Sustainability

Composting at Good Shepherd is Here.....and it's Simple!

Any and all food scraps can now be composted. Place them in the small bin located in the kitchen marked "compost," or place a compostable bag in a large pot to collect food scraps from community meals. When the bag is full, place it in the large, gray trash can outside in the alley marked "compost." Replace the bag in the small container. Bags for composting are out in the kitchen near the sinks.

 All the items below can be composted; just place any boxes, newspapers, food packaging directly into the gray bin outside:

- Food scraps, including meat, bread, vegetables, table scraps, dairy, coffee grounds and pasta

- Unsoiled or food-soiled paper products, such as paper towels, paper bags, pizza boxes, napkins, paper cups, newspaper and food packaging Read more »

It's Not Yard Waste - It's Compost!

First there was the green and brown bins to collect our garbage. Then there were a few blue bins to collect our recycling of paper, glass and plastics. Now there is a new grey bin for composting. It will hold all garden and grass clippings, as well as paper napkins and pizza boxes. Food scraps go into a plastic bag that comes from the Village of Oak Park and then can go into the grey compost bin.

History of the Green Team

The Green Team evolved from a series of initiatives to reduce energy consumption by our congregation. The first initiative was a fundraiser for the teens of the church. They sold energy saving devices in kits to members of the congregation. The initiative was led by Seven Generations Ahead, a not-for-profit organization that our church has supported. Read more »

Create a Prairie Garden to feed God's Creatures

At the synod's Green Event on Earth Day many congregations wanted to know how we created our Prairie Garden. The following are the directions.

HOW TO REPLACE LAWN WITH PRAIRIE GARDEN
Choose a space of sun-filled lawn that measures 3 X 5 feet. Remove the sod. Purchase/request donations of the following prairie plants: Crimson Butterfly Weed; Blue Globe Thistle; Little Blue Stem Grass; Wild Petunia. Read more »

Receive a Green News Letter from the Synod

The Green Steward, is the quarterly newsletter of the Environmental Concerns Working Group of the Metro Chicago Synod, ELCA.

GET YOUR SUBSCRIPTION by adding yourself to the distribution list. Send a note with your e-mail address to Jim Schwab, chair of the Working Group, at jimjeanschwab@att.net. They will also be happy to receive news or ideas from contributors.

The Best "Green" Website for Churches

The Synod and LSTC (our seminary) created a fantastic web site, www.webofcreation.org, with many important ways to become better stewards of the earth. This web site is full of detailed documents and easy ways to change your own life and change your own planet. It's the place for you to learn how serious the Lutheran Church is about caring for our planet. David Rhoads, Professor, Author and Speaker said at the first Synod Green Event last fall, "caring for our creation is THE number one concern of the church today."

Water Drops

Flushing the toilet uses the same amount of water a person in a developing country uses for washing, cleaning, cooking, and drinking each day.

It takes more than a thousand drops of water to make one drop of coffee.

Producing one ton of beef requires 15,000 tons of water; producing one ton of grain requires 1,000 tons of water.

Try this Water Use Calculator!

Do you know how much water you and your family use?
Try these water footprint calculators.
waterfootprint.org/?page=cal/waterfootprintcalculator_indv_ext
watercalculator.fieldmuseum.org

PlanItGreen

PlanItGreen is offering an exciting opportunity to plan a more sustainable future for the communities of Oak Park and River Forest.  PlanItGreen, part of the OPRF Community Foundation's Communityworks initiative, is designed to engage community residents and stakeholder organizations in creating and realizing a vision for an environmentally sustainable Oak Park and River Forest.  Community participation is a fundamental part of the process and your completion of the survey will provide us with the community's priorities and ideas for a Green Oak Park and River Forest.  Seven Generations Ahead (SGA), one fo the lead consultants for PlanItGreen, receives funding annually from Good Shepherd.  GSLC members Gary Cuneen, Mark Ledogar and Warren King are all on the SGA Boar Read more »

Mission statement

To Connect the Actions of the Good Shepherd Community to the Stewardship of God's Creation

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