Parish
Greening Guide
Practical Ideas for Living in a Way that
Acknowledges God’s Generosity
February 2020

Saint Seraphim Cathedral
90 Mountain View Ave • Santa Rosa, CA 95407
www.saintseraphim.com

The Creation © cover art by Christina DeMichele,
used with permission
All photos by Louis Bockner
Used with permission © The Face of God Film

FORWARD
How magnified are Thy works, O Lord!
In wisdom hast Thou made them all;The earth is filled with Thy creation. (Ps. 103)
In the last few years one may have read the most astounding and concerning news reports about vast floating islands of plastic in the Pacific Ocean, micro-plastics
not just in our seafood, but in the depths of the ocean,
early fire seasons, super storms, a large city of some six
million in India running out of water, various forms of
massive pollution and so on. For many of us, reports andexplanations (which seem regularly contradictory andheavily politicized) about weather and climate are terribly confusing. Perhaps one can simply observe that our
God-given world, which is subject to corruption and sin,is hurting.
What to do? I don’t know what to say regarding the controversial issues on climate and pollution. Neither am I
interested in promoting a partisan agenda in this parish.
I only know that I am responsible here, at my parish andmy home, for living in a way that is not a wasteful or irresponsible use of the gifts, oﬀerings and labor of ourparishioners and God’s generosity.
As a pastor, I am interesting in doing something “where
I live” in whatever way I can responsibly manage. I’minterested in being inspired by what Fr. Alexander
Schmemann wrote: “...when we give up freely, totally, unconditionally, the self-suﬃciency of our life, when weput all its meaning in Christ, that the ‘newness of life’ –which means a new possession of the world – is given tous. The world then truly becomes the sacrament of
Christ’s presence, the growth of the Kingdom and of life
eternal.” ― Fr. Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of theWorld.
In other words, I would like to live with gratitude toGod, to live sacramentally: “O Lord, how magnified are
Thy works, in wisdom hast Thou made them all. The
earth is full of Thy...” Such sentiments help us to livewith a sense of stewardship of the gifts the Lord has given us.
This document, humbly oﬀered, is an invitation to examine the day-to-day habits at our parish regarding thethings we consume, the water we use, the fuel we burn,the waste we leave behind (staying to clean up after an
Agape Meal or BBQ, one would be surprised at the pollution left behind each week on the grounds and in the
Parish Hall). Hopefully some of these ideas can carryover into our homes and possibly our communities. Let
us give thanks to God for His kindness to us.
—Fr. Lawrence Margitich
St. Seraphim Cathedral, Santa Rosa, CA

Table of Contents
Part One
Garbage .............................................................Page 2
Space.................................................................. Page 7
Food................................................................... Page 8
Energy ...............................................................Page 10
Water .................................................................Page 12Part Two
Parish Practices ................................................Page 14
Waste .................................................................Page 15
Energy ...............................................................Page 16
Transportation ..................................................Page 16
Finances.............................................................Page 19
Land................................................................... Page 20

Part Three
Community .......................................................Page 21

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Part OneSELF • FAMILY • HOME
Editors’ note: This guide was written with the intention ofhelping us examine our everyday practices from the ground up—i.e., starting with our homes and personal lives, and thenflowing into our communal parish lives, and perhaps cities or
towns. Living in a way that is respectful of God’s creation often
starts at home, with the garbage cans, food and fuel that makeup our daily routines. For Parish Council purposes, it may be
helpful to start with the Parish section, which features ideas
specifically for churches and starts on page 10.

GARBAGE
Our most obvious—though not necessarily greatest—
ecological “point of harm” often lies in our trash cans.
Digging through them at the end of the week can reveal
a lot! What is in there that doesn’t need to be? Ask yourself what can you avoid buying just to throw away again.
• Is it paper towels?
Can you switch to rags? This saves money in the longrun. For example, you don’t need to go out and buy
new rags to replace paper towels—you can tear up
old clothes that would otherwise go into a landfill.

