Overview
Establish religious outreach efforts on climate change tailored specifically to certain regions of the United States and their own religious traditions, especially the U.S. South.
Participants | Objectives | Related InitiativesÂ
Objectives
- Respect regional traditions.. Each region of the country possesses
its own religious interpretations, including beliefs about the proper role of the religious/political interface. Although models from past engagements by the religious community like the civil rights struggle could inform and provide a model for action on climate
change, it is important to respect regional religious traditions and build on them in approaching the issue of climate change. - The South is pivotal.Some religions are much more attuned to traditional development agendas, including international development, than they are to scientifically framed issues like climate change. For them, a key ethical point is that the United States must acknowledge its obligation to initiate action on climate change before developing countries can be expected to – this applied in the case of their favorable estimation of the Kyoto Protocol and may apply to future policies under consideration.
- Coordinate, but reflect unique positionings. Religious communities in the U.S. South might play an especially pivotal role in remedying the nation’s science/action gap on climate change. The South, some note, stereotypically sees the North as a “know-it-all” region that is culturally alien. Could the South find its own rationale for solving the climate change challenge that is true to its religious and other traditions? The experience of Hurricane Katrina could be part of this.
2 comments
April 6th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Richard Jordan
Many business leaders are alos important in their faith community. Dovetail?
Richard Jordan
October 1st, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Frank Zaski
Faith Based Energy Efficiency Program
The purpose of this program is to save energy and money for our citizens and reduce greenhouse gases.
Guiding Psychological Principals for this Program
• Most people have a sense of duty to authority (such as government, clergy, professionals, etc.)
• Social acceptance – we often do what others like us are doing without much thought.
• Recognition and reward are strong motivators. Napoleon said” It is amazing what a man will do for a ribbon.”
• It takes 30-45 days to instill a new habit.
Research has found that when one group of people were asked to save natural gas in the winter, given energy conservation tips and asked for their commitment, they saved nothing. A second group was also told they would have their names publicized in the newspaper, they saved 12%. And after they were told their name would not be published, they saved 15% in the following months. At this point they saw themselves as fully concerned, energy-conscious citizens. http://www.toolsofchange.com/English/FirstSplit.asp
The following program tries to incorporate these psychological principals.
Program Overview
• The Governor’s Office asks clergy throughout the State to administer a voluntary heating and electric efficiency program in their congregations (parishes, etc.).
• The Office provides guidelines, support materials, recognition and rewards.
• The clergy communicates this program to their congregation, gets people to sign up to conserve energy, recruits and motivates volunteers, tracks progress and reports their results to the Governor’s Office.
• The Office provides recognition and reward
Governor’s Office Specific Actions
• The Governor announces the program and asks religious leaders throughout the state to participate in an electric and heating efficiency program for their congregations.
• A letter and package of details are mailed to all religious leaders and clergy in the state. (Of course, most of this can be handled through a web site with downloads and clergy sign-up capability.)
• The Office, PSC or DEQ administers the program by developing and communicating:
o program details
o support materials including home and small business efficiency recommendations
o communications, hot line or email message response service
o tracking and giving recognition and rewards (reporting participants to media, letters, plaques, etc.)
Clergy Specific Actions
• Religious leaders and clergy agree to participate in this program based on:
o The moral mandate to conserve the environment
o Social justice and helping others, especially the poor
o Economic sustainability – why should parishioners waste money on excess energy consumption when it could be used for better things like healthcare, education, supporting the church, etc.
o Financial reward (should monetary rewards be considered)
o Recognition for the parishioners, minister and participants
o And even some competition between parishes
• Clergy and their helpers would communicate this program to the parishioners, supply energy efficiency materials (supplied by the State), motivate them to conserve energy and make home efficiency improvements, organize volunteer groups to help those with less means and abilities to participate, track achievement and report results to the Office.
Other Specifications:
Timing – the Governor announces the program in late October for tracking of January and February utility bills. The list of participants and their achievement levels are reported to the Office by late March and rewards and recognition are given in April
Tracking in the parish – each participant shows or gives a copy of their Jan. /Feb. utility bills with comparison to the same period last year (usually listed in the monthly bill or energy provider’s website) to their church committee coordinator.
Reporting – each church reports their participant’s names, participation rate, and energy savings summary to the Office on an official program form. (The assumption is that churches will be honest and can self report.)
Recognition – The Office sends the list of participating churches, ministers, participant’s names, to the respective newspapers for recognition and also posts the lists on the official State website.
Rewards – churches with 10% participation receive a bronze level reward, 20% - a silver level and 30% or more - gold level reward - plaques, certificates, even money.
Resources required – perhaps 2 full time people during the program, web site maintenance, mailing and reward costs and other.
A possible Scenario for a Church
The Governor announces the program in late October and sends details to Fr. Charles Morris at St. Elizabeth’s Church in Wyandotte.
Fr. Charles announces the program to his congregation from the pulpit, in the church newsletter, and other and takes action to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, organize a committee, and distribute efficiency information.
A volunteer group of handy members is formed and they donate 2 weekends to help insulate, calk, install set-back thermostats, and other efficiency actions in homes of the less able.
Many other parishioners do their own efficiency improvements and take conservations measures (dial down the thermostat, turn off lights, install CFLs, etc.)
A volunteer tracks the utility bills of participants and reports the results to the Office.
St. Elizabeth’s attains a 30% participation rate and participants cut utility usage by 10%.
They receive a plaque and certificates for each participant and recognition in the State website and local newspaper.
They also receive recognition for cutting a million pounds of CO2 and other pollutants.
This program utilizes all the guiding principal of:
• authority (Governor and clergy administer)
• social acceptance (others in the congregation are participating)
• recognition and reward (inside and outside the congregation) and
• new habit formation (the program lasts 60 days or more)
If there is limited state resources available, perhaps the Governor could issue a proclamation encouraging clergy, fraternal organizations, clubs, neighborhood associations and all of us to promote energy efficiency in our lives (Like Jimmy Carter did 27 years ago) and to look out for the energy efficiency needs of others, especially the less fortunate.
Hope this helps, frank
Frank Zaski
Franklin, Mi.