Below are some helpful resources related to the content in this chapter:
Faith & the Common Good is a Canada-wide interfaith network that provides tools and programs to help faith communities become more sustainable and just. Offers practical guides, case studies, and support for congregations looking to green their facilities and engage in climate justice initiatives.
Mental Health and Our Changing Climate (2021 Report) is a comprehensive report by the American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica detailing the mental health impacts of climate change. It includes research on climate anxiety, trauma, and inequities, and provides guidance for communities and leaders to build emotional resilience.
For the Love of Creation is a Canadian faith-based coalition of multiple churches and organizations mobilizing for climate justice. It offers theological reflections, educational materials, and advocacy tools, demonstrating how diverse faith communities can come together to care for the earth and address climate change as a unified moral cause.
Chapter 1. Introduction
Climate change is not just an environmental crisis – it is a profound moral, spiritual, and psychological challenge of our time. For spiritual and ethical leaders, from pastors and imams to Indigenous elders and secular humanist guides, this crisis calls us to a higher purpose.
Indeed, many faith traditions teach that caring for the Earth is a sacred responsibility shared by all. As Pope Francis reminded the world, climate change is “a global problem with grave implications… a great cultural, spiritual, and educational challenge” requiring us to embark on a new path of renewal. Spiritual and moral leaders hold a unique responsibility to guide their communities through these challenges (1). In this chapter, we begin our journey by exploring why climate change must be understood not only in scientific or economic terms, but as a moral imperative and a spiritual journey for communities of all backgrounds. We also acknowledge the heavy emotional toll – the grief, anxiety, and even trauma – that climate disruption brings, and why compassionate leadership is needed now more than ever.
The Moral and Spiritual Call to Leadership
For people of faith and conscience, caring for the Earth and the vulnerable is a core value. Climate change amplifies this calling by harming “God’s creation and people” on an unprecedented scale. Droughts, fires, floods, and melting ice are not distant events; they affect our neighbors, our children, and the ecosystems we depend on. Climate change is a moral and spiritual issue, not just a scientific one. It raises questions of justice, stewardship, and our relationship with the living world. Who better to address these questions than moral leaders who can speak to our highest values?
Moral and spiritual leaders are trusted voices in their communities. You already bring wisdom from your traditions – teachings about compassion, stewardship, humility, and hope. In the climate crisis, your role is imperative: you can interpret the unfolding environmental changes through a moral lens and inspire action grounded in love and duty. Whether your community is Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh, Indigenous, or secular, you can draw on shared principles of caring for the Earth and each other. All traditions share a responsibility to care for life. By framing climate change in ethical terms – as about protecting life, safeguarding the vulnerable, and honoring something greater than ourselves – you help people see that responding to this crisis is part of living their values. This guide will help you embrace your role as a moral beacon, fostering hope and a deep commitment to caring for our planet and one another (1).
Climate Change and the Human Spirit
Importantly, climate change is not only altering our physical world; it is also impacting our inner world – our emotional and spiritual well-being. Many people today feel overwhelmed by climate news. There is a growing sense of climate grief for the loss of beloved landscapes and species, and climate anxiety about an uncertain future. One researcher describes humanity as entering “an era of loss and grief” that we must learn to live with (2). In Canada and around the world, we see this grief in the faces of those who have lost homes to wildfires, or whose ancestral lands are changing beyond recognition. We hear this anxiety in the voices of young people who wonder what kind of future awaits them – in one recent survey, 85% of youth said they are at least moderately worried about the climate crisis (3). Many very worried young people even feel “humanity is doomed,” and some are uncertain about having children in such a world (3). These feelings of despair, anger, or helplessness are real, and they cut across demographics and political lines. They are as much spiritual and psychological issues as they are environmental ones.
As a spiritual leader, you may already be encountering members of your community who feel grief or anxiety about climate change. You might have a teenager in your youth group who is fearful for the future, or a farmer in your congregation mourning the changing land. Perhaps you yourself have grappled with these emotions. Climate disruption touches on core spiritual questions: How do we find meaning amid loss? How do we maintain hope and courage in the face of daunting predictions? How do we comfort those who are anxious or grieving for the Earth? These are questions of the heart and soul. Faith and spiritual practices can offer space to acknowledge sorrow and cultivate hope. In times of upheaval, religious rituals – whether prayer, lament, meditation, or ceremony – help communities express emotions and seek comfort together. This guide recognizes that tending to these emotional and spiritual needs is a critical part of climate leadership. By acknowledging feelings like eco-grief and eco-anxiety, you can help people move from paralysis toward constructive action and healing. As one climate advocate observed, it takes a lot of “spiritual stamina” and community support to face something as enormous as climate change (4). No one should have to bear these fears alone.
