Presbyterian Church USA Asks Its 2.3 Million Members Each to Become Carbon Neutral

[RedEarth]

In a stunning development the Presbyterian Church USA, (PCUSA) one of the more conservative of the mainstream US Protestant denominations, has asked its 2.3 million members each to “make a bold witness by aspiring to carbon neutral lives. (Carbon neutrality requires our energy consumption that releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere be reduced and carbon offsets purchased to compensate for those carbon emissions that could not be eliminated.)” This resolution was passed by the PCUSA’s biennial General Assembly meeting in Birmingham, Alabama in late June. During a meeting marked by some contentious discussions and debates concerning such social issues as roles of gays in the clergy and abortion the resolution sailed through on the Floor of the General Assembly on the consent calendar after being endorsed by the Social Justice Committee by a 55-3 margin with three abstentions.

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Generally the Presbyterian Church USA has a laity that tends to the right of center in US politics. Church surveys of PCUSA laity’s political self identification have tended to show that about half of Church members identify themselves as Republicans, about a quarter as Democrats and about a quarter as Independents

http://www.climate.org/topics/climate/presbyterian_climate_neutral.shtml

[phantom power]

1. That's a remarkable mandate.

Sort of begs the question of "how?" But remarkable that they're thinking that way.

[kestrel91316]

2. Easy. A combination of personal conservation and purchase of

caarbon offsets from any of a number of companies funding wind power, biogas power, solar power, etc. It definitely qualifies as "good works" in my book.