2• Plastic sandwich bags?
You can: purchase or make reusable ones with zippers, use reusable wax paper or wrap things in cloth.
Be creative! Rather than buying a bunch of newthings, focus on using what you already have.
• Plastic produce bags?
Substitute with reusable mesh bags or cloth. Or savethose plastic bags, wash them and reuse them multiple times (a common practice at many monasteries).
Can you buy corn-based compostable bags like thoseoﬀered by ClearBags as a last resort if you really needsomething single-use? These can be found at Safeway
stores in Sonoma County.
• Paint? Shoes? Electronics?
Look into your local recycling programs to help dispose of things properly and keep them out of thelandfill. Examples: Nike, and the Nike outlets in
Petaluma will take old shoes and grind them up to
turn them into astroturf for playgrounds. Apple
stores will take back electronics. Broken ceramics
can go on your local Freecycle page for mosaic artists—in Sonoma County, the page is called Sonoma County Unconditional Give or Take (SCUGT); ask Rachel
Dovey for a social media invite.
Half-full cans of paint can also go on SCUGT for
remodelers on a budget. Half-used art supplies can
go to the Legacy craft store in Sebastopol. Used pensand markers can to Staples—they will recycle them.
3• Leftover building supplies?
Consider donating to Habitat for Humanity’s Restore.
H.U.T.S. (which builds tiny homes for homeless veterans) also takes donations from time to time—callHomeless Action! at (707) 742-3733. And SCUGT is another good place to unload paint, windows (forgreenhouses), lumber, bricks, concrete chunks etc.
• Packaging from Amazon?
Certain UPS stores are now “Amazon locker” locations, meaning you can drop plastic mailers oﬀ. FourOak Farm in South Santa Rosa uses recycled packaging for their CSA and veggie boxes and always needs
donations (https://www.fouroakfarm.com).
• Hand soap dispensers or packaging from dish soap andlaundry detergent?
Many stores now oﬀer the option of refilling your oldsoap container or a reusable mason jar from theirbulk soap containers. This saves plastic and money.
In Santa Rosa, Community Market is the easiest
place to do this — and bulk soaps, shampoos and detergents are surprisingly cost-eﬀective.
• Grocery/food packaging?
Can you shop at a local grocery store with bulk containers and bring items home in reusable packaging(jars, Tupperware etc.) to avoid making more trash?
Dry staples such as flour, sugar, salt, pasta and beans
can be brought home in sewn cloth bags or old plastic bags. Wet pantry basics like olive oil, vanilla, soysauce, vinegar, honey and peanut butter can be4

transported in mason jars, as long as you ask acashier for the “tare weight” first. Again, Community
Market is the (surprisingly cost-eﬀective) leader forbulk locally, and Oliver’s is a close second. If these arestores are too expensive, buying in bulk from a place
like Costco is another good option — although they
don’t oﬀer zero-waste bins, they oﬀer larger portions
and less packaging overall (so long as you will actuallyconsume everything you buy!).
• Leftover food?
According to the EPA, nearly one-third of the U.S.
food supply is wasted—and rotting food is the single
largest occupant of American landfills. Can you learn
to buy less, and plan meals around what you alreadyhave? Can you identify a “point of waste” in your local food system and incorporate it into your regularmeal-plan? Community Market oﬀers discounted“ugly fruit” that would otherwise go to waste, for example, and many farms will trade discounted or freeproduce for some time spent “gleaning” or harvesting
their leftovers. In Sonoma County, web sites and social media pages like CropMobster, Farmers Black Market and SCUGT often oﬀer produce and shelf-stable
food — and are a good place to unload unexpired
goods that would otherwise go bad. Shelf-stable
items and produce can (at times) go to Rachel andMichael Dovey for the Angels Unawares dinner.
• Food Scraps?
Do you have the option of a green waste bin? Space
for a compost bin? Worms? Chickens to eat scraps?
5Chickens will give you eggs and fertilizer in return.
Compost will give you rich amendments for your soil
should you choose to grow some of your own food.
Overall, what are you throwing away that you knew
would not last when you purchased it? Glitter? Toys thatbreak easily? Gift wrapping? Things packaged inclamshell plastic? Ask yourself if you can avoid purchasing any of these items or kinds of packaging.

What items can you sell/giveaway to places like Goodwill? Second-hand purchasing saves packaging, stops
items from going to the landfill and saves money. Are
there online free groups or clothing swaps/baby toy
swaps you can connect with? In Sonoma County, Sonoma County Unconditional Give and Take is a wonderfuland very active Facebook group. You can also go to
freecycle.com for a list of further resources.

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DID YOU KNOW:In the U.S., only about 9 percent of plastics were recycled in 2018. A whopping 91% went straight into landfills. Just because an item says it CAN be recycled
doesn’t mean that it actually WILL be.

