Environmental Stance


Walter Brueggeman, an Old Testament scholar, wrote that "Land is a central, if not the central theme of biblical faith. Biblical faith is a pursuit of historical belonging that includes a sense of destiny derived from such belonging." As the church, we have no place to be, exist, or even love without land. Yet current trends in our culture have forced us again to consider what it means to be the progeny of folks who had no home- no place to lay their head- save the very land which they roamed. What we believe and profess to do as the church in the world attempts to embody the biblical faith of old. Such faith and belief we want to try to live out in our world, where we live, where we do ministry. Camp Lake Stephens, now over 60 years old has been a place of refuge, renewal, and resurrection for many. As such, this very place is a living, breathing example of God's creation and its redemptive power. It is an example, which forces added responsibility on its caretakers to ensure that the practices that effect its land are not only beneficial to the land and those who spend time on it / with it, but that those who work together with Camp Lake Stephens avoid sinful behavior when dealing with the land. Because this is so important to us, we take care to teach others that taking care of the earth is not a trend, and not simply "environmentally sound." It is a calling, a biblical and intrinsic responsibility to love the Lord by loving what we have been given to take care of. Thus, sustainable living is not merely an ecological improvement, but a spiritual necessity, benefiting the entire ecosystem, which is seeking an embodied, whole, reality. Our call to sustainability, then, not only comes in broad theological terms but in specific relationships with the materials we consume and how we give back to the earth. We at Camp Lake Stephens are concerned about our relationship with the earth, and want it to be as efficacious for the earth as it is for as as Christians. As such, we want to mindful of practices that are harmful to creation, and we want to curb harmful behaviors while buidling new practices of environmental stewardship and caretaking. Below are a few essential points of our call to sustainability: 1. Buying Local Nothing can be environmentally redemptive than buying local. The biggest way we can buy local is through our food suppliers, an area where we have failed to do as much as we could have as of late. Our goal, then, is to begin to buy local foods, particularly for summer camp, starting in summer 2008. While we plan to start with simple foods, we hope to eventually buy a majority of what we eat from local, sustainable growers. The shipping and handling costs will decrease our carbon footprint up to 40%, as well as lowering the cost of our food purchases, and raising the quality of the food we prepare. 2. Landscaping Current weather patterns have been a severe detriment to the topsoil at Camp Lake Stephens. Because of this, we have lost most of our grass, and when it rains, we have more mud than green. It is our goal, then, to build retaining walls and plant trees that will impact our topsoil in such a way to provide the most resistance to erosion possible, while creating a positive change to the aesthetics of this place so many consider beautiful and sacred. 3. Reducing Our Carbon Footprint Because over 5,000 folks set foot on Camp Lake Stephens each year, we take part in gross amounts of pollution of the place we call home. The impact of vehicles on our lots, waste gathered and manufactured at our facilities, and the resources it takes to maintain and provide for our facilities all are results from how we operate. Realizing this, we want to do better, and reduce our carbon footprint. A few ways we are doing this are: Planting Trees: We plan to plant 10,000 trees over our 500 acres to completely offset our carbon emissions over the course of a year. Perhaps in the future we can offer to plant trees here for others who also wish to offset their carbon footprint. Recycling: Oxford offers mixed paper, #1/#2 plastic, aluminum, and cardboard recycling. We take advantage of all of these and recycle all that we can. Tankless Water Heaters: We have recently purchased two tankless water heaters for our dining hall, where we use more water than any other facility, particularly during summer camp. These heaters will not only save us money by reducing our water bill, but they will use less water and electricity, both assisting our attempts to be better stewards of our gifts. Composting: We are currently working on plans to institute composting of our left-over food and compostable materials from meal times. This will not only help our potential future garden by providing free, premium quality soil, but will also help cut down as much as 20% of our waste from any given summer camp week. LEED Certified Treehouses: Our new treehouses, scheduled to be implemented for summer 2008, we hope to be sustainable buildings. Using a green design, we hope to proffer these new buildings as the Camp Lake Stephens way of the future. Our vision is for these buildings to be powered by solar energy, have composting toilets, and receive their water from a well on campus.

