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A Moral and Spiritual Imperative

The way we as a society produce and consume energy is a moral as well as an economic issue. Our reliance on burning fossil fuels for energy threatens the things we cherish most: the health of our families, the wellbeing of our communities, the landscapes we love, and the integrity of the whole community of life on earth.

It is essential to recognize that it is the most vulnerable who are most at risk – especially those who live in poor and minority communities, seniors, children and the chronically ill. They are often more directly exposed to pollution from power plants and have fewer resources to protect themselves from the impacts of climate change such as flooding, heat waves, diseases and crop failures.

Faith-based organizations have addressed global and domestic problems of hunger, poverty, lack of potable water, armed conflict and refugee resettlement – crises that will only become worse as a result of climate change. Thus, many people of faith are committed to acting on climate change as an extension of the work they have been doing for years.

For many people of faith, climate change is also a deeply spiritual as well as moral issue. Their sense of environmental responsibility is rooted not in fear or guilt, but in a profound sense of gratitude.

In the words of the Wisconsin Council of Churches’ public policy statement on the environment: “As citizens of Wisconsin, we have enjoyed the beauty and the bounty of our state and wish to preserve it for all who live here and for those who come after us. We know that change is urgently needed if we and our descendants are to continue to enjoy the blessings of this gifted land. The beauty, integrity, and diversity of the earth are an inheritance from the past that we hold in trust for future generations. We must not foreclose their opportunities by causing major long-term or irreversible global environmental changes, or [by] diminishing the continued fruitfulness of the earth.”

The Door Peninsula is one of Wisconsin’s outstanding places of “beauty and bounty.” If you are a member of a faith community, how could your congregation express its gratitude for these blessings through improving its energy stewardship?

If you are not a member of a faith community, through what vehicle can you help your community protect this planet that we all cherish and share?

About 12 years ago my congregation, Madison Christian Community, received a grant from Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy Program, installed photovoltaic solar panels on the church roof and became the first solar-powered church in Wisconsin. With these solar panels and other energy conservation actions, the church reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 11.2 tons per year and on weekdays, the solar panels often produced as much as 20 percent of the daytime energy needs of MCC and its tenant, Middleton Pre-School.

In 2013, the roof needed to be replaced and the solar panels were removed. With another grant from Focus on Energy and contributions from the congregation, MCC installed a larger, 18 kilowatt, 64-panel array. The church will reduce its dependence on non-renewable sources of energy by 35 percent and its carbon dioxide emissions by about 36 tons per year.

Although the solar panels that were removed were 12 years old, they still operated at 94 percent of their original capacity. They could not be integrated into the new installation, so the church’s leadership debated what to do – sell them to help defray the cost of the new array? Or donate them?

They decided to give the panels to Sustainable Atwood, a local organization that promotes environmentally sustainable practices for homes and businesses in a lower-income area. Sustainable Atwood, in turn, donated the panels to Zion Lutheran Church for its new office space. The panels, now operational, along with other energy saving measures, are expected to provide 40 percent of the church’s energy needs.

There are both spiritual and practical economic reasons for congregations to reduce their energy consumption and costs by installing solar panels, improving insulation, and switching to more energy-efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems. Congregations can use the money they would have spent paying their energy bills to further their ministry to their members, in service projects to help their communities, and to provide assistance to people in need elsewhere in the world.

Most importantly, it is a moral and spiritual imperative that we all do our part to help mitigate the adverse impacts of global warming.

Peter Bakken is coordinator for public policy for the Wisconsin Council of Churches and executive director of Wisconsin Interfaith Power and Light, which advocates for clean energy policy. He holds a Ph.D. in theology from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He served on the task force that produced the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America social statement, “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice.” A published author, he lives in Madison with his wife and daughter.