Method

Current Scope

Ecological Projects and Ministries

2010 Sustainable Living Lenten Calendar

Vermont activities for the 350 Campaign

From the Pulpit

Other Friends of the Earth

Province One Bishops' Pastoral Letter on the Environment

Earth Stewards Committee (formerly Committee on the Environment)

Diocese receives EPA Environmental Merit Award

Members of the Earth Stewards Committee accepted an Environmental Merit Award from the New England Office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at a ceremony at Boston’s Faneuil Hall on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, April 22.

The annual EPA awards recognize “outstanding environmental advocates who have made significant contributions toward preserving and protecting our natural resources,” according to a letter from Curtis Spaulding, director of the New England Office of the EPA.

The award honored the efforts spurred by the 2007 Diocesan Convention resolution requiring congregations to conduct energy audits, develop implementation plans for addressing energy inefficiencies, and to report the results to the 2009 Diocesan Convention as well as the work of the Earth Stewards Committee and Bishop Ely's commitment to build environmental considerations into diocesan decision-making.

See the Episcopal News Service story here.

Frances Huessy, Angela Emerson, EPA New England Director Curtis Spaulding, a national EPA representative, Anita Schell-Lambert and Bob Wertz pose in Fanueil Hall with the EPA Environmental Merit Award on April 22, 2010.

Idea of the Month — March 2010

Pure Water for the World is a Vermont-based non-profit 501 3(c) corporation, with headquarters in Rutland. The Executive Director, Carolyn Meub, and her husband Bill, are members of Trinity Episcopal Church there, and Carolyn has spoken at several churches around the diocese about the long-term crisis situation in Haiti. Pure Water's mission is to provide potable water for drinking, cooking, washing, and bathing in a sustainable way to the under-served and/or rural poor populations in underdeveloped countries, particularly in Central America and the Caribbean. The biosand filter is the method of choice, having no moving parts, no maintenance, and no energy requirements. The development of local production facilities, filter placement in community schools and clinics, the training of in-house teachers and staff, and the education of all users, all encourage indigenous ownership of a system that provides both immediate and long-term benefits. Health plus Hope equals Opportunity (H2O).

Pure Water has been working in Honduras and El Salvador for more than 9 years, and in Haiti since 2008. Although they are not a relief organization, they are working along with other NGO's, the Episcopal Diocese in Haiti ( the Rev. Lauren Stanley, The Episcopal Church Appointed Missionary in Haiti, www.gointotheworld.net ), and Episcopal Relief and Development. They obviously have many other supporters, locally, nationally, and internationally, but we would like to encourage people of this diocese to join in supporting, with prayer and giving, to the extent they are able, those who work to bring life-giving water to the poorest in our hemisphere.

Previous Ideas of the Month

Who We Are

On November 1, 2008, at the 176th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, Bishop Tom Ely announced a newly formed Committee on the Environment. Bishop Ely charged this committee of lay and ordained leaders with supporting and promoting the diversity of ecological initiatives in the Diocese. In December, 2009, the committee requested, and Diocesan Council approved, a name change to "Earth Stewards Committee." The committee believes the new name reflects both the theological foundation for our work as well as the relational nature of the work itself.

This website provides contact information for the members of our committee, articulates our methodology, and explains our current scope of interest; additionally, we have posted information about current ecological projects, including the 350.org International Day of Climate Action, sermons given here in Vermont about the earth, and links to our partners in mission. See links at left.

"Preventing runaway global warming is the single most important task in all of human history - and it has fallen to us to do it.  If we don't, then everything else we work to achieve in our lives will be destroyed, or become meaningless."

The Committee has chosen this inspired statement as a  guiding force. We are very grateful to Leo Murray, author of "Wake up, Freak out, then Get a Grip" (see www.wakeupfreakout.org), for granting us permission to share his vision with the audience of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont's Web site.

Our mission is to foster awareness and deepen understanding of our lives as stewards of God's creation, and to practice environmental responsibility and sustainability.

Join us in fostering awareness and deepening our understanding of our lives as stewards of God's creation as we take actions consonant with the Earth Charter, as resolved by the delegates at our 177th Convention. Learn about the Earth Charter Initiative. See the Convention resolution here.

The following people are members of this committee:

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Method:

In working to create a more sustainable ecological vision for the Diocese of Vermont, our committee follows a three-pronged approach of spiritual practice, study, and action. This means that all of our initiatives have a basis in both our spiritual disciplines and the study of our scriptures, tradition, and the shape of the modern world.

