SOUTHERN OHIO: Green Seeds conference equips churches to help save the planet

By Ariel Miller, October 08, 2009 [Diocese of Southern Ohio] When Michael Schut was doing graduate studies in environmental science, he was the only identified Christian in the program.

"Others saw the Christian view as bankrupt and homocentric, a cause of the problem," Schut, the Episcopal Church's associate program officer for economic and environmental affairs, told those gathered Oct. 3 in rural London, Ohio, for Green Seeds, a conference equipping Christians with spiritual, economic and technological tools to reverse climate change.

"We can reconcile this. Be human-centric, and care for our nest here," he added. "Oikos -- the Greek word for 'household,' is the root for both economics and environment."

Sponsored by the Diocese of Southern Ohio and Ohio Interfaith Power and Light, the conference convened leaders from across the country to share strategies for immediate and effective action.

Schut teamed up with speakers of several other faiths to outline biblical, scientific and economic evidence Christians can use to reverse the appalling consequences of North Americans' current patterns of consumption.

"Climate change is the gravest moral question of our time," he said. "Global warming is causing not only species loss but also a growing crisis of hunger, homelessness, migration and refugees."

Speakers stressed that those living in the United States bear an urgent moral responsibility to change their living. U.S. residents represent 4 percent of the world's population but produce 28 percent of the planet's unsustainable burden of greenhouse gases.

"Ohio is one of the worst offenders in per capita energy consumption, coal use and greenhouse gas production," said climate scientist Sr. Leanne Jablonski at a lunchtime briefing.

Recent Ohio laws mandating that utilities achieve a target proportion of renewable energy have literally changed the landscape, giving advocates a huge infusion of hope and energy.

Ohio Interfaith Power and Light offered a wealth of practical tools for churches to save money through energy audits, gas rate savings, rebates and tax credits, and discounts on energy-efficient products. The organization's advocacy chair, Sara Ward, said the group is starting a Clergy Climate Caucus in major media markets to write guest columns and to advocate for conservation.

Participants shared ideas from successful green business models to recruiting unexpected allies.

Denominational women's groups like the Episcopal Church Women have a great organizational structure built for advocacy, said the speakers. They have regular meetings, reading lists and take on projects; their structure makes it easy to get information out. But too often these groups are underutilized.

Speakers throughout the day connected Scripture to the latest research in biology and demographics to show how the church is poised to play a pivotal role in moving this economy to a more equitable and sustainable level of consumption.

"We're now facing the biggest extinction event since the dinosaurs, and it is caused by us," said Schut. "Extinction is an affront to the biblical command to fruitfulness." He outlined other scriptural principles, including Sabbath -- "there is enough time to rest, and that includes creatures and land as well," -- and tithing -- "a practice of abundance in an economy that feels scarce."

Schut then called on participants to change this society's linear economics, which treats capital, labor and resources as inputs for production and consumption of stuff, generating massive amounts of pollution and solid waste.

"People and communities are seen merely as inputs, consumers, or dumping groups, all desacralized," he warned.

The urgent mandate, then, is to heal our relationship with the rest of creation, Schut said.

"If your objective in religion is to go to heaven, it's a directional statement," agreed Rich Rastetter, a diaconal student of the Diocese of Southern Ohio. "If your objective is reconciliation, it's a circle."

The earth's own cycles -- in which waste from one organism becomes food for another -- is mirrored in "economies where people live close to nature," Schut added. He and other speakers shared an abundance of resources for cutting energy use and investing responsibly.

Changing transportation, home energy use and food choices are the major steps individuals can make to reduce their carbon impact.

"There is an implicit and explicit curriculum in your buildings," Schut added, referring to both homes and churches. "The implicit includes things such as light bulbs, what kind of energy they use and how much, and whether there's a garden out front. The explicit includes what is said from the pulpit, the classes offered, the prayers. Your congregation can provide diverse entry points, from preaching to field trips, for connecting social and ecological concerns."

Several participants represented parishes with Green Teams that are making major changes to reduce energy use and mobilize their congregations. Both outreach co-chairs for Ohio Interfaith Power and Light are Episcopalian: Meribah Mansfield of St. Patrick's, Dublin and Joe Rutter of St. Stephen's, Columbus.

Action tools

• Major ecumenical and denominational policy statements are available at www.protectingcreation.org, www.CatholicClimateCovenant.org, and www.ohcouncilchs.org
• Conservation tools for individuals and institutions are available at:
  - EPA's Personal Greenhouse Gas Calculator
  - EPA Green Vehicle Guide
  - Department of Energy's Fuel Economy
  - EPA's Energy Star program for homes and congregations
• Resources for training congregations in conservation and advocacy are available from Ohio Interfaith Power and Light or its national counterpart The Regeneration Project
• Southern Ohio congregations can also contact Sr. Leanne Jablonski at the Marianist Environmental Education Center in Dayton for spiritual and scientific resources for reversing climate change: 937-429-3582 or jablonski@udayton.edu

Living and investing responsibly

Groups all over the U.S. are benefiting from Schut's books and study guides Simpler Living, Compassionate Life: A Christian Perspective and Food and Faith: Justice, Joy, and Daily Bread. Schut's newest book is Money and Faith: the Search for Enough.

Schut commends community development financial institutions that use money to foster economics that cares for people, and the website www.oikocredit.org.

-- Ariel Miller is executive director of Episcopal Community Services Foundation, a resource for Episcopalians who are working to overcome poverty and suffering in Ohio.