For Immediate Release

March 1, 2015—The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation will host a Day of Prayer for the Environment and the Poor on March 25. This is an opportunity to draw near to God our Creator while praying for the world’s poor and for godly stewardship of the earth.

March 25 is the birthday of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Norman Borlaug, “Father of the Green Revolution,” whose work increasing crop yields around the globe made him “The Man Who Fed the World.”

“In 1968 Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb claimed that there was no hope to feed rising populations,” says Cornwall Alliance Founder and National Spokesman E. Calvin Beisner. “Millions would starve to death no matter what remedial actions were taken. But, while he was publishing his predictions of doom and gloom, Dr. Borlaug had already set out to create a high-yield agricultural revolution in countries that no one had dreamed could be food self-sufficient.”

Borlaug’s work in India and Pakistan won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. He continued to work for the rest of his life to extend crop yields and relieve hunger and poverty around the world. In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Vannevar Bush Award, the Public Welfare Medal, the National Medal of Science, the Congressional Gold Medal, and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honor.

“Borlaug’s amazing achievements not only fed, and continue to feed, billions of people, but also improve all of the world’s environment,” says Dr. Beisner. Why? “Because they reduce the need to convert natural lands to farmlands by enabling farmers to grow more food on every acre, freeing land for other uses, including nature preserves. That makes him a hero not only of the poor but also of the earth itself. That’s why the Cornwall Alliance, which strives to promote both Biblical earth stewardship and economic development for the poor, celebrates his life and work.”

Borlaug, a devout Christian, was a prime example of the Biblical earth stewardship called for in Genesis 1:28, namely, men and women created in God’s image working together to enhance the fruitfulness, the beauty, and the safety of the earth, to the glory of God and the benefit of our neighbors.

Every day for the 25 days leading up to the Day of Prayer for the Environment and the Poor, we will post prayers and reflections by pastors and missionaries from across the globe on our website, Facebook, and Twitter. On March 25, we will post prayers and reflections hourly.

“This is a great opportunity,” says Dr. Beisner, “for Christians around the world to join in thanking God for the blessings He has given to billions through Norman Borlaug, and at the same time to pray for the spread of those blessings to the billions of who still suffer poverty and environmental degradation. We hope many will also come to our website, www.CornwallAlliance.org, to learn how they, too, can work to improve the environment and help free people from poverty.”

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Media contact: Megan Toombs, Communications & Outreach Coordinator, Megan@CornwallAlliance.org, 423-500-3009