Green efforts color holidays

Everyone celebrates springtime religious holidays differently, whether it be the public waving of palms for Palm Sunday, the decorating of Easter eggs or the drawn-out Passover meal that is rife with allusions to the Jews’ escape from Egypt. Some additionally celebrate the rebirth and springtime underpinnings of those holidays and focus on aspects that Jesus might appreciate or that might be most in keeping with the teachings of the Torah in the case of Judaism or other texts for other religions. One popular twist observant men and women are applying today involves finding ever-more pro-environment ways to celebrate the perceived will of God. Some churches get their palms for Palm Sunday from sources that don’t damage forests or take advantage of workers. Some manufacture their own cloth grocery bags for members of their congregations or get contests going on which church in their neighborhood has converted the most incandescent bulbs to the energy-efficient fluorescent twists. Part of the motive is to treat the earth as a sacred place and to take care of it. Across the Hudson in Barrytown, the Rev. Bruce Chilton’s church, St. John the Evangelist, is among those using palms that have been gathered in environmentally and socially conscious ways. Also a chaplain at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, Chilton has tried to lead his charges toward environmentally conscious choices. Chilton likes the awareness that has come with the green movement, he said, and he likes seeing that even fundamentalist Christians have begun to recognize the importance of taking care of the planet. “This is a good theme.” The pulpit isn’t the only place where pastors, rabbis and other religious leaders may encourage pro-environment actions. They can also showcase their beliefs with major capital improvements or minor lightbulb replacement projects, Chilton said. “Ways that we have approached the question have concerned maintenance on buildings. It can be challenging because they are quite old.” Old, and full of veritable toxic mines. When Chilton replaced the roof and re-covered the steeple on his church, he and his congregation ran into asbestos, a cancer-causing fiber that is also super-insulating. Getting rid of the asbestos could have been as simple as hiring eight laborers and a truck, as some pointed out to Chilton, but that didn’t feel right. “We actually talked through the ethics of that kind of issue and what would be implied, and it resulted with our consulting with a roofing expert from the (Episcopal) diocese (of New York,)” he said. “…It worked out quite well.” The heating system was also replaced, which should eventually save thousands of dollars. “It’s simply a more-efficient system,” he said. He doesn’t often hit environmental themes hard from the pulpit itself, but has risen to the occasion when provoked. A few years ago he recalled hearing television Christians make odd claims about how Jesus would respond to current day automobile options. “Gerry Falwell, in response to the question, ‘What would Jesus drive’ said: ‘He would drive a Hummer.’ I must say I found that controversy a little bit odd,” Chilton said. For religious leaders in the area, leading by example seems to be a more-straightforward mode. That’s a strategy employed by Rabbi Yael Romer at her Temple Emanuel synagogue on Albany Avenue in Kingston. There, recycling is being stepped up, light switches bear signs asking to be turned off, and zoned heating thermostats have been programmed to keep spaces warm when occupied and unheated when not. Passover isn’t just for humans, she said, and at her congregation there is a recognition that animals carry sparks of divinity within them and share the right to occupy the earth. She has found that bringing children in on the recycling — through the decorating of recycling boxes for the synagogue and encouraging them to recycle at home — is a good way to inspire families to make good choices. Parents respond to the enthusiasm of their children, she said. Rabbi Jonathan Kligler of the Woodstock Jewish Congregation said he and his congregants put every dollar they could into making their new synagogue energy efficient — to the point that the synagogue initially went lacking some basic furniture when the building was first opened to the public three years ago. They considered geothermal and solar options, but they couldn’t quite manage it. “We didn’t have the budget,” he said. There still are goals to improve the structure, once the money is found to make it possible. Already, a bat mitzvah student donated $3,000 toward making the synagogue more environmentally friendly, and Kligler hopes that effort will snowball. “We have much bigger ideas,” he said. “If we could be a showpiece, it would be a fantastic thing.” Kligler said we all are just temporary stewards of the earth, not owners. “You’re only really leasing it,” he said. “…God put Adam in the garden to tend it and protect it.” Chilton brushed aside naysayers who deny the earth is being altered by humanity: “We actually are in a position to shape our environment,” he said. “We palpably do shape it. Whatever you might think of a particular theory of global warming, the fact of humanity’s impact on the planet is incontrovertible. Our influence is both a power and a responsibility.” Chilton said the stress oil prices have inflicted on renters and homeowners has been literally chilling. He has worked with an alliance of ministers in the Red Hook area to provide oil to those most in need. The fund barely held up this winter. He has found home owners are more likely to have the dollars to insulate their homes, while renters and those deeper in poverty are more likely to live in structures without insulation. At least in winter, the rich get warmer and the poor get colder, he acknowledged.