2025 Earth Care Award Winners Announced

 

Four Earth Care Award Winners Honored 
at Presbyterians for Earth Care Annual Gathering

Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC) recognized two individuals and one congregation/organization for their exceptional environmental achievements at PEC’s virtual Annual Gathering on January 11, 2026.

William P. Brown, the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA received the William Gibson Eco-Justice Award for his long-term dedication to teaching and preaching on environmental issues in the Old Testament. He is also a co-founder of Earth Covenant Ministry, an organization of Presbyterian Churches in the Atlanta area that later became part of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light. Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light was presented with the Restoring Creation Award for working in community gardens and backyard gardens for more than a decade. Many of the garden locations have been on church properties, where congregations have been engaged. Drew Hill and Hudson Davis received PEC’s Emerging Earth Care Leader Award for showing exceptional promise as future leaders. Drew Hill, a young adult from Santa Fe, NM is passionate about social progress, protecting the environment and serving the public. From an early age, Hudson was captivated by prehistoric and modern animals and the sanctity of nature.

William Gibson Eco-Justice Award
William P. Brown

Dr. Brown has received numerous awards, grants and academic chairs. In addition to teaching and preaching on environmental issues, Dr. Brown has written twelve books and was editor of “Engaging Biblical Authority”. He is currently completing a major commentary on the Psalms for the “Old Testament Library Commentary” series (WJK). Next will be a commentary on Genesis 1-11 in the new Interpretation series (WJK). He has also assisted with writing creation care overtures for General Assemblies.

Restoring Creation Award
Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light (AIPL)

AIPL’s network of growers had 21 community garden locations, 7 new partners, and several small backyard gardens in low-wealth communities. AIPL has involved a total of 74 interns, trainers, and students and has engaged more than 22,000 people each year learning about growing some of their own food in sustainable ways. AIPL provides 13,725 pounds of nutritious fresh produce and other food items to food pantries and no cost markets. A total of 43,300 pounds of organic matter was diverted from landfills over a 2-year period. AIPL interns also shared organic waste from its gardens with chickens at on-site coops and added organic matter to onsite compost bins. AIPL is reaching even more people in more low-wealth communities by awarding ten $2000 grants.

Emerging Earth Care Leader Award
Hudson Davis and Drew Hill

Hudson Davis is a 24-yr old scientist serving the Mammoth Site, located in Hot Springs, South Dakota.  As the Assistant Science Educator, Hudson lives out his childhood dreams of being a paleontologist while getting to pass on the power of curiosity about the natural world to the next generation. Hudson embodies his faith while teaching about the amazing world we live in. He runs classes and tours at the site and leads the summer camp program, a free week-long program. During the summer Hudson serves as a supervisor for the Mammoth's Site Internship Program, helping mentor six to eight college paleontology students. Hudson also helps design exhibits for the museum and dig for fossils of ice age animals in local caves. 

 

Drew Hill is a young adult from Santa Fe, New Mexico, passionate about

social progress, protecting the environment, and serving the public. Raised in the community of First Presbyterian Church Santa Fe, Drew served as a youth deacon and elder prior to graduating high school, working as summer staff at Ghost Ranch Retreat Center, and serving as a PC (USA) Young Adult Volunteer in Washington D.C. He received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree at the University of New Mexico, graduating in 2024. Drew also served as a Young Adult Advisory Delegate (YAD) to the previous General Assembly. Since completing his degree, he has worked as a District Staffer for Congressman Gabe Vasquez. Drew has worked with the Advocacy Committee on PEC overtures for the 2026 General Assembly and serves on the CANOPY Advisory Committee.

From Action to Advocacy to Interfaith and Beyond: Connecting isms

 

"The Great People's March" at COP30 in Belem, Brazil    

Photo credit: Simon Chambers/ACT

by Courtenay Willcox

We are stronger together, and today, the interfaith community is standing up to many isms, including racism, authoritarianism, consumerism, White Christian nationalism, militarism, sexism, and antisemitism.

I am in awe of the faith communities who are speaking up (hear our own Rev. Margaret Fox from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis) and standing with and protecting residents who are marginalized, afraid, traumatized, dehumanized, and singled out because of how they speak, the color of their skin, and even the jobs they hold and the places in which they work.

I was moved by an interview with Ahmed bin Hassan, who shared a video he took of himself being confronted by ICE and Border Patrol while working as a ride-share driver, waiting in line at the Minneapolis airport. When asked by an interviewer if he was afraid of ICE, he said, “I am a Muslim man, and my faith tells me to fear God.” He went on to say that he could have been startled or fearful, but he wasn’t because of many past interactions with law enforcement in his American life. He said the agents identified him as not being “one of us. You’re not an American, you know?” because of the color of his skin and his accent. Hassan was unflappable, and at the end of his interaction with Border Patrol, he said, “I kept on recording, because even if I end up losing my life, this is going to show people that law enforcement is getting used in a very weird way to dehumanize people.”

I’m grateful to people like Ahmed bin Hassan, who have a faith that compels them to act.

Activism is showing up in our world in clear ways in Minneapolis, and it is also showing up in Presbyterians for Earth Care as we work to stand up against the desecration of the world God has given us to steward, because our faith moves us to action. Activism and advocacy are involved in writing overtures that will go before the General Assembly this summer so that we can better care for creation through regenerative agriculture, to make amends for the harm humans have done to the earth, not to mention calling on the PC(USA) to hold corporations accountable for their actions through divestment.

Environmentalism resists the degradation of creation and of the people who reside on this earth. We are called to stand with each other and the environment that surrounds us. Sometimes it gets complicated and messy, and we’re are required to exercise discernment about our call. What is it that is ours to do, and how are we to act as God’s people?

In this week’s lectionary, the famous verses from Micah about doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly, are paired with the Beatitudes, which mention longing for justice (Matt. 5:6), practicing mercy (v. 7), acting with authenticity and single-mindedness (v. 8), and making peace (v. 9). These are kingdom-shaping, kingdom-making practices, and here, we have good instruction about our path to creation care, and against many of the isms that we face in our world. It is my prayer for each of us that we are able to hear our call clearly and continue to find faithful, thoughtful, and creative ways to love our neighbor and the beautiful world that God has given us to steward.

Courtenay Willcox is a transitional pastor at Northampton Presbyterian Church, Moderator of Presbyterians for Earth Care, and a very grateful Gigi to three remarkable granddaughters.