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 Individual Profiles
“The environment for me is the place where I live, work, and connect with the Creator Spirit who dwells in the depths of my being and in all that surrounds me. GreenFaith nourishes me with its message of care for the Earth as a behavior central to all faith communities,” says Marie Savoie. Marie is co-founder of St. Mary’s Catholic Church’s Environmental Committee which, since its founding in 1994, has been one of the most active Catholic groups on the environment in New Jersey. Marie has helped organize beach cleanups, water quality testing, over ten Environmental Expositions, the use of environmental liturgies, speaking engagements, an energy audit, and other environmental activities at St. Mary’s. “Working with GreenFaith places me in a larger community which enriches me by giving me the chance to meet others who share similar goals, dreams and visions,” she says. “It helps me connect more deeply with the Spirit through nature and to be a voice for those who are victimized by environmental injustice.” “As a Catholic Christian Community,
St. Mary's primary purpose is to help its members center
their lives around God,” says Marie. “The
environment provides a place where we can tend to that relationship
and shape ourselves into compassionate, reverent hospitable
persons.”
"It is my hope that in the near future it will be impossible to imagine a person of faith who is not deeply concerned with the health of our world's eco-systems,” says Rabbi Elliott Tepperman, spiritual leader of B’nai Keshet, the Reconstructionist Synagogue in Montclair. Under Elliott’s leadership, B’nai Keshet has conducted an energy audit, promoted the use of wind power, offered Biblical text study programs on ecological themes in the Bible, and conducted a letter-writing campaign to advocate for lower diesel emissions in New Jersey. B’nai Keshet is one of twelve New Jersey houses of worship taking part in GreenFaith’s Sustainable Sanctuaries program (create link to Sustainable Sanctuaries). Elliott has also arranged for several GreenFaith presentations to the Montclair Clergy Association. With a background in community organizing
and a commitment to social justice, Elliott sees his GreenFaith
membership as an important part of his Jewish identity. “I
am committed to GreenFaith because its mission allows me
take action on the Jewish commandments to steward the environment
and to seek environmental justice," he concludes.
Jeff Elliott is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Brant Beach, NJ. Carol, his spouse, is the program coordinator of the Alliance for a Living Ocean. They have two daughters, Rachel, who is at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and Sarah, who is in high school. Jeff has recently completed an eight-year career as a Navy Reserve Chaplain. Jeff writes, “As a Christian, my environmental commitment arises from the distinction that exists between ownership and stewardship. If a person owns something, he or she can do with it whatever he or she desires. If we owned the earth, we would be free to squander its resources and diminish its beauty. It would be a foolish choice, but not necessarily an immoral choice. “However, the psalmist writes, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1). If we take the words of the Scriptures at all seriously, and consider them as a source and norm for our daily life, then we do not own the earth. God has simply given us the use of God’s planet for the season of our lifespan. “As someone who has lived almost all of his life at the New Jersey shore, I know something about abusive tenants. God has not signed over title of God’s earth to us nor revoked our obligation to return it to God in the same condition in which it was turned over to us. To abuse or squander God’s resources while we stay here is therefore not just foolish, it is immoral. It is nothing other than sin to abuse the earth that God owns and loves. “When our congregation put solar panels on the roof or conducted the energy audit, when we purchased china cups to replace the throw away Styrofoam, we did it because we believed that this is God’s Will for God’s earth. It is simply a way of living out the prayer that Jesus taught us, “Thy Will be done.” Under Jeff’s leadership, Holy Trinity has installed solar panels through GreenFaith’s Lighting the Way program, and has conducted an energy audit which identified opportunities to reduce energy use by over 20% with retrofits that would pay for themselves within a year, reducing Holy Trinity’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 35,000 pounds annually. In recent years, Holy Trinity has also taken part in water testing at 40 different Barnegat Bay sites, taken part in successful advocacy to close a Ciba Geigy pipeline that used to dump waste into the ocean, and created a Vacation Bible School program called “Inherit the Earth.” “In asserting the doctrine of creation,” says Jeff, “Christians affirm a relationship between God and the world. God made all that is, Christ is the preexistent agent of creation, and creation is not just something that happened in the past – God is continually creating. “Human
beings are not the owners or masters of the earth – we
are part of creation. But as beings ‘made
in God’s image,’ we have been assigned a stewardship
responsibility to care for creation. This is how I read Genesis
2-3 and John 1.”
