Treading Lightly for Lent 2012

Tread Lightly for Lent 2012

The Presbyterians have done it again creating a wonderful environmentally focused Lenten calendar for 2012: Tread Lighting for Lent 2012.  The calendar take individuals on a journey of reflection and action that anyone of us can and should do. 

When we care for God’s good earth, we do so through both action and reflection. We are called to engage in intentional and thoughtful “doing” as well as “being.” As we anticipate the lengthening of daylight during Lent, we are invited to long, deep reflection. This reflection will shape our action. Likewise, our actions shape how we reflect—on ourselves, our world and our Creator.

In what spirit might we enter a season of reflection and action? I propose that we enter Lent in a spirit of fasting and feasting. We fast, refraining from things that do not foster life. Yet we also feast, remembering God’s grace and power in the world. Echoing Sabbath and Jubilee themes in the Torah and other parts of Holy Scripture, we feast on God’s liberating goodness even as we fast from the harmful things we do to the earth.

So I invite you, then, to reflect and to act, to fast and to feast. This simple calendar will serve as a daily Lenten reminder of this invitation. Most reflections and actions can be done in less than 10 minutes, or they can take as long as you like. Guiding themes for the weeks in this calendar are: creation, water, land, air, people, diverse species, and lifestyle commitment.

From the introduction to the Tread Lighting for Lent 2012 from the Presbyterian Church (USA) Environmental Ministries.

If you are interested in another faith based environmental path for Lent, there is the 2012 Ecumenical Lenten Carbon Fast which will send you email with daily actions for Lent.  The Lenten Carbon Fast is developed and run by the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ.

What ever you path you choose, do something for yourself and the world the Lord has entrusted to us.

Peace!
Jon

Being Good Stewards by Changing a few Light Bulb

Grace Church has been working for several years to make our lighting more efficient and better quality.  Throughout most of our parish building we have upgraded to electronic ballast fluorescent T-8 fixtures, but have been struggling replacing the remain high wattage incandescent lights in our parish hall because they need to be dimmable and are 150W flood lights.


One afternoon, with my daughter helping, we replaced all 26 of our 150W spot lights with high-efficiency 17W dimmable LEDs.  We were able to get a $40 rebate on each bulb through a MassSave Commercial Lighting Rebate, bringing down the cost to $13 each.


I'm excited by the reactions we go during the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, which was the first evening event since we changed the bulbs:

"I love the new lights!"
"They will really help the older members of the parish."
"They're really bright in a good way."

Here is what we replaced:

• 9 @ 150W incandescent flood lights
• 3 @ 75W incandescent flood lights
• 5 @ 100W halogen flood lights

Burnt out or missing:

• 6 @ 150W incandescent flood lights
• 2 @ 100W halogen flood lights
• 1 missing entirely

with 22 Philips 17W EnduraLED PAR38 22° Flood and 4 Sylvania 18W UltraLED PAR38 40°.  Both are 75W flood light equivalents.

Four different varieties of flood lights that were in our parish hall.

Two styles of LED PAR38 lights we installed and one of
the track light flood fixtures with an old incandescent bulb

	# of Bulbs	Wattage (W)	Annual electricity usage* (kWh)	ElectricityCost per year at 15.5¢/kWh
Functioning Lights	17	150	2,652	$411
With all bulbs functioning	26	150	4,056	$629
Going forward with LEDs	26	17	460	$71

* at 20 hours of usage per week

So, we should actually save about $340 per year on our electric bill and not consuming 2,200 kWh which will reduce our annual green house gas CO2 emissions by about 2,000 pounds per year.

Even better than the electricity savings and emissions reductions each year, will be not having to replace the bulbs.  With a 45,000 hour life, these LEDs should last over 40 years. I won't have to go up that ladder to replace burnt out bulbs.  I do not know how many bulbs we were replacing each year, but that should be a nice savings as well.


You may have noticed that we replaced mostly 150W bulbs with 75W equivalent LEDs.  Now that we have all 26 fixtures working again (9 were burnt out or missing their bulb) our effective illumination is only down a few percent.  We may come back and add some additional fixtures to the existing tracks, but may not need to given that all of the LED's light is directed where we want it while only a portion of the incandescent lights was.  I was really glad that the existing dimmers functioned without any flicker or problems so we did not need to rewire anything.

Funding for this project came in part from the Green Grant Program from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and is part of a larger project that is also looking to upgrade the remaining 300W incandescent bulbs in our historic sanctuary to high-efficiency LEDs while pleasantly increasing the light quality.

Peace,
Jon

Faith in Action - MBTA

This past Sunday, Greening Grace organized a letter writing protest against the proposed MBTA service reductions and fair increases.  The proposed changes would have a devastating effect on the most vulnerable including seniors and low income in Medford and other effected communities.  They would also take Massachusetts backwards in the fight against Climate Change and increase traffic on our already crowded roads in and around Boston.

We wrote over a dozen letters to the MBTA, local and state officials with signatures from dozens of members of Grace Church.  Some letters were written by hand, while others typed.  The kids joined in too, decorating the envelopes with environmentally and public transit themed art.

Everyone that attended was glad they could do their part and show support for legislators opposing the proposals and encourage other legislators to do the same.

If you would like more information on setting up your own letter writing campaign, contact us at GreeningGrace@gracemedford.org.  It was fun and easy and makes a difference.

Peace!
Jon

TAKE ACTION FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND TRANSPORTATION EQUITY

On Sunday, February 12, Greening Grace will host a letter-writing campaign to protest MBTA’s proposed fare increases and service cuts and urge legislators to change the funding formula for the MBTA. Please join us in Grace Church's Wiles Hall at 11:45 am! 

Years of borrowing for – instead of paying for – repairs and improvements to the states’ roads and transit systems have left the state without enough money to fund basic transportation operations. Also, the funding mechanism that the legislature put in place for the MBTA (a portion of the state sales tax) failed to produce the anticipated revenue. As a result, the MBTA is proposing grave fare hikes and service reductions to pay the bills. For example, the MBTA plans to cut all commuter rail service on weekends, and one of the proposals would eliminate four bus routes that service Medford. Service cuts and fare hikes will urban poor families the hardest because of their dependence on public transit and their limited ability to afford the fare increases. Also, it is wrong to cut public transit when we need to take serious steps to tackle climate change.

Come with your laptops, pens, friends, and kids. There will be chocolate snacks to help bring out your inner environmentalist.

To learn more about the proposed service reductions and fare hikes, go to http://www.mbta.com.

Question about the event should be directed to Jonathan Hunt or Catherine Smith at greeninggrace@gracemedford.org.