Spring greening: Tips for making your place of worship sustainable

Many religious congregations throughout the United States and the world are beginning initiatives and adopting plans to make their places of worship more sustainable. As people of faith, we recognize our place as a part of creation with a responsibility to care for it.

Churches, synagogues, and mosques are ideal places to not only conserve energy and adopt environmentally safe practices, but also to educate and inspire their congregations to use many of these practices at their place in the world. Some areas that warrant an examination of practices at each place of worship:

Plant sale: Pretty in pink comes in three shades at the Goodwood Spring Plant Sale

Take a hike: Move Tallahassee heads to St. Marks National Refuge for wildlife hike

Landscape

Are your landscape practices beneficial to the environment? A good place to start is using the nine principles for a Florida Friendly Landscape, which can be found at the UF/IFAS Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program website (ffl.ifas.ufl.edu). Along with these principles, additional possibilities include:

• Plant and care for native trees because of their many benefits to the environment.

• Set aside a portion of the landscape for passive restoration, e.g., do nothing except monitor and remove invasive or exotic plants, allowing natural succession to restore a native ecosystem.

• Start a pollinator garden to provide habitat for beneficial insects and/or a vegetable garden to provide food for those in need.

• Select native plants for your landscape and those which do not need much watering or special care.

• Reduce the amount of turf by planting native trees and shrubs to reduce mowing and upkeep and provide services for the landscape and its inhabitants.

• Trees moderate temperature through evaporative cooling and shade. They absorb rainwater, reducing runoff and erosion. They filter harmful dust and pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide from the area. They provide food, protection, and homes for birds, mammals, and beneficial insects. Most importantly, trees emit oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the air, storing carbon in their wood and in the soil throughout the life of the tree.

Energy and water use

Do you seek to conserve energy and water? Here are some options to consider:

• Install solar or other alternative power sources.

• When light bulbs wear out, change to LED.

• Encourage practices such as avoiding running water while washing hands or dishes.

• Consider installing smart thermostats, automatic cutoff faucets, low water usage toilets, and motion detecting switches for lights which turn off automatically.

• Change out windows or choose the more affordable alternative of adjustable heat and cold blocking window coverings.

• Have meetings on Zoom or other online apps when possible and appropriate to conserve resources and reduce emissions produced by multiple people driving their vehicles to a central location.

• Purchasing and Maintenance — Are the products you use earth friendly?

• Use cleaning supplies which do not damage the environment.

• Eliminate the use of single use plastics, foam, and bottled water.

• Recycle.

• Choose products that have recycled content, or which can be recycled.

• Buy locally whenever possible or choose fair trade products and those that travel the fewest miles.

• A significant part of stewardship is maintaining existing structures, fixtures, and equipment to prolong their useful life if possible, and the selection of any replacements. When purchasing new appliances and equipment, choose those that are certified as using less energy such as EnergyStar and WaterSense.

Environmental and social justice

Environmental and social justice issues are part of the same continuum. There is a strong bond between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace. Do you support and advocate for laws and practices which protect the environment and care for those most affected by environmental changes and injustice? Do you support or sponsor ministries and care taking for climate refugees and others who have less?

Form a team

At my church, we have formed a creation care team. We obtained a free energy audit from the City of Tallahassee. We learned a lot and saved some money. We began recycling. We are planting native trees and reducing the area requiring mowing. The hardest change is reducing single use plastics, such as bottled water, and eliminating Styrofoam, but we’re working on it.

All congregations are encouraged to assess their environmental practices. Here are some steps that are useful in organizing a creation care effort while building community within your congregation:

• Form a Team

• Calculate your carbon footprint and/or get a free energy audit

• Make a Plan

• Get input from the congregation

• Prioritize

• Seek funding

• Take action

• Celebrate your accomplishments

• Participate in the Tallahassee Green Faith Alliance for ideas and support. Find it on Facebook.

• The Hartford Institute for Religion Research reports there are about 350,000 religious congregations in the U.S.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, in one year a mature tree will absorb more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide, and according to the USDA, one large tree can supply up to four people with oxygen each day.

Thus, if each religious congregation planted only one additional tree on their property, or lacking ownership of suitable property, in a park or other appropriate location, each year 16.8 million pounds of carbon would be removed from the atmosphere and stored, and 1.4 million people would be supplied with oxygen. And just think, what if each religious congregation planted two trees and encouraged each member’s family to plant a tree…

Individually our efforts may seem insignificant and possibly futile, but together we can change the world.

For more information in topics within this article, see the UF/IFAS Florida Friendly Landscaping Program website , the Cool Congregations website (coolcongregations.org), and read the book "7 Simple Steps to Green Your Church," by Rebekah Simon-Peter.

Janis Piotrowski is a Florida Master Naturalist, a Certified Permaculture Designer, and a Master Gardener Volunteer with UF/IFAS Extension Leon County, an Equal Opportunity Institution. She hosts a blog about gardening and sustainable living in North Florida at northfloridavegheadz.blogspot.com. For gardening questions, email the extension office at AskAMasterGardener@ifas.ufl.edu.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tips for making your place of worship green and sustainable