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| | Issue #20.47 :: 11/21/2007 - 11/27/2007 | "G" is for God ... and Green
Churches Working to Be Earth Friendly
| BY JULIE JAREMA
| Several efforts by local churches to become environmental stewards have just as much to do with faith as they do with being Earth friendly.
Forest Lake Presbyterian Church held a green gathering — a “greening for God” — on Nov. 11. Attendees included representatives of houses of worship as well as the South Carolina Sierra Club’s Columbia-area group and Keep the Midlands Beautiful.
This was the first meeting of its kind since Forest Lake Presbyterian Church started its environmental stewardship committee in 2005.
The church’s mission statement says the environmental stewardship committee was formed to “respond to the Bible’s call to appreciate, respect and responsibly care for God’s gifts of His Earth and all His Living Creations.”
Lee Pippen, co-chair of the environmental stewardship committee, says the church has been celebrating “Earth Sunday” for the past two years in conjunction with the nationally recognized Earth Day.
“This year, we dedicated a wildlife habitat garden that’s sponsored by the Wildlife Federation and we had displays of children’s projects for caring for God’s creation,” Pippen says.
Wildlife habitat gardens, as well as recycling programs, are popular in many area churches.
In addition, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbia on Woodrow Street in Shandon is planning Earth-friendly renovations to accommodate an ever-growing congregation.
The UU just received a preliminary plan done by the Boudreaux Architectural Firm of Columbia. The fellowship will receive the master plan for the renovations in early December and then proceed with raising funds to do the renovations.
The Rev. Neal Jones, minister of the UU, says the fellowship will try to get Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for its building. LEED is an environmentally friendly certification that comes in three levels: silver, gold and platinum. Jones says they will at least try for the minimum. That involves using carpets and upholstery made from recyclable materials and having bathrooms that conserve water like those in USC’s “Green Quad” dorm.
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| The Rev. Neal Jones of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbia says the fellowship's old theater-style seating will be replaced with moveable, padded chairs as part of environmentally friendly renovations the UU is planning. Photo by Jonathan Sharpe |
Irene Tyson, an intern architect and senior planner with the Boudreaux Architectural Firm, says the UU is acting responsibly toward the environment because the fellowship wants its entire campus to be sustainable. “It can involve the construction they use on the buildings as well as interior materials,” Tyson says. “It’s also their building systems — heating and air, plumbing and daylight.”
“All of these things work together so they use less energy,” Tyson explains. “They don’t add anymore carbon. It’s better for the environment and in the long run, more cost effective to operate the buildings.”
Jones says the reason for the renovations is that the church is growing exponentially. “We’ve grown a lot in the last two years,” he says of his 180-member congregation.
Pippen reiterates that efforts like the UU”s to green up are biblically rooted. “We are commanded in the Bible to take care of God’s creation,” she says.
Jones says that reasoning is the same for his congregation. “For us, it’s a part of our faith,” he says. “We Unitarians emphasize our interdependence not only with each other, but with the planet.”
Although the carbon footprint, or amount of climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions, of churches generally is small compared to airlines and other industries, faith-based environmental stewardship has the potential to extend far beyond the walls of the church.
The UU provides an example. “We’re hoping to use this renovation as part of our outreach to the community as a model of how to become greener,” Jones says.
Pippen says the effort of local churches to go greener is an interfaith undertaking. Already popular in other parts of the country, she says, local churches are catching onto the trend and hopefully making the carbon footprints of their congregations smaller. | |
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