Faith groups
Cost-free fundraising program: Think Recycle
Think Recycle is a cost-free fundraising program that rewards members with money and environmental incentives for the collection of unwanted electronics including laptops, tablets, cell phones, digital cameras, inkjet cartridges and toner cartridges! Organizations that are eligible to participate in Think Recycle include schools, charities, institutions, churches, teams, clubs and even businesses.
Think Recycle works with more than 20,000 members, across the United States and Canada, to meeting their fundraising and environmental goals.
Religious leaders call for spiritual solutions to climate change crisis
The Catholic Register / Deborah Gyapong / 02 November 2011
OTTAWA - Representatives of 30 faith communities and organizations have asked politicians to mine the world’s religious traditions for the spiritual resources to meet the climate change crisis.
“Climate change is a global crisis and requires global solutions that put the well-being of all people first — especially the most vulnerable,” said the Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership on Climate Change, issued after a meeting here Oct. 23 and 24 organized by Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ).
“We recognize that at its root the unprecedented human contribution to climate change is symptomatic of a spiritual deficit: excessive self-interest, destructive competition and greed have given rise to unsustainable patterns of production and consumption,” the statement said.
Tools of Change website
Tools of Change provides a very accessible set of resources for promoters of environmentally-friendly habits, products or services, including a Planning Guide, specific Tools of Change, and Case Studies illustrating their use. This introduction defines what we mean by "environmentally-friendly". It also reviews the promotional challenges we face in engaging individuals to take action and, at a broader level, in achieving more sustainable economic development. Finally, it provides a site guide tailored to your interests.
Food and faith: possibilities for parishes
National Catholic Reporter / Charles Morris / 13 September 2011
One need not have read The Omnivore's Dilemma or have seen the movie "Food, Inc." to know that something is seriously out of kilter with the American food system. With the dominance of agri-business, the quaint image of the family farmer with cows out in the pasture who is growing a cornucopia of crop varieties has, in recent years, become something of an anachronism.
Rather, with the rise of agri-business our food production system has several disturbing characteristics:
Solar power good fit with theology
Ottawa Citizen / Kelly Egan / 01 May 2011
Advocates for solar programs in churches point to two main advantages: Not only is there a much-needed, guaranteed revenue stream, but the use of solar also fits into many faiths' commitment to social and environmental responsibility.
"This is a good fit with our theology," said Rev. Mark Whittall, the pastor of the Parish of Huntley, an Anglican church, one of three he serves in the area.
"We operate with an understanding that we have a responsibility to care for the earth."
To that end, the Parish is looking at installing a nine-kilowatt plant on the roof of its parish hall in the village of Carp. It would cost $70,000, but pay back about $8,000 a year through the so-called feed-in tariff program. That has been hugely popular across Ontario, so far attracting almost 30,000 applications.
Kathryn Guindon is the Ottawa representative of a program called Greening Sacred Spaces. She has spoken to many churches, of many different faiths, about adopting more sound environmental practices.
Prophets of the Environmental Apocalypse
Religion Dispatches / Peter Laarman / 28 April 2011
Before proceeding, I want to acknowledge how pointless and offensive this whole line of inquiry must appear to some. Readers may well say, for example, that just because the doomsday warnings of certain environmentalists happen to exhibit formal similarities to what religious wingnuts are up to means absolutely nothing—and that it is preposterous and outrageous for me to imply that passionate environmentalists might in some way be unhinged in the manner of the End Times preachers.
Let me be clear: I am not saying that our best environmental prophets—not Jim Hansen, not Bill McKibben, not Wendell Berry, not Vandana Shiva—are "out there" in a way that should give us pause. These are all sober, scientifically-grounded people. But sober and well-grounded people who have seen the future and who are terrified by what they see find it rather difficult to put up with the temporizing and tergiversation that mark the mainstream response to such an overwhelming crisis. Their sense of acute urgency can easily be mistaken for fanaticism. And of course it is precisely that slight edge of hysteria that their well-organized opponents love to seize upon in order to dismiss them as mere cranks.
There are other marked differences between environmental prophets and faith-fueled apocalypticists. One is that the enviros aren't talking about a single catastrophic moment or event but rather a series of events—albeit rapidly evolving—that will dramatically transform conditions on the planet. Another is that the enviros don’t believe for a minute that after the very bad days there will be some kind of clearing or deliverance in the way that millenarian Christians believe.
A third difference has to do with human agency. Most environmental prophets think it's still possible—barely—that humans might just rise to the occasion and significantly change their destructive behavior. Most religious doomsayers do not seriously believe that any radical repentance will occur; and they rather hope that it won't, because they so relish the thought of the wicked being consumed as the cups of divine wrath are poured out.
Bringing 1000 Solar Rooftops to Ottawa
PERC / Chris Henderson, Kathryn Guindon / 03 January 2011
New energy rules under the province's MicroFIT (Feed-In-Tariff) program make solar power a viable economic proposition for homeowners and local organizations. But that green energy window may not be open forever. The time to act is now. The good news is that a number of community groups and local companies have banded together to provide a "one stop" source of solar information and expertise. The group, called 1000 Solar Rooftops Ottawa, meets regularly to share information and strategize how to overcome solar power roadblocks. As the name suggests, the group has set a goal of 1000 solar rooftops installed in the City of Ottawa in the next three years.
The www.1000solarrooftops.ca website contains information to help you plan and install a solar power system. Beginning in December, Solar Success Stories will be posted on the site and can be downloaded. You can find out how solar actually works, and connect with those who have done the heavy lifting to make it happen.
