2021 Earth Care Award Winners Announced

 PEC Honors Three Award Winners at Membership Meeting

Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC) on January 30th celebrated 25 years of presenting its Annual Awards to Presbyterians making creation care a central concern of the church.  At the virtual membership meeting, PEC recognized two deserving individuals and one organization for their exceptional environmental achievements. The William Gibson Eco-Justice Award was presented to Dr. Mark Eakin, an Elder at Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kensington, MD. Avery Davis Lamb received the Emerging Earth Care Leader Award for a young adult, and Earth Care Congregation Cherokee Park United Church of St. Paul MN received the Restoring Creation Award for an organization.

 

Dr. Mark Eakin, William Gibson Eco-Justice Award

Dr. C. Mark Eakin worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for over 25 years and directs Coral Reef Watch, a program that monitors coral reef ecosystems through satellite and in water observations. Dr. Eakin holds a Ph.D. from the University of Miami and publishes on coral reef ecology, especially the impact of climate change on coral reefs, coral bleaching, ocean acidification, and coral paleoclimatology. He formerly co-chaired the US Coral Reef Task Force’s Climate Change Working Group, has testified before Congress on the impacts of climate change, was a contributing author on the 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report, and a Chief Scientific Advisor for the 2017 Sundance-winning film Chasing Coral.  Dr. Eakin taught the most well-attended seminar at the 2021 PEC Conference, did an evening program for PEC on the latest IPCC report and a program for PEC on the COP26 in November.

 

Avery Davis Lamb, Emerging Earth Care Leader Award

Avery Davis Lamb is an activist, ecologist, and public theologian working at the intersection of Christianity and environmental justice. He is co-executive director of Creation Justice Ministries, whose mission is to educate, equip and mobilize Christians to protect, restore, and rightly share God's creation.  Avery has a background in both ecological research and faith-based environmental organizing, studying ecology in various ecosystems and organizing faith communities across the country in support of action on environmental justice. He serves on the board for The Center for Spirituality in Nature and is a Fellow with the Re:Generate Program at Wake Forest Divinity School and Foundations of Christian Leadership Program at Duke Divinity School where is an environmental management and theology student.

 

Cherokee Park United Church, a joint PC(USA)/UCC Earth Care Congregation, Restoring Creation Award.  

As a small church in a resource-poor West Side neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota, CPUC has demonstrated creativity in advancing a Creation Care message in its congregation and community.  One example: to demonstrate how easy it is to contact one's legislator about issues of concern to the community, the pastor made a call to his representative in Congress during a worship service.  With tender care for our planet and fierce commitment to environmental justice, CPUC shares acts of prayers, from tending its rain garden, sharing solar energy, and advocating with Congress for socially just, effective climate action. 

·         Partnering with the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area and collaborating with the Covenant Presbytery of Texas, our TX & MN overtures were approved at the 2018 PC(USA) General Assembly, calling on our million+ members to encourage Congressional action on climate.

·         Installed rain garden for neighborhood water care.

·         Reducing energy use by 60%, e.g. conversion to 100% LED lighting.

·         Dedicated the largest solar array on any MN church at that time (2012) now meeting all our electricity needs and returning 16MWh of power to the grid every year.