This week’s tip is to leverage your role as an alumni and write to your high school and university alma maters about climate change, and our quote is from Bishop Steve Charleston.
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Living on God’s Earth
By Episcopal Climate News, facebook.com/EpiscopalClimateNews
This week’s earth-friendly living tip: Write to your alma maters about climate change
Everyone has a sphere of influence. The idea of writing letters to policymakers is an old one—but you can also write letters to your high school and university alma maters, to organizations where you’re a member, or to your employer!
Write a letter to institutions where you belong or have belonged in the past. Ask them what they’re doing to be environmentally sustainable, and what more they could be doing. For example, you could contact your high school or university—many schools place great value on alumni input—and ask:
- Do they teach their students about climate change or sustainable living?
- Climate change is not just one more issue on a long list of issues. It is part of every single issue we care about, and every part of society has a role to play. If the school is teaching about climate change, is it only doing this in electives, or is it bringing the message to its core courses and every department, not just the environmental electives?
- Has the school taken steps to improve its energy efficiency, switch to renewable power sources, and cut down on its overall energy use?
- Is the school recycling and composting? What are they doing to cut back on plastic use?
- Has the school worked with the local government to improve public transportation options to its location for staff and visitors, as well as students?
- Has the school’s science teachers worked with local policymakers to educate them about the local impacts of climate change?
You have a voice. Use it everywhere you can!
Episcopal Climate News quote of the week: Bishop Steve Charleston
“The Earth is a great ship, sailing through the open seas of space. And while we are not the captain of this ship, we are the crew. It is our job to keep her polished and running for the long journey ahead. We each have our part. We each are in charge of caring for a part of our planet. Please join me in renewing your commitment to this calling. God made this Earth for a reason. God set us to sail on her for a purpose. We have been entrusted with this beautiful ship, entrusted with its precious cargo of life. Let us be worthy of that trust until our watch is over.”
– The Rt. Rev. Steve Charleston, former Bishop of Alaska, retired dean of Episcopal Divinity School, and member of the Choctaw Nation
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