Keep It in the Ground: Preach It, Teach It, Do It

On Sunday, April 24^th, UCC preachers around the country will proclaim from their pulpits a simple message: Keep It in the Ground. No, they are not digging up old, arcane arguments about bodily resurrection. They are talking about fossil fuels.

Arguably, the most important act of caring for God’s creation that our society can undertake today is to keep at least 80 percent of all fossil fuel reserves in the ground. If humanity fails at this mandate prescribed by the laws of physics, then our planet will enter into the red-alert danger zone as it overheats due to the damage done to our climate. About the recent science that demonstrates this, environmental leader Bill McKibben says, “One lesson of this work is unmistakably obvious: when you’re in a hole, stop digging.”

This April let’s preach and teach these simple truths so that people of faith can then go out and do what must be done to care for God’s creation.

• Bill McKibben on “Why We Need to Keep 80 Percent of Fossil Fuels in the Ground”   
• Make Your Preach-In Part of Interfaith Power and Light’s Faith Climate Action Week