EarthBeat Weekly: A Franciscan sister's Arctic expedition leads to calls for preservation

A Franciscan sister's Arctic expedition leads to calls to conserve, not drill   EarthBeat Weekly Your weekly newsletter about faith and climate change July 24, 2026   The 19-million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Northeastern Alaska is seen from the air in June 2026. (Andrew Black) In late June, a time when sunshine radiates at all hours of the day in parts of Alaska, Franciscan Sr. Joan Brown joined a small crew of faith leaders on a journey into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Their aim was not leisure but learning and listening — from both the land and the Indigenous people who have called this remote part of the world home for centuries.  "I had no goals in going there, other than just to listen and be present," Brown told me just hours after returning back home to Albuquerque, where for two decades she served as executive director of New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light, a faith-based environmental group. As a follower of St. Francis of Assisi, listening to the land comes natural for Brown. What she heard from Sister Mother Earth was the Arctic was a sacred place teeming with an abundance of life. It was a message standing counter to political narratives and portrayals that often frame the refuge — a 19-million acre federally protected reserve the size of South Carolina — as a barren, frozen tundra where oil drilling offers major economic windfalls while posing little threat to the ecosystem. "[It is] one of the keystone places for life on the planet," she said, "and we just don't have a sense of that and that sacredness and the balance and our need for that place." The faith expedition came just two weeks after the first of four drilling lease auctions along the refuge's Coastal Plain mandated by Congress as part of the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates 4.25 billion to 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil lie beneath the Coastal Plain. While the lease sales so far have drawn few bidders, they are part of an aggressive push by the Trump administration to open more public lands and waters in Alaska and across the country to extraction and development. Combined with the impacts of climate change, with the Arctic warming two to four times faster than the rest of the planet, Alaska's vast wildlife refuge is facing significant threats on multiple fronts.  Calling attention to those threats drove the faith expedition that Brown joined to this remote yet ecologically critical corner of the country, not just for Alaska but for biodiversity across America. "Why the Arctic is really critical for people of faith is that it's one of the few places left on Earth that is truly untouched since God created it," the Rev. Andrew Black, a Presbyterian minister and EarthKeepers 360 founder who organized the expedition, told me.  "This trip is fundamentally about reawakening the soul of America to how important the Arctic is from a biodiversity, climate and spiritual perspective." Read more: A Franciscan sister journeyed to the Arctic. She found a land teeming with life. What else is new on EarthBeat:   How a Benedictine monk built Rhode Island's first utility-scale wind turbine by Camillo Barone The project was a test of whether Portsmouth Abbey and its school were willing to act on environmental values. "This is kind of a put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is kind of deal," says Br. Joseph Byron. Read more here »   Villanova unveils Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal ahead of Rome conference by Brian Roewe A new award created by Villanova University, named after its most famous — and only papal — alumnus, will recognize extraordinary efforts in caring for the Earth and the common good. Read more here »   Peru: Historic churches severely damaged following earthquakes by Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News After a pair of earthquakes struck the mountainous region of Junín in Peru, the Catholic Church in the country expressed solidarity with victims' families and is coordinating humanitarian aid to help victims, as well as efforts to preserve damaged historic churches. Read more here »   CRS receives State Department funds to 'significantly expand' humanitarian aid to Cuba by Gina Christian, OSV News Catholic Relief Services is welcoming federal support that will help "significantly expand" humanitarian aid to Cuba, as the Caribbean nation battles multiple crises. Read more here »   What data center protests, Andy Burnham reveal about rebuilding a populism of the left by Michael Sean Winters On both sides of the Atlantic, people are fighting back to stop huge, powerful corporations from having their way with the things we should all share, writes Michael Sean Winters. Read more here » What's happening in other climate news: Majority of US voters link extreme weather to climate crisis, study finds —Dharna Noor for the Guardian France recorded 5,700 more deaths than usual during its historic June heat wave —John Leicester for the Associated Press US cancels automatic protections for imperiled animals as critics warn of extinctions —Matthew Brown for the Associated Press Zeldin vows to fulfill coal industry's 'wish list' —Hannah Northey for E&E News Why did energy-saving tips disappear from the Energy Department website? —Kate Yoder for Grist EPA violated key soot standard in Clean Air Act, court rules —Avril Silva for Inside Climate News Judge hits the brakes on land sale near polluted Anaconda site —Jeniffer Solis for Nevada Current 'A better way to be relevant': Greens embrace data center fight —Zack Colman for E&E News From rivers to mangroves, microplastics are contaminating the Amazon —Tiago da Mota e Silva for Mongabay Final Beat: As it often goes in reporting, not every details or anecdote makes it into every article.  That was certainly true with my story on the faith expedition to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), but I'll share one omitted story here. The trip was organized in partnership with the American Lands Project (ALP), a conservation organization that connects policymakers and other groups with public lands and waters. This was the first time ALP brought faith leaders to ANWR. But it wasn't its first faith connection, as a church-facilitated encounter with nature inspired one of its funders to a lifetime of conservation work.  Tom Campion was a 14-year-old eighth grader when in August 1962 he took part on a 10-day backpacking trip in Olympic National Park in Washington with his local Catholic Youth Organization chapter.  "And I just fell in love with the mountains," he told me.  It's a love that has continued throughout his life. He joined more CYO hiking trips, and eventually the burgeoning environmental movement of the 1970s. One of the first forays into activism was securing protections for the Spotted Owl.  The founder of Zumiez, an action sports retailer with more than 700 locations, Campion and his wife Sonya later established the Campion Advocacy Fund to further efforts to address homelessness and conservation. Their work has garnered praise from environmental groups, as well as former President Barack Obama.  Through ALP trips into ANWR and other public lands, the goal is those immersions will lead to greater protections for the lands that captured Campion's own heart seven decades ago. What led to the faith leaders expedition, he told me, was recognition of the importance of faith for so many people in America.  "It's almost like biblical, you know, care for God's creation." As always, thanks for reading EarthBeat.   Brian Roewe Environment Correspondent National Catholic Reporter broewe@ncronline.org     Featured Advertisers   Looking to Hire? Offering Retreats? Selling Books? 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