This Lent, consider changing the way you eat to help the poor and change the environment.
The season of Lent begins February 17th and runs through April 1st. Lent is a season of the Christian Year where many Christians focus on simple living, prayer and fasting in order to grow closer to God. Pope Francis said in his encyclical Laudato Si, 119, “ Our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others and with God.”
This year a number of local Catholic churches have put a new twist on Lent called Greener Lent. The mission of Greener Lent is designed to care for the poor, who are first and foremost affected by environmental degradation, by reducing our personal environmental impact through fasting and abstinence from meat.
Lent focuses on prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Catholics abstain from meat, which is a form of fasting, on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays in Lent. This spiritual self-discipline, combined with prayer and compassion for the world (our alms), is the focus of Greener Lent. Fasting is prayer and participating in this program is a sign of solidarity with the poor who are the most affected by climate change.
Meat production is one of the largest contributors to rainforest land loss and methane gas production on the planet. This is not just a problem in third world countries, the poor in NC suffer due to methane and groundwater pollution from hog waste. Our food choices can directly influence the demand for meat and thereby mitigate these impacts.
Greener Lent has three levels of fasting that correspond to the amount of meat an individual eats during Lent. These levels of fasting are based on a heart healthy diet portion of 4 ounces of meat per serving. The Good Samaritan level allows an individual to consume the most red meat. The John the Baptist level reduces the red meat and allows the individual to consume chicken and pork. The Mary Mother of God level is mostly vegetarian and allows chicken and pork to be consumed once a week. All the levels allow for an individual to consume fish.
The amount of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e’s) a measure of greenhouse gasses, is calculated based on the number of people who have signed up for each level. The emissions savings calculation is based on comparing the fasting levels to the standard American diet. The emissions savings are reported on the Greener Lent website each weekend and communicated through a weekly email that the participant can opt into.
Although signing up is easy, we know that fasting is difficult. Knowing that we are fasting and praying together as a Greener Lent church community and seeing the results of our fast (in carbon equivalents which are translated to equivalent gallons of gas) helps us make this powerful sacrifice.
We invite you to join Greener Lent as we pray, repent, and focus on the poor throughout Lent. To learn more go to https://greenerlent.org/
Greener Lent was started by Rosemary Herhold of St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Raleigh.
Blog Author: Jennifer Mckinney of greenerlent.org
