| Recognizing
Faith Communities Taking Environmental Action
For at least two decades, scholars of many traditions have worked to express how religious values such as stewardship, justice, and concern for future generations are linked to the environment. In 1987, the United Church of Christ reported socioeconomic and racial disparities in the location of toxic waste facilities. In 1990, Pope John Paul II urged Catholics to connect their belief in God as a creator with care for the environment.Then a group of Nobel Laureate scientists wrote to religious leaders admitting the limits of science and technology alone to solve the world's environmental problems, describing the crisis as “intrinsically religious.” E.O. Wilson’s book, The Creation, makes an appeal for science and religion to work together toward environmental solutions. He chips away at stereotypes and historic tensions between scientific, environmental and religious communities. Also in the nineties the National Religious Partnership for the Environment fostered efforts among Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, historic Black church communities and evangelical Christians. A decade later, the Interfaith Power and Light Campaign formed partnerships with Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Unitarian and other congregations. The 2002 “What would Jesus Drive?” Campaign earned major media attention. In 2006, the Evangelical Climate Initiative called on the nation's leaders to address global warming. In 2008, Southern Baptists called for action on global warming and Pope Benedict urged Catholics to see pollution as a “sin.” This report tells about many different faith communities “greening” all areas of religious life, including worship, education, community life, buildings and grounds, and increasingly engaging in grassroots organizing. In addition to crafting solutions to global warming, these groups work to protect water quality and access, to protect wilderness and endangered species, to stop mountain-top removal coal mining and to develop creative solutions to our nation's unsustainable and inequitable food systems.
A tour of Village Presbyterian's nearly completed Meneilly Outreach Center at 99th and Mission Road followed the event. To reduce Village Church's carbon footprint, this building is being constructed to incorporate sustainable design elements which are equivalent to the silver level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. This could make the Village Church one of the most environmentally-friendly faith facilities in the state. Features include: a ground source heat pump, solar panels to power refrigeration, bioswales and a native plant rain garden (with drip irrigation) to manage runoff, an insulated skylight system, a highly insulated building shell, a highly efficient lighting system and building design, and innovative building materials. In 2002, Village Presbyterian committed to reduce its environmental impact and planned to integrate environmental awareness into all aspects of church life. The Environmental Action Committee, previously Sustainable Sanctuary Task Force, assesses church-wide practices and makes recommendations. Now the church has an extensive recycling program and purchases fair-trade organic coffee, non-toxic cleaning supplies and earth-friendly products. They have given each of its 1,500 members an energy-saving light bulb. This Sustainable Sanctuary has also provided for environmental education, advocacy, worship, energy efficient buildings, green grounds practices and networking with other environmental groups. Their paper recycling program has been a huge success. In 2003, they added two paper recycling bins, and have recycled nearly 300 tons of paper since then. “Whenever we engage in abuse of the environment, we sin against God, against His Creation, against all species including our own,” explains the church website. For Earth Day 2007, the church invited religious author Dr. Marcus Borg to speak. He said, “It is not enough to love God; we must love what God loves, including His creation.” Expanding on this theme, the church hosted a series of classes on caring for the earth from a faith-centered perspective. In 2005, Village Church received Bridging the Gap's Environmental Excellence Award for Non-Profit Organizations. In 2007, Presbyterians for Restoring Creation announced that Village Church was the recipient of their Restoring Creation 2007 Service Award, a national award given annually to congregations and other groups whose environmental work is particularly “praise-worthy and creative.” All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church formed a Green Sanctuary Committee(GSC), now dedicatedly led by Frank Drinkwine, also a Sierra Club leader, to identify ways the church community could help restore the environment. “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence” is a foundational principle of the Unitarian Universalist faith. “We're all connected. If we cause harm to one part, our actions effect the health of all species, all existence,” explains All Souls church member and Sierra Club volunteer, Terry Wiggins. In 2001, the Green Sanctuary Committee (GSC) launched a church-wide recycling program. Since then, the church has implemented a number of different environmental endeavors including environmentally-focused church services and celebrations, public programs and workshops including many environmental films and speakers, educational classes for adults and children, having a native plant sale and gardens certified as a Wildlife Habitat, selling fair trade, shade grown, organic coffee and chocolate, installing motion sensor lights and reaching out to the community to participate in many environmental groups activities and events. The GSC has provided support through donations of money and equipment to Green Works in Kansas City, a program that trains underprivileged teens for future green jobs. The church has recently completed a member group trip to help the victims of Katrina in New Orleans. All Souls has now been accredited as a Green Sanctuary congregation by the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth. One of the committee's main efforts is to educate church members about sustainable food consumption. To demonstrate planet-friendly food choices, the GSC hosts “Eat Your Values” lunches for the congregation by serving local organic fare. “Local food doesn't require the packaging, refrigeration, and transport that generate huge amounts of waste and pollution,” explains Wiggins. The meal emphasizes vegetarian fare since most meat comes from factory farms that generate massive amounts of manure waste that pollutes air and water. Animals also require more water and other resources than plant foods. Nondisposable dinnerware is used at the lunches and leftovers are composted. At the most recent lunch they had only one pint bag of trash! The response to these lunches has been great and other church committees use the “Eat Your Values” lunch as a template for their own events. All Souls has also been a partner with our local group and state chapters of the Sierra Club. Church members have participated in the Sierra Club's coal campaign to eliminate new coal plants and reduce their pollution in Missouri and Kansas. The GSC partnered with the Thomas Hart Benton (THB) group and others to bring about the Step It Up event to ask Congress to cut carbon emissions on the National Day of Climate Action. They have also partnered with THB in the Nature Book Discussion group, the support of the Native American Longest Walk 2 for Sacred Mother Earth, and in collecting signatures for a petition to get a Renewable Energy Standard on the next Missouri ballot, the Clean Energy Initiative, which they have now officially endorsed. The church has also provided THB with committee meeting space. Faith Communities like these model the revival of caring for the planet that provides new hope for progress and makes the Sierra Club deeply grateful to them, especially since we know that our nation's history has shown that lasting societal change rarely takes place without the active engagement of communities of faith. Now 67 percent of Americans say they care about the environment because it's “God's creation.” Many Sierra Club members come to activism from a place of faith. Half of our members attend worship services at least once a month. “Faith in Action” is a project of the Sierra Club's Environmental Partnerships Program to empower faith groups and translate values into support for the environment. We hope this report encourages more people of faith to take action. “This report demonstrates that the call to care for the Earth comes no matter what ones faith background is,” said Wiggins. “We are inspired by the faith community's leadership in working to protect the planet, and this report is our way of saying 'thank you' to the many people of faith working for environmental sustainability and Justice,” said Melissa Hope, Missouri Sierra Club. We look forward to continued and growing partnerships in the future as we explore, enjoy and protect the planet together. See www.sierraclub.org/partnerships/faith for further details about other states and resources. "All the wild world is beautiful, and it matters but little where we go, to highlands or lowlands, woods or plains, on the sea or land or down among the crystals of waves or high in a balloon in the sky; through all the climates, hot or cold, storms and calms, everywhere and always we are in God's eternal beauty and love." — Sierra Club Founder John Muir. |
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