Holy Spirit Parish is committed to caring for God's creation.  The Green Team, a group of parishioners dedicated to environmental sustainability, has formed.  Our mission is to encourage the community to conserve water and energy, to promote awareness of environmentally friendly practices and to make positive changes within the parish to support the addage: reduce, reuse, recycle.

On Earth Day 2010 we kicked off our efforts with a bulletin article, asking the parish to celebrate God and Earth by reflecting on what our bishops have asked of us:

"How are we called to care for God's creation? How may we apply our social teaching, with its emphasis on the life and dignity of the human person, to the challenge of protecting the earth, our common home? What can we in the Catholic community offer to the environmental movement, and what can we learn from it?"

The Green Team also showed the movie, Blue Gold: World Water Wars, to shed light on the world's fast-approaching water crisis. The message is: water is a finite resource and we cannot live without it.  Conservation is a must.  The Green Team has been providing tips in the Sunday bulletins to help you conserve water in your own homes.  Coincidentally, you'll save money while doing it!

You may have read or heard about past conservation initiatives that have made a measurable difference:

• Blue bags and bottles
• Solar panels
• Use of compact flourescent light (CFL) bulbs
• Programmable thermostat in parish office
• E-waste recycling

We will continue to provide opportunities for the parish to learn more about green and healthy living and to take action.  Keep reading our weekly Green Corner tips in the Sunday Bulletin or join us for one of our monthly meetings.  Contact Veronica Sullivan at vherreri@yahoo.com or 408-927-7251 to learn more.