Clergy Call Upon Locals to Heed 'God's Call to Care for the Earth'

“My house was as tight as a screened-in porch,” said Bill Weisenbach, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Katonah.

Last winter, thermostats in the manse—his church-owned home on Bedford Road—registered somewhere between 63 and 68 degrees, depending on where they were placed.

During the recent cold snap, however, the thermostats all read a steady 68 degrees—and the heat never had to be turned on. That’s because the three-story, 100-year-old manse was assessed for energy deficiencies and retrofitted with $8,500 in insulation. According to Weisenbach, the project will pay for itself in 8 years and is calculated to save the church 30 percent in annual energy costs.

To Weisenbach—and eight other local religious leaders—getting is nothing short of heeding God’s call to preserve the earth and pass on a healthy world to future generations. But to hear about the details is much like reading a home improvement manual—not sexy stuff.

So the group turned to the power of faith to encourage at least 2,500 local church and synagogue-goers to get their homes assessed.

“It’s tough economic times, so it’s smart business to save money on energy,” said Weisenbach. “But it’s also about stewardship of the Earth—in the Genesis story of creation, we are placed in the garden and instructed by God to “till the earth and to keep it.”

The eight clergy members banded together to form a religious task force, one of nine community groups working under the auspices of to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020.

The group also includes Rev. Terence Elsberry of in Bedford; Rev. Melissa Boyer of ; Rev. Paul Alcorn of ; Rabbi Jason Nevarez of in Bedford Corners; Fr. Edmund Conners, of in Katonah; Rev. Dr. Paul Briggs of in Bedford Hills and Rev. Lucia P. Ballantine of St. James Episcopal Church in North Salem.

A flier promoting the energy assessment program was distributed through all of the houses of worship and many of the clergy planned to preach about the program, said Ellen Rouse Conrad, co-president of Bedford 2020, which serves as the grassroots marketing arm of Bedford's pilot energy program created after the passage of the town's

“It’s the beginning of the religious community seeing the effects of the environmental crisis,” said Conrad. “People of faith are not indifferent to global warming.”

The religious task force is just one way Bedford 2020 is attempting to get residents to think about reducing their enivronmental footprint. They've done mailings and outreach to schools and created a with . House parties where locals host friends to tell them about the energy pilot program are on the horizon.

And the marketing seems to be working—approximately 350 people have either received an upgrade or are in process, according to Mark Thielking, Bedford's energy director. And 40 percent of them are in the Bedford-Mt. Kisco area, where Bedford 2020 has focused their outreach efforts.

So will the power of God get people to make their homes more energy efficient?

"It will make people pay attention," said Conrad. "And we hope they end up doing it."