Our Beautiful Earth by GIPL Board Member Gary Garrett

Gary Garrett is a GIPL Board member and attends Kirkwood United Church of Christ in Atlanta. In honor of Earth Day, the GIPL blog features Gary’s reflection on the impact of his own church’s commitments to stewardship and sustainability. Kirkwood UCC won the GIPPY Light award in 2014 for excellence in worship and education for implementing their denomination’s Mission 4/1 Earth program.Who wins a GIPPY? And why would anyone care about a small, repurposed amateur tennis trophy? Helping our church, Kirkwood UCC, win that GIPPY award  several years ago was actually quite exciting and an honor.   We had replicated a national UCC program, focusing on three areas of creation care: planting trees and protecting tree canopy; advocating on behalf of creation with leaders and policy makers; and educating our church community about why and how we care for our earth- in individual, practical ways.Later that spring as I made my way down the halls of the Public Service Commission to listen to comments on EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan, I was struck by the large poster, hand-painted, on the door of one of the commissioners.  Entitled "Our Beautiful Earth", one of the children in our church, Kirkwood UCC, had painted the picture of a healthy, colorful, vibrant earth and sent it, along with a short note about reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from our energy mix, to each of the commissioners.  "Our Beautiful Earth" no doubt made an impression on one commissioner who, perhaps, was nudged to help guide our resource mix to being a little greener, a little gentler on our planet.  And that beautiful repurposed trophy told the story for all to see. Sometimes it takes the child in the village to remind us of this special place we call home.- Gary Garrett