As an example of spiritual practice, we are committed to supporting the establishment of a Creation Cycle of the Pentecost Season (from St. Francis’ Day to Advent), a proposal generated in The Episcopal Church, (76th General Convention of 2009, Resolution C034, referred to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music) which says:

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That the 76th General Convention establish a liturgical Creation Cycle of the Pentecost Season from St. Francis' Day to Advent, for the purpose of affirming the sacredness of God's creation, of spreading hope about God's reconciling work in creation and an understanding of environmental stewardship and ecological justice; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention direct the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to develop prayers and other liturgical materials celebrating a Pentecost Season Creation Cycle for inclusion in the next edition of the Book of Occasional Services and that it report its work to the 77th General Convention.

Supporting this liturgical season of Creation is one way in which a spiritual discipline will shape the actions we take.

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Current Scope:

We are currently focused on three major areas of concentration: integrating an ecological consciousness into diocesan decisions; supporting local, parish-based earth-care initiatives in our diocese; and working with other diocesan partners to promote a ecological vision for Rock Point, a mixed-use diocesan property in Burlington that includes a school, conference center, woodlands, fields, and miles of Lake Champlain shoreline.

Other projects our committee has a stated interest in pursuing include supporting relevant political actions, such as environmental legislation in the Vermont legislature, as well as ecological resolutions in the Episcopal General Convention and annual Vermont Convention.

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Ecological Projects and Ministries:

Do you work or live closely with the earth? Have you installed LED lights in your parish? Does your faith draw you to the land?

Send us your stories!

One of our goals is to showcase the earth-care ministries that are happening in the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. To this end we would like to post on our website any information, such as stories, explanations or pictures, about the ecological ministries or projects taking place in our Diocese. How does your faith inform your relationship with the earth? Please share your stories with others so we can raise awareness about the exciting earth care ministries happening here in Vermont. No project is too small! Send submission or questions via email to Daniel MacDonald.

2009 Report on 2007 Convention Energy Audit resolution
At the 2007 Diocesan Convention, the Resolution Calling for Climate/Carbon Neutrality Energy Audits was passed unanimously, and stated that each parish shall:
"conduct an in-house environmental audit of its energy use, consumption patterns, and plant use management" and "report by the 177th [2009] convention on its audit and its plan to address deficits in its local environmental stewardship, including a report of its comprehensive energy use."

As one of its first actions, the COE created a resource-efficient, on-line survey that provided a means for each parish to fulfill its responsibility to report on its energy assessment and environmental plans; and, for the COE to compile this information for reporting to the 2009 Diocesan Convention. Click here for the COE's report, which analyzes parishes’ responses to the on-line survey. Click here for a spread-sheet summary.

Province One Bishops' Pastoral Letter
In February 2003, the bishops of Province One issued a pastoral letter on the environment titled To Serve Christ in All Creation. View it and find links to accompanying documents here.

Think Outside the Bottle Pledge
To "challenge corporate control of water" and take the pledge to "think outside the bottle," download the pledge form here (pdf).

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2010 Lenten Sustainable Living Calendar

Download a pdf file

The 350 Campaign: International Day of Climate Action

This organization seeks to draw attention the threshold of 350 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere, a level which we have already surpasses and over which the scientific community considers long term viability of human and ecological communities unlikely.

From www.350.org, “We're calling on people around the world to organize an action on October 24 incorporating the number 350 at an iconic place in their community, and then upload a photo of their event to 350.org website.

350.org has collected these images from around the world and has a slide show here. See just how big, beautiful, and unified the climate movement really is.

Click here for specific Vermont actions and suggestions.

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From the Pulpit:

For a sample of some Vermont-grown “ecotheologies” heard in our local pulpits, please check out the sermons posted here.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas Ely, Diocesan Convention Address, November 8, 2008

The Rev. Anita Schell-Lambert, Easter Sunday, April 19, 2009, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Bennington, VT

Steven Eubanks, Stewardship/Creation Sermon (download pdf) preached at St. John's, Randolph, October 18, 2009. Eubanks is senior warden at St. John's. Email him at SrWarden@StJohnsRandolph.org.

Other Friends of the Earth:

Peace with the earth is inseparable from peace with each other. Earth ministry works only in partnership with others. Here we have listed some of those in Vermont who share our commitment to realizing the mutual surviving and thriving of human and ecological communities:

Vermont Interfaith Power and Light
VTIPL is dedicated to promoting sustainable energy use and reduced greenhouse gas emission in Vermont faith communities.

Vermont Natural Resources Board
The VNRB reviews development proposals in the state of Vermont for potential ecological impact.

Earth Care Ministry of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Burlington, Vermont
St. Paul’s Earth Care Ministry “works to increase awareness of God’s Creation as blessing and to decrease our individual and collective environmental footprints on Earth.” This website has a document library and links to resolutions from the Episcopal Church on ecological issues.

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