Resolutions, blue bonds, education: Ocean care enters a season of increased action and awareness

When worshipers of Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ in Madison, Wisconsin, and the United Church of Gainesville, Florida, gather next month to kick off a new church year, they won’t be coming empty handed.

They’ll be carrying water collected from the various lakes, brooks, ponds, and oceans that they visited throughout the summer. The water will then be poured into a common bowl and used in the coming year for baptisms and other ritual blessings.

It is just one way for congregations to remember the power of shared journeys, while also heeding the call to care for Creation’s waters.

From wounded to living waters

It’s a call that takes center stage this September as the United Church of Christ joins its ecumenical siblings worldwide in observing the theme of “living water” during the Season of Creation, which begins September 1 and concludes October 4.

Accompanying congregations is the Season of Creation resource guide featuring content highlighting the challenges facing the Pacific region, where water is a “lived reality,” says the Rev. James Bhagwan, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches.

“The ocean carries the memory of our ancestors, provides food and livelihood, shapes our spirituality and holds the future of generations to come,” Bhagwan wrote. “Yet our living waters are wounded by warming seas, pollution, plastics, extractive industries, biodiversity loss and the continuing failure of those with the greatest responsibility to act with justice.”

Acting is exactly what Bhagwan will do as he embarks on an eco-pilgrimage to raise awareness of the beauty and threats that linger beneath the waves. The pastor plans to stand up paddle — the world’s fastest growing water sport — 600 kilometers around the island of Viti Levu Fiji. The “Paddle of Hope” adventure will be posted on the Pacific Conference of Churches’ Facebook page starting in September.

Capturing and curating the stories

The Rev. Sara Marean might not be paddling with Bhagwan, but the Global Ministries mission co-worker, who settled her family from New Hampshire to Fiji in January, has brought to life the voices of hope of those who call the Pacific region home.

“The Season of Creation was my big project that I focused on when I arrived,” said Marean.

After countless visits with locals collecting their stories, Marean curated them into caring-for-the-water themes for adults as well as youth and children. Each week, the Season of Creation guide features scripture, bible studies, discussion questions, and activities.

Marean’s goal was to have Pacifica voices help educate congregations in the United States, for education, she said, is the critical first step to attaining any justice.

“The Pacific region has a unique understanding of oceans that is different from what Western folks think. Rather than viewing it as some big wastebin, the people here see the ocean as connective tissue in the whole body of earth. It is a unique theological concept that the Pacific peoples have that they can give to the world,” said Marean.

Marean, who is joined by her mission co-worker husband, the Rev. Eric Marean, both agree that they have gained a profound appreciation for the way the ocean connects the island homes to one another, and links them to everyone worldwide.

“The health of our oceans depends upon all of us,” said Eric Marean. “We should listen to the prophetic voices, the wisdom, and lived experiences of our siblings who belong to the Pacific household of God.”

The experience of deep sea mining

Among those lived experiences is the escalation of deep-sea mining. While not a new concern to those in the Pacific region, the speed of which global powers are now moving to extract minerals such as nickel and cobalt from the ocean floor to manufacture electric car batteries, for example, has turned the ocean into a wild frontier.

It’s a growing concern that Sara Marean says raises the theological issues of sovereignty and dominion.

“Who has the right to say ‘yes’ to these projects?” she asked.

While the Trump administration is greenlighting deep sea mining leases, the United States is not the sole perpetrator of harming sea life and jeopardizing the lives of those who depend on the ocean for food and work.  

“Other global powers are doing this with impunity. These small nations don’t have the power to stop it,” said Sara Marean. “They need attention brought to deep sea mining so that there will be an outcry to stop these practices, which happen quietly and often out of sight,” she added.

A resolution to act

As reported early this month in the UCC News Digest, the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa (CCCAS) adopted the “Resolution on Deep Sea Mining and the Protection of God’s Creation’ at its XXXVI General Assembly.

The resolution, framed as an act of “prayerful witness,” called for collaboration with worldwide ecumenical partners, including the United Church of Christ, to help act in safeguarding marine biodiversity.

The CCCAS encouraged congregations to “advocate for precautionary, science‑based policies,” and engage international governments to “ensure that ocean governance prioritizes the well-being of creation.”

For the Rev. Deborah Streeter, founder of Blue Theology, a faith-based environmental movement combining marine ecology with Christian creation care, such resolutions give her hope.

The now retired UCC pastor who started Blue Theology in 2008 while serving in The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Pacific Grove, California, says it’s the voice of the faithful that can move mountains — in this case, create a tidal wave of justice.

“No social movement has been successful without the participation of a faith community,” said Streeter.

Streeter found her call in caring for the oceans while volunteering at a local aquarium while between ministry jobs. There amid a scientists and marine biologists she began wondering how faith communities could partner with the work that they were doing.

“There was much talk about green theology then, but in California I was surrounded by so much blue. That’s when I began developing blue theology,” said Streeter.

While Streeter is now on the other side of the country, living outside of Albany, New York, where the proximity of the Adirondacks has given her a new appreciation for green theology, Blue Theology continues its work. The highlight for Streeter is knowing that future ocean advocates are being created as youth groups continue coming to the California campus each summer to learn about God, creation and the ocean.

“Nothing compares to the mystery and spirituality of the oceans,” said Streeter.

Blue bonds gain traction

Justice work for the oceans is moving beyond religious circles and entering the world of finance, as the buzz around blue bonds grows on Wall Street.

Blue bonds are investments in companies who are taking action to care for the health of aquatic communities. While they have been around for several years, only recently have they begun to gain traction. Simply put, financial experts say that blue bonds are what green bonds were a decade ago.

“At first it was difficult to get blue bonds done as they were considered small compared to bigger bonds,” said Greg Simcik, Director of Credit Research for the Pension Boards United Church of Christ (PBUCC). “But we are now seeing non-government issuers and more credit worthy, investment grade, solid companies take interest.”

Simcik said that while small compared to other bonds, the justice impact of blue bonds is large. The reason why the Pension Boards entered the blue bond market in January. (Read more here.)

“What will happen is as these bonds become successful, other companies will take notice, especially companies that deal with marine environments and marine resources,” said Simcik.  

Diving into blue bonds was not uncharted territory for the Pension Boards as a decade ago they began adding green bonds to the portfolio. Green bonds are those investments in companies developing for example wind and solar power technologies.  

“We take the experience we have garnered from green bonds and move forward,” said Lan Cai, PBUCC’s Chief Investment Officer. (Learn more about PBUCC’s sustainable investing plan.)

For Simcik, blue bonds are one more way for the UCC to “walk the walk” in creating a just world for all.

“People don’t realize that most of the environment on the planet is water. We give a lot of attention to global warming in terms of the atmosphere,” said Simcik, “but really we must pay attention to marine environments.”

“The Pacific Ocean, after all, impacts everyone worldwide as it sets the weather patterns,” added Sara Marean.

A report in Oceanographic magazine cited that the warming temperatures of Pacific waters, the hottest ever recorded, is fueling record-breaking heat and dangerous droughts throughout Europe.

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