Latest Green Sanctuary News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named the Allied Paper, Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River Superfund Site in 1990. This enormous site includes 80 miles of the Kalamazoo River from Morrow Dam to Lake Michigan and 3 miles of Portage Creek between Cork Street and the Kalamazoo River. The river bottom and its banks were contaminated over […]

Interfaith Power & Light (IPL) announced the six national 2023 Cool Congregations Challenge winners. The annual contest awards religious congregations around the United States for outstanding efforts to addressing climate change in their facilities by reducing their carbon footprint and creating models of sustainability within their communities. Read more HERE! COMMUNITY INSPIRATION, […]

The October 1 workday, under the combined sponsorship of Buildings & Grounds and Green Sanctuary, was a spectacular success. The weather was perfect. Lots of people showed up and had a great time working together. We accomplished an amazing amount of work. And then we enjoyed lunch together.  Here’s […]

As the holidays approach, please consider lowering your impact on the environment while supporting local businesses and craftspeople by purchasing from area holiday bazaars. People’s Church bazaar will be held Saturday, November 19, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. The bazaar has a warm, friendly atmosphere, and enables you to interact with the folks […]

The Green Sanctuary Committee of People’s Church is again sponsoring the Fall Clean-Up of 10th Street from West Main to H Street on Sunday, October 30 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. Come and pick up trash along the road to help beautify our Church neighborhood. Youth are encouraged to volunteer, but parental […]

Fall is in the air, the season of pumpkin spice, bright leaves, and elections. As we prepare to participate in one of the most vital acts of citizenship, voting, it is important to locate information that can help us make informed choices. For those seeking information on environmental and justice issues, here […]

All of us know Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It’s the mantra for an individual’s responsibility in lowering personal carbon emissions and living more sustainably. But how do we do more? Should we do more? Yes, it is vital to do more. Individuals cannot lower or reverse the emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG) by their own actions. […]

On July 3rd we hosted folks from Bike and Build! Twenty young adults joined this group at a variety of life stages: on break from school, in between jobs, or just for an adventure as they decide what comes next. Starting in Pennsylvania, they are biking across the northern part of the U.S. to raise […]

People’s to Host Bike & Build July 3-4 The Green Sanctuary Committee will be hosting about 25 members of a Bike & Build crew Sunday afternoon, July 3, to Monday morning, July 4.  They “engage young adults in service-oriented, cross-country cycling trips to raise money and awareness for affordable housing.” This summer, 100 riders will […]

Partnering with Nature to Heal the Climate CrisisBy Cybelle Shattuck Alongside news articles touting new technologies that may “save us” from the climate crisis with big investments for research and implementation, there are quieter stories describing how to work with nature to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Regenerative agriculture is one of the most […]

By Nicky Leigh During the last couple of years, our church has installed solar panels, started insulating all the rooms, fixed the windows to reduce air flow, insulated the hot water pipes, changed the light bulbs to LED and installed motion detector switches. Some of our congregants have also installed solar panels, purchased electric vehicles […]

A New Year’s Resolution for Living with a Climate CrisisBy Cybelle Shattuck My New Year’s Resolution is to foster the resilience necessary to thrive during the life-long endeavor to address the world’s climate crisis. This begins with giving myself permission to acknowledge my grief and lostness over damage to the ecosystems where I feel most […]

An Update on the Net Zero Project In 2019 the Green Sanctuary Committee spawned a project aimed at getting People’s Church to net zero carbon emissions by the year 2030.  Since that time a lot has been done towards the goal, and a lot still remains if we are to achieve it.  Here’s the status. […]

Cool Congregations Thanks to Cybelle Shattuck, we were introduced to Cool Congregations, a program of Interfaith Power and Light, which rewards congregations for becoming carbon emission responsible. Their Challenge rewards congregations for reducing their carbon footprints and for encouraging their members and community to do the same. Many of you might have noticed changes to […]

Harvest of Hope On September 18, clergy and members of area congregations gathered at Allen Chapel AME on the north side of Kalamazoo to celebrate a Harvest of Unity rooted in the soil of a new garden project. The garden at Allen Chapel grew out of conversations organized by Hope for Creation, the local interfaith group […]

By Nicky Leigh After our May Annual Meeting, the congregation voted for People’s to become an affiliate of the Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition (KCCC). Thank you to everyone for making this possible. With this we have joined a coalition of over 30 different organizations and businesses interested in curbing greenhouse gases and attempting to reduce […]

By Nicky Leigh I attended two different climate conferences recently, Michigan Climate and Clean Energy Summit and the Michigan Sustainability Conference. MCCE is very much about “where do the various government entities stand and what is happening to mitigate climate change”.  For example, Sen. Stabenow talked about Federal Forestry programs, regenerative agriculture, urban trees, and […]

What the Heck Is Happening to my Electric Bill? Have you noticed some changes to your electric bill recently?  Maybe you’ve just. chalked it up to normal increases in everything, or to variability due to the weather? It turns out to be a little more than that.  Last fall the Michigan Public Service Commission approved […]

Why Your Next Car Should be Electric On Sunday, July 11, People’s Church will be hosting an in-person electric vehicle (EV) event featuring Dr. Paul Pancella, Chair of the WMU Dept. of Physics, as well as an expo of electric vehicles put on by the Kalamazoo Electric Vehicle Association (KEVA).  Like our previous Eco Forums […]

Just before the pandemic, the Green Sanctuary Committee (GSC) shared a letter with the People’s Board of Trustees in support of becoming an affiliate of the Kalamazoo Climate Coalition (KCCC), provided the church membership also supported affiliation during the 2020 Annual Meeting. After a year’s delay, we are once again proposing members consider KCCC affiliation […]

“There Is More Hope Somewhere” An African American hymn we often sing at People’s includes the following verse: “There is more hope somewhere. There is more hope somewhere. I’m gonna keep on ‘til I find it. There is more hope somewhere.” Reading environmental news may make us feel hopeless about our future, and yet it […]

When I was approached by the Green Sanctuary Committee to lead an eco-forum on backyard gardening, my email response included this: “If I may be somewhat unconventional, heavily philosophical and only a little technical, I’d love to do this.” I hope that compels you to join this interactive forum in which I’ll share what I’ve […]

What is KCCC? The Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition started in mid-2019 as a response to Greta Thunberg’s call for a Global Climate Strike in September of 2019. Led by a group of professors from WMU, a number of organizations got together to plan Kalamazoo’s participation. Over 1500 people participated in the rally held at Arcadia […]

Now that we have solar panels, what should People’s Church do next to reduce our carbon footprint? Rule of thumb:  The best, cleanest, and cheapest source of new energy is conservation and efficiency. People’s Church had a golden opportunity last year to install our solar system at no up-front cost, but now it’s time to […]