PE.com - Environment Blog

The greening of a church

The Rev. Phil Smith delivers the Sunday sermon inside of the Universalist Unitarian Church in Riverside. May 30, 1999. (David Bauman/The Press-Enterprise)

It is perhaps the most environmentally friendly church in the Inland region and now it's up for an energy Oscar. A what?

The awards are being handed out tonight in Berkeley by the California Interfaith Power and Light to bring attention to the congregations statewide that have shown exemplary efforts to address global warming and conserve energy since they view those as protecting God's creation. And the Universalist Unitarian Church in downtown Riverside is among the 16 nominees.

The church, built in 1891, is nominated under the green building category, which was a bit of a puzzle to me initially since it's so historic. But Mike Sandler, Southern California outreach director for the California Interfaith Power and Light, told me the church got mention because of all the things its members have done to green-ify the historic building.

Dave Mowry, past chair of the Riverside church's green sanctuary program, will be on hand at tonight's ceremony. Mowry said the church earlier this month gave out 125 compact fluorescent bulbs at an alternative gifts fair in Riverside, and the church itself has the energy-saving bulbs in every spot possible. Because it's historical, he said, some light bases aren't the right size for the bulbs.

Mowry, 73, said the church is big on recycling, has no air conditioning except for three window units that are energy star rating and sit in the kitchen, office and classroom. They often host viewings of films showing environmental issues such as "An Inconvenient Truth," and their monthly newsletter contains a full page on environmental issues in "The Green Corner."

Outside the church, Mowry said, they are working with their landscape folks to make sure non-toxic, biodegradeable fertilizersare used; and inside the church, they're doing the same thing with kitchen chemcials and cleaning agents to make sure they're organic and non-pollution. Cloth napkins are used instead of paper ones at functions. I could go on and on.

But last year, the church became the first Unitarian Universalist church in California to be "green sanctuary" certified by the UU Ministry for Earth. Mowry went to St. Louis to pick up the certificate. You can click here to see what the church had to do to get the certification.

Like I said, perhaps the most environmentally friendly church in all of the Inland region.

"No doubt about it," Mowry said.