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Religious leaders are growing impatient with the negotiations. Today’s video summary highlights those frustrations, and gives insight into what may transcend tomorrow when these same leaders address convention delegates. Sustainable agriculture involves more than simply growing a plot of organic carrots in your side yard. It involves getting deeply involved both in the knowledge required to farm successfully, and in the dirt itself. Nati Passow has for the past five years shared his interests in environmental, food, and spiritual issues through his nonprofit organization, the Jewish Farm School. Based in Philadelphia, the Jewish Farm School carries out summer programs for college students on organic farms, operates a summer camp for younger children, and develops urban sustainability models all with one goal in mind. To grow healthy bodies through healthy food, and to re-unite Jews with their agricultural roots. Backed by funding from the Bikkurim foundation, JFS has begun to grow rapidly–serving some 25 students in its summer program two years ago, 75 students last year, and a projected 120 in 2010. Nati discusses the organization’s founding, future, and connection to the larger spiritual movement focused on food issues in a fascinating radio conversation. Mark Dowd asks leaders at the Copenhagen summit, “What advice would you give President Obama” as he prepares to address the summit next week. What can faith leaders do at the Copenhagen summit? Today’s video clip from the first day’s activity addresses that issue.
Enter Bill Brown, currently the Director of Sustainability at Indiana University and the author of the blog From Brown to Green. Focused exclusively on the art of translating environmental unfriendly buildings into friendly ones, Brown delivers both examples of organizations that are successfully making the transition, as well as resources to help guide organizations ready to try it. It’s one-stop-shopping for lists of all tax breaks available to organizations wishing to green, an overview of LEED requirements, a guide to EnergyStar products, and on and on. Best of all, it’s written in lay terminology and is eminently accessible to most readers. It’s not a “congregational” focused blog, but it is full of the information that any congregation wishing to green will need. What role are the world’s religious leaders playing in the biggest climate change meeting of the past 15 years? Odyssey Networks has sent a video crew to Copenhagen to interview religious leaders from across the globe who are at the meeting, which will do much to set the future of climate change policy for the next 15 years. Today, we launch the first of these videos–an introduction to what future clips will cover, and why the role of faith leaders is critical at this meeting. Daily videos will begin December 8. For more on the conference, visit the official conference site.
Yet more evidence of the impact that religious bodies are having on the climate change debate is emerging. This time in Indonesia, where the Muslim Association for Climate Change Action (MACCA) will host its first general convention in January 2010. Driving MACCA’s development is Dr Mahmoud Akef, the Executive Director of Earth Mates Dialogue Centre. It was Dr. Akef who arranged the meeting for Bogor, a town in the mountains just outside of Jakarta. The agreement means that Bogor will become the first of seven green Islamic cities that were promised in the Muslim Seven Year Plan of Action, unveiled at the recent Many Heavens, One Earth conference in England. Indonesia welcomes the meeting because under the Kyoto Protocols, it must reduce emissions by 26 percent through 2020, and this gathering positions the government to become a leader in carbon abatements in the Pacific basin. Slated for January 26-27, the meeting’s principal goal is to select officers for the new organization. As always, CRG Green will keep you posted about the upcoming events.
Hopes for a climate change agreement were waning until China recently announced its plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 2020. Suddenly, talks of the conference being significant are again on the rise. And the religious community will play a significant role in whatever happens. In fact, for churches interested in engaging climate change, December offers an excellent time to introduce laity to what is happening, what is at stake, and what religious organizations can do. There is no shortage of materials about the meeting available, but we at CRG Green recommend two sources of particular interest to religious congregations.
2. For in-depth coverage of all segments of the meeting, we recommend that congregations pay close attention to the news coming from The Guardian, which has as powerful a team of reporters and networks on the scene as any other news organization. December is the critical month for climate change. And it’s a excellent opportunity for congregations wishing to engage the debate.
There are so many things that congregations can do to engage environmental issues, having a checklist that aids you in assessing what you’re already doing and provides suggestions on what can be done would be an invaluable resource–whether you’ve been at environmental issues for a number of years, or are just starting up. Fortunately, the Eco-congregation website provides just this. Currently, the organization produces a series of 12 modules that congregations can use to work through various environmental issues. From ideas to greening your building and lands, to engaging your local community and developing engaging worship services that focus on environmental issues, these modules are the epitome of hands-on, practical resources. Module 1 provides congregations an overview look at how they are addressing components in the series. Congregations can then choose to focus on areas that they’re weak in, or to develop further in areas they’re already working in. Though aimed particularly at congregations in Canada, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales, the guide’s thoughts and examples are transferable to the life of faith communities in the United States. Where those in the states lose out is not being able to join the networks of congregations that have completed the checklists and enjoy the opportunity to join a network of places working together on these issues. Which begs the question–why isn’t there a comparable set of modules for the U.S.? Resources An Environmental Toolkit for Churches: Module 1 Check-list |
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Make no mistake. Any church that wishes to convert from a “brown,” energy unfriendly, facility to a green one faces a daunting task. There is considerable money-saving potential; but if one is not careful, it is possible to spend far more “greening” than you’ll ever re-coup in greenbacks.
Writing in the New York Times, 