What would Jesus water?
That is what a Valley church is asking as it attempts to answer the call to conserve during California's ongoing drought. The church hopes its latest mission will serve as an example to others.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It started with solar panels on the rooftop to generate it's own power. Then came new lighting and other features to reduce it's energy use.
Now, Community United Church of Christ in Fresno has begun it's latest mission to conserve water during California's catastrophic drought. They have been tearing out it's lawns that once lining the property and replacing it with a more indigenous, drought-resistant landscape.
"It's very scary times we live in with the drought, we're three years in to the drought, maybe that's the new normal. Maybe El Nio gives us a little bit of precipitation this next year, we're hoping... we've got to do other things to adapt," said Christopher Breedlove, pastor.
Two weeks ago, a team of volunteers devoted their Saturday to cover the long stretch of grass with about 21,000 feet of plastic. "They went and looked on Google Earth, then they had an ideal of the square footage from Google Earth and that's how they knew how much plastic to buy."
Then they sealed it off with duct tape and posted signs to inform neighbors of their intentions to do their part to love and care for the earth. They plan to replace the lawn with donated mulch taken from eucalyptus trees at a nearby park.
"I respect what they're doing. Conservation. Everyone should be doing something to conserve because it's just getting worse," said Kim Kezirian, neighbor.
Pastor Christopher Breedlove says the process will take about three months to complete, but said it was important for the church to be an example to the rest of the community and practice what it preaches. "We're hoping it spreads. That institutions and organizations in Fresno, especially larger scale institutions like Fresno State or others, can look at their property and see what they can do to conserve water."
