Abstract:
During the past decade, secular environmentalism has experienced increasing support from religious communities. Increasingly, these two communities realize that their philosophies and common values make them good partners. Both promote community cooperation, leadership by example, and youth education—values that benefit the whole society. This relationship led to this research project: to determine if one such religious community, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Muncie, partnered issues of environmental justice and environmental preservation/conservation to lower its ecological footprint below that of the American community. Data was gathered through observation and survey, and results were analyzed using basic demographic information: age, gender analysis, and application of general quadrant location. It was determined that home size and daily transportation habits were among the strongest determinants of ecological footprint magnitude.
