Environmental Justice articles - 2002

These articles originally appeared in Connections, the newsletter of the North Central New York Conference of the United Methodist Church.

April 2002 Question: When can drinking a cup of coffee bring justice to the world? Answer: When it’s fairly-traded, organic, shade-grown coffee!

Did you know that coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world economy after oil? That the U.S. is one of the world’s largest coffee consumers? Our coffee purchases can truly make a difference in the world!

As United Methodists, we are called to justice …

… for farmers

“We advocate for the rights of people to possess property and to earn a living by tilling the soil …” From the UMC Social Principles

There is a coffee crisis in Central America – not one which denies us our coffee, but one in which small coffee farmers are unable to earn a living wage. Oxfam has warned that failure to tackle the crisis in world coffee markets will result in millions of poor coffee farmers and their families living in extreme poverty, with devastating consequences for health, education and social stability.

Did you know that many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than the costs of production? For every pound of gourmet coffee sold ($6-$8/lb.), small coffee farmers might receive only between 12¢ and 25¢.

Fair Trade balances the inequities found in the conventional coffee trade. Fair trade gives farmers more control and ensures that the economic benefits of the coffee trade reach the people who actually grow the beans, helping them to build a better future for themselves.

By buying fairly-traded coffee, you help Central American farmers build better lives for their families and communities.

… for birds and other animals

 “We encourage the preservation of all animal species including those threatened with extinction …” From the UMC Social Principles

Many of our songbirds that we enjoy each summer spend their winters in “Coffee Country” in Northern Latin America. Our hummingbirds, swallows, warblers, orioles, tanagers and other native and migratory birds find a safe haven in the remaining forests of shade coffee plantations.

Studies have shown a marked decline in bird populations in the last 25 years when coffee started being grown in the sun rather than in traditional shade coffee plantations. Birds and other animals find food and shelter in the canopy of the shade coffee plantations, whereas sun coffee plantations have been described as “biological deserts.”

By buying shade-grown coffee, you help preserve the winter homes of our migratory birds.

… for the earth

 “We support measures designed to maintain and restore natural ecosystems. We support policies that develop alternatives to chemicals used for growing, processing, and preserving food …” From our UMC Social Principles

For the past few decades, the traditional shade coffee plantations have been converted to sun coffee plantations. The rainforest canopy is cut down and pesticides and fertilizers that can contaminate local soil and water are used.

Organic farmers build healthy soils by fertilizing and building soil organic matter. Organic coffee farmers’ primary strategy in controlling pests and diseases is prevention. They rely on a diverse population of birds as well as soil organisms, insects, and other natural ways of keeping pests in check.

By buying organic coffee, you help leave a healthy planet for future generations.

Join over 3,000 other congregations participating in the interfaith coffee program!

The cost of this coffee is about the same as coffee shop gourmet coffees. But many churches might have difficulty financing this extra cost for their fellowship coffee. Our solution at University UMC is to have Justice Coffee sponsors. Each month an individual, group of individuals or church group has signed up to subsidize the additional cost of our fellowship coffee, just as you might have sponsors for the weekly altar flowers. For our church, the additional cost was calculated to be $25 a month. We are buying Equal Exchange’s Organic Fellowship Blend (which is shade-grown) and Fellowship Blend Decaf (which currently isn’t available as shade-grown.) We are also selling 8 oz. packages of Organic Breakfast Blend and Organic CO2 Decaf (both of which are shade-grown) for members’ personal use and as a great gift alternative. The small profit from these sales will be used to finance other creation stewardship projects.

Yes, these coffees cost a bit more than you might be paying now. But the real cost of the less-expensive supermarket coffees is:

Follow our United Methodist tradition of taking action for justice. Consider serving a cup of justice at your church!

September 2002 “What kind of justice did you say?”

This is sometimes the response I hear when I tell someone that I’m the Environmental Justice Coordinator for the North Central New York Conference of the United Methodist Church. People are familiar with social justice, economic justice, civil or criminal justice, and just plain justice – but justice and the environment?

Sometimes people think that environmental justice is only a concern of people who like to go walking in the woods, watch birds, or who are otherwise interested in nature. But our current environmental problems are degrading the ability of the earth to provide food, water, shelter, and the other necessities of life. These problems will affect everyone: rich and poor, black and white, young and old, future generations as well as the nonhuman world.

