Beyond Plastics Announces New Staff Person to Work With Faith Communities in Fighting Plastic Pollution
Rev. Kathryn Beilke Transitions From Pulpit to Advocacy in Unique New Role
For Immediate Release: August 12, 2024
Contacts:
Melissa Valliant, Beyond Plastics — MelissaValliant@Bennington.edu, (410) 829-0726
Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics – JudithEnck@Bennington.edu, (518) 605-1770
Beyond Plastics, a nationwide nonprofit project based at Bennington College, announced that Rev. Kathryn Beilke joined the organization as its first-ever interfaith partnerships coordinator. Beilke, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), will be using her organizing, advocacy, communications, and development experience to connect Beyond Plastics with worshiping communities and faith-based organizations.
Reverend Kathryn Beilke, Beyond Plastics’ new interfaith partnerships coordinator
“We are excited to welcome Kathryn to our team of dedicated experts, and we look forward to collaborating with religious institutions of all faiths in the fight against plastic pollution,” said Beyond Plastics president and former EPA regional administrator Judith Enck. “There is a robust landscape of faith-based organizations working on environmental solutions. Faith institutions make up over 35% of the global fossil fuel divestment movement, which has mobilized more than $40 trillion in commitments. It’s time we worked together to combat plastic’s growing threats to people and the planet.”
Rev. Beilke served for a decade as a pastor in New York’s Hudson Valley before the climate crisis prompted her to leave the pulpit and pursue environmental solutions. Believing that state and local action can spark meaningful change, Rev. Beilke worked with municipalities navigating New York state’s Climate Smart Communities initiative before joining the staff of Beyond Plastics. While she is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), she believes in centering a diversity of religious traditions and Indigenous perspectives in her work.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to fight plastic pollution and climate change with Beyond Plastics,” Rev. Beilke said. “Plastic, a material derived from fossil fuels, emits four times more greenhouse gases than the entire aviation industry and is a primary contributor to climate change. Climate change is humanity’s greatest collective moral challenge, but — as Pope Francis noted in his encyclical Laudato si — it is also an opportunity for profound inner reflection. Protecting our Earth and the health of living beings is spiritual work. It is not only my calling but also that of all people of faith and conscience. I want to provide hope to faith communities that real change is within our grasp. Ending plastic pollution is possible. We have the knowledge and the tools; we just need the political and spiritual will to do what is necessary and right.”
Originally from St. Louis, Rev. Beilke attended Princeton Theological Seminary and lives with her husband and two young children in the Hudson Valley region of New York.
About Beyond Plastics
Launched in 2019, Beyond Plastics is a nationwide project that pairs the wisdom and experience of environmental policy experts with the energy and creativity of grassroots advocates to build a vibrant and effective movement to end plastic pollution and promote alternatives to plastics. Using deep policy and advocacy expertise, Beyond Plastics is building a well-informed, effective movement seeking to achieve the institutional, economic, and societal changes needed to save our planet and ourselves, from the negative health, climate, and environmental impacts for the production, usage, and disposal of plastics.
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