❦
SPACE
Once you’re finished with the trash, go through yourhouse, room by room. What do you have that you don’t
need?
• Stuﬀ
Are there so many toys in your house that you spend
all of your time cleaning? Are electronics everywhere? Can you give some of them away? Can you
stop yourself from buying more in the future? Can
you put items away for future swaps, host a freegarage sale (or swap) or put on them on your local
freecycle page (SCUGT) rather than throwing themaway?
• Tool Sharing
Does your community have a tool sharing library?
Can you give it the extra tools you have laying
around so that other others can access them for free?
The County of Sonoma oﬀers a tool lending library—contact it at GSenergy@sonoma-county.org.
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There is another tool library located at 642 5thStreet.
• Unwanted Clothes
Are your closets packed with clothes you don’t wear?
Americans send 10.5 million tons of clothing to landfills every year! Can you learn to buy clothes secondhand or buy only what you need (or get clothingfrom swaps)? SCUGT is a great place to find clothing. The Just Between Friends sale at the Fairgrounds is
an excellent resource for children’s clothing — see
northbay.jbfsale.com/homeView.jsp.
Once you’ve gone through your home and seen what you
don’t need, can you come up with ideas for repurposing
space? If you have an extra bedroom, can you host aparishioner in need? Do you feel called to foster or
adopt? Are you inspired to downsize to a smaller homethat doesn’t require as much electricity or gas to heatand keep lit?

❦
FOOD
Open the refrigerator doors and look in!
• What is: Heavily packaged? Flown or trucked in fromfar away? Grown or produced in a factory-farm setting8

(often with little regard for animal welfare or human
workers)?
• Can you learn to become a producer as well as a consumer of food? Gardening, foraging, farming, hunting,fishing—or buying locally or regionally from those who
do—reduces the size and impact of your eating cycle. If
you have limited space, just start with an herb garden!
Anything grown in your own soil (even on your windowsill) will cut out waste and emissions.
• Can you join a Community Sourced Agriculture program (CSA) in your local area? Joining a CSA gives yourlocal farmer a guaranteed income for the growing season. Consider Laguna Farms CSA at the more aﬀordable
end of the spectrum, Open Field Farm, Let’s Go Farm andFour Oak Farm on the costlier end.

Can you learn to more rigorously follow the Orthodox
fasting year? Industrial agriculture—particularly cattle
farming—is a key driver of both climate change and biodiversity loss. One 2018 study found that avoiding meat9

and dairy was the single biggest way for an individual toreduce their carbon footprint (published in the peer-reviewed journal Science). The research showed that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use
could be reduced by more than 75 percent—an area
equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined.
Our Orthodox Church, in her wisdom, already calls us toa plant-based diet for nearly half the year (maybe sheunderstands some things better than us!).

❦ENERGY
Let’s think about our light switches, heaters and cars.
Think about where your electricity and heat comesfrom. Can you find out? If it comes from non-renewablesources, can you switch? Does your state or municipal
power company oﬀer an all-renewable option? Sonoma
Clean Power does with the EverGreen program! Can you
look into solar panels? Can you consider leasing througha company like Solar City if buying isn’t an option? Can
you talk to your local electrician (if you have one available) and think outside the box? Here in Northern California, we see all kinds of fascinating set-ups: Dairies
that power their operations on methane, people whohave turned old trucks or school buses into giant batter10

ies to supplement their solar systems, etc. Make sure it’ssafe (hence the electrician!) and be creative.
• Can you switch your bulbs to LED?
• Can you turn the hot water option on your washer oﬀ?
When clothing is washed in cold water, energy is saved.
• Can you think about stacking functions? For example,
if it’s cold, bake a loaf of bread with your kids instead ofturning the heater on. The oven will warm the house,and your fuel will be used more eﬃciently.
• Can you learn to live without a car? If that’s a resounding “no,” as it is for most of us, can you switch your gaspowered vehicle for an electric or hybrid model? Can
you take public transportation? Can you sub just one trip
each week for biking or walking somewhere? Can you
learn to be content at home? Can you educate yourself
about carbon oﬀsetting programs and find a reputableone?
• Can you learn to cut down on flying? Do you have theability to sub shorter long-distance trips with a train rideor road trip? Train rides are long but they’re a great way
to travel with young children. Generally a train trip
emits about half the emissions per person of a plane trip.