In fact, the environment and justice aren’t competing issues, they’re intimately connected. Environmental problems such as global warming, overfishing, and lack of resources disproportionately affect impoverished people all over the world. Future generations will be inheriting a world with inadequate supplies of fresh water, with degraded soil, and many other difficult conditions. The nonhuman world – God’s plant and animal creations – is facing mass extinctions.

God created a beautiful world of abundance and gave us the responsibility to be its stewards. Good stewardship of our environment will bring justice for all people in the world today, justice for future generations, and justice for the nonhuman world.

Getting involved

Until recently, few churches have focused on environmental justice issues, so you might be wondering what churches can do to be good stewards of God’s creation.

There are many things. In fact, the choices you make in almost all aspects of church life can help achieve environmental justice: in your worship service, in your Christian Education program, in your building, on your grounds, in your church office, in the foods and beverages you serve, in how you run your church events.

To learn more about these stewardship choices, subscribe to the free weekly Environmental Justice News email for the North Central New York Conference. Just email me (see the home page for the email address) with your name and church and you’ll start receiving the EJ News. Other ideas are on the National Council of Churches website (http://www.webofcreation.org) and on other areas of this website.

October 2002 - With Just a Little More Money …

If only your church had just a little more money, think what you could do! With more money, you could enrich your Christian Education program, expand your outreach projects, or add to your musical offerings. With just a little more money, you could help all of God’s children, especially the most vulnerable. And yet every month, you see more and more money going up the chimney as your utility bills rise.

At this time of year, we focus on stewardship. We ask our members to give generously to support the work of our church, and our members respond. But where can we get just a little more money? Maybe it could be money that’s not being spent on utility bills!

There are surprisingly easy ways to save money on your utility bills. With only a little effort, most churches can save several hundred dollars a year. With just a little more effort, many churches can save thousands. And once these energy-saving measures are taken, these savings continue year after year after year.

In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency says that congregations can expect to save 20%-30% on their utility bills. What’s 20%-30% of your church’s utility bill? Can you think of any way your congregation could use that amount of money … every year?

Money is very useful in carrying out the mission of your church. But in addition to saving money, saving energy means preventing the emission of carbon dioxide, the principal global warming gas, and so it helps defend God’s creation from global warming. Preventing global warming means justice for the poor in the world today, justice for future generations, and justice for God’s non-human creations.

The EPA estimates that if all congregations conducted energy-efficient upgrades, in addition to saving a combined half a billion dollars, they would also prevent the emission of six million tons of carbon dioxide. This would be the pollution equivalent of taking one million cars off the road or planting 1.5 million acres of trees!

Some energy upgrades

What are some of these energy upgrades? One of the easiest and cheapest upgrades is lighting. Replacing those inefficient incandescent bulbs with the new compact fluorescent (CF) ones can save a lot of energy – and money. If you found their performance disappointing a few years ago, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the new CF bulbs. Phillips, Osram Sylvania and GE bulbs, among others, have worked well. (See Consumer Reports, January 1999 for a review of these bulbs).

If you haven’t upgraded your office lighting, outdoor lighting, and other lighting in your church, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the many more-efficient choices available today. Choosing wisely from the many options available usually means you’ll not only save money, but you’ll also have even better lighting!

It may surprise you to know that another important energy upgrade is exit signs. Think about it: many churches have multiple exit signs, and each one uses energy every minute of every day, every day of the year. Today’s LED-style exit signs use only a fraction of the energy used by incandescent exit signs, even less energy than CF signs. Although the initial cost of these efficient exit signs may be higher, each one can save about $15 - $20 annually in electricity costs compared to typical incandescent signs. After the relatively short payback period, the signs save you money year after year – and help prevent the emission of carbon dioxide.  As a bonus (which will be much appreciated by your maintenance staff), the bulbs last years longer, thus saving significant maintenance time.

But lighting and exit signs are just the beginning. There are many other opportunities to  save energy and money. Think what the impact could be if every church in our Conference conducted energy-efficiency upgrades: more money for our programs, less global warming for God’s creation! So why don’t you get some people together in your congregation and put energy into stewardship!

Resources

EPA’s Energy Star Congregation Program is on the web or you can call 1-888-STAR-YES for more information. (For information on exit signs, click on Find Products.)

November 2002 - Air of Injustice

What unites these three groups: the Black Leadership Forum, the Southern Organizing Committee for Economic and Social Justice, and Clear the Air, an environmental coalition?