Kathy Abbott is a member of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Chatham, NJ. The mother of 3, she is also a zero-pesticide activist, and works with schools and municipalities to help them develop plans to eliminate the use of toxic pesticides and herbicides in their buildings and on their grounds. Kathy has been a GreenFaith member for 6 years, and is one of the leaders of the New Jersey Catholic Coalition for Environmental Justice, the organization that works to engage Catholics around New Jersey with environmental issues. Kathy has also worked actively to re-create a native wildlife habitat at Southern Boulevard School in Chatham, a project endorsed by the town’s School District. “I’m very wedded to this project,” Kathy says. “I led a committee of parents and scout leaders to get it approved and to get the project completed. We received a grant from the US Department of Agriculture which required that we use only native plants. It is still a work in progress but is looking good and attracting monarch butterflies now.” Kathy says, “In an often overdeveloped part of the world where natural resources can be so hidden from view, GreenFaith reminds us that people of God are also people that come from the earth. We human creatures, whom God molded through evolution out of the elements of the Earth, continue as humans because of the sustenance the Earth provides. Respect for our God and our bodies means we also should respect the natural world. “GreenFaith also extends the traditional concepts of social justice promoted by faith institutions by showing that our responsibility to care for each other is integrated with caring for the divine gift of all of creation. GreenFaith does this in two ways: by teaching that our consumer habits each day are part of stewardship for the environment, and by advocating with poor or disenfranchised communities who are suffering disproportionately from human industry’s degradation of nature. “I serve on the Board of GreenFaith
because I think that caring for the environment is a moral
and spiritual issue, though most Americans still see environmentalism
as a political issue. GreenFaith helps people of faith integrate
caring for creation with every other ethical decision in
their daily lives.”
“My first involvement as an environmental activist was during the late 1970’s, when a large parcel of pristine woodland on the Palisades of New Jersey was sold to a developer who planned a huge complex of residential and commercial buildings which would have destroyed many of the surrounding nature sanctuaries. I joined with other concerned citizens in opposing this sale, by phone campaigns, petition drives, and lobbying efforts directed to elected officials. Our efforts were successful, and the land was eventually purchased with Green Acres funds, to remain undeveloped in perpetuity. “With my interest having been aroused, I obtained an M.A. degree in Environmental Studies from Montclair State College (now, University), and became founding chairman of the Environment Committee of Temple Emeth in Teaneck. I learned, to my pleased amazement, that many of the environmental issues which occupy us today were dealt with in sacred Jewish literature – the Torah, the Midrash, the Psalms, etc. I then began to give talks to interested groups of seniors and young people about the relationship between Judaism and Environmental Preservation, with special emphasis on God’s commandment to humankind to be stewards of the Earth which God has lent to us – God’s house, in which we are guests. “I also joined GreenFaith, which reinforced both my knowledge of environmental issues and my awareness of the sacred nature of the earth. My involvement with GreenFaith has helped me to consider and solidify my own environmental beliefs. It has also enabled me to share ideals with like-minded people from other faith traditions, and to learn that all religions value stewardship as a commandment from God. GreenFaith has also been a valuable resource to me in my work as Associate Regional Director of the New Jersey-West Hudson Valley Council of the Union of Reform Judaism. “The
primary message I try to stress whenever I speak on environmental
themes is that few of us are in a position to “change
the world;” however, all of us are in
the position to change our own little piece of the world, and
we have the God-given duty to try to change it for the better.
Sister Jeanne Goyette, OP Sister Jeanne Goyette is an active promoter of Earth Ministry for the Sisters of St. Dominic, a Catholic religious order based in Caldwell, New Jersey. She played an important role in helping the Caldwell Dominicans “go solar” with several large solar arrays at their Caldwell center. “Our 648 solar panel system is a practical sign of our faith commitment to live in harmony with all of creation,” said Sister Jeanne Goyette. “Every day we decrease the amount of fossil fuels burned to produce electricity and offset by approximately 200 pounds the amount of CO2 we release into the atmosphere. We’re grateful to GreenFaith for their initiative and support which encouraged us to begin and celebrate the completion of this project.” Sister Jeanne teaches Environmental Science and Eco Spirituality at Lacordaire Academy, Secondary Division, in Upper Montclair. Sister Jeanne also teaches at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School in Verona, where she has been a leader of efforts to green the school’s operations through GreenFaith’s Green Flag, GreenFaith Schools Program. OLL has made efforts to reduce the use of toxic cleaning materials, has offered educational assemblies on the environment for its students, and is moving forward with additional greening initiatives. “We are part of the sacred community of life,” she says. “Our lives must reflect our commitment to respect and to live in harmony with all creation. I believe that wonder, creativity and a deep faith in the goodness of God will enable us to cherish and preserve all life on Earth.”
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Individual Profiles:
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Marie Savoie
Rabbi Elliott Tepperman 
Pastor Jeff Elliott 
Kathy Abbott 
Paul Kaufman 