​The Green Team Expands Its Role

Since its founding, Incarnation’s Green Team has guided OpenTable, Coffee Hour hosts, and others into using compostable or washable service items in Farlander Hall and has worked to educate us all on how to better care for our planet on a daily basis. With the help and cooperation of many, significant progress has been made.

There is, however, much more to do. The Team is presently taking on a lead role in representing Incarnation in the Diocese of Northern California’s effort to achieve carbon neutrality at our churches by 2030. A resolution passed at the 2022 diocesan convention calls for all congregations and diocesan organizations to conduct facility needs assessment and create a plan (to reach 2030 carbon neutrality) by the end of 2024.

In March, Green Team members attended an introductory webinar hosted by the diocese’s Commission on the Environment and Interfaith Power and Light (IPL). At another webinar, on April 29, we will learn about congregation-specific energy use and how to use the IPL carbon calculator to determine the congregation’s carbon footprint.

The next step will be to gather the information for a Church of the Incarnation web page being developed by IPL. Then it will be time to perform an energy efficiency assessment of the Incarnation campus and use the information to develop a plan for achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.

The Incarnation Green Team is excited about this new opportunity to partner with congregation leadership, other ministries, and interested parishioners to achieve this ambitious goal. If you would like to join our group or simply learn more about our work, please reach out to George Kneip, Miriam Casey, or Cathy Wolf.