GREEN TEAM - The Green Team (Pastor Carlson, Gary Olson, David Gangeness, Deb Hannu, Karen Bockelman, Paul Steklenski, and Tom Uecker) plans on having a regular column in Dei by Day. We hope to inform you of various events and "green" ideas from time to time. The big news at the moment concerns the Early Adopter Project sponsored by Sustainable Twin Ports. Gloria Dei is one of fifteen organizations that have been selected to participate. The first introductory meeting for all participants is on August 21. Members from Gloria Dei on this team include: Pastor Carlson, John McDonald, Kathy Wimer, and Tom Uecker. Training and activities will be ongoing thru Winter of 2009. We hope to learn a lot and share a lot.
GREEN TEAM Last year we began a butterfly garden in the square soil area of the parking lot and the hill area separating the parking lot from the alley. Although the butterfly garden was small last year, it was an immediate success. Monarch butterflies found the swamp milkweed and deposited several eggs. These eggs were collected and raised into adult monarch butterflies. This year we hope to expand the garden. Anyone who wants to bring plants and/or seed to the square area of the parking lot is invited to bring them. Last year 3 people added plants. Paul Steklenski and Tom Uecker have started some plants indoors and will be transplanting them at a later date. Butterflies need nectar plants for nourishment. They also need host plants. A host plant is the plant necessary for eggs and caterpillars. Each type of butterfly has certain plants which it uses for depositing eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the caterpillar then feeds on that plant, grows larger, pupates into a chrysalis, and finally emerges as a butterfly.
CREATION CARE BECOMES IRON RANGE EARTH FEST April 17-18, 2009 From Pastor Kristin Foster, Messiah Lutheran, Mt. Iron Hi David and Gloria Dei - I've been wanting to get in touch with you for the past month or more relative to something happening with creation care through Messiah on the Iron Range. The three people from Messiah who attended the training at Gloria Dei last July presented ideas to a group at the church this Fall, who decided to do a mission festival on creation care this February.As part ofour discussion of that event, we decided that we needed to reach out to the whole community, so we booked the community center and started making contacts outside the church. Our vision was to tap into deep Iron Range traditions of sustainable living while bringing together people who can offer practical tools for living more sustainably now -- stimulate a multi-sector conversation and find a deeper place than the current jobs vs. environment polarization on the Iron Range. Our initial conversations sparked such interest in the community that we have eight other organizations working with us as the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability to plan the first annual Iron Range Earth Fest on April 17-18. The Iron Range Earth Fest begins with a concert Friday evening, 4/17 at Merritt Auditorium, (right next to Messiah) but the main event is Saturday, 4/18, noon to 5p.m.are using the beautiful new Mt. Iron community center for food, demonstrations, exhibits, and information booths, and the adjacent Messiah church building for food, workshops, a speakers forum, and a "green" marketplace.There will be speakers scheduled throughout the afternoon in both buildings. We are partnering with the University of Minnesota and its Northeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, so we will have some awesome speakers at a panel discussion at 2:30p.m.Focus, KAXE, and Range 11 are our media sponsors, and we now have the involvement of Iron Range Youth in Action which has direct contact and publicity capacity with over four hundred youth across the Range. We also are working with the YMCA who is doing its Healthy Kids Day at the same time, and with the communitycollege network. This is TOTALLY happening because of the creation care team training event in Duluth and the inspiration generated in a creation care group at Messiah to bring together the broader community.
*Green Tidbit: In order to become Fair Trade Certified, farmers must follow environmentally practices including:
Elimination or regulation of dangerous pesticides and harmful chemicals, waste management practices that protect watersheds and other vulnerable clean water sources, protect virgin forests, prohibit deforestation, encourage shade-growing practices that maintain the integrity of natural habitat.
Gloria Dei's "Green Team" had its initial
meeting in April 2008. Although its purpose statement is still in the
developing stages, the team sees its primary role in lifting up a
Christian response to the biblical mandate of caring for creation
(Genesis 1). Two main areas of emphasis will be: 1) enhancing awareness
of practices through which individuals and families can reduce their
impact on the environment and 2) examining our corporate resource use
as a congregation and seeking to exemplify stewardship of God's
resources in the community. Our first conversation touched on many
different topics related to this issue, including education about
recycling, water and energy use, global climate change, and community
supported agriculture. If you'd like to be part of the conversation, we
would welcome you!
GREEN TEAM - Submitted by
David Gangeness
The holidays are coming, bringing a time of joy and celebration, but
also a time of increased waste. From Thanksgiving to New Years day, household
waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging,
wrapping paper, bows and ribbon, it all adds up to an additional one million
tons a week of garbage.
Maybe this is the year to decrease waste, and stress and make the
holiday more meaningful. Before shopping for your friends and loved ones, ask
yourself some questions. Does the gift recipient need or want this? Can I buy
it used? Can this gift be recycled? Or can I give a gift with a double purpose?
There are many ways to honor a loved one with a gift to local food shelves, or
World Hunger. Volunteer with your friends or family at a soup kitchen or other
volunteer opportunity and start a new tradition. Give "volunteer" coupons for
chores around the house.
These could be especially valuable to senior citizens who may need
additional help with heavy cleaning or outdoor tasks. Give a gift of an
experience, lessons, a concert or sporting event. How about a yearly pass to
our beautiful state parks? Many international organizations, such as Unicef and
Heifer International have many ideas for honoring someone with a gift that
helps others. We have countless local organizations such as Bethany Crisis
Shelter, who would also appreciate a donation to honor a friend or family
member. Many of us don't "need" much of anything. Make your holiday "greener"
by thinking of new ways to celebrate with "gifts" this year. For further
information and ideas on a green holiday, see www. Reduce.org or livinggreen365@pca.state.mn.us
GREEN TEAMGREEN TEAM We are putting the finishing touches on the membership cluster map that you have probably noticed on the table next to the Fair Trade table.One Early Adopters project is to encourage alternate forms of transportation such as ride sharing.We hope the membership clusterwill help facilitate that possibility fortimes, ministry/committee meetings and any church function. We are offering a pillow pack (coffee package for 10-12 cup coffee maker) for anyone that participates in ride sharing.Just stop at the Fair Trade table, tell us you did it, and we will give you a pillow pack. of you may find that bus transportation works for you.We have maps and bus route times on that same table with the membership cluster map.If you use the bus to get to any church function, we will give you two off-peak tickets.Just stop at the Fair Trade table, tell us you did it, and we will give you the tickets.
GREEN TIDBIT: From J. Matthew Sleeth in 'Serve God, Save the Planet'-At the point at which people have their own home, enough food to eat, clothing to wear, running water, a sanitary sewage system, a television, a computer, and the ability to ride in an airplane, they are in the top 20% of the world's population.
For more information about the
Green Team or to be part of this group, contact any of the current
members: Karen Bockelman, David Gangeness, Gary Olson, Paul Steklenski,
Nathan Mueller, Deb Hannu, and Pastor Carlson.
GREEN TEAM by David Gangeness As
a citywide Christian parish, GDLC is committed to ministry in the
Hillside neighborhood of Duluth and to social action. This mission
includes respect for God's creation and the courage to learn how to
incrementally improve our care of the physical world. GDLC's Green Team
realizes that leadership on the subject of caring for the environment
begins with our own facility as an example and also the personal
choices of our members. We strive to share what we have learned with
other individuals and other congregations, especially those with
historical church buildings. Ultimately, GDLC hopes to be a leader in
the Synod on topics related to energy conservation, food policy, and
resource sustainability. Finally, GDLC hopes to sponsor a "Green"
resolution to assess bishop candidates at the 2008 assembly. Check out these Web resources: Web of Creation - Green Congregation Covenant: www.webofcreation.org The Izaak Walton League of America: www.iwla.org IWL - Watt Watchers: www.iwla.org/index.php?id=328 IWL - Reduce your home energy use: www.iwla.org/fileadmin/template/images/magazine_pics/summer/Reduce_Your_Use.pdf Silver Creek Institute - www.silvercreekinstitute.org A brief summary of Sustainable Twin Ports is posted on the KCCI home page: www.dsacommunityfoundation.com/initiatives/kcci.html
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church 219 N. 6th Ave. E. Duluth, MN 55805 218.722.3381