Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

It can be one thing to learn about a problem, and yet another to do something about it. The Episcopal Church has adopted a Covenant for the Care of Creation, which states in part that, “For God’s sake, we will adopt practical ways of reducing our climate impact and living more humbly and gently on Earth as individuals, households, congregations, institutions and dioceses.” In one of our first forays into the important topic of creation care, ECF’s Vital Practices Team wanted to gather resources from around the church to help you start to take action steps towards living more gently on the Earth.

Five ways to begin

1 The Episcopal Church has a Carbon Tracker that allows individuals to band together with like-minded folk to make environmentally-sound change. “The Carbon Tracker is a web-based application that helps individuals, households, congregations and even dioceses, to measure their carbon footprint and take steps to shrink it to fit a sustainable life.” Check it out!

2 The Episcopal Asset Map is another resource for finding similarly-minded Episcopalians. “Check the diocesan page on the Episcopal Asset Map to find churches in your area dedicated to conserving resources and living harmoniously with creation. First, find your diocese’s website, and search for “creation care.” Then leverage those relationships for regional learning and collaboration.”

3 The Blessed Tomorrow Carbon Offset Program, powered by Cool Effect, provides a simple and powerful way for houses of worship to offset annual carbon emissions. This will zero out your carbon impact for the year and help families cook with clean and healthy stoves at the same time. Read more here.

4 Creation Justice Ministries (formerly the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program) represents the creation care and environmental justice policies of major Christian denominations throughout the United States. You can find a section of helpful resources on their website.

5 Interfaith Power & Light (IPL) mobilizes people of faith and conscience to take action on climate change and care for those who are most harmed by its impacts. This includes advocacy for policy solutions including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and leadership to care for earth and programs to help congregations. Their website also includes a useful section of resources.

Resources:

• Greening Our Faith – Putting Belief into Action by Fletcher Harper, Vestry Papers, March 2011
• Meeting God in a Faith Garden by Timothy Goldman, Vestry Papers, March 2011
• Earth Day Resources, an ECF Vital Practices tool
• One Cup at a Time... by Jeremiah Sierra, an ECF Vital Practices blog, August 20, 2012