Isn’t it enough to just do something noble and meaningful as a profession? Must we also be environmentally responsible too?
Stewardship doesn’t have categories for application that can be ignored and some accepted. Organizations that tout their good deeds on one hand and knowingly scoff at good stewardship on the other are regularly called out for their inconsistent and hypocritical behavior. The recent BP disaster in the gulf comes to mind. As such, non-profits should lead the way in environmental stewardship. We have not reached the point where it’s becoming possible to be on the cutting edge environmentally, and be saving resources financially at the same time, which maximizes our donors investment. The more we save, the more we can put into direct services. We can do good and do right at the same time.
Here at the Rescue Mission we’re launching our GO GREEN initiative, which is our most aggressive movement yet to be the best possible steward of resources from an environmental perspective. The excitement has been building, with lots of great folks from our team getting into the spirit and coming up with some fantastic ways we can save environmental resources and save precious financial resources at the same time.
Here are a few ideas that we’re launching today:
Composting: With essentially two restaurants that are open three meals a day, every day of the year, we turn out a huge amount of compostable product. Now we’re asking everyone to take part in making sure that we are putting composted product in the landfill, but instead using it to improve our gardens and soil. In addition, we are selling the remaining food that isn’t composted to a local farm to feed to their animals. This takes a couple extra steps, but it’s worth the work to make a difference.
Recycling: While this isn’t a new concept, we’re setting the goal of cutting our garbage output in half at ALL of our six locations. This means making sure all of our apartments, offices, and bathrooms, kitchens, and workspaces are trained and encouraged to recycle absolutely everything you possibly can. There’s a tremendous amount of training and reinforcement necessary, as we are so used to just tossing product into the garage instead of separating and recycling.
Video Conferencing: We’re all going to use Skype, phone conferencing and our new video conferencing system to do as many of our team meetings and classes as possible, thus cutting down on our usage of gas and our environmental impact.
Temperature Range: As we’ve upgraded our facilities over the years we’ve become used to having the temperature at a steady 70 degrees, but with our new focus on environment responsibility we’re setting a goal to save 5% on our use of electricity and natural resources. This goal is achievable if we all re-set our temperature to a range of 68-74 degrees. That’s not outside the comfort zone, but will allow for a dead-spot in the system where the equipment isn’t running 24/7. It’s a great, easy way to be responsible. As a test I’ve totally turned off my system in my office except when I needed the temperature adjusted and noticed that I only need it working for a max of 15 minutes, to warm my office at the beginning of the day. And that’s between January and May!
Paper Towel Usage: One of our teams pointed out that we spend thousands of dollars each year on paper towels, just at our Downtown Tacoma Campus. By switching over to hand-dryers at our high-usage area we will save financial and environmental resources. A double benefit! In addition, those campuses that still use paper towels in the bathroom will be encouraged to recycle those instead of throwing them away.
Let’s encourage each other in taking the lead in environmental responsibility. We have a stewardship responsibility to our donors, clients and most importantly, to God. The faith-based community shouldn’t be absent from the discussion of environment, as we unfortunately have been, but taking the lead in responsible management.
David Curry