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❦
WATER
Where does your water come from? Is it a well you actively manage? Is it city water that you don’t think aboutmuch because it just comes through your faucet? Whatif you were only able to use a few gallons a day? Whatwould you do diﬀerently to conserve the precious resource God has given us?
Simple ways to conserve water include:❈ Turning the faucet oﬀ after wetting your tooth brushwhile brushing your teeth.
❈ Wetting your hands for washing, turning the water oﬀ
and then back on to rinse.
❈ While showering, wet your body and hair, then turnthe water oﬀ while using soap and shampoo. Turn backon to rinse.
❈ Keeping a houseplant or two, and at the end of the
day while collecting water cups (if you have kids, you’ll
have a million!) you can give the plants a drink fromthe water you would otherwise be pouring down thedrain.
❈ Fixing any leaks in your house❈ Swapping out decorative plants and lawn-space foredible or medicinal plants or native habitat for pollinators.
❈ Mulching your veggie and flower gardens, orchards
etc.
12❈ Watering a garden or landscaping toward the end of
the day or in the early morning to make the water
stretch further. Watering in the middle of the day willcause more water to evaporate due to the heat.
❈ Installing a gray-water system (the Sonoma County
website oﬀers guidelines on local gray-water set-ups
here: https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/PRMD/Eng-andConstr/Graywater/). Daily Acts (dailyacts.org) is another great resource for gray water.

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Part Two
THE PARISH
SHARE YOUR JOURNEY
Talk about everything you’ve discovered from assessing
your personal habits with your spiritual father or parish
priest and members of your church. Discuss how you
can apply those lessons to the church grounds and parish
life. Perhaps, with the blessing of your priest, your parish
could start by creating a “Greening” or “Care for Creation” council/committee — something like the parish
council, but for helping your church bring its practices
in line with good stewardship. Each year people could be
nominated, as with the parish council.

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IDENTIFY WASTE
Start, once again, with the garbage!
• What’s in there?
Paper plates, plastic cutlery for agape meal? Plastic
packaging from meal prep? Plastics/paper from Koliva? Children’s holy water cups? Food waste?
• Re-usables
Can your agape meals be served on dishes that canbe put into a dishwasher at the end of the meal? Can
disposable cups be swapped out for metal or hardplastic ones that will hold up to years of use andwashing? Can you use cloth napkins? Can yourchurch charge a small amount at agape meals and usethat money to pay someone to clean up after themeal so less is thrown away?

What other waste can be:❈ Composted❈ Vermicomposted (Many kinds of paper and cardboard
can be fed to worms! This is especially helpful, becausesome recyclers no longer accept paper waste.)❈ Used as mulch (cardboard, Amazon boxes)❈ Given to someone’s chickens❈ Reduced by buying in bulk with reusable containers❈ Reduced by buying in bulk at a place like Costco (butwatch for excess plastic)15

❈ Replaced with multi-use options (dishes, napkins,cups, hard plastic or tin washable cups for kids)
See Personal section for more local ideas!

Now the Recycling. What’s in there that shouldn’t be?

Is it:• Hard plastics?
Many recyclers are scrambling to deal with plastics
right now. What can be swapped for options thatcome in glass or tin, or better yet, bought in bulk
with reusable containers?
• What can be repurposed?
Old coﬀee tins can become planters or ash trays forhomeless shelters. Broken china and glass can besaved and given away to artists on Freecycle or
Sonoma County Unconditional Give and Take. Hard
plastics can become seedling trays. Cardboard canbecome mulch, or given away on SCUGT (people arealways looking for moving boxes in our area!).
• What can become Tupperware?
What can be washed out and then repurposed for
take-home meals, meal-trains or take-out containers
for your shelter or soup kitchen?

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❦
ENERGY USE
Ask again, this time on a slightly larger scale, where yourelectricity and heat come from. Can you find out? Can
you switch to an all-renewable option (like our local
EverGreen)? If that option is pricier, can you consider
asking (or praying) for donations? Is there any funding in
the global orthodox community for parish “greening”?

❦
TRANSPORTATION
Our trips to and from the church probably cause a fairshare of our parish’s total carbon footprint. How can welearn to change our travel patterns with our children andgrandchildren in mind?

