Water—Be aware of your consumption of water (and the plastic attached to that consumption!) especially over longer events.
Use of coolers and personal water bottles cuts down on paper and plastic. - Energy—The greatest energy should come from your young people and volunteers and not from the lights left on or doors left open. And speaking of energy, use of buses, carpooling, and biking/hiking cuts down on emissions.
- Trash—Always leave a place cleaner than you left it. Perhaps the biggest culprits are mealtimes and game times—water balloons make for a frustrating but essential cleanup! Be prepared to ‘take trash home’ including plastics and paper if recycling has not reached your parish community yet!
- More Candles, Less Electricity!—Prayer services, liturgies, even classroom situations are prime opportunities to reduce electricity while incorporating reflective atmosphere using candles or solar energy. Turning ights low or off also lessens how much energy we are using. Automatic sensors mean lights can remain off unless someone is in building.
- Less Emissions, More Community! —Regular maintenance on buses or cars plus bussing, carpooling, walking and biking to events helps to save on fossil fuel consumption.
- 3 R’S: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! —Some counties, cities and towns do not recycle paper or plastics while others seem to bend over backwards to do so. Look into recycling dumpsters for these recyclable materials and even raise awareness and funds for them. Reusing paper for meeting agendas, retreat booklets, and religious education handouts shows how serious a church or school is about the environment.
Becoming Thoughtful Stewards
The following suggestions are from a long-time parish youth-minister who has not always been aware of or active with climate needs. There are some very simple but effective ways that we have discovered to reduce our daily impact on the environment.
Awareness
Become more in tuned with the earth and the issues surrounding it. Spend more time outdoors, walking or hiking. Educate yourself and others on the critical nature of climate change and find out about groups such as a local Sierra Club or a soil conservation club.
Advocacy
Speak to your pastor, pastoral council, principal and facilities manager about ways the parish or school can be more sensitive to reducing, reusing and recycling. Introduce young people to agencies which are active in protecting natural resources.
Assessment
Three easy WET steps make your parish youth ministry more earth-friendly.
Action
Here are some specific actions your parish/school program can take.
