Small steps

Consider the following for your church:

1. Hold a potluck dinner featuring local food; make the evening an educational event.
2. Use fair trade coffee at the congregation’s coffee hour and have speakers from the country where the coffee originates (e.g., Guatemala, Nicaragua) talk about their home communities and the social justice and environmental issues related to coffee.
3. Have the congregation join a community supported agriculture farm (search “CSA farms Canada” on the Web). Have members of the congregation, especially families with children, volunteer on the farm. Donate the congregation’s proceeds from the CSA to local food banks. This gives low-income people access to nutritious food while using the congregation’s funds to support sustainable agriculture.
4. For congregations with lawns or other greenspace, consider donating land for a community garden, particularly for farmer refugees in the community. Growing Colorado (www.growingcolorado.org) is an example where individuals and churches provide garden space to the refugee community.
5. Look to Greening Sacred Spaces (www.greeningsacredspaces.net) for inspiring ideas.