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Church’s environmental sustainability efforts show a love for the earth and God’s children

Church operations strive to promote wise stewardship of resources to ensure the vitality of the earth’s resources for future generations

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints works to be a good steward of the earth — believing that caring for the earth is a sacred responsibility entrusted to all of God’s children.

The Church makes an effort to prioritize environmental sustainability in many ways around the world, explained the Church’s sustainability manager, Jenica Sedgwick, in the most recent episode of the Church News podcast.

“Our mission within our sustainability efforts comes from the First Presidency,” Sedgwick said, quoting from President Russell M. Nelson’s April 2000 general conference address “The Creation”: “As beneficiaries of the divine Creation, what shall we do? We should care for the earth, be wise stewards over it and preserve it for future generations. And we are to love and care for one another.”

Sedgwick works under the direction of the Church’s Presiding Bishopric, which manages all of the operations of the Church — meetinghouses, temples, distribution, bishops’ storehouses, welfare and self-reliance operations, and humanitarian work and other investments.

She said environmental sustainability means taking a long-term view within Church operations in order to have wise stewardship of resources today to ensure the vitality of the earth’s resources for future generations.

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Strategic priorities in caring for the earth

The Presiding Bishopric’s office has strategic priorities that have been approved by the First Presidency for environmental sustainability efforts.

“The thing that we focus on is how to integrate the principle of environmental stewardship, or sustainability and our care of the earth, into the daily normal business operations of the Church,” Sedgwick said. “So it’s not a separate silo, it’s not something we think about on the side. This is really a priority that is being integrated into the way that the Church operates.”

Aerial view of Moroni High School in Tarawa, Kiribati. The school has solar panels to reduce energy costs. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Hundreds of Church meetinghouses and buildings have solar panels installed around the world, with more projects expected to come online in the next few years.

Sedgwick said as the Africa West Area adds more solar power and invests in batteries, they have been able to use their buildings at night for BYU–Pathway Worldwide classes, missionary discussions or other events.

In Brazil, solar panels on the buildings have become a missionary tool — as people learn about the Church’s sustainability efforts, they want to learn more about the Church and the gospel, Sedgwick said.

Efforts to improve air quality, reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency are done to meet local regulations and needs.

“At Church headquarters, they’ve saved more than $2 million in annual energy savings achieved through implementing these practices and just actively managing energy,” Sedgwick said.

Landscape retrofits and updates have been made to conserve water in drought-prone areas, with the Church reducing its water use by billions of gallons. Temple Square in Salt Lake City has had waterwise landscape retrofits.

“We’re looking at, in a lot of instances, turf removal or transitioning to more drought-tolerant turf species and plant species, smart controller installations, hydrometers, things that help us to be more precise with our watering,” Sedgwick said. “And it’s really cool to see some of the local designs. It doesn’t all look the same across the globe. It really takes on the character of the place that it is, with some of these similar principles installed.”

Waterwise landscaping and drought-tolerant grass, plants and trees are shown in October 2023 at a Utah meetinghouse.
Seven existing meetinghouses of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are getting landscape makeovers in Utah, the second driest state in the U.S. The new designs include drought-tolerant grass, plants and trees. The effort is to reduce water usage and increase sustainability. Results from the pilot program will be reviewed in two to three years to see if viable to employ on a wider scale. This photo was taken in October 2023. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church also uses sustainable ranching and farming practices at its investment farms and welfare farms. And reduction, reuse, recycling, packaging solutions and other things help the Church avoid material waste.

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‘An integral component of our discipleship’

For those who might be anxious about what they are being told about the earth and its future, Sedgwick pointed to 2 Timothy 1:7, which says, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Sedgwick also read from Doctrine and Covenants 59:18-20, where it says, “Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart. … For unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.”

Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints plant trees on the Hill Cumorah, a small hill and Church history site in Manchester, New York, on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. The missionaries planted the trees as part of a reforestation project by the Church.
Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints plant trees on the Hill Cumorah, a small hill and Church history site in Manchester, New York, on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. The missionaries planted the trees as part of a reforestation project by the Church. | Lisa Christensen

In his October 2022 general conference address called “Our Earthly Stewardship,” Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé said, “The care of the earth and of our natural environment is a sacred responsibility entrusted to us by God, which should fill us with a deep sense of duty and humility. It is also an integral component of our discipleship.”

As to why caring for the earth is an “integral component of our discipleship,” Sedgwick said it comes down to what President Nelson taught — that the care of the earth and love for one’s neighbor are linked.

“And the more and more we reflect on that love that God has for His creations — not only this earth, of course, but all of us as His children — then we can really feel that love and that motivating love to serve and to be involved,” she said.

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