They’re working together in a unique collaboration to integrate traditional civil rights, environmental justice, and mainstream environmental perspectives.

Some people may think environmental issues concern only people who enjoy taking hikes in the words, looking at birds, or who just enjoy and appreciate the natural world.

But everyone – indeed, all of God’s creation, human and nonhuman - is at risk from environmental problems. African Americans, though, are disproportionately affected.

A report called “Air of Injustice” was just released by the above coalition. It details how power plant pollutants cause health problems for African Americans.

Air Pollution and Health

Power plants are major sources of the most common and most harmful pollutants. They emit 67% of the sulfur dioxide and 23% of nitrogen oxides, they produce over 33% of all mercury pollution in the U.S., and they account for 38% of the carbon dioxide emitted from fossil fuel use in the U.S.

These pollutants are related to serious health issues disproportionately affecting the African American community: pediatric asthma, infant deaths, emergency room visits and hospitalizations, fish contamination, and climate change.

Here are some of the facts listed in the report:

What We Can Do

The report recommends that new legislation be enacted to address emissions of the four key pollutants: nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide. In addition, it stresses that we protect the existing New Source Review provision of the Clean Air Act. Finally, it emphasizes that all coal-fired power plants, both old and new, must be made to comply with modern emission control standards.

The United Methodist Church supports these measures. Call or write your Representative and Senators to express your views on these issues as a United Methodist concerned about justice.

And in addition to advocacy, there is much you can do in your church life and in your private life to reduce power plant pollution.

December 2002 - Just Energy

Every day people are diagnosed with very serious illnesses – illnesses that our medical community has the ability to cure. These cures aren’t always easy to administer, and they are often quite costly. But what is our response? We make the effort and find the means to do it. How could we decide that it’s just too much effort or too costly to bother curing those people?

Last month, I discussed the recently released Air of Injustice report. This report showed that people of color are disproportionately impacted by air pollution. This is a serious injustice, but everyone breathes the air, and everyone is at risk from air pollution.

Air pollution from cars and trucks is only part of the problem. Fossil-fueled power plants are the leading source of industrial air pollution. The pollutants these plants release each year that most directly affect human health are:

What our churches can do

What does all this have to do with our churches? There are three things our churches can do that will help prevent illness due to pollution and climate change.

Conservation and energy efficiency

First, in an earlier article, I shared some church building–specific resources that will not only help your church save money on your utility bills, but will also reduce the amount of these pollutants generated by your church building’s energy use.

Energy choice

Second, as of this past September, people in New York State have an additional way to dramatically reduce the amount of pollution created by our energy use. We now have the power to choose electricity generated by cleaner renewable energy. There are a number of options available to both Niagara Mohawk and NYSEG customers. Churches, as Residential customers, can choose to purchase electricity generated by various mixes and percentages of wind power, low-impact hydro, and biomass. They can also choose to purchase 100% wind power, the pollution-free source of renewable energy. When you choose to buy electricity generated by these sources, the electricity entering your building is actually no different from your neighbor’s electricity and your service provider stays the same. There is no need to rewire or change anything else. The important change takes place at the level of the entire power grid.

Your purchase

Most important, your church’s purchase of clean renewable energy means that your church will not be contributing to health problems caused by our traditional electricity production.

In our private lives

The third thing churches can do is to encourage their church members to take action on energy use in their private lives. They can conserve energy and take energy efficiency measures, as well as taking advantage of this opportunity to buy clean, renewable energy. Depending on the individual household’s energy use and the plan chosen, this can mean an additional monthly charge of from $3 to about $15 – between only 10¢ and 50¢ a day! This is truly a small price to protect everyone’s health.

Deciding to take action

Discussing power plant air pollution, Rev. Janet Blackburn of the United Methodist Church in Beckville, Texas said, “I have watched a four-year old die because of asthma. It’s a health issue and it’s a matter of conscience. We cannot sit idly by while our children and our elders become sick and die. If we want a viable future, we have to work for it today. After all, the future is now. This impact to our children, our elders and ourselves is real and is serious, and we must act to clean up the pollution immediately.”

If someone in our congregation were ill with a serious, but curable disease, nothing would be too much effort or too costly for us to help cure them. But what about preventing such illnesses in the first place? Taking these actions on our energy use is one of the most important ways we can protect the health of people all over the world and the health of all future generations.