from Darren Kropf, Creation Care Crossroads, Mennonite Central Committee Ontario
Mennonite Central Committee is committed to addressing issues related to climate change and stewardship of creation, and towards that end has created a Caring for Creation Task Force. The Task Force is responsible to identify and focus the issues we must address, to do an audit of what we are already doing globally and locally, and to suggest concrete ways in which MCC should address the challenges.
In order to assess our environmental impact as an organization, MCC has hired Mark Bigland-Pritchard of Low Energy Design Ltd. to do an audit of MCC’s environmental practices and greenhouse gas emissions. All 12 provincial, area and national offices are currently compiling information from the last three years on air and local travel, building energy consumption and web server needs, as well as general recycling and waste management procedures. Mark will then use this data to assess our “carbon footprint” – the amount of carbon emissions MCC is directly responsible for emitting in an average year. With this baseline figure, the Task Force can then seek ways to lower this amount on a yearly basis.
Gathering flight information has been the biggest challenge, as none of the MCC offices have any guidelines in place to regularly track air travel, nor do we have any policies to assist staff in determining what an appropriate amount of air travel is for a given program. The Task Force is currently discussing how we might have ongoing
tracking of this data. For more information on this process, and the Task Force’s Terms of Reference, send an email to darrenk@mennonitecc.on.ca