Green Team News: A Year in Review
In Bishop Oliveto’s address to us in her webinar event, It’s Not Easy Being Green, she concluded with the recommendation that we celebrate our accomplishments in this work more! In that spirit, the steering committee of our Green Earth Team would like to do a brief Year In Review. We offer this not in the spirit of bragging, but in the spirit of modeling that a small group of people of faith, who are committed to something, can accomplish a lot over time.
Celebrating Net Zero Emissions for the 8th Year in a Row
This work is continued as we helped and supported a further step to reduce our carbon footprint — the installation of solar panels on the parsonage roof, which has now been completed! 24 solar panels are installed on the garage roof and will be able to supply all of the parsonage’s electricity plus charging for an EV. Most of the total cost of $35,083 will be provided by grants from the Green Earth Team ($6,750), the Endowment Fund ($4,000), Boulder County PACE ($7,584), Boulder City ($5,000), and our church capital appeal.
This work was also supported by our annual fund raising at Celebration of Creation Luncheon. At this luncheon, we also learned more about the City of Boulder’s efforts supporting natural solutions to our climate crisis by focusing on green space, landscaping, and tree planting. In September, we planted three Burl Oak saplings to continue our own efforts to foster the green canopy so important as temperatures rise. We also continue our work with treeswaterpeople.org to provide resources, job training, and support in Central America and in some of our regional Native American nations.
Educational Efforts
- The Mtn. Sky Mission U this year offered a four-week series on the climate crisis, which was well-attended by our church membership.
- We offered a short book study on the book, All We Can Save.
- We collaborated with the Outreach Committee to present Mike Moore’s presentation on individual disaster preparedness and resilience in October. We all learned a lot from our resident expert/consultant.
- Throughout the year, we shared numerous invites to webinars and faith-based events including speakers, actions (ex. Moving Prayer Vigil to get out the vote) and resources (ex. COP27 — go to unep.org to learn more!) Send Mary Beth Downing (mzmbeth@gmail.com) if you want to receive these invites. They are ongoing!
Additional Church-Wide Efforts
- In September the Mt. View Board unanimously adopted the Mountain Sky Conference Creation Care Church Initiative Congregational Covenant. The covenant reaffirms Mt. View’s commitment to do all that we can to care for God’s creation and create a sustainable world. Our church has been working diligently on this goal for over a decade and we have made wonderful progress. The covenant provides suggestions for churches to infuse creation care into every aspect of Christian life: worship, discipleship, stewardship, evangelism and missions. To read more about it, go to creationjustice@mtnskyumc.org.
- In the fall, we applied and were awarded the Cool Congregation designation by Interfaith Power and Light for our work to reduce our carbon footprint and our environmental work over time.
- We also work closely with UWF and Days for Girls and Dress a Girl programs. Educating girls and supporting maternal health and family planning are two of the most important long term climate solutions we can support. We work with these groups to foster access to education through menses kits (over 1,000 kits this year) and enhance the status of girls through programs that highlight their worth, providing almost 200 beautiful handmade dresses thanks to generous fabric donations and the dedication of our champion seamstress, Trish White.
Next Steps?
We invite all church members to a brainstorming gathering on Sunday, January 8 at 9:00 am in Frasier Parlor. We hope to plan out our 2023 year with action and education. Please join us in person or watch for the zoom link in the Friday email blasts.
Our Green Earth Team invites you to join in the urgent work that is ahead of us. The IPCC report and the COP27 (UN international meeting calling for solid and urgent commitment to climate solutions) notes that we have until 2030 to drastically change the trajectory of our carbon footprint. This work must be done as individuals, as members of communities like our church, and through pressure on governmental/corporate policies. Time is of the essence. Please join us in our efforts.