Mormons Build Solar-Powered Meetinghouse
On Tuesday, April 27, 2010, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are often casually called Mormons, showed reporters around a new solar-powered meetinghouse. It is one of five environmentally friendly chapels serving as a test program to monitor effectiveness. The pilot program will eventually lead to environmentally friendly meetinghouses world-wide.
The Mormons have a long history of environmentalism, beginning with Joseph Smith’s injunctions not to kill animals unless they are needed for food, and Brigham Young’s regular warnings to members not to waste the Lord’s natural resources. He frequently reminded members everything belonged to God and we have no right to waste it. He was very careful about reusing and recycling in his personal life, and expected others to do the same.
Church buildings have frequently incorporated methods to conserve resources, from the low-tech 1950s solution of using overhangs to cut heat intake to the more sophisticated usage of underground springs for cooling, and the addition of satellite to allow people to attend meetings locally, rather than flying or driving long distances. In some areas, water conservation measures have also been taken.
Earlier this year, it was announced that the new LDS History Library received LEEDS certification, a complex and high-level certification demonstrating a compliance with sustainability requirements.
The announcement of a pilot program to develop earth-friendly and 
sustainable chapels is seen by many as an important step. Mormons build new chapels every day and improving the sustainability of those chapels will have a significant impact on the usage of the world’s resources. The new solar-powered building has a power usage monitor in the library, where members can see how much energy the building is saving in real time, and have it demonstrate what that means in easy-to-understand ways, such as showing how many hours of light bulbs this would fuel. Members can also bring their children to the monitor to help them learn about energy conservation.
Mormon beliefs teach that when God gave Adam responsibility for caring for the earth, this responsibility was passed along to each of his descendants. Mormons believe we have stewardship responsibilities toward the planet, and that this is a sacred responsibility. As Brigham Young taught, everything is God’s and we are simply borrowing it. Therefore, we must take care of it.
The Doctrine and Covenants, a book of modern revelations, states:
16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fullness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth;
17 Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards;
18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;
19 Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.
20 And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.
Mormons are taught that God gave us enough and to spare when He created the earth, which means that any shortages are due to our own misuse of resources. For this reason, sustainability is a spiritual concept to Mormons.
Learn about the new solar-powered Mormon buildings.
Learn about the Mormon’s history of conservation.
Tags: creation, God, green Mormons, Mormons, solar, sustainability
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