SAN FRANCISCO — Reverend Canon Sally Bingham made ecological health a factor of faith in 1998 when she founded The Regeneration Project (TRP). The mission of Bingham and her fellow clergy is to get faith followers to understand that science and faith go together. “If God calls you to be a good steward of the planet, we shouldn’t waste anything,” she says. (Photo courtesy of Sally Bingham)
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EDITOR’S NOTE: SCGH interviews environmental minister Sally Bingham about the environment in a religious context.By E.Q. Lam
SAN FRANCISCO — Religious environmentalism. The Reverend Canon Sally Bingham champions it. As one of the foremost leaders in advocating for the environment through a religious lens, the walls of her office are filled with photos of times spent with other recognized environmental and religious leaders, including former US Vice President Al Gore and Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu.
Bingham made ecological health a factor of faith in 1998 when she founded The Regeneration Project (TRP). The mission of Bingham and her fellow clergy is to get faith followers to understand that science and faith go together. “If God calls you to be a good steward of the planet, we shouldn’t waste anything,” she says. “… We’re trying to take the word ‘belief’ out of climate change. It’s real. It’s not a theory; it’s not [simply] a belief. Religion would not have a prayer without science. I need the science of climate change to back [me] up if I have to tell people about it.”
Bingham currently serves as TRP’s president and the Canon for the Environment for the Episcopal Diocese of California (as well as the environmental minister at Grace Cathedral). TRP runs a campaign called Interfaith Power & Light (IPL), a direct religious response to global warming.
This interfaith ministry combines nearly all mainstream religions. “We’re the only group that does just climate work and that works with the interfaith community,” she says. Among those faiths uniting under the banner of religious environmentalism are the major denominations—“an absolutely wonderful, unintended” benefit, Bingham says. “We’ve brought all these Jews, Christians, Mormons together … standing in solidarity with an issue they care greatly about. And that’s been wonderfully fulfilling.”
About 14,000 congregations in 37 states and Washington, DC, are part of the IPL network. California has more than 500 congregations active in IPL.
“Every one of these mainstream religions have some kind of mandate or mantra or command to protect God’s creation,” Bingham says. “If you’re harming one part of the ecosystem, you’re harming the whole thing. So [the religions] have this kind of underwriting.”
The Hartford Institute estimates there are about 335,000 religious congregations nationwide. “We have 14,000 houses of worship in our network. We’d like to have 100,000 houses of worship interested in our work,” Bingham says.
The majority of Americans (92 percent) believe in a god or higher being, the Washington Post reports, and about half of that population regularly attends a house of worship, according to ABC News. TRP seeks to educate the people of faith (such as through teaching kids about waste in Sunday school) but also to guide religious leaders, who have a tremendous influence by preaching from the pulpit, Bingham adds. Clergy must make the connection for themselves between the environment and faith and then incorporate the message into every sermon, not just for days such as Earth Day and St. Francis Day, she says.
“Everybody who considers themselves religious is a protector of the environment,” Bingham says. “Your faith is manifested in your behavior. … [I]t’s insulting to God to blow the top off the mountain. God created that mountain. … I know there’s another way to get coal.”
The biggest barrier to support, Bingham says, is resistance to change. She poses the question: If your neighbor is the next generation, don’t you have to love your neighbor? This pertains to feeding the hungry as well as not polluting your neighbor’s air. The reaction from people, she says, is that they had not thought about it that way before.
“And so that’s exciting. This message has some appeal that a strictly environmental message doesn’t,” Bingham says. “It has more of an impact. Not that religion always works, too. In an ideal world, you’re supposed to love your neighbor … .”
[caption id="attachment_9838" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Mitch Lindeman sprinkles holy water on the solar panels of Christ Church in Portola Valley, California. (Courtesy of Sally Bingham)"]
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Bingham’s sermon on how her work started is reprinted as an essay in Holy Ground: A Gathering of Voices on Caring for Creation, a book edited by Sierra Club Books in 2008.
“When we started, California was deregulating the electrical industry,” Bingham says. “We were asking to switch to a green market. It was new. It was scary. It was a very difficult journey those three years, between 1997 and 2000.”
Sixty congregations (Episcopal churches) switched from dirty burning power to renewable energy, Bingham recalls. Some churches have tried the strategy of aggregating their consumer power for a reduced utility rate. In order to ask churches to make that switch and to conserve energy, Bingham learned all about energy. Support for the movement was sealed as soon as a church saw its utility costs lowered. “That’s when it really took off, because everybody wants to save money,” Bingham says. “… We could plug the holes in the grid, become more energy efficient, go to electric cars.”
Once people know that their congregation is saving money, it raises consciousness and they will do it at home, Bingham says—especially people with a longer-term vision. Their environmental actions cost the pocketbook now but save energy and money down the road. “And that’s exciting when they can see beyond the short term,” she says. “I don’t know any congregation who doesn’t want to save money. … We’ll use whatever language works, because the ultimate language is the same.”
Another challenge is to place environmental stewardship as a priority on the social agenda over jobs and the economy, Bingham says, even as economic difficulties challenge fund raising for TRP and IPL: “The economy’s taken value out of the foundations that support us and taken money from this really important work.”
For Valentine’s Day last year, Bingham preached about loving creation and tens of thousands of cards were distributed to parishioners with a message to local political representatives urging care for health and climate protection. This coming holiday, Bingham wants to use instant messaging. “They realize environmental stewardship is important, so they’re going to exercise that in the voting booth,” she says of parishioners.
Bingham looks forward to bringing greater awareness of the environment to congregations and individuals. “That the people in the pews will recognize this as a priority, if they talk about faith, hope, and justice,” she says. “Justice, peace, integrity for creation … Peace, love, and care for creation should be priorities all equally important.
“We would like to be known as a resource for religious persons or institutions that need help or information that has to do with energy, climate, and conservation.”
Additional resources: Cool Congregations Restoring Eden Evangelical Environmental Network The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
For related article, see: Energy Oscars Recognize Wide Variety of Faith Efforts
Check out more articles by E.Q. Lam.
© 2011 SCGH, LLC.
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