How to green your church
Citizens for Public Justice helps us walk through our churches to make them more environmentally friendly
Church greening is a great place to start to love creation better. Making changes to reduce pollutants that are harmful to human health and the environment has the added bonus of injecting money into the local economy while also saving money for the church in the longer term.
As churchgoers, who travel to buildings – powered by electricity and other forms of energy – oftentimes to eat together, it is clear we have a role to play in reducing emissions.
Greenhouse gas emissions come from six major areas, according to www. DrawDown. org:
25% – electricity production
24% – food, agriculture and land use 21% – industry
14% – transportation
6% – buildings
10% – other energy-related emissions.
Fortunately, there are many things we can do.
1 SIMPLE STEPS TO GO GREENER
There are easy and inexpensive things you can do to begin to reduce the environmental footprint of your church.
Decide to use less furnace heat and air conditioning. Communicate expectations that people wear sweaters in the winter and lighter clothing in the summer.
Encourage each other to turn off the lights when a room is not being used. Install energy-efficient LED lightbulbs – which use a fraction of the energy required by incandescent bulbs. Put in a programmable thermostat and keep the church relatively cool/warm (depending on the season).
Eliminate single-use plastics at fellowship events. Opt for real dishes and cutlery instead. Extend this low-waste philosophy to other areas of church procurement. Ask, “Do we really need it?” If yes, then buy supplies in bulk to reduce wasteful packaging and cost.
Make sure recycling, garbage and compost bins are accessible and that people know what goes where. Check the local waste management guidelines and update congregants when the rules change.
Clean the windows to let in more natural light. Apply weather sealing to insulate windows during the winter. Caulk any small openings around windows and doors. Close heating vents in unused rooms.
Set and keep your fridge, freezer and water heater at optimal efficiency temperatures. Ensure full loads for dishwashers. Turn off and unplug small appliances and electronics when not in use.
Develop a roster of congregants who have the skills and inclination to undertake repairs in the church. Fixing things that are broken can improve efficiencies, save money and reduce waste.
2 NEXT-LEVEL MEASURES TO REDUCE CHURCH EMISSIONS
This next set of options is more involved, requiring additional time and money, but will also improve your impact.
To amplify the impact of more moderate heating/cooling in the church, invest in energy efficiency.
Insulate and seal the building. Insulate all pipes and ducts. Improve insulation in walls and attics. Upgrade windows, doors and the seals around them.
Install motion detectors or timers on lights, especially in bathrooms and outside lighting that is only used occasionally or for short periods.
As old appliances fail, upgrade to energy-efficient models. Invest in an energy-efficient water heating system.
The to-and-from of church activities is an important element of the community’s carbon footprint. Help people make it easier to reduce their travel emissions.
Install bike racks near the most frequently used entrances.
Share information about local bus routes in the bulletin and on your website, and facilitate carpooling.
Highlight the psychological value of walking, cycling and being outdoors with others. Driving less is one of the biggest personal changes Canadians can make to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention the benefits of improved air quality and reduction in traffic.
3 MAJOR MEASURES AND INTENSE IMPACTS
If you’ve already undertaken all the measures here, you might be ready for more far-reaching solutions. These require additional consensus building and fundraising, but will lead to serious environmental and economic benefits in the long run.
Explore alternative energy sources for electricity and heating. This is an area that will require significant outlay, but will pay for itself over time. Is your building suitable for solar panels, a small-scale wind turbine or geothermal installation? Do you have access to green energy through the local grid?
Put environmental considerations front and centre, especially when planning for a new build or major infrastructure changes. Retrofits can sometimes be costly and inconvenient. If major changes are being planned – such as a new church building or major renovation – this is an opportunity to implement green church measures from the outset, making them integral to church operations rather than an add-on.
Take a look at the church’s investments. The way we spend our money reflects what we value. Recognizing fossil fuel exploration and development is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, it is important to shift our investments away from this sector. Take a serious look at moving your church’s resources to investments that propel us toward the kind of world we want to create.
4 ADVOCATE FOR CHANGE
There is tremendous value in coming together as a community to make changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Such changes assist us, as human beings, to prepare psychologically for the broader, system-wide transition the current challenges require. The warming of the planet is occurring at a scale that necessitates far-reaching, society- and economy-wide adjustments best achieved through regulation and incentives to transition toward a green economy. Part of our responsibility as people of faith is to engage in creation advocacy, pressing our government leaders to make changes that will help us heal our natural spaces and address climate change.