At TPC we have been growing in our understanding of stewardship.  We are entrusted with gifts and the beauty of creation itself.  Part of our stewardship is financial and part is environmental.  We need to do a better job as a church family in stewarding our utilities.  Please remember to turn off lights when you leave a room or meeting.  If you see a light on, turn it off or let staff or session know it's on.  We now have timers on heating and air conditioning.  Don't let water run.  Recycle. We all need to do what we can to conserve energy.

Watch for future updates as we grow in our awareness of environmental conservation.

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?

In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.

(Job 12:7-10)

God’s creation is ours to care for.  With this in mind, earlier this year the session decided that Tustin Presbyterian Church should place a greater emphasis on environmental conservation.  To facilitate this intention, the session adopted five of six covenants designed by California Interfaith Power and Light (http://www.interfaithpower.org/covenant.htm):

• Educate our congregants on energy production and usage in relation to global warming.

• Conduct an energy audit of our buildings to identify sources of energy waste. 

• Make energy efficiency improvements to our congregation’s buildings. 

• Analyze, reduce, and offset our greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of becoming a     non-polluting congregation. 

• Support public policies that contribute to our goals.

The session created the Green Task Force to find ways to reach these objectives.  The task force members are: Helen Anderson, Loretta Herter, Bernie Jeltema, Pam Roeth, and John Turner, with our pastor, Dr. Rebecca Prichard presiding.   

Because the Tustin Community Preschool uses TPC facilities, the task force was able to get a grant from the California Preschool Energy Efficiency Program.  With this grant, many improvements have been made at our church.  The main air conditioning units have been checked and adjusted so they run in a more energy-efficient way.  About 150 incandescent lights were replaced with fluorescent bulbs.  The ballasts and fluorescent tubes of 214 lights have been changed to a new type that is about 40% more efficient and lasts longer.  Motion sensors were installed in bathrooms and the office Xerox room, so that lights turn off when a room is not in use.  The grant covers 80% of the cost for this work, and we expect to recoup our 20% of the cost in less than a year with lowered electric bills.

Also, the task force placed baskets in the narthex in which to deposit used Bulletins for recycling.  “Green Tips” have begun to appear in the Bulletin and the Parish Press.  New recycling bins have been placed in our facilities.   The task force is looking for ways to minimize the use of plastic plates and avoid Styrofoam materials at church events, and we’ve discussed ideas to reduce waste in the Church office. 

If anyone has suggestions or ideas to reduce waste or further our conservation goals, please contact someone on the Green Task Force.   Thank you.

This Depression-Era slogan might be recycled for today:

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

We’ve all forgotten to bring our reusable bags to the grocery and been faced with the question:  Paper or plastic, which is the lesser of two evils?  Earthday.net recommends choosing paper, because it will break down much, much faster, but the manufacturing of paper bags creates 70% more air pollutants and 50 times more water pollutants than that of plastic bags and requires more than four times as much energy.  So…remember to bring your reusable bags!

Livestock create 18 percent of all greenhouse-gas emissions. Compared with a burger, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich saves as much as 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, 280 gallons of water, and 50 square feet of land — even more if you wash it down with a glass of soy milk. It's a simple and tasty way to help the planet!

A transcontinental airplane flight that's 80 percent full can generate 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.  Depending on the type of train and the length of your trip, train travel creates just 4 to 15 percent of the CO₂ emissions, per passenger, than generated when going by plane. Plus it's a great way to see the country.

Albert W. Palmer wrote a small book about a century ago titled “The Mountain Trail and Its Message.” Below is a “lesson of the trail” the author learned from the revered naturalist John Muir that is worth pondering today. Here are Albert Palmer’s words:

“There are always some people in the mountains who are known as ‘hikers.’ They rush over the trail at high speed and take great delight in being the first to reach camp and in covering the greatest number of miles in the least possible time.  One day as I was resting in the shade Mr. Muir overtook me on the trail and began to chat in that friendly way in which he delights to talk with everyone he meets. I said to him: ‘Mr. Muir, someone told me you did not approve of the word “hike,” is that so?’ He replied, ‘I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains — not “hike!” Do you know the origin of that word saunter? Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages asked where they were going they would reply, “A la sainte terre,” “To the Holy Land.” And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not “hike” through them.’ And John Muir lived up to his doctrine. He was usually the last man to reach camp. He stopped to get acquainted with individual trees along the way.  He would hail people passing by and make them get down on hands and knees if necessary to examine some tiny seedling or to see the beauty of some little bed of flowers.

Now, whether the derivation of saunter just given is scientific or fanciful, is there not in it a parable? There are people who ‘hike’ through life. They measure life in terms of money and amusement; they rush along the trail of life feverishly seeking to make a dollar or gratify an appetite. How much better to ‘saunter’ along this trail of life, to measure it in terms of beauty and love and friendship! How much better to stop a while and let the beauty of the sunset possess the soul, to listen to what the trees are saying and the songs of the birds.”

The following are some pictures from the Ringing 350 for Creation event at Tustin Presbyterian Church:

The following are pictures from the planting of the Deodar cedar tree in Peppertree Park on November 1, 2009: