Why?

This committee was organized as a response to the growing threat of global warming. The relationship of this issue to our faith is well summarized in a resolution of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., which:

• Finds that the Christian mandate to care for creation and the biblical promise of the restoration of right relationships between God, human beings, and the rest of creation impels and inspires us to act to reduce our energy usage
  
• Finds that the urgency, injustice and seriousness of this issue calls us as Christians to act NOW and to act boldly to lead the way in reducing our energy usage
  
• Strongly urges all Presbyterians to immediately make a bold witness by aspiring to live carbon neutral lives….

What?

Realizing that reversing global warming will require change by individuals, organizations and governments, we have begun work in the following ways:

Encouraging personal changes to a more sustainable lifestyle

• Our sale of Advent kits and gift bags put 400 more compact fluorescent lightbulbs and many strings of LED Christmas lights into use.
  
• Each month we put out to the congregation one tip for gradually changing to a more sustainable lifestyle. The tip appears in the First Pres Press, on the Micah's Call website, and in electronic form on the church email group so that you can forward the tip to people on your email list. We also share the tip with Santa Clara County Council of Churches and California Interfaith Power and Light for further distribution.

Working to help green the church facility

• We are seeking to work in concert with the Facilities and Finance Ministries to strategize ways to reduce the church's carbon footprint.
  
• We will help the Facilities group organize and implement a Green Workday this summer to work on tasks such as adding insulation and weather-stripping.
  
• We have arranged for an energy audit by the city of Palo Alto to determine improvements which could be made to the Church facility. The initial focus will be on frequently used spaces and projects less costly than replacing the entire heating system. We will then seek to work with Facilities and Finance to determine priorities and funding.

Promoting political action

• We will keep the congregation informed about legislation through the Church email group list and Micah's Call. From time to time, we will provide informational materials and letter-writing opportunities at SOS.
  
• We will publicize events in the community which are designed to raise awareness and increase political pressure on the issue of global warming.
  
• We are working on "Questions for Candidates" to be used in the electoral process.

Providing Education

• The Advent kits contained an educational packet in addition to a spiritual message and the actual lightbulbs. Members of our committee spoke with the children during Advent both at the early family-friendly service and at "The Time for the Child in us All." We seek to involve children and youth in our activities.
  
• We hope to hold Adult Study sessions on Climate Change issues next fall.

Coordinating our efforts with those of others

• We are currently working with the Santa Clara County Council of Churches and Interfaith Power and Light.
  
• We hope to work with other Presbyterian churches to publicize and implement the PCUSA resolution referred to earlier.
  
• We endeavor to coordinate our efforts with the ongoing efforts of other ministries within our own church: Facilities, Finance, Teaching, Family Ministry (all mentioned above), Worship (planning the Earth Day worship service) and Social Justice (utilizing SOS and staffing a booth at the Social Justice Fair).

Who, where, when?

We are a small committee with big plans; we could use your help! Please consider joining the Cool Planet Working Group. We meet in the Church Lounge on the first Sunday of each month just after the main worship service.

For further information please contact Susan Chamberlain.

Cool Planet Tips

Check out these great tips put together by the Cool Planet Working Group (and shared on MicahsCall.org):

• One Habit at a Time: Lightbulbs
• One Habit at a Time: Water Conservation
• One Habit at a Time: Home Heating
• One Habit at a Time: Cooking
• One Habit at a Time: Drive Less, Drive Cleaner
• One Habit at a Time: Plastic Water Bottles
• One Habit at a Time: Paper or Plastic
• One Habit at a Time: Solar Clothes Dryer
• One Habit at a Time: Eating Locally
• One Habit at a Time: Bicycling