wfn.org | Finding power in the church's environmental mission

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Kathryn McCormick
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2000-044

Finding power in the church's environmental mission

by Pat McCaughan

     The Rev. Sally Bingham is on a mission to convert Episcopal 
churches to green. She hopes to inspire congregations in the 
Diocese of Los Angeles, for example, to commit to the diocesan 
year-long focus of "Stewardship for all Creation...for the Next 
Century" by signing up to purchase Green Power, or energy from 
renewable sources.

     Her message, though, is being carried to the whole church, 
and there are promising signs that the church is eagerly 
responding. 

     Purchasing and using clean energy is a faith issue, said 
Bingham, who is the environmental minister at Grace Cathedral in 
San Francisco. She and Steve MacAusland, a layperson from Boston, 
are co-founders of Episcopal Power and Light, an initiative for 
the national church to respond to global climate change.

     Bingham can already point to impressive converts. The church 
and the public utilities in Denver, Colorado, are very near an 
agreement under which the city's convention center will be 
powered by sustainable resources during the 10-day General 
Convention, she reported in a recent interview. 

     "We have been overwhelmed by requests for speakers," she 
said of the tiny EPL corps of volunteers, plus one meagerly paid 
staff person who is speaking to churches in the Diocese of 
Northern California, she said. A volunteer is currently talking 
with congregations in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, and 
both Bingham and MacAusland travel across the country explaining 
the advantages of green power to congregations from southern 
California to Iowa to New York (where a workshop has been 
scheduled for next fall). 

     So far about 40 churches have signed up for green power, she 
said. Most are in the Diocese of California, but Bingham also has 
been working with other dioceses.

Los Angeles goes green

     In the Diocese of Los Angeles, the Cathedral Center of St. 
Paul recently signed up to participate in the Los Angeles 
Department of Water and Power's "Green Power for a Green L.A." 
LADWP kicked off its ground-breaking program in May amid 
endorsements from long-time consumer and environmental advocate 
Ralph Nader and actor/activist Ed Begley, Jr.

     Under LADWP's green power program, 20 percent of the 
electricity will be generated by new wind, geothermal and other 
renewable energy sources.

     Unlike green power programs offered by the private sector, 
all of the accounts of participating churches will be aggregated 
by LADWP and treated as if they were one huge facility. This will 
enable the churches to qualify for rate discounts that could net 
as much as a 30 percent cost reduction, provided the 30 diocesan 
parishes in LADWP's service area participate. There are other 
incentives as well: energy audits and free energy efficiency 
products are available to participants to help reduce their bills 
and offset the $3 per month increased cost of the green power. 

     "This is what is attractive to the churches and essential to 
our EPL program," says Bingham of the EPL-negotiated cost 
reduction.

     As a participant, the Cathedral Center will gradually 
convert completely to recyclable energy, said Michael Cunningham, 
diocesan missioner for administration. "In the short term, 20 
percent of the power we will use will come from green power," he 
said. Initial cost increases will pay off in the long-term, he 
said.

     "It will cost about three cents per kilowatt hour more (but) 
we are seeking to invest and to encourage churches to invest in 
our future so we don't burn fossil fuel. The DWP's program is 
about construction of power plants that use wind and geothermal 
and other sources of clean energy. 

     "When Bishop [Frederick] Borsch says we're committed to the 
stewardship of All Creation for the Next Century, one of the most 
effective ways we can do that is to ensure that our children and 
our children's children are not burning fossil fuels to keep the 
lights on." 

     At least one other congregation in the LADWP service area 
has also signed onto the green power program--St. John's/Holy 
Child Church in Wilmington. The other 118 diocesan parishes 
outside the LADWP service area can participate in similar plans 
through Green Mountain Energy, said Bingham.

Connecting faith and health

     Using clean energy is "more than just a matter of helping 
people deepen their connection between faith and ecology, it also 
means commitment to "probably the most serious issue facing the 
health of the planet," she said.

     "The faith community can really make a difference by taking 
seriously the stewardship of creation. And when you look closely 
at the issue of global climate change, and you realize that it's 
happening because of human behavior, you recognize that we've got 
to make some drastic changes in the way we behave. We can focus 
on our first and great commandment--to love God but also to love 
your neighbor. If you love your neighbor, you won't be polluting 
your neighbor's air."

     Only recently has the church become involved in 
environmental advocacy, she said. "The focus has always been on 
saving human souls (but) with the new realization that saving the 
earth is the only way to save human life, the church is beginning 
to make environmental issues a central part of its ministry," 
Bingham said.

     That's why she created Episcopal Power and Light (EPL), 
along with MacAusland of the Diocese of Massachusetts. Both 
members of the Episcopal Environmental Coalition Network, they 
began discussing the possibilities of having their own nonprofit 
ministry/business while hiking during a meeting recess in 
October, 1998. 

     "We thought that if we could go outside the church and raise 
money we might be able to make a difference. And so we did that," 
she said. They launched EPL in the Bay Area, where approximately 
21 churches have already converted to green power.

     "The environmental crisis is a spiritual one. If there is 
hope in the world for healing of the planet and a healthy future 
for our children, churches must be involved. Unlike corporations, 
government or academic institutions, we have the ability to reach 
the hearts and minds of the masses," Bingham said. "This church 
has always cared about social justice issues. The creation of 
jobs and the building of new technology that will not pollute the 
air are social justice issues.

Our generational 'neighbors'

     "By commandment, we would love nature, which is our source 
of food, medicine and energy. We might also consider the 
generations to come as 'neighbors' and show love towards them by 
using sustainable methods of energy for fueling our modern 
society. If we take God's words to heart, the words that tell us 
we have dominion over all living things, then people of faith 
must now assume a leadership role in the healing of our planet. 
And a good place to start this initiative is our places of 
worship. 

     "With very little effort we can put our churches on an 
energy conservation program and replace the generic 'dirty' 
electricity we have been paying for with clean renewable sources 
such as new wind turbines."

     Ultimately, the Episcopal Power and Light initiative impacts 
450 Episcopal churches and 168,000 parishioners in California, 
and could become a model for action by Episcopal and other 
churches nationwide.

     "Stewardship of the earth has always been a part of a 
church's mission, but not until recently have ministers entered 
the advocacy arena. The focus has always been on saving human 
souls. With the new realization that saving the earth is the only 
way to save human life, the church is beginning to make 
environmental issues a central part of its ministry," said 
Bingham.

     And that's not all. Once she's made more progress with 
renewable energy, she intends to focus more attention on water, 
says Bingham. "We will work on water issues after the Episcopal 
Church has become a zero-emission institution."

     For more information, contact the Rev. Sally Bingham at 
(415) 929-1589 or by e-mail: mailto:ecosal@aol.com

--Pat McCaughan is senior correspondent for Episcopal News, the 
newspaper of the Diocese of Los Angeles