Before she left St. Mark's Cathedral, where she was canon pastor for more than five years before retiring in February, the Rev. Diana Johnson helped her parish take a few small, green steps.
The St. Mark's Episcopal community traded its incandescent light bulbs for compact flourescent bulbs and swapped out an old refrigerator and a boiler for new, energy-efficient models.
Now, though, Johnson is taking her passion for creation care to a new pulpit. On April 1, she became the first director of the Utah Interfaith Power & Light Coalition.
The coalition's focus, for now, is to help Utah faith communities -- churches, synagogues, mosques, gathering centers -- figure out how to save money on energy and to encourage environmental stewardship among the faithful. So far, the coalition has done energy audits for five faith communities.
It is an outgrowth of the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable, a group that originated during the 2002 Winter Olympics and comprises members from a range of faiths.
"Everyone has in their holy book, whatever it is, this mandate to protect creation," says Johnson, whose own Christian faith holds that God created and loves of all things. "It's not for us to just willy-nilly use and abuse for our own often greedy and self-absorbed ends."
The Utah Interfaith Power & Light Coalition began more than a year ago, after author and Episcopal priest Sally Bingham, a former classmate of Johnson's, spoke in Utah about her faith-based activism for clean energy. She founded the national Interfaith Power & Light project, now active in 28 states.
Elaine Emmi, a Quaker and one of the founders of the Utah coalition, says that while various faith traditions teach about caring for creation, "Often, they've lost touch with that. We help them rediscover it."
Thirteen faith communities have taken the project's pledge to work toward greener practices and a number of individuals have as well, Johnson says.
After an energy audit, the project gives the audited community a written report outlining the options for saving energy, from the least expensive (weather-stripping, light bulbs) to priciest, such as an atrium in place of a stairwell, as was suggested to the Newman Center at the University of Utah.
Love God, Heal Earth, 2009 anthology by the Rev. Sally Bingham
The Green Bible, 2008, (highlights "green" scriptures, includes essays)
Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action, 2006 by Matthew Sleeth
Sustainability and Spirituality, 2004 by John E. Carroll
The Greening of Faith: God, the Environment, and The Good Life, 1997 anthology
Steve Ritchey, 56, does energy audits of churches, synagogues, mosques and other faith community buildings for the Utah Interfaith Power and Light project.
A member of Holladay United Church of Christ and a founder of the project, Richey's goal is to help faith communities save money - and cherish the planet.
To get involved with The Regeneration Project and Utah Interfaith Power and Light, go to www.theregenerationproject.org and to www.utahipl.org. Other good websites are www.creationcare.org and www.earthministry.org.
It's the term used by many religious people for the belief that humans have a moral imperative to care for all living things and the Earth, which come from the Creator.