Walter Brueggeman, an Old Testament scholar, wrote that "Land is a central, if not the central theme of biblical faith. Biblical faith is a pursuit of historical belonging that includes a sense of destiny derived from such belonging." As the church, we have no place to be, exist, or even love without land. Yet current trends in our culture have forced us again to consider what it means to be the progeny of folks who had no home- no place to lay their head- save the very land which they roamed. What we believe and profess to do as the church in the world attempts to embody the biblical faith of old.

    Such faith and belief we want to try to live out in our world, where we live, where we do ministry. Camp Lake Stephens, now over 60 years old has been a place of refuge, renewal, and resurrection for many. As such, this very place is a living, breathing example of God's creation and its redemptive power. It is an example, which forces added responsibility on its caretakers to ensure that the practices that effect its land are not only beneficial to the land and those who spend time on it / with it, but that those who work together with Camp Lake Stephens avoid sinful behavior when dealing with the land. Because this is so important to us, we take care to teach others that taking care of the earth is not a trend, and not simply "environmentally sound." It is a calling, a biblical and intrinsic responsibility to love the Lord by loving what we have been given to take care of. Thus, sustainable living is not merely an ecological improvement, but a spiritual necessity, benefiting the entire ecosystem, which is seeking an embodied, whole, reality.

    Our call to sustainability, then, not only comes in broad theological terms but in specific relationships with the materials we consume and how we give back to the earth. We at Camp Lake Stephens are concerned about our relationship with the earth, and want it to be as efficacious for the earth as it is for as as Christians. As such, we want to mindful of practices that are harmful to creation, and we want to curb harmful behaviors while buidling new practices of environmental stewardship and caretaking. Below are a few essential points of our call to sustainability:

1. Buying Local
    Nothing can be environmentally redemptive than buying local. The biggest way we can buy local is through our food suppliers, an area where we have failed to do as much as we could have as of late. Our goal, then, is to begin to buy local foods, particularly for summer camp, starting in summer 2008. While we plan to start with simple foods, we hope to eventually buy a majority of what we eat from local, sustainable growers. The shipping and handling costs will decrease our carbon footprint up to 40%, as well as lowering the cost of our food purchases, and raising the quality of the food we prepare.

2. Landscaping
    Current weather patterns have been a severe detriment to the topsoil at Camp Lake Stephens. Because of this, we have lost most of our grass, and when it rains, we have more mud than green. It is our goal, then, to build retaining walls and plant trees that will impact our topsoil in such a way to provide the most resistance to erosion possible, while creating a positive change to the aesthetics of this place so many consider beautiful and sacred.

3. Reducing Our Carbon Footprint
    Because over 5,000 folks set foot on Camp Lake Stephens each year, we take part in gross amounts of pollution of the place we call home. The impact of vehicles on our lots, waste gathered and manufactured at our facilities, and the resources it takes to maintain and provide for our facilities all are results from how we operate. Realizing this, we want to do better, and reduce our carbon footprint. A few ways we are doing this are:

Planting Trees: We plan to plant 10,000 trees over our 500 acres to completely offset our carbon emissions over the course of a year. Perhaps in the future we can offer to plant trees here for others who also wish to offset their carbon footprint.

Recycling: Oxford offers mixed paper, #1/#2 plastic, aluminum, and cardboard recycling. We take advantage of all of these and recycle all that we can.

Tankless Water Heaters: We have recently purchased two tankless water heaters for our dining hall, where we use more water than any other facility, particularly during summer camp. These heaters will not only save us money by reducing our water bill, but they will use less water and electricity, both assisting our attempts to be better stewards of our gifts.

Composting: We are currently working on plans to institute composting of our left-over food and compostable materials from meal times. This will not only help our potential future garden by providing free, premium quality soil, but will also help cut down as much as 20% of our waste from any given summer camp week.

LEED Certified Treehouses: Our new treehouses, scheduled to be implemented for summer 2008, we hope to be sustainable buildings. Using a green design, we hope to proffer these new buildings as the Camp Lake Stephens way of the future. Our vision is for these buildings to be powered by solar energy, have composting toilets, and receive their water from a well on campus.