As the senior pastor of Cass Community UMC and the executive director of Cass Community Social Services in Detroit since 1994, she has redefined what it means to do community outreach and set precedents for how churches should become more energy efficient.
In the April 18 issue of the Detroit Free Press she was honored as one of Michigan’s finest green leaders, and as churches across the Detroit and West Michigan conferences start pursuing a greener existence Fowler is a voice of reason.
She helped create a sustainable business for the homeless by taking illegally dumped tires to produce rubber mats and she jumpstarted a number of recycling programs.
In January Cass opened a “green gym” that offers standard fitness equipment (weight machines, etc.), boxing bags, a treadmill, and 10 stationary bikes featuring Green Revolution technology allows them to generate electricity.
Editor RJ Walters recently talked with Fowler about her odyssey and tips for churches looking to get on board with the energy efficiency movement.
How does being in touch with the environment and renewable energy sources relate to the Christian faith and when did you start exploring “greener” options for Cass?
“I think it’s a great thing to preach, but if it doesn’t match your life your words are really hollow. We forever have been saying God created the heavens and the Earth, it’s right there at the beginning of the (creation) story. We started about five years ago because we have so many buildings and vehicles it became a naturally way to reduce costs as well as to respond to the planet being something God wants us to take care of.”
What steps did you take to get started?
“We did the self evaluations initially and we did the smaller stuff initially, like caulking, and changing light bulbs and inexpensive things first. You can start for less than $10. You can find people on staff, or in committees, or in a youth group that are interested in the planet and they can start to provide a grounds for people to realize it’s easy and good to reduce our carbon footprint. It doesn’t matter where or who the people are, they can get people excited to get the whole church involved”
The media has given a lot of coverage to several projects Cass has put into action. How did the “mud mats” business of taking old tires and creating rubber mats start up?
“It was about a $4,000 investment, which to start a new business is next to nothing. So we bought the equipment, installed it and we started the program (after having learned about it from a micro enterprise in Oklahoma). We saw that tires were a problem and could be an asset. They continue to be a problem because people illegally dump in the city — some people from the city, but many more not from the city — so there’s a constant flow of what we need for product, unfortunately. We’ve done more than 8,000 tires so far and there’s no end in sight.”
What’s new on the horizon that you might be integrating into Cass in the near future?
“I just came back from Texas where I learned about a new green car washing device, which will allow us to start a new business with homeless and disabled veterans here. It is mobile and uses less than a cup of water to wash the car with all ingredients that are good for the environment and we are so “geeked” on this and I plan on buying two. They turn it into steam…at a degree that is good enough to get off the grime and the dirt, and you don’t have anything flowing into the ground water, you don’t have any mess to clean up and you can do it in a parking lot with new trouble.”
How have some of initial investments paid off for the Cass facilities in the past?
“Every church has toilets. Go put in a low-flow toilet for about $200 or less and what you’re going to make it up in a year, let alone 20 years. There’s really inexpensive ways to be green.”
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