Preparing Religious Environmental Plans (PREP):

The Loka Initiative at the University of Wisconsin – Madison provides an education and outreach platform for faith leaders and religious institutions where they can listen, observe, gain knowledge, and act to protect the environment and avert climate catastrophe. Our mission is to support faith-led environmental efforts locally and around the world through collaborations on capacity building, project management, and public outreach with faith leaders and religious institutions focused on environmental and climate issues. 

Loka is offering a FREE 10-week online training experience for faith leaders that is designed to be practical, personalized, and peer-supported. This non-credit course will integrate Science with Religious and Traditional Knowledge, providing participants with hands-on training knowledge on how to design and manage environmental and climate projects that are specific to their geographies, communities, and faith traditions. This project, Preparing Religious Environmental Plans, PREP for short, will be launching on January 5, 2026 - March 13, 2026. 

PREP will consist of a combination of recorded lectures and videos, some reading, lively discussions among learners, a faith-based home room that allows learners to congregate with other learners who share the same faith, and a live weekly lecture and Q&A session with one of the instructors. The course will culminate in an all-expense paid in-person convening taking place March 23-27, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, where more specialized training beyond the scope of the online course – including media and communications, campaign creation, and fundraising – will be provided.

WHO IS IT FOR?

This program is for global faith leaders who have been searching for hands-on training and guidance from scientists and experts to develop environmental and climate projects that best suit their own community of faith, geography, and culture. Acknowledging that English may not be the second or even third language for participants, the materials are developed for an 8th grade reading level standard. We intersperse a lot of video with written materials and will also provide five faith-based home room experiences with a mentor that you can work with more closely. The course program also offers a live presentation followed by a question and answer session with a scientist or expert on a weekly basis.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE?

Applications for 2026 are now closed! If you are selected to participate, we will be in touch on December 29, 2025!

Interested our future programming, including PREP 2027? Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear about our offerings.

COURSE LAYOUT

  • Week 1: Life on Earth

  • Week 2: State of the Environment

  • Week 3: Personal Reflection 

  • Week 4: Power of Faith

  • Week 5: Introduction to Project Design

  • Week 6: Dimensions of Project Planning 

  • Week 7: Project Management Methods

  • Week 8: Community Outreach and Partnerships

  • Week 9: Communications and Fundraising 

  • Week 10: What Next? Your Role as an Environmental Leader!

FURTHER COURSE DETAILS

The learning objectives of the course include the delivery of: 

  • Science-based explorations of contemporary environmental issues 

  • Examination of humanity’s relationship with the environment through the lens of diverse faith traditions, ontologies, and philosophies

  • Assessments of environmental strategies and actions that can be initiated and managed by individual faith communities 

  • Practicing of critical thinking and problem-solving skills including observing, reading, listening, analyzing, strategizing, teamwork

  • Development of environmental and climate project plans that are designed to meet local problems, threats, and vulnerabilities within local and regional contexts


We are deeply grateful to the Templeton World Charity Foundation for supporting the development of PREP and allowing us to offer the course for free to faith leaders!