The Bible carries a powerful message for the earth," reads a statement on the Green Bible's website.

The new edition, released on October 7 by the multi-national publishing firm HarperOne, aims at encouraging Christians to understand their religion's call for protecting the environment and natural resources.

"The Green Bible will equip and encourage people to see God's vision for creation and help them engage in the work of healing and sustaining it."

More than 1,000 references, verses and passages related to the earth in the Bile are highlighted in green letters printed with soy-based ink on recycled paper.

The new edition also features essays by a number of leading conservationists and theologians who link the Bible's teachings to eco-concerns.

Among the contributors are famed American evangelical Tom Wright and late Pope John Paul II.

Nobel laureate South African archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote the foreword.

The Green Bible includes an appendix with information on further reading on environmental issues, how to get involved, and practical steps to help protecting the environment.

Needed  

"We need a Bible like this," Rev. Cizik said.

Christian leaders welcomed the release of the Green Bible.

"We need a Bible like this," Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a lobbying organization that represents 45,000 churches in America, told the USA Today on Thursday, October 9.

Cizik, a prominent conservation lobbyist who has led his group into environmental activism, believes the new edition would help raise environmental awareness.

"I've traveled the country for two years now speaking at college chapel services.

"I ask, 'Has anyone here ever heard a sermon at their home church on the stewardship of creation?' Rarely does even one hand go up."

He hopes the Green Bible would help resolve disagreements on environmentalism with ultra-conservative Christian groups.

"When people tell me, Jesus never talked about the environment, I say, God says, 'Love your neighbor,' not drown him in melting sea ice."

The Green Bible has already drawn the attention of one of the largest animal welfare advocacy organizations in the world.

The Washington-based Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is distributing copies of the book to promote moral awareness of the treatment of animals.

This is not the first time the Bible texts are used to promote the calls for conservation.

A 1993 book, also called The Green Bible, intertwined an ecology-friendly message with quotes drawn from a wide range of sacred texts, saints, poets and scientists. 

IOL