Creation Care Council
D.W. (Bill) Robinson – Director
Transfiguration Episcopal Church, Mesa
Manager of the Crazy Chile Farm and Director of A Million Meals for our Neighbors
Retired from a career as a marketing specialist in outdoor sports, and in international sales of aviation turbine engine maintenance equipment, he is now a farmer and a writer. Bill manages the Crazy Chile Farm at Transfiguration, Mesa, and writes on numerous subjects, including social justice, food sovereignty, Native American water rights, ethnobotany, indigenous comestibles, and historic recipes. The Crazy Chile Farm is a self-sustaining non-profit, on the property of Transfiguration Episcopal Church, producing revenues that support food outreach and grow-outs of indigenous seeds for Native Americans working to restore traditional, eco-sensitive agriculture and food sovereignty.
“Many of the issues that I care about and write about that are important to Native Americans are also Creation Care issues. I’m interested in integrating these issues into the Creation Care Council by serving as a member and as a liaison to the Council for Native American Ministry, and from the perspective of an environmentally aware farmer and lay minister.
The Rev. Steve Keplinger
Rector, Grace St. Paul’s, Tucson
Throughout his 20 years in the priesthood, Steve has concentrated on linking people to God through Creation, instituting a Season of Creation in 2001. He wrote a Creation Eucharistic Prayer in 1997 that has been used at churches across the nation. In 2009, Steve began serving on the Season of Creation subcommittee of Liturgy and Music for General Convention. In 2019, Steve lobbied U.S. Congressional leaders in the House and Senate to co-sponsor America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act. Steve believes that if the climate crisis is going to be reversed, it will take a psychic change within humanity to make that happen and that this is one of the central roles of religion in the 21st century. The Rev. Steve Keplinger is currently the Rector at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tucson.
The Rev. Alison Lee
Interim Rector, Church of the Epiphany, Flagstaff
Alison has been blessed to have lived in many different places in God’s creation – northern Canadian climes, Europe in its variety, the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, flat tidal marsh areas of the Chesapeake, and now the Sonoran desert. She is currently the interim Rector at Church of the Epiphany in Flagstaff
“We are called through our faith and our humanity to be stewards of this abundant beauty, working with the lilies of the field, and the Leviathans of the deep.”
‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being. (Job 12: 7-10)
Dr. David Spence
Church of the Epiphany, Flagstaff
David is a retired physician with a lifelong passion for conservation and renewable energy.
“At my age of 80, I sense personal urgency to act on behalf of God’s Creation. Each person, agency and institution must do its part. This Council will guide and inspire the Diocese of Arizona to DO just that.”
Dr. Angel Wang
Grace St. Paul’s, Tucson
Angel once worked as a system engineer developing orbiting satellites on NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth. Since retiring in 2011, she has been involved in Climate Change and Sustainability activities and serves in GSP’s Green Church and Animals and Spirituality ministries as well as its solar installation.
“Let us behold the wonders of God’s Creation and all the living creatures with whom we share this Earth. Let us bring healing so that we may protect the world and sow beauty, rather than pollution and destruction. Let us recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature, every season, and every landscape.”
Darrel Zuke
St. Matthew’s, Tucson
Retired from Technical, Supervisory, Management, and Engineering positions at the Federal Aviation Administration in Alaska, Darrel moved to Tucson in 2012 after 40 years based in Fairbanks. While in Fairbanks, Darrel and his wife attended St Matthews Episcopal Church, literally a pioneer church that was housed in one of the first buildings in Fairbanks. While there, he served on the Vestry and assisted in upgrading the website and sound system.
“Upon moving to Tucson, I was surprised and gratified to find St. Matthews, by chance. Since becoming a parishioner, I have served on the Green Team, and currently a member of our Sacred Journey group, looking at various issues affecting our community and planet, including Creation Care. As a Grandpa (and Great Grandpa), and having great concern as to the world they will inherit, I am especially motivated to be involved with Creation Care issues.”