The Diocese of New Westminster is greening up its churches. Through a number of initiatives, the Anglican Church of Canada's churches on the Coast - St. Bartholemew's in Gibsons, St. Hilda's in Sechelt and St. Andrew's in Pender Harbour - are working toward a sustainable environment and community education.
"The important relationship between creation and the environment is a spiritual issue," said David Dranchuk, the Diocese's co-ordinator for societal ministry.
Dranchuk held a workshop at St. Bart's Aug. 17 on the Diocesan atlas project, a new website being launched which shows the ecological features of each church's community. He called the atlas a "tool to get to know your parish community better and its environmental issues."
On the atlas' satellite images, churches can mark areas of interest such as ecologically sensitive areas, bicycle paths, recycle depots, as well as forestry and mining tenures. The diocese engaged a fourth year UBC geography student Quyen Tran to set up the website. She demonstrated how to interactively use the atlas at last week's workshop.
At its last annual general meeting, the Diocese of New Westminster passed a motion that all its churches set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental stewards were appointed at 35 churches, as a link between the environment and the parish.
Dave Moul was appointed the environmental steward for St. Hilda's Church in Sechelt. He added sites of ecological significance and historical significance to the website's atlas.
In the fall, churches will be undertaking a species program whereby they choose an endangered animal or plant species to study. St. Hilda's is thinking of focusing on the marbled murrelet, Dranchuk said, then joining with environmental organizations to protect it.
The diocese has also been doing energy audits of its churches to find ways to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in church buildings. In March, the diocese was awarded a $50,000 grant from Vancity and the Real Estate Foundation of B.C. for environmental building projects. The diocese will decide by Christmas which churches will receive the grant money, Dranchuk said. The plan is to install a wind generator at one church, as well as solar panels at others. St. Hilda's has applied for a solar panel.
St. Hilda's will be hosting green workshops, open to the entire community, on how to reduce greenhouse gas emission, Dranchuk said.
"I hope this is one thing we can work with the wider community on," Dranchuk said.
The Diocesan atlas can be viewed at www.shim.bc.ca/atlases/anglican.
