We live in the deep South. When we first moved back to the area, I mentioned to a friend that we were pretty “granola,” and she had no idea what I meant.

Recycling has come to our city, but most of the neighboring cities don’t offer it. And when we are out on garbage pick up days, I see lots of garbage cans stuffed full of cardboard.

But things are changing, and I feel that if they start changing here, then there’s a chance that our country will really decrease our dependence on oil, cut greenhouse emissions, and heal our hurting planet.

Our Sunday School class recently began a study on “Green Church: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rejoice!” by Rebekah Simon-Peter, an ordained United Methodist pastor. In this book, she makes a great argument that protecting the Earth is not just a political talking point, but a holy obligation.

I have to admit that I was worried that people in our class would be opposed to talking about it, but the discussion has been great and people seem very interested in not just talking about going green, but making big efforts to help our church go green. We’ve already been mildly successful in our first “green” effort — handwashing the dishes on Wednesday evening, instead of throwing away styrofoam plates.

I believe that if churches join the other groups in encouraging our local and national leaders to start really working to green our planet, then maybe something will start to happen.

What do you think?

Last week I wrote about how I wanted to get involved in green initiatives in my hometown, but had no idea how to get started.

Lucky for me, some others in our church had a similar idea. We’re starting small — washing dishes after Wednesday night meals, instead of using disposable styrofoam plates and plastic utensils.

We are new at this church, and I was surprised at the church’s willingness to go green. At our other church, one of the pastors constantly talked about how global warming was a hoax and there was no need to recycle or do anything green. I assumed this was the belief held by most church leaders, and was thrilled to find that wasn’t the case at our new church.

A few months ago, I read an article in one of my mom’s magazines about several religious leaders — from a variety of religions and countries — and their work to go green. The motive for most was that the Bible teaches us to take care of the earth. Many also mentioned the financial benefits of going green.

I was very encouraged by that article.

We are starting small at our church, but I’m hoping to be able to implement more green initiatives — not having paper bulletins every Sunday, emailing the Church’s weekly correspondence to the people who have email accounts, switching to CFLs, etc.

I realize that washing dishes on Wednesday night is a small start, but I’m hopeful that our effort will cause ripples throughout the church population and our community.

Have any of you started a green initiatives in your community? Did you start small?