Climate change and Christianity: Some Chattanooga area believers find small acts of stewardship are a start

Among the only faith-based groups in the state that focuses on climate change, Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light in Knoxville has a single part-time paid worker, Dan Joranko. He's pushing congregations to apply for the Cool Congregations Challenge – an effort to encourage religious groups to be “sustainable role models in response to climate change.”

Chattanooga-area participation has been slim so far, but Angela Dittmar intends to put a new St. Paul's Episcopal Church project in the running. Recently, the congregation determined some invasive Bradford pear trees on its downtown grounds were threatening property damage and stunting native plant growth. Parishioners replaced them in November with, among other things, tulip poplars, Tennessee's state tree.

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