Features archive

Updated: 18 August 2008:
ARC's diary of events
Link here for ARC's diary: key talks, meetings, radio etc.   

18 July 2008 :
What the media have said about ARC
Features about ARC and its work.   

ARC Newsletters
Newsletters sent out by ARC  

Prayer and Worship Resources
Resources to help communities reflect prayerfully on our role in creation  

Videos and Podcasts on Religions and the natural Environment
Multimedia resources on the Religions approach to the environment, which can be downloaded and watched from the internet.  

November 19, 2007:
Globe & Mail features Catholic eco-action and Benedictine Handbook
Toronto's Globe and Mail publishes major report on the alliance of faith and conservation including a very positive write up on the Benedictine/ARC/World bank handbook Listening to the Earth.  

November 5 2007:
ARC's work in The Economist and on BBC World Service
ARC and our partners featured in an Economist article on faith leaders and ecologists combining to protect the Strait between India and Sri Lanka. This is one of two articles in The Economist in the past month featuring our work. Our Faith and Forestry initiative also featured in two BBC World Service programmes this weekend.  

October 2007:
Geographical Magazine article: Can God Save the World?
Geographical's Charlie Furniss explores the work that faiths are doing on the environment - including interviews with ARC, IFEEs, CI and other partners.  

August 20, 2007:
ARC featured in Western Daily Press and Bath Chronicle
The Western Daily Press in the UK featured ARC in a major article on August 13, focusing our role as a broker between "two worlds": the religious and the secular.  

August 6 2007:
Faith in nature: young people, religions and the great outdoors
"An activities teacher once came to my school and asked: What do the religions all have in common. We came up with various answers: belief in a divine being, places to pray... "Yes to almost all," he said. "But there's something else: camping." ARC celebrates the centenary of Scouting with an article in UNEP's Tunza magazine about the faiths' relationship with the outdoors.  

April 27 2007:
The Guardian cites ARC in story on religions and environment
The Guardian today published a feature on the Vatican conference on climate change highlighting how the Vatican has added its voice to a rising chorus of warnings from churches that abuse of the environment is against God's will, and that the Catholic church must become greener.   

April 23 2007:
千里之行始于足下: ARC Presentation at Daoist Forum (in Chinese)
国际道德经论坛”论文   

April 11 2007:
Independent highlights ARC's work in Easter edition
The UK's Independent on Sunday this weekend featured ARC’s work with sacred sites in a piece entitled “Save our holy lands”. It showed how thousands of sacred places are to be linked together in a bid to preserve the world's disappearing wild species.   

March 20, 2007:
Why did we start to waste so much? An Islamic View
Muslim commentator and environmental activist Fazlun Khalid comments for the BBC's Green Room series on where and why it all started to go wrong.  

March 6 2007:
Writing the Benedictine Eco-Handbook: a personal account
Writer of the Benedictine/ARC/World Bank handbook Bill Bartlett reflects on the experience - looking back at the most pivotal period of his life.   

February 28 2007:
Religieus bosbeheer op agenda
"De Kerk van Zweden neemt samen met een Japanse sjinto-organisatie het voortouw om na te denken over verantwoord bosbeheer." Friesch Dagblad, with 20,000 readers, reports on ARC's project to create religious forest standards.   

February 10, 2007:
Thought for the Day: Beware Neo-puritan responses to climate change
"The environmental challenge of Climate Change is fast becoming an excuse for moralising and a new form of Puritanism which is as ugly and as dangerous as, say, the prohibition of alcohol in the US in the 1920s." Martin Palmer.  

Faiths and Finance
Faiths and faith communities can use, and are using, the power of their financial investments positively, to help protect the Earth.  

November 16 2006:
Archbishop of Dublin explains role of faiths in development
"Development will only be sustainable when it generates voice, ownership and relations that are harmonious and responsible." Archbishop Diarmuid Martin: Oslo, November 2006.   

October 25 2006:
CI recognises importance of faith involvement
Conservation International's Project Manager for Conservation and Religion in Indonesia explains why the charity is increasingly working with the religions.  

Presented on April 15 2006:
ARC's speech at First World Buddhist Conference: in English
"There are many illusions. There is the illusion that we can exploit this fragile world and not pay the cost; there is the illusion that material property is the only worthwhile goal; there is the illusion that human communities can exist without regard to the animals, plants, rocks, and rivers which live beside them."  

April 15 2006:
ARC's speech at First World Buddhist Conference: in Chinese
The original, Chinese language version of ARC's presentation to Buddhists - on preserving species, the environment, and on the emptiness of illusion  

April 20 2006:
Dutch Foundation shows how marginal action can have mainstream impact
In the second in our series of key interviews, ARC talks to Dutch philanthropist Allerd Stikker, about putting lessons learned from both Daoism and Catholicism into what he calls "marginal activism".  

The ARC liturgy against toxins: shorter version
ARC has developed a liturgy to encourage more people to think about the dangers of toxic chemicals and how each of us can work to reduce their impact. This is the shorter version.  

World Council of Churches supports All Hallows REACH initiative
Rev Dr Sam Kobia, General Secretary of the WCC writes in strong support of the ARC/WWF All Hallows month of support for REACH anti toxins legislation  

October 13 2005:
HURT NOT THE EARTH, AND THE SEA NOR THE TREES
The full text of a liturgy to be used through November to support debate on REACH anti-toxin legislation, before the European Parliament.   

