In the fight against climate change, a church in Baltimore is turning to nature

BALTIMORE—Every drop of rain that rushes across the pavement is a dilemma, picking up pollution and dumping it into streams. And in this lowland town on the water, it doesn’t take much to cause a flood.

But around one church in Northeast Baltimore, plenty of raindrops are slowing down.

Faith Presbyterian Church planted a 200-square-foot rain garden and turned part of its parking lot into a small forest. Instead of rushing through pipes and directly into local waterways, the rainwater that runs off the church roof stays in the garden, and pollutants are filtered out by native plants as it works underground.

It is an example of using natural solutions for climate resilience, as stormwater systems designed for the weather of the past are increasingly failing. Even when these systems work well, they do not offer all the benefits of green spaces.

A traditional stormwater system “is good if you don’t want your basement to flood,” said longtime parish priest and Clerk of Session William Curtis. “But it’s not good for anything else.”

Rainwater flows hot roofs in summer to traditional systems, for example, is a problem for fish and other aquatic organisms that are sensitive to even the slightest temperature changes.

“So this water is too warm, and fish are very, very sensitive to water temperature,” Curtis said.

The church’s rain garden allows water to cool and settle before continuing through the watershed. The church property is shaded by trees, some recently planted and others in full bloom, with squirrels scurrying between them.

The rain garden dates back to 2010. Curtis said the work was completed with the help of the Herring Run Watershed Association, one of several groups that later formed the nonprofit environmental organization Blue Water Baltimore.

Recently, the church expanded its environmental efforts by turning several sidewalks into a mini forest. In the fall and spring of 2023, worshipers and neighbors planted approximately 44 native trees and a variety of wildflowers to support pollinators and native birds. Last fall, the Chesapeake Bay Alliance planted an additional 30 trees on the property.

To make way for the forest, the church tore out part of its parking lot in May 2023.

Rev. Cat Dodson Goodrich, the church’s pastor, said the decision highlighted a change in the size and needs of the congregation. Built to accommodate more than 1,000 members, the church now serves fewer people.

The project was realized through a partnership with Blue Water Baltimore and Interfaith Partners for Chesapeake, a nonprofit that helps churches protect and restore their neighborhoods.

“We’re translating that kind of really technical, open-ended language about environmental issues into language that resonates with faith communities,” said Mollie Rudow, who at the time was Interfaith Partners’ senior outreach coordinator for Chesapeake.

Baltimore flood control

Slowing down rainwater has another benefit: it helps the city deal with flooding.

Rising sea levels due to climate change combined with aging infrastructure and numerous impervious surfaces are exacerbating the problem in Baltimore, including so-called sunny days flood. It’s basement flooding and property damage.

Baltimore is located in a low-lying region bordering the Chesapeake Bay and other tributaries, making it particularly vulnerable.

“Baltimore is surrounded by water. With increased climate change, increased storms, increased water flow, where does it go?” asked Robin Lewis, director of climate equity at Interfaith Power & Light’s regional affiliate. “If you have an impervious pavement, like Baltimore has, there’s no way for it to sink into the ground and soak in. So it sits on top and leaks out.”

First Street, a research and technology organization, predicts that in 30 years, 82 percent of properties in the Inner Harbor will be at risk of flooding, compared to about 63 percent this year.

“These asphalt parking lots and streets don’t do anything,” Lewis said. “The water just overtakes and flows into our tributaries.”

Congregations are well-positioned to lead resilience work because of their deep roots in the neighborhoods they serve, Rudow said.

“Faith communities are organizers,” she said. “They are the consolidated places where we can make large-scale changes. Often in disasters, we see it’s religious communities that organize to provide shelter, water, food or clothing.”

A vicious cycle of climate change can damage a city’s infrastructure, reduce property values, and result in less tax revenue to improve infrastructure for future disasters.

According to the 2024 Pew Charitable Trusts report. borders o Local governments’ ability to raise funds can create investment gaps that delay maintenance and improvements to critical infrastructure, such as transportation and wastewater systems. .

Resiliency Hubs

Reverend André Briscoe Jr. leads three congregations—St. Matthew’s New Life United Methodist Church, Govans-Boundary United Methodist Church and New Waverly United Methodist Church—with aging buildings along the city’s Greenmount-York Road corridor.

Briscoe said the problems facing his parishes reflect deep disinvestment. The neighborhood surrounding Novi život St. Matthew, for example, is both a desert of food and eating an urban warm islandhe said. Both conditions reflect the broader environmental challenges facing Baltimore’s under-resourced black neighborhoods.

Govans-Boundary has not had a major renovation since 1958, and both Govans and New Waverly rely on oil furnaces. Churches have been burning through their oil reserves faster than expected this year temperatures have dropped.

“We’ve had a few weeks where we’ve had to wait longer than normal for oil because of the high demand,” Briscoe said.

He is trying to make churches and the areas they serve more resilient. His effort to find funding for solar power at all three churches has yet to bear fruit, but St. Matthew’s New Life and Govans-Boundary have been official resiliency hubs through the Baltimore Office of Sustainability since 2024.

“If there’s an emergency or disaster in the neighborhood, the hubs come into play,” Briscoe said. “It could be food, it could be water, it could be disaster relief.”

For Briscoe, this work stems directly from his faith.

“We believe we should be good stewards of all God’s creatures,” he said. “That is, human beings and animals, insects, earth, air, everything.”

Back at Faith Presbyterian, where rain soaks into the ground where cars once parked on the sidewalk, the pastor reflects on how the property can continue to serve the neighborhood. She envisions a future where the benefits of green spaces are constantly expanding.

“A beautiful natural playground used by children in the community, trees that have started to grow and mature, and maybe even some gardens that produce food that goes to feed hungry people,” Goodrich said.