NEW BLOG

Adventist Environmental Advocacy has morphed into a new blog project:

ADVENTISTS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Please add this new and improved blog to your list of favorites.

Peace,
The AEA Team

Earth Day 2009

What are you going to do for Earth Day 2009?

Click here to look for events near you.

Review: Who Killed the Electric Car

I recently reviewed Who Killed the Electric Car? for Spectrum Magazine.

North Americans love murder-mysteries. Evidence Exhibit 1: an episode of CSI airs almost every night of the week. Whodunit? What was the motive? Will the perpetrator be apprehended? Was there a cover-up or conspiracy? And most importantly, was it Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with a knife?!

If a coroner’s report were distributed for this “death-umentary,” it might read something like this:

Deceased: Electric-powered EV1
Emergency Contact (Relation): General Motors (Parent)
Lifespan: 1996-1999
Cause of Death: Unknown. Suspicion of foul-play.

[complete article]

The Climate Project

Sara Goodwin writes for us today about a recent presentation at Andrews University. She is a freshman biology major at AU, thinking of being an ecologist “when she grows up.” In her free time, she enjoys reading, music, and enjoying the great outdoors. I have added links to her original report. Thanks for sharing, Sara. I hope you and the Village Green Preservation Society will continue to be involved with this blog.

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A couple weeks ago, the Andrews University community enjoyed an evening presentation by Peter Sinclair, a member of the organization, The Climate Project, who has worked alongside environmental activists such as Al Gore and many prominent climate scientists. I admit that I was a little skeptical at first since Sinclair is not a scientist, and neither is Al Gore (as much as I enjoyed his video, An Inconvenient Truth). But when he began his presentation by saying, “I am not a scientist — I am just a storyteller, reporting the facts as they have been given to me by the scientists,” I was satisfied.

Sinclair gave a brief overview of some of the issues caused by climate change and addressed several common myths and misconceptions that are tossed around by the skeptics. He also spent quite a bit of time covering ways that people and communities could make a positive environmental difference, focusing mainly on energy conservation. I appreciated his professional, humorous style, especially since this is a subject I’ve heard about over and over (who hasn’t these days?). Almost all of the people I spoke with afterwards shared my opinion.

I’m curious, though. How many people are actually doing something to address these environmental issues? I don’t just mean showing people An Inconvenient Truth and wearing trendy t-shirts. I mean, how many of you have changed your light bulbs and planted trees and biked to work and gone vegetarian? I admit that I don’t do as much as I could, but I’m trying to be more conscientious.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains.” –Psalm 24:1

Why should we care? Because God does.

By: Sara Goodwin

God is...

I recently read an enviro article by James Cress in Ministry – God is Great; God is Green (Nov 2008). These quotes stood out to me:

At this time when scientists and political leaders (many of them secularists) are concerned about the environment, ought not creationists be even more concerned and involved? Even though I fervently believe that Jesus is returning soon, I do not know the date. Therefore, as former United States Interior Secretary James Watt once told a congressional hearing, “I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns, whatever it is we have to manage [the planet] with a skill to leave the resources needed for future generations.”²

Of course, our concern for the planet must never surpass our concern for people and bringing the good news of Jesus to them. The ultimate salvation for this planet will not be found in ecofriendly lightbulbs, but rather in He who is the Light of the world.

At the same time, if we say we love people, surely we have a responsibility to those same people to exercise dominion over the planet in a responsible fashion and leave it in respectable condition for however many generations follow.

² James Watt, quoted in David Neff, “Second Coming Ecology,” Christianity Today 52, no. 7 (July 2008), http://tinyurl.com/45zjcf (accessed Sept. 24, 2008).

[complete article]

Environmental stewardship (aka Creation Care) is being addressed by many SDA publications. I’m curious if you are seeing a greater green consciousness in your local congregation. What changes do you see locally?

