God saw all that God had made, and behold, it was very good.My front porch offers quite a view. I live on the side of a mountain, and looking out offers a great view of brightly colored tree tops (I love fall) and various mountaintops that surround Montreat, North Carolina. This valley is beloved by many Presbyterians for its beauty and tranquility, the intangibility of “getting away from it all” presents itself clearly here. In the US, we’re fortunate to have places for solace and sabbath close at hand, but that proximity also blinds us to the fact that our consumption is killing us.
We’ve consumed ourselves into crisis of climate and pollution, and perhaps worse than that, consumed those in developing countries into the same. My good friend Patrick writes,
We need to move our thinking toward the larger implications of our own greed, consumption, and lifestyle. In other words, for Christians, excessive materialism isn’t just dangerous to us as individuals, but also to those that we are taking advantage of to acquire such luxuries.
Unfortunately, the effects of our consumption often present themselves to the less fortunate first. Strip mining, deforestation, trash heaps and islands of plastic aren’t in our driveways or on our way to work, so they’re easily overlooked. Ignoring these problems is not an option for much of the world’s population.I think many Americans believe that being environmentally friendly is painful. We have to take short showers, not fly in airplanes, keep our homes a little too warm in the summer and a little too cool in the winter. The belief is that sustainable life is less fun than normal life. It doesn’t have to be. When you have to replace your refrigerator, buy one that consumes less energy. When your aging church building needs a new boiler, advocate for solar panels on the roof or a more energy efficient heating system.
Environmentally preferable alternatives exist, but we have to take advantage of them. Speaking at the Presbyterian Women event in Louisville this summer, Barbara Rossing (.pdf) spoke of churches embracing the need to protect our environment:
Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware has put 180 solar panels on the roof of their church, and now new people are being drawn into church! Caring for creation is revitalizing the congregation.Denominationally speaking, the PC(USA) seems to understand the urgency of our environmental situation. In 1988, the church created the Office of Environmental Ministries to address environmental concerns as the denomination moved into the future. Just last summer, Louisville released a statement called “The Power to Change,” that commits the denomination to ambitious goals for climate change advocacy and reductions in carbon emissions. This effort, among others, make me proud to call the PC(USA) home. But that’s not to say there isn’t much that can be done.
Does your congregation address sustainability? Are we as congregations in a denomination devoted to the problem doing enough? Are we doing anything?
Thanks, Josh. Your front porch does offer quite a view, but I recommend the deck over it as even better ;) First Pres Tallahassee has recently installed solar panels as well, and they have real time tracking available. Check them out at: http://oldfirstchurch.org/ Also, interestingly, they are being reimbursed to the tune of about $100K by the state of Florida.
ReplyDeleteThansk, Josh! Eastminster Pres in Simpsonville, SC includes a "friendly eco tip" in the bulletin each week. Tips are friendly reminders of small things we can do, i.e. switching to fluorescent lightbulbs, cutting back on watering grass, and turning the water off when you brush your teeth.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to forget when you look at the mountains around Montreat that they, too, were deforested once upon a time.
ReplyDeleteAt a friend's church in Florida, they moved most operations out of the church building for some of the summer's hottest weeks, turned the AC nearly off, and had people who were working in the church dress comfortably for outside weather. When you think about how much energy we consume that would be EASY to save, it's astounding.