and far less nuanced positions. Consider, for example, the position staked out by John Shimkus, a Republican member of Congress from the 19th district in Illinois. He’s made it clear that we need not be concerned about environmental problems because God promised Noah that the earth won’t be destroyed again. “The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth.” It’s well worth noting that Shimkus is not just a random member of Congress. He holds a seat on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee and, as frightening as it might seem, he chairs its Subcommittee on Environment and Economy.

But this is not the way it has to be. Many deeply religious individuals, from a host of religious traditions, are coming to the realization that a robust understanding of environmentalism is fully in keeping with their beliefs. Indeed, many are coming to the conclusion that their religious beliefs mandate care and concern for the environment and the species that reside in it.

This past fall I had the good fortune of being part of a small international workshop entitled “The Sanctity of Nature” sponsored by both The Fetzer Institute and The Kirbas Institute. The extremely bright men and women who participated engaged in wide-ranging discussions about this fascinating topic. One of the participants who impressed me most was the filmmaker Marty Ostrow.

Although Marty’s accomplishments include a large number of notable achievements, the one most pertinent for the workshop was the fabulous film he made with Terry Kay Rockefeller. Renewal: Stories from America’s Religious-Environmental Movement looks at how the imperative found in most religions for people to become responsible caretakers of the planet has actually and productively been operationalized.

In addition to focusing on the specifics of the case studies selected, Marty made it clear that the film had three larger goals. He and Terry want people to recognize that there is a vibrant religious-environmental movement, to realize that the media have largely missed the story about religious movements going green and to appreciate that this movement is being embraced by all religious traditions.

Inspired by the academic work of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, Marty believes that the film demonstrates “the enormous potential the movement holds for environmentalism.” He is convinced that broader participation by members of traditional religious groups may well enliven a “secular environmental movement that has stalled.”
The film does a magnificent job of showing the ways in which religious communities have come to understand the nature of environmentalism and the steps they have taken to counteract many of the destructive practices our behaviors have engendered. Geographically, the documentary ranges from the Mississippi Delta to San Francisco and from the Chicago suburbs to rural Connecticut, while spiritually it presents Buddhist, Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Muslim and Native American perspectives.

The issues it covers are equally diverse. Included in the eight stories of environmental activism are steps taken to halt the devastation created by mountaintop removal in Appalachia, a search for environmental justice as a Mississippi town battles against the ravages of industrial contamination and a broad interdenominational approach to combat global warming.

The film’s visuals are absolutely stunning and are coupled with passionate testimony from people desperately wanting to make a difference. The choices made by the directors enhance the emotional impact enormously. The shock is palpable when a mother from a small Appalachian community tells participants in an interfaith tour of mountaintop removal, “We have well water that is contaminated. It has high levels of arsenic in it. My child bathes in this water and tries to drink the bubbles in the water. She doesn’t understand this is going to hurt her, she is just 3 years old.” But when those same participants are seen sharing that incident with Berea College students, the effect is magnified many-fold and the message that something has to be done to combat this evil is spread further.

As Marty Ostrow said to me, “We are one among many living species. Once the connection is made with the whole web of creation, it is long-lasting. My soul is deeply connected to something larger, something divine, something spiritual. I hope Renewal will act like a mirror that lets people see their own goodness and that many others are also standing there alongside them, in their efforts to go green.”

Marty believes that Renewal can help “build the movement for a more sustainable future. When work on Renewal began, there was little sense of community or shared effort. The film is helping people see they are part of something greater than the immediate eco-protection work they’re doing. The film helps them recognize they’re part of a moral and spiritual movement to save the earth and discover a new relationship with the planet.”

While religion is certainly not necessary for the development of a successful environmental ethic, as Renewal so strikingly shows, it can enhance and deepen the movement’s effects for some, with corresponding benefit for all.

Follow Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mzclergyletter

The BioLogos Forum

“Ninety Minutes Well Spent”:

A Student’s Review of RENEWAL

[BioLogos’ “Science and the Sacred” is pleased to feature essays from various guest voices in the science-and-religion dialogue. Please note the views expressed here are those of the author, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation.

This review was written by Kelsey Luoma. Kelsey Luoma is currently a senior at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. She will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biology and plans to continue her education in medical school. As an evangelical Christian and student of biology, Luoma is very interested in resolving the conflict between faith and science. In the future, she hopes to serve internationally as a physician.]

Like many of my college-aged contemporaries, I have in recent years become rather selective in the movies and media I choose to absorb. When one’s daily planner is soaked through with ink and coated in illegible reminders of exams, research papers, club meetings, social obligations, work hours and volunteer commitments, it becomes necessary to filter out a great deal of unnecessary movie-watching time. Some videos, however, are well worth the effort spent to rearrange one’s daily to-do list and sit down for an hour or two. Lately, I was given the opportunity to expand my knowledge of how religion and science can work together through the documentary RENEWAL (read a post from one of the film’s creators here). Another ink-scribble was added to my planner, and I carved out time to absorb the content of this inspiring documentary work. They were 90 minutes well spent.

