The Japanese airline, All Nippon Airways, is requesting passengers to visit the toilet before flying so as to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 4.2 tonnes a month, due to the reduction in weight on the aircraft, and therefore the reduction of fuel burnt.
They have also instituted a program to recycle 'paper cups' and 'chop sticks', rather than putting them in the rubbish bins, so as to become more environmentally friendly.
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/use-toilet-before-boarding-airline-tries-to-reduce-weight-20091015-gy4e.html
This raises a very interesting question for those many vocal Christians who are passionate about reducing carbon dioxide emissions, or about other issues associated with reducing our wastage that goes to landfill.
The very first thing, M V Tronson suggests, is to follow the principle of "Think Globally but Act Locally", and to look to their own back yard for their first actions.
In other words, let's take a closer look inside the church building at the utility areas such as the office, kitchen, vestry and also the church-related activities such as the tiny tot groups, the youth groups, bible studies, seniors groups, and the welfare arms of the local congregation.
Conscientious congregations could use the Church facilities in general to help maintain the health of our environment. They could, for example, enquire whether the church is eligible for rebates on rain water tanks (for either the garden or the toilets), low-energy light bulbs, solar hot water panels, and other Government-sponsored schemes.
Installing these at the next refurbishment, and having the purchase of these as targets for the next fund raising campaign, is a win-win-win situation. The church activities would create fewer emissions, the total energy (hence oil or coal) used would be less, and the church would save money in the long term. The next generation of the congregation would certainly thank the Church for that!
Of course, congregation members would need to ensure that these energy-saving devices were actually used and not just left to sit in a cupboard; otherwise both the money and the energy would be wasted, as suggested happens with bigger governance in the article by Brian Robbins in the Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/environment/questions-abound-about-value-of-green-spending-20091023-hdd5.html
It is also important to look at the tea and coffee and snack tradition of these extra-curricular Church functions. If everyone 'brings a plate', or eats at home before coming to the function, then there will be a lot of home stoves cooking small quantities, and this may produce more emissions and use more energy than if the food is cooked 'communally' in the Church kitchen – all at once – with the one oven and the urn only needing to be turned on once for many people's coffee.
Therefore, congregation members should be encouraged to cook the items at the Church, rather than individually at home. This could also improve the community atmosphere, and include more people who are interested in cooking, to the Church congregation.
Now let's look into the Church office. Surely, some congregation members can 'do the sums' to see if it is better to run a computer or go back to 'pastoral cards' for each congregation member: whichever way, time still has to be spent noting the days of visits to parishioners, who was ill, who had non-negotiable anti-pastor attitudes and which women were prone to Minister. Some things never change, no matter what 'fashions' change in their methods of recording.
In the Church itself, the pews are a positive contribution to a healthy planet, particularly if they are made of solid wood. Sometimes these last for centuries (as can be seen in the Cathedrals of Europe) – and thus they store the carbon dioxide as carbon in the wood - and until the pews are destroyed, this prevents considerable emissions into the atmosphere.
The little plastic chairs used by some of the week-day groups, however, are not so environmentally friendly. M V Tronson does not advocate bringing one's own chairs, as the extra weight in the car would add to the fuel consumption, and also the emissions of a range of pollutants (in fact, Mark Tronson suggests using the space in the car for bringing another family to the Church, in a car-pooling arrangement, wherever possible, to save money, fuel and pollution).
No, a better solution would be, when the plastic chairs need replacing (not beforehand because this just adds to the waste in the landfill), that the Church look carefully at replacing them with chairs made from recycled materials. There is now quite a range of such furniture on the market; some itself made from old plastic garden furniture.
Now, the bibles may be seen as a problem. Any cursory visitor to a church will see the extent of the problem here; with the trees being used for paper and the energy used in their manufacture. Of course, as with the previous considerations, while they are still in tact they are not a problem because they have already been manufactured and are not adding to the current problem. Moreover, any throwing away of useful items just adds to the waste in our landfills, or carbon dioxide emissions if they are burnt.
When, however, the Bibles have come to the end of their useful life and need replacing, an environmentally considerate congregation will carefully consider how many (or how few) paper Bibles need to be bought; and how much of the information can be transferred electronically to a screen. For example, the large pulpit bible may not need to be replaced when it becomes tatty, if the electricity used for projection uses less energy than the manufacture and posting of a new Bible.
Although Mark Tronson acknowledges that this problem may not arise for a hundred years or more. In fact, the old Bible may not need to go into the waste, it may find another useful and peaceful life rest in a local museum so that all future generations can see what a Bible looked like 'in the olden days'.
Since most Christians own their own Bible, it is reasonable to ask them to bring their own to Church instead of buying more pew Bibles – or else they can read from the large screen.
By the time these replacements will be considered by future congregations, there will be alternative means of electricity production that will be more environmentally than those we have today, so presumably they will not have to resort to electrical power to run the overhead projector being produced by a boy on a bicycle; in a similar way to the days when the lads turned the handle of the wind pipe organ.
The biggest hot air producer by far, and away, (tongue in cheek), is the preacher. Now right here, we have in our hands so much hot air that we could, right across the nation, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50%. Yes, rather than the 30 minute sermon, we get the 15 minute sermon. This would indeed be a win-win situation for the Church and the congregation!!! (Anyway, the 'baking committee' would need the extra 15 minutes to bake the cakes for the after-sermon snacks, in the communal kitchen).
Yes, says M V Tronson, following on from the fine example of All Nippon Airlines, there are many creative ways as illustrated, in which the passionate Christian environmental evangelist, can suggest to the local church and its congregation how they too can reduce carbon dioxide emissions.