Green Like God
By Jennifer Garrett
In his book, “Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet,” Jonathan Merritt offers principles rather than a checklist for how to be green, tracing what he calls the “green thread” from creation through Noah, the law, Jesus and Revelations.
Merritt writes on faith and culture for USA Today and The Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog, often focusing on “creation care,” the term he prefers when referring to the environmental movement. As a frequent speaker at a wide range of conferences and planner of Flourish, a national conference for pastors and church leaders on creation care, he has a lot to say on the topic of green conferences as well. But his ideas for how to make your conference greener call for a change of heart rather than an instructional guide. “Environmentalism can be such a guilt-ridden thing, and I think that’s negative,” Merritt says. He points to the need for engagement, substance and connecting to world issues when it comes to planning your conferences and making them environmentally friendly.
The Green Walk
Merritt became an environmentalist in one of the unlikeliest of places — a Southern Baptist seminary. He changed his perspective on the issue when a professor offered the analogy that because God reveals himself in two ways, through general revelation (creation) and special revelation (the Bible), destroying God’s creation can be compared to tearing a page out of the Bible. This realization is why he prefers the term “creation care”; it places the emphasis on the biblical reasons behind his passion. But telling others to drive a Prius or use recyclable grocery totes and compact fluorescent light bulbs is not the main thing on his agenda.
“If your convictions are telling you to do those things, wonderful,” he says. “But I tell those people who are doing it because it’s cool or think it looks good to be saving the earth, to go buy a Bible. It will be a lot more helpful.”
Whether you think it’s cool or not, being green has made its way to the meetings industry. Planners feel pressure to be more environmentally friendly from hotels, the industry and members of their organizations. Many venues are now LEED certified, offer green amenities and sometimes limit services such as bottled water and daily linen changes. Eco-conscious attendees are looking for substantial green practices, but planners may receive resistance from a community that traditionally has not welcomed the environmental movement. Validating extra expenses to put a green label on your conference, whether to attendees or leadership within your organization, can be as difficult for planners as explaining the ROI of social media.
Evangelicals have been wary of the environmental movement for decades, but the tides might be turning. A 2008 Barna Group study found that nine out of 10 evangelicals would like Christians to take a more active role in caring for the earth. More than 2,000 groups from across the country logged on to Blessed Earth’s “Hope for Creation” simulcast, hosted by Dr. Matthew Sleeth, on the eve of Earth Day 2010. And the “Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action” initiative has more than 280 senior evangelical leaders’ signatures, including well-known pastors Rob Bell and Rick Warren
But jumping on the green bandwagon because of industry pressures or even to attract attendees is not the best reaction in Merritt’s opinion. “The worst thing to do for the earth is to buy into a fad,” he says. “But if we attach ourselves to a timeless universal principle, then we will keep living it out. Just saying things are green or doing it for an impression is not helpful.” For attendees who are committed to environmental causes, authentic green efforts at your conference are crucial, and for those who are skeptical about the movement, throwing tags on your conference can backfire. “There’s nothing more appalling than green stuff, green swag thrown into a conference bag,” says Merritt. “It’s just more junk and isn’t any more helpful. In fact, it’s the opposite and distracts from the mission of the event.”
Dirty Work
Young people constitute one of the largest demographic groups looking for environmentally friendly alternatives. And like other trends among millennials — social media, voluntourism, multi-tasking — being green is about being involved and engaged. “Everything is moving from tell me to show me,” Merritt points out. “They want to connect to world issues — water, hunger, poverty — and these are all ecological issues. These are tangible ways to put creation care into practice.” Whether through a volunteer project, donating to a cause, sponsoring a child through Compassion International or simply buying fair trade coffee, planners can engage attendees on site at conferences and do it in a way that ties in environmental issues.
Merritt suggests that a hands-on project like building a playground in the city where the meeting is being held or contributing to a water treatment program in Africa is going to be more meaningful than giving attendees reusable water bottles, since most young people will likely bring their own if they are interested in these issues. “Give them an opportunity to literally play in the dirt,” Merritt says. Offering attendees the opportunity to participate lets them put the truths they learn at the conference to use, whether they are specific to creation care or not. “Substance is the most important thing,” Merritt says. “Not how do we make this look cool, but how do we make this part of our faith more real.”
More Than a Theme
Flourish 2009, Merritt’s own conference, had a creation care theme, which included a nature trail that allowed people to get outside and reflect between sessions. But projects, sessions or green amenities can reflect the mission of a conference or organization whether the theme is tied to protecting the environment or not.
“Conferences today have this conception that the more money you generate, the more successful you are,” says Merritt. “But that’s not the case. When people fall in love with your story, your mission, you have a long-lasting element.” And by making the effort to attend, your participants show that they believe in your mission. “You have this gathering of people who are mobilized,” Merritt says. “They have come to you because they are passionate. Why not utilize them? How much better would your conference be? Mobilize them in a way that allows them to buy in directly to your mission.”
His message is really simple, when it comes down to it. By whatever name — creation care, green practices, the environmental movement — these ideas or beliefs should be integrated into everything we do. “Poverty, social issues, loving others — it touches all these other things,” says Merritt. “It should be a major part of our Christian walk.”
Jonathan Merritt, 27, founded the Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative. He holds a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Master of Theology from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Merritt resides outside of Atlanta, Ga., where he actively serves and teaches at Cross Pointe Church.
