We seek the flourishing of the whole of God’s Creation and all its creatures. We act to renew the earth from the damage done and stand in solidarity with people most impacted by human-induced climate change. Government, churches, businesses and the wider community work together for a sustainable future.” A Vision for a Just Australia, Uniting Church Assembly, July 2021

Approaching environmental issues through a Christian lens offers valuable ethical and spiritual insights for people committed to caring for the environment, both within and outside the church.

This EcoChurches WA website has many resources to assist you in the care of the earth.

The Christian approach is also an approach filled with hope.

So often, environmental issues are dealt with against a background of fear and threat. We should stop doing ‘x’ because otherwise environmental problem ‘y’ will happen. As Christians, the starting point for caring for the Earth is a response to a loving, creating God.

This website is an initiative of the Social Justice Commission of the Uniting Church in Australia Synod of Western Australia. It provides a range of information and resources to Western Australian Uniting Church congregations, church members and others who have made (or are considering making) a conscious decision to lessen their impact on God’s creation.

After all, caring for creation is a key Christian task.

Aboriginal Land

The reality of our situation is that this piece of land upon which we live has been here and has been cared for by Aboriginal people in an intimate mutuality for tens of thousands of years.  The impacts that we are having on our environment are so staggering when you appreciate the short time scale in which the changes have occurred in comparison to the relative balance Aboriginal people held with the land over millennia. If we are to learn about caring for creation, we need to learn about the particular bit of land we are on, and we need to learn it from those who know it best – for us in the South West this our Nyungar brothers and sisters.

This is Nyungar Boodja.

It is an amazingly rich and complex pocket of nature.  Out of nearly 6000 native vascular plant species found in the South West botanical province, 79 per cent are endemic to Western Australia[1], and we all can name some of the fauna that are also only found here in the South West of Western Australia.  The Nyungar story and wisdom helps us not only to respect this, but challenges us to an entirely different mindset that as we care for land, we are also part of it.  Indeed we need to reconnect with land to allow the land to care for us.

It is in this spirit that we formally acknowledge the Elders past and present who are the traditional custodians of this land.

Find out who your local elders are to learn the stories of your area.  Visit the national Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress website and the Uniting Church Western Australia First Peoples website. Or find out more about Covenanting in the Uniting Church on the Assembly website.