news-record.com

Abraham sits at the oaks. Deborah holds court under a palm tree. Moses speaks to a bush.

"I would say connecting this to the Bible is important for some people," said Dr. Matthew Sleeth, a former hospital chief of staff who couldn't shake the faces of patients with seemingly increasing environment-related illnesses. So he quit his job, gave away half his belongings and began spreading the word on the urgency of people paying more attention to the environment.

Pointing out the symbolism of trees in Scripture has helped Sleeth link faith with personal responsibility. His book, "Serve God and Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action," is in its seventh printing. Sleeth also has a prominent role in the publication of an upcoming "green Bible."

"The change has come when people who are strong in their faith, who might be against it," Sleeth says of the deterioration of the Earth, "then go look at the Bible with this in mind and they see a different story."

The statewide faith and environment conference that Sleeth will co-headline at Catawba College in Salisbury this month grew out of a meeting among Greensboro houses of worship at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. Participants tried to broaden the conversation between the scientific and faith-based communities.

"When people realize that there is this direct tie between our own faith and being good stewards of this Earth," said John Wear, founding director of Catawba's Center for the Environment, "then it gives them a purpose that didn't exist before."

The event will focus on such subjects as lifestyle, sustainability and environmental policy and decision-making. N.C. Interfaith Power and Light, a program of the N.C. Council of Churches, is a co-sponsor.

Yes, the green movement can be initially intimidating, Sleeth said.

"I tell people that if you find out your electric bill is an average of $100 a month, you don't have to get it to $14, which was my electric bill this month — you don't have to get it there all in one step," Sleeth said. "It's 'Let's do 10 percent this year and maybe 10 percent the next.' If you think about doing it all at once, it's overwhelming and impossible. If you do it slowly, it's a process and you are headed in the right direction."

Sleeth spends much of his time talking to faith communities, which have built in audiences and ability to act collectively.

"I took an accounting of our lifestyle and how much electricity we use and how much gasoline we used and how much trash we made, and we came out dead even with the national average," Sleeth said. "And that wasn't acceptable."

Not everything worked, at least initially, such as earthworm composting.

And family members balked at some things. His wife and kids, for example, didn't like hanging out clothes to dry, although the energy use of the 6,000-watt dryer nudged them on.

Out of that February 2007 weekend conference at Holy Trinity emerged Environmental Stewardship of Greensboro, a group of about 12 local houses of faith.

Five Greensboro houses of worship — First Lutheran, St. Francis Episcopal, New Garden Friends, Temple Emanuel and College Park Baptist — underwent energy audits by the Interfaith Power and Light this spring. Others are scheduled.

The audits are not as exhaustive as ones that cost several hundred dollars, but they advise houses of worship how to reduce energy consumption. A detailed report follows the audit.

These get-togethers, too, are opportunities to share real-life examples that work. Kay Zimmerman, the "Green Team" coordinator at First Lutheran, learned how much energy is saved by turning off the lights over the weekend in drink and snack machines in state buildings.

Zimmerman passed the tip to an already proactive maintenance department at Greensboro Day School, where she works.

"These are small things that can be done, lots of which people haven't thought of," Zimmerman said.

About 14 study groups, most in local churches, are focusing on a study guide developed for "Earth scholar" and Greensboro native Thomas Berry's book, "The Great Work." This came after a Thomas Berry weekend co-sponsored last year by the Greensboro interfaith group.

"People in general are waking up to the seriousness of this issue and it's beginning to resonate in the faith-based community, more than any other social issues that we face," said Steve McCollum, one of the organizers of the Greensboro environmental group and a parishioner at Holy Trinity.

At Holy Trinity, for example, the church saved $1,800 on its power bill after replacing 480 incandescent light bulbs with the energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs.

"The biggest problem in the world was that the world is dying," Sleeth said of what got his attention, "and if we don't do something quickly all the other problems won't even matter."

Contact Nancy H. McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy. mclaughlin@news-record.com