CONCERNING ENERGY

WHEREAS at present there are limited energy sources available for practical use in the world. Many new sources of energy, such as breeder reactors, as well as present nuclear facilities, are potentially quite hazardous to world health. Half lives of some waste products are 250,000 years, but our technology can only guarantee their safe disposal for 250 years; and

WHEREAS until safer resources become practical, we should try to conserve energy in domestic as well as industrial use in order to eliminate the need to build the presently unsafe alternatives to' meet our growing energy demands ;

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

1. LSM provide information on practical energy conservation to its members, so that they in turn inform their congregations how they can conserve energy as well as the reasons why they should conserve; and

2. LSM members set up a recycling program when practical, at their churches to help conserve energy as well as resources (aluminum, for example, takes only 10% of the energy to recycle as it does to extract by present methods from bauxite ore), It is also saleable and would make a good source of income for the LSM group; and

3. LSM request that the national Lutheran church bodies and individual members use their votes in large corporations as stockholders to promote energy conservation by those energy consuming corporations (the Western world uses 80% of the total energy produced in the world; we should use it as wisely as possible.)

RESOURCES AVAILABLE:

Mc Gibern, God's Good Earth and Ours presents a historical and theological study of the present energy situation of the world. It projects some visions for the future and gives many suggestions for conservation of energy by us. The booklet is excellent as a guide for discussion by groups. It is available at the 1976 conference, or by

writing:                              The Christophers

12 E. 48th Street

New York, NY, 10017. The price is $3.00 perhundred.