Tony Whitten of the World Bank at Lambeth, 2005:
The World Bank and ARC
  

May 4, 2005:
Muslim African projects
A Muslim Civic Education Trust leader tells of two new projects, and two surprising stories  

Dr He Xiaoxin of ARC at Lambeth 2005:
A Daoist story at Lambeth
  

Steve Howard of the Climate Group at Lambeth 2005:
The religions and climate change
  

Allerd Stikker of EMF, at Lambeth 2005:
EMF and the Daoist Mountains
  

Lambeth 2005:
The story of the Benedictines and ARC
ARC works with monasteries from Brazil to Zambia, on projects ranging through river restoration to organic agriculture and the cultivation of medicinal plants.   

Jean Pierre Sweerts of Rabobank at Lambeth 2005:
Religions and the Banking Community
  

John Smith of ARC, at Lambeth, 2005:
Ten Years of the Sacred Land Project
  

Joanne Robinson of ARC, Lambeth 2005:
ARC and the Asian Buddhist Network
  

Dr Pema Gyalpo, Lambeth 2005:
The Asian Buddhist Network: a Buddhist's perspective
  

Paola Triolo of ARC, at Lambeth 2005:
ARC and Kyoto
  

Dr Jill Bowling of WWF at Lambeth, 2005:
ARC and WWF - the next 10 years
Dr Jill Bowling spoke at Lambeth for ARC's 10th anniversary in 2005. She said how in its first 10 years ARC had become a powerful group with powerful ideas. "Now in the next 10 years let’s broaden out; let’s develop new policies to reduce the footprint of all of us on the planet.  

Rabbi Daniel Sperber at Lambeth, 2005:
ARC, 3iG and partnerships
  

April 27 2005:
Social investment a weapon of change for the world's faiths
International investment consultants report on launch of 3iG.  

February 9 2005:
From Princes to Paupers: the Story of ARC.
Prince Philip describes ARC as "the charity that doesn’t exist". ARC’s secretary general wants it to be disbanded within 10 years. SIMON PARKIN explores the paradoxes that make up one of Britain’s most enigmatic and unrecognised charities.  

Catholic Times: January 12 2005:
A monk sets a fine example in poor Zambia
The Catholic Times runs a story about Fr Willibrord Nzota, in London for an ARC conference, who talks about the Benedictines' work in a remote part of Zambia.  

Martin Palmer: November 23 2004:
BBC Radio 4: Thought for the Day on Africa
In the week when the twentieth anniversary of Band Aid is being celebrated and the new recording of "Do they know its Christmas" is out, there is some good news from Africa.  

Our Planet Magazine: May 27 2004:
Ecumenical Patriarch writes about the seas
His All Holiness Bartholomew of Constantinople says that water is the binding force between heaven and earth and that pollution of the sea represents paradise lost   

WWF News: March 2004:
WWF on ARC: Manchester’s green plan calls for action
WWF features ARC in its members' newsletter, circulated to hundreds of thousands of supporters.  

WWF News: March 2004:
WWF on ARC: Church in Lebanon plays key environmental role
WWF features ARC in its members' newsletter, circulated to hundreds of thousands of supporters.  

WWF News: March 2004:
WWF on ARC: Move to socially responsible investment
WWF features 3iG in its members' newsletter, circulated to hundreds of thousands of supporters.  

WWF News: March 2004:
WWF on ARC: Religions commit to global land conservation
WWF features ARC in its members' newsletter, circulated to hundreds of thousands of supporters.  

Tunza Magazine; January 26 2004:
Youth Action in Lebanon
The story of how five students got together to replant a forest devastated by fire - sowing the seeds of what was to become a full-scale national youth action group for the environment.   

Mott Mosaic, January 1 2004:
Religious Alliance Seeks Ways to use Wealth Wisely
The prestigious Mott foundation explains why it supports ARC's work  

Maronite pledge, October 30, 2003:
Declaring the Qadisha Valley as a Maronite-protected environment.
For over 1500 years the Church has found sanctuary in the natural beauty and Godliness of Qadisha. Today it is under threat. This document and the promises within it could save the valley.  

Our Planet, 17 September 2003:
Keeping faith with nature
The world’s major religions agree on the importance of conservation and describes how they are taking action to put their beliefs into practice, Victoria Finlay writes.  

South China Morning Post, 29 July 2003:
Church heads can help environment: Prince Philip
In a recent interview, Prince Philip said religious leaders had an important role to play in educating the masses about environmental protection.  

Green Futures, 13 July 2003:
Inner City Sanctums
Faith, it is said, can move mountains – so it should be up to shifting a few tons of concrete to create gardens and oases amongst the urban blight. Victoria Finlay lifts the veil on an unlikely marriage of religion - and regeneration.  

World Bank, 13 July 2003:
ARC publish new book on faith and ecology through the World Bank
Faith in Conservation takes us into the realm of myths, symbols, stories and legends to help explain how the diversity of worlds we inhabit can help preserve what for most people is still "God's Creation".   

Interview with Prince Philip
“If you believe in God, which is what Christians are supposed to do, then you should feel a responsibility to care for His Creation.” ARC's founder, the Duke of Edinburgh gives a rare interview about his beliefs in conservation.  

Interfaith document, 23 May 2003:
Goroka Declaration on Christians and the Environment
An inter-church commitment to care for the environment in Papua New Guinea - undergirded by the Evangelical Alliance of PNG.  

Green Futures magazine, 25 March 2003:
Spiritual capital across the divide
The main faiths control investments amounting to about 10 per cent of the world’s equities. That gives them a mighty lever for change, and it’s one which they are just beginning to wield.  

The Independent newspaper, 25 November 2002:
ARC’s celebration of Creation: fit for a Queen
A gathering of the leaders of the world’s 11 major religious faiths, at an international religious celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee, could have profound repercussions around the world.  

Church Times, 22 November 2002:
How to do business for good
Religions have a big stick, says Paul Vallely. It’s the huge funds that they control.