Getting Involved - Mission - Eco Justice - History
History of Changes in our Church to Promote Eco Justice
​Church formed an Eco-Justice Team in August 2018. Working within the Mission and Outreach committee, Eco-Justice drafted guiding principles and established a plan for progress. Step one in the plan called for evaluation and actions focused on the church’s activities and infrastructure.
2018-2019
ACTIONS
•Analyzed our energy consumption and costs over the past five years to establish a baseline metric for future improvements.
•Compared our building to other houses of worship and associated the 21% reduction achieved over the five-year period to boiler and window replacements.
•Minimized use of disposable cups and tableware at events by organizing a rotating band of dish-washing volunteers – volunteers cleaned over 1000 cups in the first 20 weeks (after 1k we stopped counting).
•Composted food scraps from the kitchen and church events.
•Worked with Buildings and Grounds toward a 25% reduction in chemical fertilizer application on our lawn.
•Replaced plastic communion cups with degradable corn-based cups.
•Published newsletter articles on how to reduce waste and chemical use at home.
•Met with Sunnyhill and St. Paul’s representatives to share sustainability ideas and offer collaboration for community efforts.
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RESULTS
The actions above produced tangible results – thousands of disposable cups not trashed, pounds of compost added to a farmer’s field - and laid the foundation for future initiatives.