The diocese offices will save 40 percent on heating and air-conditioning costs, due to an innovative system of wells that will tap groundwater, circulate it, then return it to the earth. Of course this new system was expensive, costing $160,000, and the diocese won't make up the initial outlay for a decade.

So the decisions about energy efficiency are made carefully and always prayerfully, Hutchinson says. However, he says, "our denomination, from the national church through the diocese, has been committed to the environment for a long time."

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A few weeks ago, through their connections with the Interfaith Roundtable, employees of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance found themselves at a dinner hosted by the LDS Church at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Deeda Seed, SUWA development manager, thought hard about what she, "not a religious person," was going to say over the food.

She knew she'd be dining with Catholic nuns, several Protestant pastors and a number of LDS faithful — all of whom might expect some sort of blessing. In the end, Seed said, "I give thanks to the forces of nature and the universe, which I barely understand, but which somehow have the capacity for bringing people together to talk peacefully and energetically."

During the dinner discussion, Seed says, "we asked people to speak from the heart." As they did, taking turns talking about how much Utah's wild lands have meant to them, Seed says she heard her love of the land echoed around the room. She got teary. Others did, too, she says.

After the dinner, SUWA published a list of areas of agreement, including, "Wilderness connects us to something larger than ourselves." Not everyone may call it God, this "larger" connection. However, the shared experience of something larger through nature, Seed says, "allows us to come together in a profound way."

George Handley, professor of humanities at Brigham Young University, went to the SUWA dinner. Handley teaches environmental literature courses and says today's college students care much more deeply about the Earth than his students did 10 years ago.

He doesn't claim to be an expert, but Handley says as he grew more interested in ecology, he became more aware of the points in Mormon doctrine that reflect on creation.

For example, there is the doctrine that says God created the world spiritually before he created it physically. And every church president since Joseph Smith has had something to say about stewardship of land and animals, Handley adds. He'll give a public talk about religion and the environment next Saturday. (See related link at top.)