Mercy Environmental Guidelines address environmental concerns in our regional communities, ministries and sponsored works. These guidelines were developed by members of the Institute Justice Team and the Mercy Earth Harmony Network.

Mercy Earth Harmony Network brings together Sisters and Associates engaged in heightening awareness of the Earth community and the sense of our responsiblity in preserving our natural world. They commit themselves to the Mercy Environmental Guidelines and to the words of Thomas Berry:

It is now unthinkable that any women's congregation should not be committed as a primary concern and purpose to the saving of the natural world. If the life systems are not saved, then everything else is irrelevant.
(Apostolic Women Religious as a Voice of the Earth)

As Sisters of Mercy, Associates, and co-ministers, we seek daily to approach our lives and ministries with an awareness of God's gift to us - our co-creative role and our interrelatedness to all EARTH life.

We will strive to:

• Live simply and resist consumerism.
• Eliminate products that are only good for one-time use, whenever possible.
• Begin meetings by asking how what we do here affects people who are poor and all other living things. "Does what we intend to do ignore, inhibit or foster a mutually enhancing human-earth community?" (Thomas Berry)
• Conduct a periodic environmental audit in our institutions and homes of those elements that impact the bioregion's air, water, land and all of nature, and develop a plan with annual self-evaluation steps.
• Look for environmentally sensitive specifications on goods and services we purchase.
• Continue converting our vehicle fleets to more environmentally friendly models whenever possible.
• Promote the efficient use of energy by investing in energy-efficient heating, cooling, lighting and water systems.
• Incorporate sustainable design principles in existing and future buildings and land use.
• Update practices constantly in light of advances in earth friendly technology and new understandings in health, environmental science and eco-theology/spirituality.
• Review annually the environmental criteria for our corporate investments and continue to operate in a manner that protects EARTH.