For well more than a decade, Peace Lutheran in Seattl has been a community of earth-keepers seeking a more sustainable future. Our concern for creation is integral to much of church life.
In worship, we:
- Celebrate, from 2010 onward, a series of annual Season of Creation Sunday worship experiences in which we have sought to connect the dots between our identity as followers of Jesus with our vocation as Earth Keepers
- Use “The Seasons of Creation Tree – using a durable wall decal or mural, add a Tree to the narthex as an old-fashioned interactive bulletin board, changing leaves according to seasons and Creation Care initiatives at Peace
- Engage “Peace Piecers” to explore creation-themed quilts
In our building, we have made numerous Earth-aiding capital investments, lowering our energy, water and waste bills, including:
- High-efficiency gas-fired boilers, replacing an antiquated oil burning system (2010)
- Rain gardens with cisterns, participating in the City and County Rainwise program that helps prevent sewage run-off into Puget Sound (2015-2016)
- Solar panels to our roof to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, converting us to an
energy producing community (2018) - Energy-saving lighting systems (2007, 2019)
- Insulation and energy-saving narthex windows (2019)
- Tree plantings beginning in 2015 and including one in 2016 as a celebration of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home.
- The Peace Tree Planting program,including working with the City of Seattle’s Trees For Neighborhoods Program, which beautifies the church grounds, helps retain water andcarbon in our soil and will provide habitat for birds as the trees flourish.
PLC also tracks greenhouse gas emissions. Using different carbon calculators, they’ve tracked four emission categories:
- Facilities – electricity, gas, garbage, sewer and waste. This data came from our utility bills.
- Transportation – All of us getting to our church building for all church activities. Staff graciously recreated 2019 mileage reports. To estimate transportation emissions for the rest of us, we used the default setting built into the Calculator according to congregation size.
- Food – All we buy, eat and drink at PLC.
- Purchasing – All our purchases from copier paper and pens, to restroom and cleaning supplies.
To educate our congregation, we:
- Host workshops and teaching events focused on educating our membership and community at large about the science of climate breakdown
- Supply Advent and Lent devotionals on creation
- Create fun “Where does it go?” events for adults and children to help us all properly sort what we throw out
To advocate outside our congregation, we:
- Actively advocate for legislation that would lead to healthier and more sustainable practices at both the state and federal levels
- Supporting the Duwamish River Community Coalition (DRCC) and Delridge Neighborhood Development Association (DNDA) with Pass The Hat offerings and God’s Work, Our Hands work days
- Hold our first annual e-ART-h Advocacy Day featuring advocacy letter writing, art projects and other creative activities for adults, youth and children.
We encourage our members to be earth-keeps personally by:
- Highlight Earth-friendly Eating with a series of events through Volunteer demonstrations as part of Earth Month program, eco-friendly potlucks, and Eco-friendly eating Thanksgiving recipe swap event among members and friends