[SustainableTompkins] [article] Greenhouse masses

Tue Nov 21 09:20:03 PST 2006

from the November 20, 2006 edition - 
_http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1120/p20s01-sten.html_ (http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1120/p20s01-sten.html)   

Greenhouse masses 

One New England church makes global warming  a crusade - but finds sacrifice 
isn't always easy. 

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald | Correspondent  of The Christian Science Monitor  
WALTHAM,  MASS.  
Over cider and cookies, Albert Sack is discussing the internal  conflict he 
often feels between goodness and global warming. He is a  member of a Unitarian 
church here that is trying to set a moral  example in helping to reduce the 
emission of greenhouse gases. 
As a retired electrical engineer, Mr. Sack knows global warming  is a 
problem. But by his own admission, he isn't doing enough. He  hasn't put solar panels 
on the roof of his ranch house. He hasn't  installed the insulation he knows 
he should. "I'm not a big guilt  person," he says. "But now I feel guilty when 
I leave the light on  outside my door at home. I'm feeling guilty because I'm 
quite  knowledgeable about [climate change], and I'm doing nothing - almost  
nothing." 
Sack is hardly alone in his church's pews. Here in the birthplace  of the 
Industrial Revolution, one congregation is learning how hard  it is to roll back 
the effects of industrialization - and to alter  their lifestyles in pursuit 
of religious ideals. 
Over the past two years, the First Parish Church, Universalist  Unitarian in 
Waltham, Mass., has made the fight to stop global  warming a core moral cause. 
For 21 months, members held monthly,  often weekly, public discussions on the 
subject. Twice in October,  they held free screenings of Al Gore's movie "An 
Inconvenient  Truth." Over the summer, they led the charge in St. Louis when 
the  Unitarian Universalist Association adopted a landmark statement  calling 
on everyone to make significant lifestyle changes to save  the planet. 
So far, however, the congregation hasn't been able to move with  the speed it 
would like. In the church basement, two aging  oil-burners convert less than 
three-fourths of their fuel into heat.  Insulation is scarce, according to a 
March energy audit. Single-pane  glass stretches across windows arching toward 
a leaky roof. Last  winter, the congregation spent more than $9,800 to heat 
its  21,000-square-foot facility. 
Proposals are in the works to help the church practice what it  preaches. 
Among the suggestions: use compact fluorescent bulbs,  switch to natural gas 
heat, install solar panels or even windmills  on the roof. 
The church also uses its 75-seat chapel, instead of the cavernous  church 
sanctuary, for worship in the summer, when attendance is low.  But the 
congregation hasn't yet made the move to the smaller  structure in winter, which could 
save large sums on heating bills  and cut down on emissions. "People don't like 
to sit as close to one  another as they did back in the days when you didn't 
heat the  church," says Susan Adams, a member of the church's Climate Change  
Task Force. 
Indeed, preferences for privacy and convenience can make curbing  greenhouse 
gases difficult, no matter how well-intentioned  worshipers' motives. Unlike 
some issues, this one involves personal  sacrifice rather than political 
compromise: According to  denomination spokesperson Janet Hayes, it calls on 
Unitarians to  question their "fear of intimacy" and "aesthetic preferences," such  
as living in large homes and relying on private transportation. 
"The changes that we're used to asking other people to make are  the changes 
that we have the greatest responsibility in making now  because we are the 
most affluent," says Ms. Hayes. "We do live in  the country that consumes the 
most. Our demographic is more likely  than any other to live in the suburbs, to 
be large users of fossil  fuels." 
*** 
Meredith Ruland is trying hard to do her part to keep Earth from  warming and 
the polar ice caps from melting. She buys local produce  to help cut down on 
the emissions created by shipping corn,  cucumbers, and other goods across 
country. She often wears gloves at  home in winter so she can keep the thermostat 
at 60 degrees F. She  believes, ardently, that a warmer planet threatens the 
life of many  species - including humans. 
But Ms. Ruland is far from feeling righteous. She still lives  alone in a 
spacious condominium, drives alone 30 minutes each way to  work, and buys fruits 
and vegetables from distant growers when local  stocks aren't available. "I 
don't think many of us have gotten to  the point of making real sacrifices," 
says Ruland. 
Feelings of culpability and ineffectiveness don't dovetail easily  with the 
Unitarian experience. The denomination proudly celebrates a  history of being 
on the noble side of social reforms, from the  abolition of slavery to women's 
suffrage to civil rights. Unitarians  place great emphasis on reason and the 
revelations of science in  fashioning a moral code. For members to see 
themselves now as major  contributors to a problem that may threaten humanity 
worldwide is  virtually unthinkable. 
"We feel we're entitled to be part of the solution," says Susan  Brown. "It's 
part of being a UU [Unitarian Universalist]." 
On this night, members are taking their latest mission seriously  as they 
prepare for a screening of Mr. Gore's movie. Women on the  task force flash two 
thumbs up at one another as visitors claim  almost every empty seat in the 
chapel. Men, clad uniformly in  pullover fleece tops, smile and laugh as they 
discuss what to do  about discouraging data on climate change. 
"You can't always crucify yourself," says Bill Porter, a  biochemist who 
dropped out of medical school because he felt  medicine was contributing to an 
overpopulation crisis. "It's  important to enjoy things," such as hiking in New 
Hampshire, which  he almost didn't do this summer after considering the tw
o-hour,  carbon-spewing car ride. 
*** 
Principled self-denial, inspired by the example of 19th-century  naturalist 
and Unitarian hero Henry David Thoreau, is proving  inspirational to members in 
their quest. Ron Adams, president of the  local church's governing board, 
practices his version of it by  wearing shorts on this brisk autumn night as 
temperatures dip into  the low 40s - part of his ethic of braving the weather. He 
uses less  energy at home by shunning air conditioning in summer and never  
pushing the thermostat above 62 degrees F. in winter. 
"It makes me feel connected to the Earth," Mr. Adams says. "When  the 
temperature changes, it should affect you.... It's feeling like  life is real." 
Whether such traits will make the First Parish Church and its  members 
pioneering conservationists and help prevent the planet from  turning into a heat 
lamp is uncertain. Deeper lifestyle changes  raised in questions posed by Ms. 
Hayes - Must all children have  their own rooms? Can't families carpool to 
church? - haven't been  debated here yet. 
A simple proposal to leave lights off during 10:30 a.m. worship,  when the 
sun is high, shows the difficulty of making sacrifices:  Senior Minister Marc 
Fredette doesn't want to try it for at least  six months because he anticipates 
resistance. 
Still, some members are taking small - and expensive - steps. Ms.  Brown 
bought a used Prius, a hybrid vehicle, last year and spent  $1,300 on a new 
energy-stingy refrigerator. The congregation will  soon face its own "This Old 
House" dilemma: upgrade energy systems  or fix a rotting steeple? 
Even though many of these steps are costly, the cost of inaction  may be paid 
in the most precious currency: moral authority on a  defining social issue. 
"Internal systems have to change," says the  Rev. Fredette, "before we can have 
any kind of an authentic voice in  the community." 
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----------------------------------------------------
Gay  Nicholson, Ph.D. 

607-533-7312 (home office)
607-279-6618  (cell)

1 Maple Avenue
Lansing, NY  14882
gaynicholson at aol.com

Sustainable Tompkins 
Program  Coordinator 
w_ww.sustainabletompkins.org_ (http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/) 

Southern Tier Energy$mart Communities
Regional  Coordinator
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County
615 Willow  Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850
agn1 at cornell.edu