Minutes: Sunday, March 2, 2008

Caring for Creation Meeting, Macalester Plymouth United Church

Present: Julian, Jerry, Jan, Ed, Pat, Jane, Leslie, Judy, Rolf

Jane and Pat reported on events at the new presbytery environmental committee gathering held on Feb. 16. Jane brought numerous handouts for committee members, including "Greening Your Congregation--40 Ideas," "Earth Day Resources, Sunday April 20, 2008,""2008 Minnesota State Policy Update," "Carbon Neutral Lifestyles" (brochure from Presbyterians for Restoring Creation), "The Green 'Cheat Sheet,'" and a flyer for the March 8 Neighborhood Sustainability Conference, beginning at 8 am at Augsburg college, Minneapolis. Jane reported a strong suggestion was made that churches get their whole congregation involved in one focus for a year, and that the committee become much more visible in the church. She reported that White Bear Presbyterian has solar panels. The Pollution Control Agency has a display of lights that we could borrow, which helps people visualize how different types can be used. We briefly discussed possible foci for our church, e.g., keeping a registry of when people come to church other than driving (bus is okay), and count the CO2 saved, or ask people to fill out a survey of their CO2 emissions and then keep track of savings and accumulate at church. No decision on any of this.

April Lunch and Learn. Our title from last month is "Global Warming--How Good Are the Solutions?" Rolf gave us a 10-page handout that outlined what he would present. The cover page listed the proffered solutions--biofuels, nuclear, wind and solar, ocean energy, and major lifestyle change. We could not give enough time to hear more than about 15 minutes of what the presentation would be, but it seemed to emphasize the technology without much reference to consequences. People requested that consequences be included, and less technology. Judy suggested asking those who came about their own actions. We have one more meeting to decide on how the program goes. (I have sent out an idea this morning.) Judy has one particular website in mind for carbon footprint calculations; Julian has something from the Environmental Defense Fund about carbon offset trading. They will get these two items together into a double-sided handout. Leslie suggested perhaps showing the mountaintop removal films in the Social Hall some Sunday, since we probably cannot include them at the L&L.

Earth Day Sunday planning. The theme is Soil (earth); we discussed what that covers (gardening, loss or poisoning, fecundity, as the basis of our life, etc.). Judy brought along a manuscript from A Handful of Mud, a story about the importance of the soil, from which a children's sermon or something else might be derived. People took the following assignments: Prayers--Jane; Statistics to help with the sermon--Rolf; Children's program--Judy; Bible readings--? Minute for Mission--? Sounds to greet people--Judy, Leslie. Other? If people who were not present can contribute to this planning, that would be great.

At this point we ran out of time, so left the rest of the agenda, which followed on from last month (bottled water, flowers, shopping bags) and also Ed's report on the website he has set up (www.mpuccaringforcreation.org). He is looking for more content from any of us.

Macalester Plymouth United Church
1658 Lincoln Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55105