The Eco-Stewards Program, started as a partnership between the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association and Presbyterians for Earth Care, has announced plans for its 2010 program for young adults (~ages 20-30).
For 2010 the Eco-Stewards Program is offering a one week experience called "Tending the Garden: A Faith Response to Protecting and Restoring Mountains, Communities and Relationships" in West Virginia from May 16-23, along with a limited number of paid summer internships. Below is some information on the program. More information is available on the Eco-Stewards Program website.
Download Eco-Stewards Application and more information (Word document)
Download Eco-Stewards Application and more information (PDF)
Description for the Eco-Stewards Program:
Are you a young adult (~20-30) searching for a way to connect your faith and environmental calling? Join us for the 2010 Eco-Stewards Program, as we delve into the complex environmental issues surrounding mountains, coal, land use, and sustainability in southern West Virginia. We will consider how these issues invite us to deepen our relationship with God and with each other -- to live more simply, to consume less, and to join in a dynamic Christian movement to care for the earth.
This weeklong program will examine the faith response to environmental degradation in the West Virginia context. We will explore some of the complexities surrounding mountaintop removal coal mining. We’ll listen to stories of the people and the land as we participate in a local restoration project; visit a mountaintop removal site with those who are dedicating their lives to protecting the mountains; join with local pastors in a blessing of the mountains; and converse with Yale Divinity School ethicist and professor Willis Jenkins about the theological underpinnings of land stewardship. We will also take time to breath deeply and recognize the beauty and wonder of God’s Creation as we walk in the woods, float down the New River, and learn about West Virginia’s traditions of living with and from the land.
Our week will conclude with a Christian Community Gathering at Bluestone Camp & Retreaton the banks of Bluestone Lake. Here we will synthesize and share what we have learned and be commissioned for future eco-stewardship service. This community gathering will allow us to gain strength from and give energy to the Christian earth care movement. Sustainable farmer Joel Salatin (featured in Michael Pollan’s best-selling book The Omnivore’s Dilemma & Robert Kenner’s documentary Food, Inc.) will be the keynote speaker for this event. Salatin, a self-proclaimed Christian environmentalist, will share his principles and practices of land stewardship for his Polyface Inc. farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
The 2010 Eco-Stewards Program will provide an opportunity to meet people who are listening to the Spirit at work on this planet and within the landscape of West Virginia. You will also have a chance to share your own passions and sense of vocational call to environmental stewardship. Come, join us for the week or maybe, for the full summer as an intern with one of our partner organizations. Or perhaps, these hills will call you home for longer…
Who: This program will be facilitated by eco-minded Rev. Rob Mark of First Presbyterian Church in Waltham, Massachusetts, by Boston-based environmental journalist Becky Evans, and by Environment and Resources graduate student and local West Virginia river guide Heather Lukacs. The Eco-Stewards Program is a joint mission of the Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC) and the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association (PCCCA).
For Whom: Undergraduate students, graduate students, and young adults in the ~20-30 age range who have an interest in connecting their faith and environmental passions.
When: May 16-23, 2010 for weeklong program. Begins 6 p.m. on 16th / ends a.m. of 23rd.
Where: Group will be lodging at Presbyterian churches in West Virginia in southern West Virginia for first 3 nights, then spend 2 days on the New River and May 20-23 group will stay at Bluestone Camp & Retreat center and take part in Stewardship of the Land: A Christian Community Gathering.
Cost: $250 + transportation to West Virginia (all-inclusive of meals, housing, transportation, honoraria). Participants are encouraged to fundraise on their own.
*Additional Paid Summer-long Internships:For interested participants, there are 4-5 sites that are committed to house and supervise paid summer internships related to eco-stewardship in West Virginia. Internships begin May 24 and last for 8-10 weeks depending on site. Site locations are (1) Montgomery Presbyterian and West Virginia Missions Advocacy and Workcamps, (2) Bluestone Camp & Retreat and Hinton Presbyterian Church, (3) Rural Appalachian Improvement League and Pentecostal Church in McGraws, (4) West Virginia Stewardship of Creation Ministry Team (near Fayetteville, WV), (5) Christians for the Mountains (site still pending). There will be ongoing supervision and community building opportunities for these events. Each intern will receive between $1000-2000 upon completion of their internship (specific amount will be clarified upon being accepted to internship). Housing will be provided.
For more information or to apply, see www.ecostewardsprogram.org
Application deadline:
Rolling Applications w/ Early Deadline: March 25, 2010. Final decisions made within two weeks of application after early deadline (internship decisions will require additional time). People appplying for internships are encouraged to apply by March 25.
Very good site, Katie! Way to go!
Posted by: Scott | 03/22/2010 at 03:02 PM