The planet needs religious leadership
Planet Earth is facing severe threats caused by the activities of 7.9 billion homo sapiens. The rapacious destruction wrought has led to the 6th Great Extinction with biodiversity declining.
Populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have, on average, declined in size by 60% percent in just over 40 years. Charismatic wildlife including the great whales, elephants, polar bears, and tigers face extermination.
Global warming threatens human health and our personal safety as we face increasing and more intensive hurricanes, flooding, droughts, and forest fires. Our oceans, bays, and freshwater lakes and streams are being poisoned with Chesapeake Bay restoration stymied by political paralysis.
While walking beaches along the Florida Gulf Coast this month, I experienced raspiness in my throat and dry coughing as did others. Decaying bacteria from red tide algae emits toxic gases blown onto land, fueled mainly by agricultural nutrients. This is frightening when we can’t breathe the air safely.
Excess nutrients also have led to serious human infections for people coming into contact with Chesapeake Bay waters.
All of this is occurring as political paralysis grips federal and state policymakers. Clearly, the tide has to turn to meaningfully address this ecological crisis. The world’s religious leaders desperately need to step up to help foster the necessary changes to resolve the threats.
As an example of what can be done, in 2007 Marcia Verploegen Lewis and I worked with the pastor at St. Mary’s Church in forming an environmental stewardship committee. It was decided that we should concentrate on Greening the Parish rather than promoting environmental legislation. Religious entities should lead the way and serve as examples for congregants and society at large.
St. Mary’s Catholic Church has two campuses with two large churches, one in downtown Annapolis and one on Bestgate Road. The campuses also include two schools with more than 1,300 students, athletic fields, and many auxiliary buildings. Some of the buildings date to the 18th and 19th centuries.
Our first major project was to retrofit the 2.1-acre parking lot behind St. Mary’s Church. Stormwater draining seven acres to the lot and into Spa Creek was noted as one of two highest priority problems for restoration of the Creek.
We worked with Mel Wilkins of the Spa Creek Conservancy, a former 82nd Airborne member, who was a bulldog in helping us overcome many obstacles, including funding, to accomplish our mission.
As a kid, I played Little League baseball on the once grassy fields behind the church and practiced there on our high school football and lacrosse teams. But the lot was paved over for parking. As an adult, I had long thought about remediating the stormwater from this large impervious lot.
As chairman of the Environmental Stewardship Committee, I finally had my chance. We succeeded in gaining a grant from the Maryland Department of Environment for $56,000, a donation of $5,000 from a parishioner, and labor by students in planting native plants. In 2009, work was completed in cutting curbs and installing nine rain gardens with native water-absorbent plants to soak-up and treat the stormwater. The old deep main stormwater feeder to the creek was cleaned out and restored to functionality.
About 85% of runoff is captured reducing
nutrient flows by 70% and sediment by 90%. The rain gardens are cleaned out twice a year to assure proper functioning. The remaining 15% is to be captured when funding is used this year to install a new rain garden planter system in the upper parking lot.
We next tackled recycling, and now each classroom and many buildings have recycling bins and recycling is encouraged. Energy conservation was prioritized and a BGE energy audit was performed resulting in partial grants to cover new energy-efficient LED lighting in every building and for outside lighting. Motion sensors also were installed to turn off lights when a room is not occupied. The Parish is saving $45,000 per year as a result of this re-lamping with LED fixtures.
Solar shades on windows also were installed as were new skylights in the schools to reduce heating and cooling demand. High-efficiency hand dryers in restrooms are being installed and water fountains have been replaced with bottle refill stations.
White membranes on new flat roofs have increased thermal efficiency, reducing heating and cooling demand.
The parish also began purchasing 100% wind energy in April 2020 under an Archdiocese co-op electrical energy supplier. The contract price is 6.746 cents per kWh for all electrical use at both campuses saving $13,000 annually. The contract is good for five years and rates cannot be raised.
The parish buys high-efficiency HVAC equipment when replacing old HVAC systems and has installed low flow water conservation devices on 90% of water faucets and showers.
The use of pesticides has been cut down to a minimum using integrated pest management as has use of other hazardous chemicals. Fertilizers are not used unless absolutely necessary and then only a minimal amount.
St. Mary’s Elementary School is a state-certified Green School and the high school has an Environmental Studies Program which includes field trips and a capstone project. The schools participate in environmental projects including helping to clean the rain gardens.
These successes would not have been possible without the steadfast support of Don Jackson, the parish director of facilities.
While St. Mary’s is a good model for steps that can be taken, there are still areas to be pursued such as the installation of solar panels and a living shoreline on Spa Creek, and the purchasing of recycled post-consumer paper for publications and bulletins and of electric or hybrid vehicles.
It has been harder to gain integration of Earth Care into the liturgy and parish messaging. We succeeded in the parish holding many Earth Week activities, a few environmental seminars, and in promoting environmental stewardship through pastor’s letters, bulletin notes, and into a few liturgical services. But these practices seem to have faded.
Beyond greening religious facilities and schools, a leap is needed for faith-based groups to take on ecological advocacy at the state, local, and federal level. Ecumenical efforts are underway on climate change issues but generally, religious groups and their leaders have been missing in action on fostering policy changes.
Pope Francis’ 2015 powerful environmental encyclical called for an “ecological conversion” and outlined the necessity for all of us to take action on climate change, the protection of wildlife, forests, wetlands, our waters, and in the production and disposal of waste products.
He passionately called for the protection of creation: “Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost forever. The great majority become extinct for reasons related to human activity.
Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right.”
The question now is whether Francis and other religious leaders’ calls to action will galvanize the necessary changes in the Catholic Church, in other faith-based groups, and in our individual actions, and stimulate leaders around the globe to act?
Gerald Winegrad represented the greater Annapolis area in the Legislature for 16 years, where he championed efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay. He served on the tri-state Chesapeake Bay Commission and taught graduate courses in bay restoration and wildlife management. Contact him at gwwabc@comcast.net.