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NEW Between Economy and Ecology Offers ELCA Leaders Practical Information  A stewardship workshop for
seminarians, pastors and leaders in ELCA congregations, was held April 6 at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Dr. Jim Martin-Schramm, Professor of
Religion at Luther College in Decorah, began by reminding participants that
this is the century of climate change--the social justice issue which will
eclipse and umbrella all other social justice issues of our time. [Read
More]
Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Hosts Environmental Educators
Nurturing a Network and Celebrating a Season of Creation  The mission of the Northwest Minnesota Synod Creation Care Team is “to nurture a growing network that inspires our congregations and their members to live out God's call to be stewards of the earth for the sake of the whole creation.” At their first retreat in February, the Team did just that. Read More
Going Solar 
Many Voices Come Together to Make Big Reverberations
 Twenty-nine Lutherans from across Pennsylvania and beyond gathered at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, PA, the last weekend in January to become LRC trainers. They were empowered to return to their synods and congregations with the tools, connections and renewed faith to restore creation. [Read more] Luther Crest Bible Camp: Grounded in Creation Stewardship
Luther Crest's environmental education program has been re-envisioned with respect to the camp’s mission statement, “We are called and committed to a Christ-centered ministry through Creation and Community.” The camp's "Grounded In" environmental stewardship program is divided into three focus areas: On Hallowed Ground, On Common Ground, and On Sustainable Ground. [Full Story]
“Upcycled” Advent Worship Backdrop
 A parishioner at Village Church in Milwaukee, Jennifer Hellerman used bubble wrap, other packing material, and toilet paper rolls to create a beautiful Advent worship environment depicting falling snow. "The idea for the sanctuary installation came from observations I made of snow throughout the winter of 2010-2011, back when Milwaukee had snow!" [Read More]
Lutheran Center Scores High with Energy Star
 In November, The Lutheran Center on Higgins Road in Chicago received word that it had been certified as an Energy Star building by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Energy Star is a program that recognizes significant energy-saving measures. The Lutheran Center achieved a score of 92, which means that the building uses 35 percent less energy and generates 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than similar buildings across the nation. According to the EPA, the ELCA is only the second U.S. denomination to get Energy Star certification for its headquarters building! [Read More]
St. Andrew Members Embrace Earth Care
 ELCA "Energy Star" Congregations Honored
 “Greening America’s Congregations,” sponsored by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star program and the White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, was held Thursday, Sept.13, in Washington, D.C. [Read more]
A Seed Planted and A Garden Grown
 The chair of the Green Team, Sandy Roberts, said, “We were just planting a small mustard seed at the time, but look what it has become.” The project took off when a long time member of the church and a master gardener, Mark Trinklein, took over the plan and enlisted the help of other church members and some local residents, including youth in a Racine community project. [Read More] Wittenberg Library Recycling Project  SPOTLIGHT ON OUTDOOR MINISTRIES A Place to Connect with Christ, Others, and Creation (Camp Frederick, Ohio)  Twenty miles south of Youngstown, Ohio, Camp Frederick is a scenic center for spiritual renewal in the forests of northeast Ohio. The camp is implementing a plan to connect camp participants and visitors with creation.
The basic concept is “Camp Frederick, as a community, cares for creation because we love the Creator.” [Full story]
SPOTLIGHT ON OUTDOOR MINISTRIES Garbology -- Helping Serve Creation Through Faithful Patterns of Daily Living (Holden Village, Washington State)
 Yet in another way the Lutheran retreat center is no different from most places. 'As special as this place is, it produces garbage just like any other community,' Mattias Olshausen, Holden Village’s full-time garbologist, said." [Full story]
SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs
Going Green is in the Bag (Wisconsin/Michigan)
 As chairperson of the LSS Green Team, Gapinski knew he had to make an impact in getting across the importance of recycling or reducing use of plastic bags. Though sources and statistics vary, 200 is probably on the low side in estimating the number of plastic bags the average American uses (and discards) each year." [Full story]
SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs
LEEDing by Example in Washington State  SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs Student Presentation Ignites Organizational Green Efforts (Pennsylvania) SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs
Garden Table in Washington State
 SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs The Lantow Lofts (Illinois)
 SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs Green Building in Minneapolis (Minnesota)
 A building adjacent to the center offers 48 units of affordable housing, including 10 for people who are chronically homeless. Before the building and affordable housing units opened in November 2008, more than 1,000 applications were received, indicating the great need for affordable housing in the area."
SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs The King of Green (North Carolina)
 SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs A Virtual Reduction in Energy Use (Massachusetts) "Most businesses can’t cut out a major part of their digital operation, such as eliminating e-mail, Internet, financial applications, etc. But that doesn’t mean they can’t cut out a majority of their related energy use. That’s exactly what Lutheran Social Services of New England (LSSNE), based in Massachusetts, did when they implemented a practice known as virtualization." [Full story] SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs
"Being Green is Being Smart" (Illinois) If you could save 285 trees, 34 barrels of oil, 117,355 gallons of gas, and 50 cubic yards of land fill a year, would you? That’s what Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) did over the course of a year not long ago, an effort that netted LSSI an award from one of its vendors, Cintas.
The green efforts of this social ministry organization of the ELCA have translated in recent years to an annual savings of $250,000. So how did they do it? [Full story]
SPOTLIGHT ON SMOs
The Proof is in the (Lack of) Paper (Pennsylvania)
"Trying to become a greener social ministry organization presented a challenge of simple math for Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries, based out of Allentown, Pennsylvania. With 2,300 employees spanning five ELCA synods and three states—all of whom serving in over 40 different agencies in that region—where does an organization or “green committee” begin in trying to get everyone on the same page?" [Full story]
Eating Local at Luther (Iowa)
 "Nick Fisher loves food—knowing where food comes from, that is. A senior at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, Nick joined the Luther Gardens summer program because he wanted to learn more about the campus food system. 'I wanted to be a part of the system that gets vegetables from seeds to my plate in the cafeteria,' says Nick, who spent much of this past summer in the dirt. 'I like knowing where my food comes from, and I've seen great things in the dining locations.' Grace Gast (pictured left) agrees, but this Luther sophomore’s interest in community gardens stems from parental influence." [Full story]
Wind Power for Luther College (Iowa)
Luther’s plan to purchase and construct a wind turbine has been in the works for quite some time, and the timeline of the project has not always been clear.
However, Manager of Trade Services Jay Uthoff says that students can expect to see the turbine under construction by the fall of 2011." [Full story]
 An attempt was made to fix the leaks, which proved temporarily helpful; however, it was a costly solution. As soon as one leak was fixed, another would pop up. This combined with the fact that the sanctuary had no cooling system prompted the property committee and Church Council to investigate other options and building upgrades. The final straw came around Thanksgiving in 2007 when the heating system nearly quit altogether. Shortly after Christmas that year, 80 percent of the church—including the sanctuary—had lost heat..." [Full story]  "In early 2008, Pastor Brian Brandt and the members of Central Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon, entered a discernment process. The goal was simple: determine what they as a congregation liked about themselves as well as what they might want to change or areas for growth.
The process revealed an exciting new possibility, one garnering lots of enthusiasm from church members, including Brandt who was pastor of Central at the time: become a greener congregation..."
Nativity has collection containers for plastic bottle and jar caps, which are recycled through a program of the Aveda Corporation. Aveda melts and recycles the caps for its own products. Since the program began, Nativity has delivered approximately a half ton of caps to the Aveda plant in Blaine, MN..." [Full story] | LRC Publicity:
NEW LRC Featured in the April 2013 issue of The Lutheran, "Now & Forever: Sabbath, stewardship and sustainable church" by David Davis NEW "Lutherans Restoring Creation" is an article in the April 2012 Gather magazine highlighting three women leaders in the environmental movement--all connected to Lutherans Restoring Creation--and their unique journeys to help this church become greener.
Learn how to foster a greener Christmas from an article on the Living Lutheran Web site: "I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas." Read an article on Lutherans Restoring Creation in the June issue of The Lutheran magazine.
Learn more about resources to help your congregation participate in the Season of Creation from an article on Living Lutheran.
Read a feature story on David Rhoads and Lutherans Restoring Creation at the Living Lutheran Web site. |