RENEWAL presents a dynamic snapshot of how religion and care for the environment (“creation care” if you will) have become deeply intertwined in American society. Eight stories are told in which communities from different religious backgrounds take up arms in defense of the earth around them. Each of these stories is unique; each tells of a different community from a different faith background engaged in caring for a certain part of creation. The themes threaded through each, however, are constant. Throughout the documentary flow the underlying ideas that humankind and creation are deeply interconnected; that we as humans are responsible to take care of the earth; and that, through renewing the environment, we worship God and grow closer to him.

The fourth episode of RENEWAL, cleverly dubbed “Ancient Roots”, tells the story of the Tevah Learning Center- a Jewish environmental learning center where groups of children are invited to come, grow in their faith, and learn about the value of creation. While the Tevah center is an inspiring idea in itself, what I found to be most captivating about the story was how deeply these individuals felt connected to creation. The environmental movement, to these people, is not a modern phenomenon drawn out of a pagan worship of the Earth; rather, it is an idea born out of the ancient texts of Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Ecclesiastes. In fact, as the Tevah founders explain, the connection between humanity and earth is as ingrained in Hebrew religion as the language itself. The word for human, Adam, is derived from Adammah, the Hebrew word for earth. People are a part of the earth; we are bound up with the entirety of creation as one. Teaching children to care for the environment is an expression of faith, a means of worshipping God and growing closer to him.

An understanding of humankind’s connection with the earth, however, is not limited to Jewish students at Tevah. Another segment in RENEWAL, for example, tells the story of Interfaith Power and Light (IPL), a religious group formed to combat global warming. The founder of IPL, an Episcopalian minister, is motivated by the understanding that God left Adam to take care of the earth and we, as the “seeds of Adam”, are left with that responsibility; God created us to be one with the earth, to love it, and take care of it. In the case of IPL, this religious conviction motivates people from the Episcopalian church, in addition to those of other religions, to campaign for tighter restrictions on carbon emissions. Their efforts arise from passionate moral convictions and a desire to serve God.

One especially potent episode takes place in the mountaintops of Eastern Kentucky, where mining companies engage in the destructive practice of “mountaintop removal” so they can easily access the coal stored beneath them. This means of harvesting coal destroys the aesthetic beauty of the Appalachian Mountains while also causing erosion, flooding, and contamination of water sources, jeopardizing the lives of those who live in the valleys. To local evangelical Christian communities, however, the implications of mountaintop removal are deeper still. As believers in a Creator, they understand their role as members of creation and caretakers of the earth. The act of destroying mountains is not just damaging to nearby human communities; it is also a crime against all creation, a sin against He who created. Their response to these convictions is visceral and powerful: they form a mountaintop tour which allows people to witness firsthand the damage being done to the earth by mountaintop removal and hopefully spurs them to take a stand against the destructive practice.

As the stories in RENEWAL unfold, it is clear that each community is characterized by deep feelings of unity with God’s creation. These sensations of awe for creation compel people of faith to take up arms in defense of that creation. Personally, I was moved by the sincerity of feeling and the depth of dedication demonstrated in these stories. The people in the film are clearly not just joining the “green movement” to be trendy; nor are they simply engaging in empty banter about what people “should” do. Rather, as Proverbs 31:8 urges, they are “speak(ing) up for those who cannot speak for themselves” and taking action in response to their faith. Their care for the environment is not a religion unto itself, but an extension of their own love for God and their desire to be stewards of his creation.

The religious-environmental movement is powerful exactly for these reasons. When people are motivated by a deep-rooted desire to worship God, they are willing to invest time, energy and emotion to what they believe is the right thing to do. Throughout history, as C.S. Lewis pointed out in his famous work Mere Christianity, “those who did most for this world are those who thought most of the next”. In the case of creation care, this statement certainly seems to ring true. For the people in these stories, hectic schedules are not an excuse to ignore our calling to care for and protect creation. Rather, caring for creation is an expression of faith and a way of worshipping and thanking God for the gift he has given us.

From Community of Christ, Herald

“Film Uplifts Sacredness of Creation”

by Brad A. Martell, Peace and Justice Ministries

In 2008, I saw the premier of the documentary, Renewal: Stories from America’s Religious-Environmental Movement, and I excitedly waited for the DVD to be released.

The film quickly filled my mind with ideas for use in my ministry. For me, it’s an invaluable resource, and I hope it will be for you and your congregation, too.

Renewal is a 90-minute film of eight inspiring stories. They show how faith communities are addressing today’s environmental challenges. Read Full Article

One story tells how Christians are seeking to prevent mountaintop removal in Appalachia. Another shares how Muslims are building relation ships between urban communities and sustainable farms during Ramadan. A third is about a Jewish learning center that teaches kids about environmentalism and their Jewish tradition.

In addition, beautiful scenic nature meditations separate each story. The film was made to:

• Engage people of faith in organized and individual environmental action.

• Foster interfaith dialogue about environmental stewardship.

• Break down barriers between secular environmentalists and people of faith.

I have used the film for youth retreats and camps, the Peace and Justice Ministries course at Community of Christ Seminary, and Peace Colloquy workshops.

I recommend it for adult and youth church-school classes and congregational and mission center gatherings.

It is full of practical ideas for congregations to cultivate ecumenical and interfaith relationships in their communities and live out the Enduring Principle of sacredness of creation.

Community of Christ, Herald