Announcing ECN’s new deputy editor, Perry Hodgkins Jones

The volunteer Episcopal Climate News team is literally doubling in size: Please welcome our new deputy editor, Perry Hodgkins Jones!

Perry is a self-described “happy member of the Episcopal laity.” She works for an environmental education non-profit in western North Carolina, holds a Masters in Theology and the Environment from Sewanee’s School of Theology, coordinates a youth conference at Kanuga, and is a new mother to an absolutely wonderful baby girl. She also served as a member of the church’s Advisory Council on the Stewardship of Creation form 2015-2018, and is on its successor Task Force for the Care of Creation and Environmental Racism. Learn more about Perry from this feature article in the April edition of Sewanee’s alumni magazine.

“Climate change is an issue of urgency, not something that can be addressed when we have free time or spare funds,” Perry told Sewanee. “We need more resources to support initiatives at all levels: local, national, and global. Communities everywhere are being touched by climate change, both human and non-human… Some see environmental stewardship as a back-burner issue compared to our social justice ministries or our worship, when in fact they are deeply intertwined. Topics of inclusivity, service, resilience, repentance, and prayer are all aspects of environmental work.”

Perry will be point for most ECN Facebook posts while the editor, Deacon Nathan Empsall (that’s me), is on vacation from December 15 to January 5. She will continue to stay on as deputy editor once I’m back.

Perry and I met last November in Germany as members of the Presiding Bishop’s delegation to the annual United Nations climate change conference. Her talent, faith, drive, and commitment to this important moral cause were obvious, so when I started Episcopal Climate News in May, I was hoping she would be able to join. Spring was a busy time for Perry’s job, but when we reconnected last month as members of the creation-care task force, I reissued the invitation, and was delighted and grateful that she could accept. Please give her a warm welcome!