Resources
Earthkeeping
Overview
Renewable
Electric Power
Vehicle
Technology
Climate Change
Faith-Based Resources
Other Resource
Contact Us
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This is a brief resource list which grows from the July 2006 "Earthkeeping Sunday" celebrated by
Franconia Mennonite Church, which included conversation about "Earthkeeping Ministries:
What Can the Church Do?" with Dr. Job Ebenezer, retired Professor of Engineering from Messiah College.
Earthkeeping Resources -- Mennonite Central Committee
Resources on Earthkeeping and Energy issues from a faith perspective
MCC Washington Office:
www.mcc.org resources on
Environmental Justice.
Earthkeeping Stewardship
Here are some ideas for a start ...
Home and Church
- Reduce consumption by 10%
- Replace conventional incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps which are much more energy efficient and longer-lasting.
- Turn off lights when they are not needed.
- Purchase efficient "Energy Star" appliances
- Get 10% of your electricity from renewable energy sources (such as wind-generated -
it's easy to do if your power comes thorough PPL, PECO or other Pennsylvania power companies; see
www.ppjr.org/power for details.)
- Reduce paper consumption by 10%
- Convert 10% of your lawn to vegetable garden
- Reduce water useage by 10%
- Volunteer 10% of your time for social service agencies and/or environmental organizations.
For Congregations
Worship and Education:
- Explore Biblical understanding of earthkeeping
- Bulletin inserts for Earthkeeping Sunday
Congregational Supported Agriculture (CSA):
- Create a vegetable garden on church grounds to provide healthy fruits and vegetables for soup kitchens.
- Create and maintain urban gardens with sister churches in inner cities.
- Create micro-enterprises that promote earthkeeping for single women, parolees, and immigrants.
Missionary Earthkeeping
Support adoption of simple technologies to improve health for the earth's poorest people, such as enclosed
wells and small pumps and solar water pasteurizers for clean drinking water; solar composting latrines.
Bicycles can be adapted to use pedal-power for labor-intensive jobs such as threshing, pumping water, or sawing lumber.
For more on urban gardening, see www.arts4all.com/elca/.
Renewable Electric Power
Most homeowners and churches in Pennsylvania can easily switch to electric power generated from renewable
resources, such as wind-power -- and there's nothing to install and no need to switch power companies.
See www.ppjr.org/power for the details.
Vehicle Technology
Hybrid Vehicles
Biodiesel
Ethanol
- Ethanol - renewable fuel for cars (Wikipedia)
- Ethanol - myths and realities.
(Business Week: May 19, 2006)
- Brazil's Flex-fuel program --
ethanol and gasoline.
Electric Vehicles
Fuel Cell
Climate Change
www.ClimateAction.org (Co-Op America)
The documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth" on causes and consequences of global climate change
includes suggestions for action. See
review
for more details.
other links
Faith-Based Resources
NCC EcoJustice (Ecumenical)
webofcreation.org (Lutheran)
creationcare.org (Evangelical Environmental Network)
Other Resources
The September 2006 issue of Scientific American is focused on
"Energy's Future Beyond Carbon: How to Power the Economy and Still Fight Global Warming"
See www.sciam.com for brief excerpts from the magazine.
Wikipedia -- the online encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
For more information about the Peace and Justice Committee, see efpjc.ppjr.org.
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