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Published in Summer 2005
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Churches celebrate ‘eco-palm’ Sunday
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© Ingrid Young/CEC
Pastor Glenn Berg-Moberg at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, arranges 'eco-palm’ in advance of Palm Sunday. The sustainably harvested palm will help protect rainforest in Mexico, an important habitat for migratory birds.
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Twenty-two churches in Minnesota, North Dakota and Massachusetts became the first congregations in North America to use environmentally sustainable palm for their Palm Sunday services last March under a now completed pilot project of the CEC.
The trinational organization, in cooperation with Continental Floral Green, Rainforest Alliance and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management (CINRAM), coordinated the purchase of 5,000 chamaedorea palm fronds harvested in Mexico and Guatemala.
The fronds came from communities who are involved in efforts to certify their palm production as sustainable. They were tagged and delivered to participating Lutheran, Episcopalian and Unitarian churches in time for Palm Sunday services on 20 March.
"Chamaedorea palm fronds are often used as ornamental indoor plants and decoration in floral arrangements, but Palm Sunday services account for close to 10 percent of the total annual demand, or up to $4.5 million in sales in the United States alone," explains Dean Current, program manager of CINRAM.
Unfortunately, many of the 30 million palm fronds used for Palm Sunday were the result of over-harvesting in Mexico and Guatemala. But by supporting sustainable palm production, participating churches helped communities that practice sustainable harvesting earn a decent living while protecting their rainforest, an important habitat for migratory birds and other species.
"Churches have purchasing power just like regular consumers, so if enough congregations continue to demand green products like 'eco-palm,’ then the market will grow and environmental and social benefits will follow," says Chantal Line Carpentier, head of the Environment, Economy and Trade program at the CEC.
In fact, a survey commissioned by the CEC in 2003 showed a majority of Christian congregations would be willing to pay nearly double the price they currently pay in order to have sustainable palm.
Reverend Glenn Berg-Moberg, a participant in the program from St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, says, "Most Christians wake up on a Palm Sunday, look at the beautiful greenery and don’t think about where it’s being grown and whether forests and people are being affected, but we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the earth."
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