Voices from the North – An Inuit Community’s Experience
In the Inuit community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut (Northern Labrador), climate change is not abstract – it is personal. For decades, residents have watched the winter sea ice arrive later and thaw earlier. Traditional hunting and fishing activities have been disrupted, and with them, a way of life that has sustained the community for generations. Alongside the physical changes, people have reported a profound sense of loss and sadness. Local elders and youth alike describe feeling grief as the land and seasons they knew begin to shift (2). Mental health researchers working with Rigolet residents found that many had never been asked about these emotional and spiritual impacts before. Once given the chance, community members spoke openly of “ecological grief” – mourning changes in the land, animals, and ice they hold sacred. In response, Inuit leaders have been drawing on their cultural strengths to help the community cope. They organized community gatherings and healing circles out on the land, where people can share stories, express their grief, and support one another. Traditional practices and wisdom – such as honoring the spirits of animals and the land, and teaching youth how to survive and adapt – are being integrated with modern mental health support. This holistic approach acknowledges that for Indigenous peoples, human well-being is inseparable from the well-being of the environment (5). By recognizing climate change as both an environmental and a spiritual challenge, the community of Rigolet is finding strength in its roots while facing an uncertain future with resilience and hope.
Weaving Stewardship, Healing, and Spiritual Wisdom
The story above is just one example of how climate change impacts both land and soul, and how responses must address both. This guide is designed to equip you, as a moral leader, with insights and practical tools to weave together three crucial strands: environmental stewardship, trauma-informed care, and spiritual teachings (1).
Environmental stewardship is the ethic of caring for the Earth – reducing harm, protecting ecosystems, and living sustainably as an act of reverence or responsibility. Many faiths refer to humans as stewards or guardians of creation, entrusted by the divine or by ancestral duty to care for the natural world. Indigenous traditions speak of living in harmony with Mother Earth and considering the impact of decisions on the next seven generations. This guide affirms that caring for creation is a sacred duty across traditions, and it will help you integrate creation care into your leadership.
Trauma-informed care means recognizing the presence of trauma and stress and responding in ways that foster safety, trust, and empowerment. Climate change can be traumatic – consider a family displaced by a catastrophic flood, or a community coping with the aftermath of a wildfire. Even the continual news of climate disasters can be experienced as vicarious trauma or chronic stress. As a leader, being trauma-informed might involve acknowledging these hurts and creating spaces where people can heal. This might include simple practices like opening meetings with a calming ritual, being mindful of climate trigger topics, or providing referrals to counseling when needed. Throughout this guide, we will explore how to communicate with empathy and awareness of trauma, so that our climate conversations become avenues for healing rather than adding to harm.
Spiritual teachings and practices are the wellspring of wisdom and hope that faith communities can draw upon. From scripture and theology to meditation and ritual, spiritual traditions offer guidance on finding hope in despair, acting with compassion, and building resilience. This guide will highlight teachings from diverse faiths – for example, teachings about justice, unity, humility, and care for the poor – that resonate with climate action. It will also suggest spiritual practices (prayer, ritual, reflection, storytelling) that can empower communities, helping people reconnect with their values and with each other. By infusing climate work with spiritual meaning, we tap into deep sources of motivation and solace.
By weaving these strands together, you can minister to both Earth and soul. A parish nurse or chaplain, for instance, might combine ecological awareness with mental health first aid, and with the comfort of spiritual ritual. A faith-based youth group might pair a tree-planting outing with a talking circle to share climate worries, ending in a prayer or song of hope. This holistic approach ensures that we address the full dimension of the crisis – the external and the internal, the practical and the spiritual. As the introduction to this guide states, by framing climate change as both a moral imperative and a shared spiritual journey, we can learn to recognize and address the emotional toll of ecological loss while mobilizing our communities for action (1).
Conclusion
In closing this introduction, we emphasize that this guide is for everyone who feels a moral or spiritual call to address climate change. You might lead a large urban congregation or a small rural parish; you might be an Indigenous elder on the land or a chaplain in a downtown hospital; you could be a volunteer leading meditation circles or a youth mentor in a secular climate action group. All are welcome here. We believe that by learning from each other’s traditions and expertise, we can forge a path that is both compassionate and effective.
Climate change often brings feelings of isolation or helplessness – but you are not alone in this work. Across Canada and around the world, ethical and spiritual leaders are awakening to the need to act as stewards in a changing climate. They are finding courage in ancient teachings and innovative practices, coming together in an unprecedented interfaith and interdisciplinary effort. In this guide, you will find stories of communities finding hope amid crisis, resources to deepen your understanding, and tools to strengthen your leadership.
As you move forward, remember that tending to creation goes hand in hand with tending to the human heart. By addressing climate change not only as an environmental problem but as a moral mission and a source of meaning, you can inspire those you serve to move from fear to hope, from sorrow to solidarity. In doing so, you help fulfill a powerful vision: a future where communities are resilient, where the Earth is cherished, and where people of all faiths and backgrounds unite in caring for our common home.
Chapter Highlights
Climate change is a moral and spiritual challenge, not only an environmental one.
Spiritual leaders have a unique role in guiding their communities through emotional impacts like climate grief and anxiety.
Indigenous and spiritual wisdom offers crucial insights into coping with climate disruption.
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