The Environmental Protection Agency will be spending $84,000 so churches may be studied to determine how they can help in fighting climate change.
Specifically, the agency will be funding a graduate fellowship at the University of Michigan that will be assessing 17 faith-based institutions that have their own initiatives for sustainability. In examining implemented projects, the research aims to be used in developing workshops that will teach religious leaders how they can instigate change in their congregations for the benefit of the environment.
To be carried out by Cybelle Tenaya Shattuck, with Brandon Jones participating as EPA project officer, the research aims to understand empirical experiences within faith-based communities regarding environmental efforts. It wants to explore motivations and processes as well as factors that get in the way of implementing green initiatives. Should some be successful, Shattuck will also be taking in what conditions facilitated implementation so that what works may also be applied in other projects.
To be included in the case study, congregations have to employ initiatives supporting sustainability, with multiple activities in place for that purpose and that the effort to do something for the environment has been present for at least four years. Individual case studies will also be developed for each of the 17 institutions using information gathered from historical documents, semistructured interviews and observations on-site. After the case studies are carried out, results will be compiled and compared, identifying common themes, significant characteristics and key similarities.
There are currently no systematic means of examining why certain activities come out of certain faith communities, what outcomes result from these activities and what factors contribute to the persistence of initiatives. However, preliminary research hints that for initiatives to be successful, organizational processes have to be in place, integrated into the social norms present in faith-based communities.
"The congregations undertaking these initiatives are reducing resource consumption and improving local environmental conditions while also increasing their organizational membership. The data and analytical framework developed for this project are adaptable for future research into environmental behavior by members of faith-based organizations," it said on the grant's page.
Laura Allen, deputy press secretary for the EPA, clarified though that while the agency will be funding the research, it will not be directly developing the workshop that the fellowship aims to produce in the end. Instead, Shattuck will be spearheading the creation of a workshop program using information gleaned from the research, while the EPA supports the work.
The research is scheduled to run through Sept. 2, 2016.
Photo: Tony Fischer | Flickr
