I am happy to see these local conversations taking place. Here is the Tampa Bay Times:

On the fifth anniversary of an historic papal document about the environment and as the coronavirus continues to imperil the world, a panel of Catholic and evangelical clergy met online last week to discuss their Christian response to disease outbreaks and climate change.

Points were made about the poor and people of color and the disproportionate burden they bear from air pollution. Details were offered about the effects of global warming, the spread of disease and the deadly link between air pollution and the coronavirus.

The Rev. Mitchell Hescox, president and CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network, said he was pleased to join his Catholic brothers and sisters in the environmental cause.

“For us in our ministry, we like to say that creation care is a matter of life, because everything that we do, that we put into God’s creation that isn’t supposed to be there, comes back and impacts you in life,” he said.

The hourlong session, convened by Bishop Gregory Parkes of the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, included a presentation by Dr. Sandra Gompf, associate professor of infectious disease at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. The ecumenical gathering coincided with the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home.” In it, Francis called for dialogue among religions “for the sake of protecting nature, defending the poor and building networks of respect and fraternity.”

Parkes said he believed those gathered on May13 were meeting in the spirit of the pope’s call.

“In these things, we are united in the challenges, and, therefore, we must work together for a common solution,” Parkes said.

Read the rest here.