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.