Local churches preach green gospel

This post was written by John Bennett

December 1, 2007

A story in today’s Savannah Morning News accent section, “Green With Faith,” by Dana Clark Felty, looks into environmental efforts at Savannah churches and prominently features The Rev. Billy Hester of Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church. Hester has been active in local environmental efforts and was a featured speaker at Savannah GreenFest in October. Other congregations mentioned in the story include St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal, First Presbyterian and the Catholic Diocese of Savannah.

While not referring to it directly, the story includes a lowercase reference to “creation care,” which in uppercase is the title of a magazine published by the Evangelical Environmental Network, based in Suwanee, Ga. The story also includes a sidebar on Georgia Interfaith Power & Light, our state’s chapter of the national Interfaith Power & Light organization. GIPL is primarily focused on electrical power generation and its links to global warming and air pollution. From the group’s Web site:

“This is an issue of love and justice. Pollution hurts God’s people and God’s creation both now and in the years to come. Global warming and climate change will continue to affect the earth for generations. We are called to love our neighbors. If we follow that commandment, we won’t dirty our neighbor’s air and water. We can help make the world healthier and safer for ourselves, others, and generations yet to come.”

Felty quotes Mark Ginsberg, GIPL outreach coordinator:

“The greatest social movements of our time, from abortion to civil rights, didn’t seem to take off until the religious community got involved.”

Can the same be said for local sustainability and environmental efforts? Are houses of worship the missing pieces of the puzzle? It’s certainly easy to imagine that local congregations could play a critical role in promoting awareness of and participation in Savannah’s curbside recycling program.

Category Posted in Advocacy, Conservation, Energy, Global Warming