We are pleased to be one of the sponsors for Stewardsip and Consecration, the Yale Latter-day Saint Student Association's conference exploring the relationship between the gospel and sustainability. It will be hosted at Yale from Friday evening October 11 to Sunday afternoon October 13. The conference will include fantastic speakers, service projects, a dance, and a variety of exciting activities on and around Yale campus.

For more information, visit the Yale LDSSA Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1312038622295481/

While serving his mission in Peru, Clayton Thomas Kearl fell so in love with the culture, language, and people that he decided to live there after graduating from BYU–Hawaii. Sharing his passion for Peru on social media has garnered many thousands of followers who know him as Gr3ngasho. With that influence, he’s chosen to take on an environmental problem that plagues his beloved Peru: littering.

The movement Thomas started is called “Chapa Tu Basura”—an idiomatic phrase meaning "pick up trash." To raise awareness, he is running over 1,500 miles along Peru’s coast and hosting clean-up events along the way. The goal is to inspire people to do their part, big or little, to keep their home country clear of litter.

To follow his trek along the Peruvian coast, watch this video and visit his Instagram account.

Bring your family and friends and join us for Earth Day. We have two meaningful activities that will give you the opportunity to serve and learn.

Our Saturday morning service project is a land clean-up near Saratoga Springs, Utah. There is a lot of trash and debris that has been left behind in a beautiful area that looks out over Utah Lake. After spending a few hours cleaning up, we will take a break and have an archeologist teach us about the Native American petroglyphs in the area. This project will be good for your soul.

On Monday evening, bring your family to hear Matthew C. Godfrey, the general editor and managing historian for the Joseph Smith Papers. He is an expert on environmental studies within the Church, and his topic, "Earth Will Appear as the Garden of Eden: Joseph Smith, the City of Zion, and the Natural World," will be applicable to us as members of the Church and earth stewards today. This passage (taken from the description of his essay collection) provides a good description of his topic:

"Since Joseph Smith’s revelations, Mormons have interacted with nature in significant ways—whether perceiving it as a place to find God, uncorrupted spaces in which to build communities to usher in the Second Coming, wildness needing domestication and control, or a world brimming with natural resources to ensure economic well-being."

Come Serve & Learn with LDS Earth Stewardship!

On October 10, 2018, Elder Steven E. Snow of the Seventy participated in a panel discussion at an environmental stewardship symposium at Utah State University. He referred to scripture and past prophets who teach us our responsibility to care for the earth. You can access his words through this Mormon Newsroom release.

There are so many powerful passages. We want to highlight of few of them: 

"...God expects every one of His sons and daughters to act as good stewards of the land He created. It causes me much grief when I look outside my window and see a hazy inversion or when I hear consistent reports of Utah’s poor air quality. I am concerned for the families affected by wildfires and for the schoolchildren forced to stay indoors because of smoky skies. Algal blooms are breaking out in Utah’s lakes. We are experiencing unusually dry seasons and record-breaking warm winters."

"Climate change is real, and it’s our responsibility as stewards to do what we can to limit the damage done to God’s creation."

Elder Snow quoting President Dallin H. Oaks: "These are challenging times, filled with big worries: wars and rumors of wars, possible epidemics of infectious diseases, droughts, floods, and global warming. Seacoast cities are concerned with the rising level of the ocean, which will bring ocean tides to their doorsteps or over their thresholds. Global warming is also affecting agriculture and wildlife." 

Quoting President Spencer W. Kimball: "Too often we are a “throw-away people,” Some live lavishly in the moment without a thought for the future. Others believe that because “the earth will [one day] be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory” that we have free license to be wasteful. But that’s not how it works. God made us stewards over His creations and, as such, He expects accountability. believe it is unbecoming of a Latter-day Saint to willfully deface and defile the earth."

Quoting President Ezra Taft Benson: “Stewardship in the Church is a very important matter. The Lord has mentioned it in the revelations. We are stewards over these earthly blessings which the Lord has provided, those of us who have this soil and this water. We have no moral latitude, it seems to me. In fact, we are morally obligated to turn this land over to those who succeed us—not drained of its fertility but improved in quality, in productivity, and in usefulness for future generations.”

"...failure to care for the land on which we live means turning our backs on the heritage laid down carefully and at such great cost by our forefathers—and will leave us immeasurably poorer."

We also love Elder Snow's recommendations on ways we can be better stewards: 

• Check with your local utility company, local community groups, or the internet to find suggestions to conserve energy.
• Support community recycling programs.
• Consider starting a community garden.
• Support local civic groups that promote stewardship and conservation.
• Be an involved citizen in government.
• Use the resources of the earth sparingly and reverently.
• Adopt lifestyles and personal habits that respect the Creation.
• As you can, fix up and keep clean the places where you live, work, recreate, and worship.
• Make your own living space more beautiful and inspirational.
• Contemplate the ways that nature bears testimony of God and the harmony between the laws and patterns of nature and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We encourage you to share this Mormon Newroom link to your friends and family. As members of the Church, we can have a significant influence on the world for good. And we should.