Honoring and Protecting Creation

The mission of the Green Team is to catalyze Creation Care at St. Ambrose, our local communities, and across the Planet Earth.  Adults and youth are welcome in the Green Team!

The Episcopal Church believes that “In Jesus, God so loved the whole world. We follow Jesus, so we love the world God loves. Concerned for the global climate emergency, drawing on diverse approaches for our diverse contexts, we commit to form and restore loving, liberating, life-giving relationships with all of Creation” (from the website of the Episcopal Church). The mission of the Green Team at St. Ambrose is to catalyze Creation Care at St. Ambrose, our local communities, and across the Planet Earth. 

You are invited to join the Green Team!

Current Events

Carbon Footprint Reduction

Based on HVAC improvements in 2025 and other efficiency efforts, our Energy Star report shows that our gas and electricity greenhouse gas emissions for the year ending in May 2026 are 50 % lower than they were for the year ending May 2019.  Our solar panels came on line in June 2026!   In the summer, they are producing more electricity than we use.

Decode Colorado: The State of Water

To kick off the 2026 Season of Creation, on September 6 the Green Team hosted a viewing and discussion of this PBS documentary on water use in Colorado. Highlighting personal stories and sustainable practices, the film reveals the urgency of protecting Colorado’s water for future generations.

Rain Garden

St. Ambrose partnered with Cool Boulder to host an experimental garden pair in which one garden receives rain runoff and grading to retain water and the other receives conventional irrigation.  The plants suffered a bit from enterprising rabbits and this year’s drought, but most are ready for a come-back next spring.  The study monitors water levels and will last for seasons.

St. Ambrose Campus Eco Tour and Blessing of Creation

In honor of Earth Day, on Sunday April 19, 2026, we held a walking tour of the St. Ambrose campus features with positive impacts on our environment.  The tour included the gardens, water supply, heat pumps and solar panels.  At each stop, we shared the history of that feature and said a prayer related to its function.

Past/Ongoing Events

Pollinator Garden

Cool Boulder and St. Ambrose joined together to present a free showing of "Water is Love" on Tuesday evening, April 8, 2025, to learn more about the ecology of water and projects to preserve it. Cool Boulder provided pizza and soft drinks.

More about Creation Care and the Episcopal Church:

The Episcopal Church’s Covenant for the Care of Creation is a commitment to practice loving formation, liberating advocacy and life-giving conservation as individuals, congregations, ministries and dioceses.

The Episcopal Church in Colorado has shared the following about Creation Care:

Caring for creation means living in mindful, ethical, and loving relationship with the earth and all living things, knowing that all life is interconnected and that we share a common home. Climate change is the most important threat the world is facing. As people of faith, it is incumbent upon us to take an active part in the solutions. The time for contemplation on this issue is over. We must act decisively now.

Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth,
you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom
and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one
may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet
to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. 

(Prayer for the Conservation of Natural Resources, BCP 827)

In Colorado, we live in a beautiful and sacred part of God’s creation, a place that calls us to reverence, prayerfulness, proclamation, conversation, and action. In the face of the many challenges impacting creation, we seek more than simple solutions that don’t go far enough. We seek to be educated, informed, and equipped, avoiding aggressive and confrontational attitudes and actions that polarize and divide.