Environmental Stewardship

"But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; 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 [the Lord's] hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being."

Job 12:7-10 

The 189th Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina in 2005 passed a resolution (2005-2) on "Energy Stewardship".  It asked that all member congregations reduce the use of fossil fuels to improve human health and the environment by several means, including conducting an energy audit to identify further ways to conserve energy. 

St. Luke's won the Environmental Award for its energy efficiency efforts in renovating the kitchen in Johnson Hall as well as in taking a leading role in organizing a major conference on Climate Change Faith, Science and Action.  In the summer of 2009 we received a $5,000 "green grant" from the North Carolina Episcopal Foundation, and we used these monies to buy and install programmable thermostats as well as some electric meters for proper monitoring of our three buildings. Last year we again received another "green grant" and we improved our lighting in all three buildings and eliminated some serious safety and fire situations, by replacing all ballasts, 4' fluorescent bulbs and discolored lenses.  We hope to obtain another grant this year to split our gas bill between the three buildings and seal air leaks in our PreSchool building.

We thank our supporting "Green Team" of selected congregants for their efforts in making environmental stewardship a success at St. Luke's.  

In addition to these efforts, our Episcopal Youth Community ( EYC) sells compact fluorescent lights to our congregation, and collects used CF bulbs which must be eliminated properly due to their mercury content.

Florescent Lightbulbs for sale!