Announcing the All New

All Congregation

Doug Hart 75K GPC Challenge

What if individuals at one small church in Southeastern Michigan could change the future, making our planet more healthy and livable for generations to come by spending just 5-10 minutes a day on an app?

In 2023, GPC member, Doug Hart, learned about the Climate Action Now app. Since then, he has used the app for 5-10 minutes a day to take a total of 5582 actions. Taking an action might be, reading a climate related article, sending a pre-written email to news media, politicians or corporations, or watching a short video.

Inspired by Doug's example, the congregation was challenged, to use the CAN app during the 2024 Easter season and during that time took almost 6,000 actions. Keep in mind, that in addition to the impact of the actions themselves, the Climate Action Now app plants a tree for every 30 actions taken! The tree planting, conducted by the Earthlungs Reforestation Foundation, provides employment to individuals in extreme poverty, helps to protect the local ecosystem, and as those trees grow they will pull more and more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!

In honor of Greenfield’s 75th Anniversary, as a part of our “forging the future”, we are swinging for the fences— better yet for the forest! Our new goal is to take a total of 75,000 actions using the Climate Action Now app by Earth Day 2025 (that’s April 22, 2025)! To help reach our goal we will be organizing into three teams led by Deb Basierbe, Paula Robinson and thee Doug Hart! Whether you were part of the Easter Challenge or not, whether you have come to Climate events or not, even if you’re not sure exactly what an app is, please join in the effort to help us meet this visionary goal! We would love to have family and friends participate to help us meet the goal as well. We encourage you to learn more about the important work of Climate Action Now on their website.

Scouts for Paula’s Pines

Basierbe’s Balsams

Hart's Hemlocks

Impacts from climate change are becoming more and more evident. Very simply, the longer we take to transition away from heat trapping climate pollution, the more severe those impacts will be. The Climate Action Now app provides climate actions that are easy to take. Alone they might not amount to much, but joined with acts taken by thousands of individuals across the country, they raise the issue of climate change to those in positions of power, to a level that cannot be ignored. In the words of Brett Walters, Founder and CEO of Climate Action Now, "Public opinion is the only effective counterweight to the immense power of the fossil fuel industry.”

Sign-up and get started as soon as you can by contacting Lynn Fanelli at Lsanhoufan@hotmail.com or 248-330-1260. There is also a sign-up sheet on the Social Justice bulletin board in Fellowship Hall. For the next two months a member of Greenfield’s climate team will be at Coffee Hour every Sunday, available to get you started or answer any questions you might have. Just look for the person wearing a tree. The teams will be decided on September 15th. From then until Earth Day you will receive a weekly email with a form making it simple to report your progress. Actions taken will be counted on a goal progress board, like none you have ever seen, and a tree will be posted for every tree planted. 

They are already on the go!

Again, please start as soon as you can. All trees earned since the beginning of the original Doug Hart Challenge started will be counted.

Why is stopping heat trapping pollution a priority for Greenfield?

The 2022 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identified 127 risks from the warming of our planet including the increasing severity of the following:

Floods and mudslides, wildfires, drought, sea level rise, infectious disease, ecosystem loss, famine, melting glaciers, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, poverty, heat related illness, infrastructure loss, climate refugees, species extinction, loss of livelihood and way of life, political instability, physical and mental health concerns, and climate change continues to be a top threat to the global economy.

We live in a part of the world that continues to bear the most responsibility for adding heat trapping gasses to the atmosphere, while the impacts of climate change are disproportionately born by the world’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged people. There is no quick fix for the damage being done, however, it’s not too late and if we act now we can still prevent the worst impacts of climate change from affecting so many things we care about.

Greenfield’s CAN team frames the answer to this question in a different way, in terms of love. Our materials state:

Stopping climate pollution is a priority at Greenfield Presbyterian Church because we love our children, love our neighbors, love Michigan, love wild creatures, love this planet that sustains us, and have great hopes and love for those generations yet to come. Working to stop the overheating of the planet isn’t easy, but with patience and perseverance we stay the course, through the ups and downs, because that’s how great love works. 

We hope you will help us act out our love!