This Fall every couple of weeks, green team members and supporters will be sharing some personal stories and insights on what embracing values of sustainability means to them in their own lives and as members of the Hamline Church community.  We invite you to learn and become inspired to take further action in your own life or as a member of our community.

Craig Bowron with his wife Stephanie and their children Isak, Caleb and Julia.

My name is Craig Bowron, and I’m a member of Hamline Church’s Green Team. It’s a very select group:  we only admit church members who are biologically dependent on the Earth for their existence. If you breathe in oxygen every five or six seconds, then you’re in. We evaluate non-breathers on a case-by-case basis.

Two main interests brought me to the Green Team: avoiding unnecessary waste, and solar power.

For myself, I believe waste is the sincerest form of ingratitude to the earth; it is the opposite of reverence. Since a sense of gratitude has been proven to be a key indicator in happiness, eliminating waste is a key to happiness. Take an aluminum can for instance. Aluminum is made from a raw ore called bauxite; refining bauxite into aluminum is very energy intensive. Why would we collectively dig a hole to mine bauxite, spend all the resources required to make it into an aluminum can, and then dig another hole (landfill) to throw it into? We don’t have too many aluminum cans around Hamline Church, but an audit shows that we’re wasting a lot of energy. I’d rather put my money in the offering plate than throw it out a leaky window.

Solar power: it’s already the dominant form of energy on this planet. The gas you use to drive to church is old sunshine—sunlight that hit the Earth 300 million years ago and was captured by an array of microscopic photosynthetic organisms that eventually became buried under the seas. Percolating under intense heat and pressure, these microorganisms were slowly distilled into oil and gas.

Putting solar panels on the education wing of Hamline Church is not only a good investment, it sends a message that we are a forward-thinking congregation that recognizes both the science of climate change and the injustice of its consequences. I anticipate that Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and now Maria will prove, yet again, that when disaster strikes, the rich lose a little, and the poor lose a lot—maybe everything. And Jesus has called us to help the poor. We can shine a light by capturing the light.

Hamline Church will begin producing solar energy beginning in late Spring 2018.  We expect it will be enough energy to offset about half our current electricity consumption.

If you missed the first Green Team blog post by Natalie Freund click here.

This Fall every couple of weeks, green team members and supporters will be sharing some personal stories and insights on what embracing values of sustainability means to them in their own lives and as members of the Hamline Church community.  We invite you to learn and become inspired to take further action in your own life or as a member of our community.

by Natalie Freund

Natalie with her family: Jason, Jasmine and Harper.

I have been challenging myself this past year to make changes in my lifestyle to help minimize my environmental footprint and do my part to help the world. One of those changes I am particularly proud of has been our family’s choice to line dry our clothes. It is one significant way our family of four can use less energy every week. I grew up using a drying rack for sweaters and a few other items. We decided this last year though to go all in and line dry absolutely all of our laundry each week.

The first thing I did was purchase two additional racks to line dry our clothes. I found the best drying rack for our family are the metal racks sold at Menards for around $20. They fold up small, and are super light. If the weather is nice, I can take them out on our back patio and have the clothes dry in the sun, however most of the time I open them up and use them right next to the washing machine. The biggest change I had to make was in planning, because now I could no longer run several loads in a row or I would run out of drying space.

It felt great from the start making this change to use less energy, and I actually find it relaxing to lay out the clothes as well. We know we are helping the environment by using a lot less energy every week, and are also saving money on our electric bill each month. Also, line-dried clothes last longer.  One area people struggle with is line-dried towels, as they can feel rather hard and stiff once dry. We just got used to it as a family, but I initially felt embarrassed to have people over who were not accustomed to stiff hand or bath towels. I found a good solution by buying DriSoft towels, available from Bed Bath & Beyond and other retailers.  They are a thinner towel so do not dry stiff like traditional towels. We still used our dryer in a pinch four times last year. I would highly recommend that everyone try line drying their clothes and see how it works for you. It does not mean it always needs to be done but each time you are line drying instead of using the dryer you are making a positive environmental impact.

Some Benefits of Line-Drying Clothes:

• The average household in the United States that chooses to abandon their automatic utility-powered tumble clothes dryer can save more than $200 per year on energy bills, which translates to as much as 2,400 lbs of carbon.
• Tossing and tumbling in a dryer can cause wear and strain on clothing fabric due to stress on seams and snags from buttons and zippers. Excessively high heat in the dryer can actually ruin some fabrics and cause irreversible damage.
• The ultra-violet rays in sunlight helps to bleach and disinfect laundry. This is particularly beneficial for white sheets, towels and cloth diapers. However, for dark colored clothes, excessive sunlight can cause some harm so keep them in the shade if possible to prevent fading.