Signifance of the Creation Story

The creation story has theological, sociological and ethical implications for many topics. This past week I was surprised to come across creation care while reading research shared by Allan Martin on young adult ministry. One of the 7 articles was “‘Converted to the Kingdom:’ Social Action Among College Students Today” (Evan Hunter, Christian Education Journal, Series 3, Vol. 5, No. 1). Excerpt:

Social justice begins with teaching about creation. Stephen Mott (1982) argues that all human rights are grounded in the cultural mandate of the opening scenes in Genesis. Human rights are bestowed as an aspect of bearing God’s image: “God is the provider and protector of human rights; we accept them as duties as we perceive God’s love and acknowledge God’s authority over us” (p. 52). Wright (2006) also points to creation as essential in understanding human kind as the image bearers of God. People are addressable by God, accountable to God, and possess dignity and equality because they are made in God’s image. God’s goodness and blessing are not reserved just for the final special creation of humankind, but can be found in the repeated “it was good” statements of the opening chapter of Scripture. The cultural mandate given to humans was to care for this creation, which reflects the goodness of the creator. The God with a mission gives humanity a mission to extend his reign throughout all of creation (Wright, 2006). Proverbs proclaims that the one who oppresses the poor shows contempt for the Maker. By extension, this applies to the fullness of creation–humankind and the very planet itself. Justice begins with understanding that the Creator stands with his creation. (p 92)

This beginning of justice also give Christian students a more complete understanding of their own efforts in caring for creation. College students’ zeal for the environment has led to recycling programs, sustainable and organic foods in campus dining halls, and even the design of “green buildings” for college campuses. Groups such as A Rocha Trust, Restoring Eden, Revision.org, and the Evangelical Environmental Network are gaining notoriety…. The interest in caring for the planet already exists, though most students cannot articulate a biblical rationale for their concern. By beginning with Genesis 1, we have the opportunity to connect their passion to a broader theological framework. (p 93)

Mott, S. (1982). Biblical ethics and social change. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wright, C. (2006). The mission of God. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

It’s a pretty basic teaching, but I think the point is worthy. Why am I committed to creation care? Is it a fad for me, or are my actions rooted in eternal principles and teachings? Can I succinctly articulate the spiritual underpinnings of my convictions? And, of course, am I really walking the talk?

The Original Plan

If you’ve watched The Ordinary Radicals or checked out our featured links, then you’ve already seen the great stickers at Restoring Eden. For example:


I was reminded of their “resources” when reading this article at Relevant Magazine–Naked Vegetarians (David Benson).

Interview: Matt Vincent -- ZipCar Member

Pastor Matt Vincent and I were talking recently during a church board meeting in Chicago, and our conversation turned to Zipcar. Matt is a member, and he’d used Zipcar to get across Chicago for the meeting that night. Pastor Jose Bourget confirmed that public transportation between Matt’s place and the church is poor compared to most routes in town.

Zipcar is in our list of auto resources (scroll down the page), but Matt is the first member that I know personally. To help our blog readers (and me) better understand the car rental service, I sent Matt a few questions by email.

J: Can you give us a brief description of Zipcar and how it works?

M: Zipcar is a car sharing program that rents by the hour instead of the day. The price of the rental (around $8.50/hr here in Chicago) includes the price of gas and premium insurance. If you rent over 6 hours, then you can just rent it for a day and it would cost you the same. Here in Chicago the cars are all around the city, you get online, book a car, go pick it up and use it until your time is up at which point you return it to where you got it. Simple as that, right?

J: How long have you been a Zipcar member, and how satisfied are you with their service?

M: I have been a member of Zipcar for over 6 months now, and while we probably spend more on transportation now simply because the car we had before was paid off, it would certainly be cheaper than making payments on a newer car, plus gas and insurance.

J: What specific factors motivated you to become a member?

M: We actually decided to give it a go once we saw that it was going to take $1600 to get our old car roadworthy again. We figured we would go for Zipcar instead since it was available in Chicago and we didn’t know where we were going to end up next*. I wish I could say our motives were purely to be green, but it was certainly a factor.

J: Zipcar operates in only a handful of major metropolitan areas, but they have a presence on a significant number of university campuses (see list). Prophet Matt, which SDA college or university will be the first to join up?

M: Obviously Walla Walla University will be the first campus to operate Zipcars. Unfortunately for my alma mater, that is probably not the case. However, if I were to make a prediction, I would make an educated guess that it would show up at Columbia Union College simply because Zipcar is already there in Washington, DC, and there are cars available near the campus although not as close as one might hope, but they are available in Takoma Park.

