Earth Care Congregations is a PC(USA) certification for congregations that take the Earth Care Pledge, that:
- Our worship and discipleship will celebrate God’s grace and glory in creation.
- Our education will encourage and support each other in keeping and healing the creation.
- Our facilities will be managed, maintained, and upgraded to respect and cherish all creation.
- Our outreach will encourage community involvement and public policy to protect and restore the earth.
RECENT ACTIVITIES
Our Earth Care Ministry sponsored a Lunch & Learn event featuring Megan Holler, co-director of Toward Zero Waste, and Dennis Carter, owner of Anything With a Plug Recycling. Toward Zero Waste promotes composting and sponsors the SHARE (Stop Hunger And Restore Health) program in many North Carolina Schools. The slides from Megan’s presentation are here. Anything With a Plug Recycling collects and recycles hard to process items like electronics and non-standard plastics. A complete list of items accepted and not accepted, and information about when and where to donate is available on Dennis’ website.
CONTINUING WORK
- Providing sustainability information through handouts and links:
- Including a weekly ’Tip of the Week’ in the CPC email newsletter.
- Recycling food waste, and paper plates and napkins at church events.
- Maintaining a bulletin board for Earth Care happenings.
- Created tote bags and utensil kits from recycled lawn inflatables and pillowcases for the Alternative Gift Market. These are also available free.
- Converted all campus lighting to LED.
- Changed all our cleaning products to ‘green’ options.
- Installed solar panels. See the impact here.
- On-going replacement of older HVAC units with energy efficient models.
- Thoughtful landscape design and plant selection.
- Forest and wildlife preservation on our property.
