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On March 18, about 60 people throughout Northern California joined a webinar to learn how to form a “Green Team” at their churches. This step is considered crucial to making churches carbon-neutral by 2030, a goal set by the Northern California Episcopal Diocese at its annual meeting in October 2022.
The webinar was hosted by Sarah Paulos, community engagement and programs manager at Interfaith Power and Light (IPL). The diocese signed a contract with IPL to customize its carbon footprint calculator for each of our churches, which will make calculating current emissions much easier for all of us.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is released when fossil fuels are burned, whether through transportation, electricity usage or heating and cooling. This has boosted C02 levels in the atmosphere, which is causing the planet to warm. The C02 concentration in our atmosphere hasn’t been this high in about 4 million years.
The U.S. produces about 28 percent of the world’s C02 emissions, though we are only 4 percent of the world’s population.
Paulos said it’s important to form a Green Team (two or three people minimum) at each church in order to calculate emissions, a vital first step: Before you can eliminate carbon dioxide emissions, you need to know how much you’re emitting. The team will then coordinate a plan to reduce emissions to zero that is unique to each church. This may involve installing solar panels, managing vehicle travel or installing new heating/cooling systems.
“You need a team of people to carry out this work,” she said. “This includes developing fluency and speaking out about why we as people of faith are called to talk to others about climate change.”
Paulos is founder of the Cool Congregations program at IPL, an initiative to help churches of all denominations do their part for climate change. The Cool Congregations website is filled with resources to help churches do this.
Paulos said it’s important for Green Team members to prepare their own story about why they decided to tackle the carbon problem, and to share that with others in their congregation.
“You don’t need to be an expert on climate change, but you need a genuine, heartfelt story about what motivates you. Never underestimate the power of narrative to bring about change,” she said.
— Matt Weiser
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