J: What other question(s) should I ask that I’m neglecting?

M: The only other thing I would add is to give as balanced a perspective on it as possible. The advantage of Zipcar is that it is a great alternative to public transportation. Perhaps its not quite as green as taking a bus or a train; it is a great way to haul groceries, run errands, or simply get around faster than a bus or train while still being a good steward and lowering your own costs. However, Zipcar can get expensive if you use it too often. Its easy to spend several hundreds of dollars a month just by running here or there, but it teaches you one thing: take advantage of time out in the car to run extra errands, versus running an errand here or there every day of the week. This is more efficient use of time and therefore more environmentally friendly since we reduce our road time. (Zipcar speaks green)

J: Thanks a lot for telling us about Zipcar, Matt. Readers, if you click on the icon below, you get $25 off at Zipcar, and so does Matt.

Finally, Matt, we wish you the best with your new ministry in Europe. God be with you and bless you. I hope we’ll be hearing more about your developments even though you’ll be across the pond.

Other Auto Resources:

• AutoBlog Green (green your wheels)
• Carectomy (ditch that car)
• Greasecar (diesel engine conversion)

Simply Christian

I’ve been reading N. T. Wright’s Simply Christian while eating breakfast each morning, and a quote from today’s portion is worth sharing here (p. 149):

Because Christian worship is the celebratory praise and adoration of God the creator, one of its key tasks is to tell, in a thousand different ways, the story of creation and new creation. But if we try merely to celebrate creation the way it now is, concealing its flaws and horrors behind pious language, Christian worship can easily deteriorate and become trivial or sentimental. Wise Christian worship takes fully into account the fact that creation has gone horribly wrong, has been so corrupted and spoiled that a great fault line runs right down the middle of it–and down the middle of all of us, who, as image-bearing human beings, were meant to be taking care of it. That’s why Christian worship is also the glad celebration of God’s action in the past in Jesus the Messiah, and of the promise that what he accomplished in dying for our sins will be completed. In other words, as in Revelation 5, worship of God as redeemer, the lover and rescuer of the world, must always accompany and complete the worship of God as creator. This means, of course, telling the story of the rescue operation as well as of creation. Indeed, it means telling the story of salvation precisely as the story of the rescue and renewal of creation.

That’s one long paragraph with a lot to chew on. May we worship God mindfully as our creator and rescuer this week. May we each join in that story as we discover more and more of what it means to be God’s “image-bearing human beings” in this world.

AU Receives Green Grant

Andrews Univesity recieved a $1,815 grant to improve its recycling efforts. Following are excerpts from "Andrews Receives Recycling Grant," which was published in the January 21-27, 2009 issue of The Student Movement, the Andrews University weekly newspaper (no author listed; links added by AFE):

Dec. 18, 2008 The Berrien County Resource Recovery Office notified the Village Green Preservation Society (VGPS), a student-led campus environmental group, that Andrews had been awarded the Berrien School Recycling Grant.

The yearly grant awarded a combined total of approximately $10,000 to Andrews and 12 other area schools.

The money is planned to be used to furnish Burman, Lamson, and Meier Hall dormitories with user-friendly recycling bins.

[Provost] Knight gave her oral pledge to the group to match the grant money received.

Additionally, the undergraduate SA set aside $1,500 at the beginning of the school year to fund recycling bins for the Campus Center and Cafeteria.

When asks how he thinks the recycling program will impact the campus, Benjamin Oliver remarked, "It's most basic impact will significantly reduce the amount of trash that the university discards and the amount that goes to landfills. On a more personal level, it will really create an ethic of recycling [and] reusing, not just wastefulness... [The program] should reflect well on the university, as it goes well with our new commitment to 'go green'."

The VGPS and SA are planning to combine forces to educate students about the new program.

Godwin [the VGPS sponsor] offered some closing remarks, "I think what [the program] does is begin to line up our institutional behavior more effectively with... who we are. We are an Adventist institution that takes seriously our understanding of God as Creator and certainly one thing that should flow from that is more effective environmental stewardship."