Earth Care Awards

Since 1997, Presbyterians for Earth Care (formerly PRC) has given awards annually to recognize individuals and groups/institutions for their forward thinking and leadership in caring for God's creation.  Individuals receive the William Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award.* Congregations, governing bodies, ecumenical agencies, and Presbyterian-related entities receive Restoring Creation Awards. Both of these awards are given to individuals and groups whose work for the environment is particularly praise-worthy and creative.

If you are a member of Presbyterians for Earth Care, you are welcome to nominate an awardee. We generally look for award nominees within the presbytery or general region where the General Assembly or the PEC Conference (alternating years) will be located.

Past Award Recipients

William Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award*

• 1997 Dr. William E. Gibson
• 1998 Richard Cartwright Austin
• 1999 Terri Swearingen
• 2000 Dr. Dieter Hessel
• 2001 Rev. Bill Knox
• 2002 Rev. Holmes Rolston III
• 2003 Rev. John H. Jackson
• 2004 Rev. Carol F. Johnston
• 2005 Jenny Holmes
• 2006 Dan and Elizabeth Turk
• 2007 None given
  
• 2008 John Topping
• 2009 Linda Gray Sonner
• 2010 Robert Stivers and Kristina Peterson
• 2011 Rev. William Somplatsky-Jarman

Restoring Creation Award

• 1998 Trinity House Church, Harrisonburg, VA
• 1999 Community of Servant Savior, Houston, TX
• 2000 Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, San Diego, CA & St. Mark Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, CA
• 2001 Synod of Living Waters: Living Waters for the World, TN
• 2002 Central Florida Presbytery, FL & First Presbyterian Church, Kirkwood, MO
• 2003 First United Presbyterian Church, Loveland, CO & Ferncliff Camp & Conference Center, AR & Eco-Justice Ministries, CO
• 2004 Warren Wilson College, NC
• 2005 Susquehanna Valley Presbytery, NY
• 2006 Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley, AL
• 2007 Foothill Presbyterian Church, CA
• 2008 Village Presbyterian Church, KS
• 2009 Montreat Conference Center, NC
• 2010 North Como Presbyterian Church, Roseville, MN
• 2011 Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Denver, CO

*William E. Gibson

Founding PEC member, author and eco-justice advocate, William Gibson was a true earth care pioneer.  He served in the U.S. Navy in WWII and earned a Bachelor's of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Doctorate in Christian Ethics from Union Theological Seminary New York. He was an ordained Presbyterian Minister. He was in campus ministry at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Rochester, RIT, and Cornell University. In 1974 he led in the founding of the Eco-Justice Project which was a part of the Center for Religion Ethics and Social Policy at Cornell. He was editor of the Egg: A Journal of Eco-Justice, for nine plus years. He wrote numerous articles and book chapters and was editor of the book Eco-Justice-The Unfinished Journey. He loved God and humankind his whole life by working for peace, justice, and the environment. He was a part of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, spoke out against every war since WWII, was a leading member of the Presbyterian Eco-Justice Task Force, Presbyterians for Restoring Creation, and the Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches, and served on the Loaves and Fishes Board and the Fair Wage Coalition in Ithaca, to name a few of his activities over the years.