At Diocesan Council last November Bishop Alexander said one of several key priorities was to appoint a diocesan task force on environmental stewardship. He gave this task force three charges:

• to provide the parishes and people with the necessary resources to develop deeper biblical and theological understandings of our obligations for the care of the earth;

• to provide practical tools for our parishes and our people to cut waste, reduce energy consumption, and reduce our carbon footprint; 

• and to organize appropriate advocacy at the local, state, national, and international levels for the wise use of the riches of creation.

The bishop has followed through, and nine people have agreed to join the new Diocese of Atlanta Task Force on Environmental Stewardship. They are: Lynn Alexander, St. Bartholomew's, Atlanta; the Rev. Woody Bartlett, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light; the Rev. Buff Grace, St. Teresa's, Acworth; the Rev. Cynthia Hizer, Church of the Epiphany, Atlanta; Stan Meiburg (chair), St. Bede's, Atlanta; Carlyn Romeyn, St. David's, Roswell; Jeff Ross-Bain, All Saints', Atlanta; the Rev. Canon Debra Shew, Diocese of Atlanta; and David Stooksbury, St. Gregory the Great, Athens.

The full task force has met three times. Consistent with our charge, we have divided ourselves into three working groups: one on promoting understanding, the second on applying tools, and the third on conducting advocacy.  Each of the working groups is developing ideas and recommendations on how to proceed.

Three things became clear immediately.  One is that we have a tremendous wealth of knowledge and expertise in this diocese!  A great challenge - and opportunity - is to mobilize these resources to gain widespread support.  

A second, and related, learning is that as with so many endeavors, improving our environment comes from actions of the whole community taken one person, and one parish, at a time.  We will be looking for ways to promote responsibility, track progress and celebrate accomplishments.  

The third awareness is of our need to link up with our brothers and sisters around the United States and the world, in part by deepening our understanding of what biblical teachings and our Christian tradition say to us as we face new local, regional and global environmental challenges. 

You will be hearing more from us in the months ahead.  We welcome inquiries and interest from anyone in the diocese who would like to learn more about the taskforce's work and opportunities to participate with us.  We invite you to contact Canon Debbie Shew at 404-601-5352 or at dshew@episcopalatlanta.org; Stan Meiburg, the task force chair, at meiburg@bellsouth.net, or any member of the task force. 

More specific calls for involvement will be forthcoming in the near future.  In the meantime, we ask for your prayers and best wishes as we begin this journey.