About the Cool Planet Group

Our group was founded in Fall, 2006, when several of us were called to action after a screening of the film "An Inconvenient Truth" at First Pres. Here are some of the ways that we’ve been encouraging change by individuals, our church community and our governments:

Encouraging personal changes to a more sustainable lifestyle:
•      Participating in holiday and social justice fairs at First Pres in which we demonstrate and sell products such as compact fluorescent light bulbs, strings of LED Christmas lights, holiday fabrics as an alternative to wrapping paper, and cloth shopping bags.
•      Publishing tips for gradually changing to a more sustainable lifestyle that appeared in the monthly First Pres Press and its website.
•      Partnering with Acterra to offer a “Low Carbon Diet” workshop and to engage the church congregation in a six-month “Cool Campaign”
•      Offering a series of classes on bicycle safety and maintenance and obtaining bike racks.
•      Working with the Deacons and Community Building Ministry to facilitate neighborhood carpooling to church services and events.
•      Hosting Locavore lunches to encourage people to shift toward cooking with local, seasonal foods

Working to help "green" the church facility:
•      Arranging for an energy audit by the city of Palo Alto and working with the Facilities and Finance Ministries to implement its recommendations.
•      Pursuing certification by Santa Clara County as a Green Business and by the Presbyterian General Assembly as an EarthCare Congregation and explaining these processes to Session and to the congregation. 
•      Working with the Church Administrator and Worship Committee to reduce paper usage. We encouraged and promoted the electronic version of the First Pres Press.

Promoting political action:
•      Accepting invitations to become involved with groups such as Palo Alto’s Community Environmental Action Partnership, California Interfaith Power and Light, and MidPeninsula Environmental Ministries.
•       Informing the congregation about legislation through the Church email group list and Micah’s Call and occasionally providing informational materials and letter-writing opportunities.
•       Partnering with the Union of Concerned Scientists and 350.org to host a house party and organize a work party to encourage a No vote on Prop 23 in Nov, 2010 (it lost!!)
•       Working with Save the Bay to prevent the Cargill salt pond development.

Providing education:

•      Planning annual Earth Day worship services that include children and youth.
•      Helping to promote the 2011 Robert McAfee Brown Lectureship featuring Dr. Larry Rasmussen on "An Earth-Honoring Faith".
•      Producing three series of Adult Education classes. The first, “Cleaning Up Eden: The Challenge of Climate Change,” was held in Autumn ’07 and provided background understanding of the issues. The second, “The Challenge of Climate Change: What We Can Do,” was held during Winter ’08 and focused on taking action as well as the spiritual dimensions of the problem.  The third, “Climate Care: Responding to Climate Change,” which was held during Spring ’10, combined all of those elements.
•      Involving families in our projects, such as the 2006 Advent kits, which contained an educational packet, a spiritual message and CFLs.  

Coordinating our efforts with those of others:
•       Sharing our experiences in a panel at the Mid-Peninsula Interfaith Convocation on Climate Action in Fall ‘07.
•       Hosting the organizational meeting of the Peninsula Chapter of California Interfaith Power and Light. CIPL nominated our congregation for a 2007 Energy Oscar.
•       Publicizing and attending events of the San Jose Presbytery and Santa Clara County Council of Churches. The Council provided information about the Green Certification process.
•       Integrating our efforts with the work of other ministries within First Pres so that we can live up to our statement: “We are a green church, committed to environmental action.”

We are a small committee with big plans; we could use your help! Please consider joining the Cool Planet Working Group. We meet in the Church Lounge on the first Sunday of each month just after the main worship service.  For further information, please contact Susan Chamberlain.