Keep before you the reasons why you are doing these things: love for God's creation; a responsibility as God's people to care for creation; a concern for the deteriorating ecological state of the world; a means to create community around care for creation.
Identify in your tradition images, ideas and resources that foster care for the earth.
Remember that every ecological problem has a human justice issue, usually for the poor and people of color. Address love for neighbor as you address care for the earth.
Keep an open process. Inform people of what is happening. Be prepared to compromise where appropriate. Respect differing perspectives. Remember the complexity and uncertainty of the issues.
Seek to gain the broadest support possible. Be sure to include and involve many people in your various plans and projects.
A few people serving as a catalyst—planning, getting information, and proposing—can make an enormous difference. Two or three people are enough to make things happen for everyone.
Plan diverse projects so that everyone can participate on some level of commitment. For example, some will be on the committee to plan recycling, others will approve, and a larger circle will participate in the recycling.
Get a comprehensive vision for your seminary and keep filling in the pieces. Enter the process at any point and over any issue and then keep it going.
Make use of the assets of members of the seminary community with commitments, experiences, or expertise. Correlate assets with needs or opportunities.
Work on projects that have the greatest chance of success, but also tackle some important projects that may be controversial.
Do some projects that give the effort visibility. Do some projects that have the greatest impact on the environment.
Celebrate what does get done and do not grieve what does not get done. Do not let those who do not participate keep those who do participate from their delight in caring for creation.
Show by example, education, opportunity, and invitation. Do not become the environmental police or a new form of political correctness.
Keep the serious nature of your endeavor before you. Keep in mind the issues of human justice that are always intertwined with the environmental problems.
At the same time, have fun and be renewed by your efforts. Build human community as you restore creation.
Measure the difference your project has made in the larger environmental picture, and tell others about your success.
Learn from people who are community organizers. Find the most positive approaches to carry out what you seek to accomplish. Faith-based communities are the largest grassroots organization in the US. Draw on its strengths and possibilities.
Make your experiences and knowledge available to other religious communities.
Look for partners among other faith-based communities and secular agencies. Learn from others. To address the problems we face, we need to work together.
Have an overall plan. It is helpful to work out of a larger model of the whole parish. Don't get discouraged, but see the possibilities at work in so many different areas.
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