EcoTeam

Report of Creation Care Projects

• Highway Cleanup – We pick up litter from a two-mile section of NYS Route 9, five times each year.
• Recycling – We collect batteries, glass, and Styrofoam three times each year and bring them to places that recycle the products.
• ReUse – We maintain a directory of places in the Capital Region that reuse or recycle items.
• Repair – Starting in 2026, together with St. Paul’s UMC, twice a year we organize the Castleton-on-Hudson Repair Café.
• Education – For 2-3 years we organized a six-week Creation Care series in the fall and spring. We would watch and discuss a Ted Talk related to the environment. In 2025 we conducted two eight-week book studies: Life After Doom by Brian McLaren and All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine Wilkinson.
• Lawn reduction – In 2024, we joined with youth to plant two serviceberry trees. This year, we planted three maple trees.
• Renewable Energy –Prior to 2020, we upgraded lighting in the church building to LEDs. About 2020 we enrolled in community solar for the parsonage and for the church, conducted an energy audit, replaced weatherstripping and some windows, and installed some cassette heat pumps (aka mini-splits).
• Building maintenance – At least some of our cleaning products are environmentally-friendly.
• Kitchen –Aided by Women in Faith’s purchase of a dishwasher, we have gradually replaced Styrofoam and plastic items with the use of ceramic cups, plates, and silverware. We use cloth tablecloths and keep a recycling bin in the kitchen. This year
  we provided bamboo utensils at our community food truck festival.
• Sanctuary – We replaced plastic with glass communion cups.
• Advocacy – In 2026, our Church Council passed a resolution in support of the Package Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. (The Act did not pass the NYS Legislature). The EcoTeam advocated directly with representatives on this and other environmental
  legislation.