Earth Stewards Committee (formerly Committee on the Environment)

Ideas of the Month

February 2010

In many churches, a group of people committed to shaping the ecological witness of their parish call themselves ECO-TEAMS. These teams examine the current practices of a parish and then recommend and help implement changes that will reduce the institution's carbon footprint, or meet other ecological goals. Sometimes, these are relatively small changes (replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones); sometimes the changes involve rethinking "the way things have always been done" (like coming up with a way to have church without—or with a much reduced—paper service leaflet); and some changes are true transformations (installing renewable energy systems). The Eco-Team becomes the "go-to" folks for ideas both for the parish as a whole, and for inspiration and information for individuals who want to make changes that have a real impact. By honoring God's creation through these changes, our Eco-Teams attempt to bring the practices and actions of a parish into greater harmony with its values as a community of Jesus Christ.

Many ECO-TEAMS start out by using David Gershon's book/workbook "Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds," which provides an easy-to-implement plan for dramatically reducing one's carbon footprint. While the "Diet" is intended to help individuals and families reduce their environmental footprint, it is easily applicable to our parish family, as well. "Low Carbon Diet" may be ordered here.

If you have an ECO-TEAM (or some other type of earth stewardship group) at your parish in Vermont, we'd love to hear your story! You can send a short article—with digital pictures, if you have them—to me at: pkp@valley.net. If you'd like some practical help starting an ECO-TEAM, plan to attend Wes Sanders' presentation at the upcoming Ministry Expo Fairs (April 24th in Manchester and May 1st in Barre). Wes is vice-president of Vermont Interfaith Power and LIght, and can be reached at WESandEcoTeams@gmail.com.
Beth Hilgartner

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