The EJT would like to thank the 88 members who completed the individual Environmental Survey earlier this Spring. That’s about half the congregation and a really good response for a survey of any kind. Yay!

The main headline from your collective responses is that, not surprisingly, our fellowship members have a very high degree of awareness of and participation in activities that are environmentally protective. 

Some further highlights:

• 70%+ of respondents rated all of the Energy Use items as critically or moderately important and are acting accordingly. 
• Almost all respondents are water wise, limiting their use of water to essentials. 
• More than 80% appreciate and/or are employing xeriscaping. 
• We emphasize playing outside rather than on screens. 
• Almost all are active in recycling efforts. 
• Nearly ¾ have taken actions monitoring and/or improving HVAC systems, window efficiency and insulation
• Almost everyone is thinks buying locally grown food is important and is doing so at least partly; most are limiting their meat consumption
• Almost all are using reusable shopping bags, recycled paper for home use, and looking for environmental impact when buying consumer goods
• About half of respondents are driving the most fuel-efficient car they can, and almost 40% plan to do so in the future
• Travel mugs are in wide use
• We have a very high awareness of and level of participation in educating ourselves and advocating for environmental and wildlife organizations

There were many interesting and useful additional comments made at the end of the survey. The main ones that stood out for the Team can be readily summarized: 

Sure, individual actions are important, and we need to keep doing them, but even in aggregate they won’t really make up the large, rapid difference we need to limit the worst effects of climate change. We need to be doing what we can to influence the larger corporate systems and governments (local, state, national, international). The EJT agrees, and will definitely address this (note the article in this newsletter on the LPEA vote) as we move forward. And let’s continue to increase our environmental sensitivity and keep making those personal adjustments that limit our environmental impact. The EJT would be glad to hear from you with more ideas.