RECENT EVENTS
Here are some news notes, announcements, advances, seminars, summaries of developments, and other green items of interest.
Plant 3-Million Trees
In the Interfaith Power and Light (IP&L) March e-Newsletter, The Rev. Canon Sally Bingham talks about planting trees--many, many of them. Here's an extract from her article: "I'm not afraid to admit that combating climate change seems daunting at times. It's one of the biggest issues facing our planet--with the whole world, quite literally, hanging in the balance. When faced with that reality, it's easy to feel immobilized by the enormity of the challenge we face.
But halfway across the world, in a region that's known just as much for its natural beauty as it is the heartbreaking challenges faced by many of its people and families, a bold group of people decided that not acting in the face of overwhelming odds simply wasn't an option. The congregants of the Northern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania are doing their part to fight deforestation by planting 3-million trees in 3 years on Mt. Kilimanjaro."
For the complete article visit IP&L, click on "Carbon Covenant," and read about planting 3,000,000 trees.
--John Fuller
Adopt sustainable standards for your
next St. Andrew's event
To help us to host more environmentally-friendly events, the Green Church team has drafted a set of guidelines (PDF document) for anyone in the church to follow for any event.
Based on Yale University's Sustainable Event guidelines, event planners commit to a range of activities such as recycling, serving local and/or organic foods, reducing waste by eliminating single-serving packaging, and using durable goods. They also may elect to eliminate unnecessary paper with electronic communications and suggesting parishioners bring their own reusable mugs.
In April, St. Andrew's youth hosted a pancake breakfast using these new guidelines. As the Sunday closest to Earth Day, they thought this would be a great way to show their commitment to the environment and follow up on what they learned in January's Trash Audit. Watch for announcements and look for signage on how we can all help to achieve sustainable event goals!
Consumer Reports looks at CFLs
Just when you thought nothing more could be written about light bulbs (CFLs), along comes the October 2009 issue of Consumer Reports with an article on "Compact fluorescents," p.29-31. They tested 430 of these bulbs which are far different from those early ones with the sickly, greenish-yellow light.
Also in this issue is an article, "Cut your energy bills: you can save $1,500 with these 4 strategies," p. 22-25. Replacing appliances with "Energy Star" ratings is good for the environment and often good economically, but the article notes: "It doesn't make sense to pitch a perfectly good appliance or electronic item, but if you're in the market for a new one, the type you choose can make a difference."
To get an idea of the average life of appliances, simply search Google: appliance longevity. A top load washing machine, for example, averages 14 years.
--John Fuller
Plans for our greening our church
Download this PowerPoint presentation to get an overall look at St. Andrew's goals for greening the church, the community, and our homes as well as the concept and application of eco-spirituality in our lives. Don't have the PowerPoint Viewer? Download it free from Microsoft for your PC. the viewer is not readily available for Mac users.
Three major goals of the St. Andrew's environmental steering committee include:
♦ Based on our faith principles, we will expand our understanding of how to respond to urgent environmental issues.
♦ We will create an environmental stewardship model that will distinguish St. Andrew's in the community and potentially draw new members.
♦ Through this ministry, we will reach out to the community beyond our walls and demonstrate environmental leadership.
Preschool Connections
We will encourage the Preschool to adopt best practices of St. Andrew's and seek to support their green activities already in place.
Green fashions available
From organic fibers to hemp fabrics, eco-friendly fashions are all the rage. One easy way to go green with your clothes is to patronize a source for lightly-worn clothing. At our own Serendipity Consignment Shop you can find great fashions at reasonable prices and no new resources are being used. Visit 200 Boston Post Road, Madison CT 06443, telephone 203 245-0000. You can get more information including hours and directions on the store's website.
LINKS
This annotated list of green links will take you to websites featuring stories, videos, tips, tools, spirituality, and more. Check these out.
1. The National Geographic Society's "Green Guide" is an outstanding website with articles, tips, and especially videos on topics such as "Environmental Churches," explaining fuel cells, solar power, etc.
2. The Nature Conservancy notes the following: "…In 2004, the United States emitted 7074-million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent green house gases." You can calculate your own "carbon footprint," by going to The Nature Conservancy web page and searching for: "Carbon Calculator."
3. To calculate: your use of water
4. The Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, Episcopal Cathedral, San Francisco, is a leader of The Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power and Light, an interfaith ecology movement. There is a chapter in Connecticut. The website features "Renewal," a video which has been previewed at a St. Andrew's coffee hour. This is another "must visit" website.
5. The Episcopal Public Policy Network frequently has notices of importance to the environment including messages from the Presiding Bishop and The Archbishop of Canterbury.
Also, go to the Episcopal Church site "For the Beauty of the Earth."
