Socio-Environmental Project

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume One, Number Three
January/February 1992

A Socio-Environmental Project

Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church in Arlington VA co-sponsored with Potomac Overlook Nature Center and Sullivan House (a transitional housing unit) a project to help solve social and environmental problems in an integrated way. They hired an intern to work with children and to organize community forums. The forums will continue in 1992.

For more, contact Martin Ogle, Potomac Overlook Nature Center, 2845 Marcey Rd, Arlington VA 22207, (703) 528-5406.

"Eco-Tour-A-Thon"

The Christian Ecologists of Washington last April participated in an "Eco-Tour-A-Thon", along the Anacostia River, sponsored by the Metro DC Environmental Network. Individuals and organizations raised money for their favorite environmental programs by gathering pledges for each Eco-Stop visited along a picturesque path circling the Anacostia River Basin. Sites illustrating serious environmental issues dotted the route, such as a municipal incinerator, the PEPCO generator, an ash dump, and a proposed sites for another freeway.

A Creation Awareness Center

The Friends of Creation group of Heritage Presbyterian Church, Fairfax VA, is transforming a wooded part of their property with trails, plant identification markers, meditation stops.

For a copy of the detailed Idea Study for Church Property as an Outdoor Creation Awareness Center – A Living Cathedral, send $5.00 to Cathryn Cochrane, 3138 Woodland Lane, Alexandria, VA 22309.

Environmental Awareness Course

Without justice,
A sustainable economy will be beyond reach.
Without an ecologically responsible
world economy,
Justice will be unachievable.

From "Renewing The Earth", National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1991

Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Rockford IL instituted an environmental awareness course based on the Household EcoTeam Workbook, by David Gershon. The course puts the Global Action Plan of the National Earth Day Office into a six month program to be implemented on the individual and houshold level.

For more, contact Gary McIntyre at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Rockford , (815) 963-4815.

The Billion Pound Diet

In October 1990, St.Bartholomew's Episcopal Church of Andover KS hosted a seminar on reducing oil consumption based on the Billion Pound Diet, sponsored by the Union of Concerned Scientists, (26 Church St., Cambridge MA 02238). Twenty five participants examined their lifestyles and discovered painless ways they could conserve energy. Their commitment to these changes could result in the savings of 47,000 lbs of carbon dioxide annually.

Make Some Soil

Members of the Park Slope Methodist Church, Brooklyn, New York, bring their kitchen wastes each Sunday to church for composting into soil. One teacher in a Sunday School class used the story of turning rotten banana peels into sweet smelling compost as a metaphor for the resurrection.

For more, write Park Slope United Methodist Church, 453 Seventh St., Booklyn NY 11215, (718) 788-1164

Environmental Stations Of The Cross

Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, at a conference in Black Mountain NC, participated in a seminar linking scripture passages to seven degradations of the environment. Walking along nature trails, they periodically met "prophets" who shared facts about deforestation, species extinction, global toxification, etc. The script, with relevant Bible texts, was prepared by Dr. Calvin DeWitt, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

For more, write Mission: Action, Women of the ELCA; 8765 W. Higgins Rd. Chicago, IL 60631-4189; (312) 380-2747.