This week, we spoke with Becca Boyd, a young evangelical leader and college student, who is helping to reframe climate action as creation care. Through faith-based language and community engagement, she is building bridges in conservative Christian spaces and growing an evangelical climate movement rooted in stewardship and shared values. By emphasizing environmental work as a faith-driven duty to protect God’s creation, Becca is fostering a hopeful, action-oriented approach to caring for our planet. For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/creation-care-with-becca-boyd/.
Across the United States, evangelical Christians are increasingly forging a connection between faith and climate action by redefining environmental work as a sacred duty to care for God’s creation. By understanding sustainability through the lens of biblically mandated stewardship, more and more Christians are discovering renewed hope and purpose in addressing climate change.
To many evangelical environmentalists, caring for the Earth is not a political act. Rather, it is a spiritual duty. They believe that how we treat the planet should reflect how God treats us: with compassion, responsibility, and reverence. That means resisting the exploitation of natural resources and instead treating the Earth as a divine gift entrusted to humanity.
Historically, however, environmentalism and climate science have been viewed as controversial in conservative Christian circles, seen as secular or partisan issues. But that perception is beginning to shift, thanks in part to young leaders and faith-based environmental advocates who are reframing climate action as a moral and theological imperative.
One of those young leaders is Becca Boyd, a student at Indiana Wesleyan University studying Environmental Science. Raised in a Christian home, Becca often felt her environmental concerns were dismissed and even challenged. Feeling unhead, she began to experience a crisis of faith, questioning both her faith and her place in the church.
Everything changed when she was introduced to the concept of creation care in college by her professors. For the first time, she saw how her love for the environment and desire to protect it could be an act of faith rather than in conflict with it.
Like many young people in the climate action space, Becca has felt overwhelmed by the constant sense of “doom and gloom.” The narrative that it’s too late to fix the damage can leave people in despair and feeling helpless. But creation care offers her a more hopeful, spiritually grounded mindset. Rather than dwelling on what’s broken, Becca focuses her energy on healing what’s still possible.
For Becca, environmental stewardship is now a form of worship: small acts like conserving energy, recycling, or planting a pollinator garden at her school are ways of honoring God. And by inviting others to do the same, she’s helping grow a climate movement rooted not in fear but in faith and hope for the future.
Through her advocacy, Becca has learned that the language you use to talk about climate issues matters, especially in Christian spaces. The word “climate” itself can be politically charged and can trigger defensiveness, while terms like “creation care” and “eco-theology” feel more rooted in faith and shared values.
She is also intentional about her tone, making a point to avoid “you” statements. Rather than telling people what they should do, Becca shares what she does and why. This approach opens the door to conversation rather than closing it. According to Becca, it’s about meeting people where they are and establishing a common ground — inviting them in, not calling them out.
Creation care is still a growing movement, and while it’s gained traction in places like Indiana, there’s still a long way to go. Climate science skepticism and misinformation continue to circulate in many conservative communities. But Becca and other young Christians are starting vital conversations in churches and on campuses, emphasizing climate change as a humanitarian issue: one that affects food security, public health, and the lives of future generations.
She also shares resources like Cowboy & Preacher, a documentary tracing the history of Christian environmentalism, to show that this movement isn’t new, and that faith and climate action have long been intertwined.
Becca Boyd is a rising senior at Indiana Wesleyan University studying Environmental Science. She is a Climate Advocate for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action (YECA) and previously served as a College Fellow. On campus, she launched a student sustainability club and helped lead campus-wide conversations about the intersection of faith and environmental responsibility. She was recently featured in The New York Times for her work advancing Indiana’s growing creation care movement.
For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/creation-care-with-becca-boyd/.
Ethan: I’m Ethan Elkind, and you’re listening to Climate Break. Climate solutions in a hurry. Today’s proposal: reframing climate action for evangelical Christians as caring for God’s creation. We spoke with Becca Boyd, a rising senior at Indiana Wesleyan University studying Environmental Science, about how her Christian faith shapes her work on climate and her understanding of creation care.
Boyd: Creation Care is this biblical concept that as humans, we have a God-given mandate to steward the earth not just for the sake of humans, but also because there is something intrinsically valuable about the rest of creation.
Ethan: In recent decades, climate science and the need for action have become controversial and somewhat polarizing, particularly within the conservative evangelical community. Because of this dynamic, Becca felt her family and faith community often dismissed her environmental concerns.
Boyd: I grew up in a Christian household, and a lot of these issues were getting challenged. So once I got to college, I was able to meet professors who are very familiar with creation care and are very strong believers in God, but also strong believers in environmentalism.
Ethan: As part of the organization Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, Becca started the sustainability club at her university and hosts events to educate students on how climate action is humanity’s responsibility to God and future generations.
Boyd: The way that we care for the Earth should reflect the way that God cares for us. We don't want to exploit it. We want to make sure that the resources that we have are taken care of.
Ethan: To learn more about the evangelical environmental movement, check out ClimateBreak.org.