CAN WE:• Carpool?
Designate one Sunday a month as a special “carpooling” day and oﬀer a free agape meal to those who
participate?
• Ride bikes?
The church could make this mode of transport easierfor parishioners by providing bike racks or ensuring
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that the roads close by are equipped with safe bikelanes (probably not a very realistic option for St.
Seraphim’s, although we could think about advocating for safer route between the church and the nearest SMART stop).
• Take public transportation?
As a church, can we send out a shuttle for elderly
parishioners/those who don’t have cars? Or rent orpurchase a bus to send out on Sunday mornings likeso many Southern protestant churches? Or post one
parishioner at the SMART station to pick up people
who want to ride the train?
• Encourage people to live close to church?
We have one parishioner who looks for houses tobuy that are close to church with the idea of renting
them out.
• Switch our gas cars for electric vehicles or hybrids?
The church could consider providing chargers. There
are a lot of used EVs with limited ranges (12 to 80
miles) coming on the market right now in California,
so chargers could make a big diﬀerence.

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❦
FINANCES
Can we think about our parish’s buying power. Are webuying food from local companies — supporting yourneighborhood farmer? Are our appliances Americanmade? If cost is a barrier, can we choose one product inour kitchen to switch out for a local supplier?
Beyond that, can we:• Divest our holdings (for things like pension plans thatthe church pays into)?
If our parish has anything invested in fossil fuel companies, can we move it? 350.org has been a leader inthe student divestment movement, but they also
help faith organizations.
• Move our money to a community bank or credit union?
• Focus on community outreach?
What programs can we link up with in the greatercommunity? River cleanup programs, CSA programs,
Freecycle groups, people who host clothing swaps,
tool sharing libraries, local programs for recycling, or
solar, wind and geothermal programs? Can we consider building connections with these community
programs as a way to witness our faith and spread the(still-limited) knowledge of Orthodoxy in the U.S.?
Can we participate in Daily Acts’ Sonoma Climate
Challenge?
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❦
LAND
Does your church have extra land? How can it be repurposed for better use?
Can you:❈ Build aﬀordable housing for parishioners, to cut downon travel distance?
❈ Create a community garden or small farm? Keepchicken or other livestock for eggs, scraps and soil enrichment and to close the nutrient loop? Food could
go to your food kitchen or parishioners on a limited
income.
❈ Learn about carbon sequestration? Carbon can be“captured” by plants and stored underground when soil
is healthfully managed with compost, livestock andcertain planting practices. Can you set up a space withperennial plants or polyculture crops that will do thiswork? (Learn more about how soil can store carbon
here).
❈ Plant native trees, fruit trees or a “food forest?” Moreabout food forests at this link: https://permaculturenews.org/2011/10/21/why-food-forests/❈ A recent study in the Journal Science estimated thatplanting trees on a massive scale could bring our atmospheric CO2 saturation down to 1920s levels.

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Part Three
COMMUNITY
Often, people persist in unsustainable practices because
they have no other choice—not because they don’t care.
Instead of judging our fellow humans for their waste andemissions (judgement comes so easily to us!), let’s ask
ourselves how we can build greener options that workfor everyone.
What are the big-picture laws, policies and incentives
that are hurting your immediate environment? Is yourwater contaminated from pesticide runoﬀ? Is your air
polluted from tailpipe emissions or wildfire smoke? Is awaste facility burning plastics and harming the people
around it?

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CAN YOU:• Develop a working knowledge of your city council roster, or state representatives?Make calls, write letters,
become a squeaky wheel?
• Write or call retail chains, food suppliers and local organizations and ask them to be better environmental
leaders? Trader Joe’s recently made a commitment to
cut down on plastic use in response to a widely-circulated petition.
• Join email lists with environmental policies you canpray about (Christians Caring for Creation oﬀers agreat one)?
• Join a local divestment group like Fossil Free California?
• Join an AG organization like the Grange or 4-H to learn
about the laws and policies aﬀecting our local farmers?
For those of us who do live in the world, policy/advocacy
can be an excellent way to create change on an accelerated timeline.

22For more information on Orthodoxy and the environment, see:
The Orthodox Fellowship of the Transfiguration at
http://www.orth-transfiguration.org
The Face of God (film)
https://www.faceofgodfilm.com
The website of the Ecumenical Patriarch
https://www.patriarchate.org/bartholomew-quotes

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