6. For "small change from a green planet" visit: Greener Penny.
7. Here are some web sites, from The Mercy Center Ecology Program, Madison CT, which demonstrate the ecumenical involvement in ecology:
15. Yahoo News has many articles on the environment.
Then, Search Yahoo: Yahoo Groups: climate change news.
16. Madison Town Energy Committee provides information about conservation and use of clean/renewable energy with a local slant.
More links
Meeting Minutes Available
The St. Andrew's Environmental Steering Committee minutes are archived beginning with the September 9, 2008 meeting.
Contact us
For more information about this page contact John Fuller, Brenda Naegel, or Terry Sinclair through St. Andrew's Episcopal Church,
232 Durham Road, Madison CT 06443,
Telephone: 203 245-2584, or send us an e-mail.
Green Sabbath—Brenda Naegel
“Green Lady” “Tree Hugger” “Environmental Expert” To my surprise and mild amusement, these are all names that I’ve been called lately. The reality is that I struggle with being “green” as much as the next person. But, what really helped me to get started making changes was the act of taking an online pledge at Yale last spring along with hundreds of students, faculty and staff. The pledge asked questions about one’s current lifestyle and then asked for a commitment to live more sustainably.
While I have pledged to live more lightly on the planet in some very specific ways, the changes that I’ve managed to pull off have actually been relatively easy and comparatively inexpensive. Initially, some required thought and research, but mostly they were about making little switches and then remembering to follow through. (You know, like changing from one light bulb to another or from one type of bag that I carry my groceries home in to another.) I have to admit though, I have come to a crossroad and now I’m not finding it as easy or inexpensive to do more. So, what’s it going to take to get moving again and start working on the harder stuff. I’m hoping that a strong faith community called “St. Andrew’s” is willing to step out in faith and take the journey with me!
There are wonderful resources available to us in the Episcopal Church
"Green Sabbath" continues >>
News From Follensby Pond
--John Fuller
Episcopalians may quote Wordsworth or Coleridge more frequently than Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), who was a Unitarian minister as well as a leading American philosopher, poet, and essayist. Doctrines aside, they all shared an interest in the spiritual dimensions of the natural world.
In August of 1858, Emerson followed William J. Stillman, writer-artist-diplomat,
along with other Boston intellectuals on a trek to the wilderness of the northwest Adirondacks, where they camped at Follensby Pond, near Tupper Lake. What brings Follensby Pond to mind is a New York Times article of Sept. 19, 2008, which announced that the owners of some 14,600 acres of this region have sold it to the Nature Conservancy. This pristine wilderness eventually will become part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve of the Adirondack Park, a region as large as Vermont.
Emerson wrote a poem about their hunting and fishing adventure, "The Adirondacs" [sic], which includes these lines:
...Two Doctors in the camp
Dissected the slain deer, weighed
the trout's brain,
Captured the lizard, salamander, shrew...
That activity suggests empirical 19th Century science, but for Emerson's spiritual encounter with nature, one turns to these oft-quoted lines from his 1836 essay, "Nature": "Standing in the bare ground--my head bathed by the blithe air, and
uplifted into infinite space--all mean egotism vanishes: I became a transparent eye-ball;
"Follensby Pond" continues >>
Thinking Green for Contemporary
Religious Architecture
Several St. Andrew's parishioners recently learned about faith communities who want drivers to park on the grass, and who built a decorative wall of used tires for an outdoor chapel. These ideas for sustainability in religious architecture were part of a lecture, "God Comes to Earth: Ecology, Theology and Architecture," which Michael J. Crosbie, Ph.D., AIA, presented as part of the Centerbook Architects' series at the Essex Town Hall March 19, 2010
Dr. Crosbie's powerpoint lecture focused on how good design could be environmentally sound, while still serving the spiritual needs of religious groups interested in contemporary architecture. In the case of The Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Il, this involvement led to a Platinum LEED (Leadership in Environment and Energy Design) Award, the highest level for sustainable buildings.
Instead of lumber from recently cut trees, this synagogue is clad from old barn buildings in Canada, and such principles of recycling are found throughout the building. Professor Crosbie, Chair of the University of Hartford's Architecture Department, described the source of the large wooden entranceway doors. Trees, which some members had donated, had to be cut down, so the wood was then used for these doors. This not only recycled material, but preserved the memory of the donors. In the words of Rabbi Brant Rosen, "For us, building sustainability was a religious act."
While earlier modern use of large glass windows wasted much energy, new Low-E glass in contemporary buildings plays an important role in conserving energy. This is true at St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church in North York, Ontario, where skylights with filters ranging from sunlight yellow to twilight blue have replaced traditional stained glass. The ever changing effects of light and color on three of the exposed concrete walls, which includes the Stations of the Cross, provides an alternative to traditional windows, while being both energy efficient and spiritually moving.
"Church Architecture" continues >>