The Church of the Brethren’s Christian Citizenship Seminar (CCS) in 2012 will consider carbon footprints and large-scale responses to elevated levels of carbon in the atmosphere, such as carbon labeling. The event for high school youth and adult advisors takes place April 14-19 in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Participants will focus on how individuals and the country might respond to the high level of carbon in today’s atmosphere. Rather than debate global warming, participants will explore questions like “How much carbon do everyday tasks, such as driving to school or eating a banana, put into the atmosphere?” “What is our country’s carbon footprint?” “How does that footprint compare to other developed countries?” “Are there actions we can encourage our government to implement?”
As always, after a number of educational sessions, CCS participants will visit their legislators to discuss what they have learned and what changes they would like to see in government policy as a result.
Online registration opens at www.brethren.org on Dec. 1. Registration is limited to the first 100 participants. Churches sending over four youth are required to send at least one adult advisor to insure an adequate number of adults. Cost is $375, which includes lodging for five nights, dinner on the opening evening of the seminar, and transportation from New York to Washington. Each participant should bring additional money for meals, sightseeing, personal expenses, and a few subway or taxi fares.
“Our task is nothing less than to join God in preserving, renewing, and fulfilling the creation. It is to relate to nature in ways that sustain life on the planet, provide for the essential material and physical needs of all humankind, and increase justice and wellbeing for all life in a peaceful world” (from the “Creation: Called to Care” statement approved by the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference in 1991).
Visit www.brethren.org/ccs for more information, to download a flyer, or to register.
— Carol Fike and Becky Ullom of the Youth and Young Adult Ministry Office provided this report.