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 recently 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.  This past summer we applied for and received a $5,000 "green grant" from the North Carolina Episcopal Foundation, and we are presently using it to buy and install programmable thermostats as well as some electric meters for proper monitoring of our three buildings. 

We have created a "Green Team" of selected congregants that took the first few steps in conducting a local audit of our energy expenditures, and are preparing information to request another grant for early next year. 

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

Florescent Lightbulbs for sale!