Green Sanctuary

The Green Sanctuary Program was originally founded and nurtured by the Seventh Principle Project, now known as the UU Ministry for Earth (UUMFE). 

On July 1, 2008 the UUMFE transferred the Green Sanctuary Program to the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) Office of Congregational Stewardship Services.  Robin Nelson, Program Manager for Congregational Stewardship Services, is primarily responsible for the Green Sanctuary Program and is allotted 1/3 time (or 12 hours per week) to manage this program.

We are searching for a Boston-area Green Sanctuary Intern for the Fall 2010 semester.  The Green Sanctuary Intern will be responsible for reviewing on-line resources, reading environmentally-themed books (provided) writing short synopsis and one review a month for the blog, providing essential programmatic support, and identifying their passion and applying it to the program. This is in non-paid internship which may be eligible for for credit depending on the requirements of the intern’s college or university.

 If you know someone who is interested, please let them know about this opportunity.  You can read the job description on the UUA’s “Career Opportunities” web page.

“I’ve been busy with a variety of environmental justice activities during recent weeks.

After the General Assembly in Minneapolis, I was invited to the national convention of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, in Boston. I was asked to provide the opening prayers and remarks. The Gulf Of Mexico oil spill was still in progress, so we talked about the workers who are called upon to respond to crisis situations. We talked about the folks who clean up toxic spills. (Martin Luther King was in Memphis in 1968 to help organize an AFSCME local. A very important moment in AFSCME history.)

The Sierra Club sent me to Ethiopia in early July.

As many of you know, the Copenhagen climate change talks in December collapsed, in large part, because of the difficulties in bringing rich nations and poor nations together. Wealthy environmentalists have a difficult time understanding the problems and the experiences of the developing nations. Africans, especially, are often bewildered by environmentalists.
read more »

Interfaith Power and Light Press Release, July 20, 2010

Contacts:
Andrée Duggan (for IPL)                                          Carel Hedlund (for Towson UU Church)
andree at theregenerationproject dot org                cthedlund at msn dot com

“Towson UU Church Wins Cool Congregation
Prize from Interfaith Power and Light

Interfaith Power and Light announced the winner of this year’s Cool Congregation contest. Towson Unitarian Universalist Church (TUUC), in Lutherville, Maryland, accepted the $5,000 cash prize for the most reduction in energy use. Carel Hedlund, Chair of TUUC’s Green Sanctuary Committee, said, “our actions focused on three areas: energy efficiency of our building, educating our members on ways they could make changes in their own lives to reduce their individual footprints, and participating in energy efficiency community projects. We are very excited and grateful to win this prize. Our Board has voted to place the award funds into reserves for further ‘greening’ of the church.”

The Cool Congregation contest challenged participants to calculate a starting carbon footprint, and then compare a year later after making energy saving changes to measure total reductions. The contest was open to approximately 10,000 congregations nationwide. “We wish to congratulate Towson Unitarian Universalist Church for being good stewards of Creation,” said The Reverend Sally Bingham, president of Interfaith Power and Light. “They have demonstrated a real commitment to making their congregation as energy efficient as possible and in the process have provided a wonderful role model for other congregations wishing to address the threat of climate change.”
read more »

The tag-line for the Green Sanctuary program is “Congregations and congregants working together to restore Earth and renew spirit.”  The Green Sanctuary program is collective effort – its about all of us, according to our talents and capacities, coming together to create the Earth community we have envisioned.  The program encourages individual actions that reduce our impact on this planet while also acting as a program of congregational action.  Its about working together to strengthen our ability to create change.

One of the barriers for individuals to get involved in environmental work is that they feel detached from the situtation.  They believe that they are too small of a unit to make any real difference.  And often end up asking themselves “What can *I* do to help save the environment?”

In response to this those dedicated and most committed environmentalists end up creating long-lists of small everyday actions people can take.  Yet those that feel detached often find that this isn’t enough for them and so they continue being aware that there is a problem and not really doing much to change the situation.

Here’s the deal: solving the climate crisis will take a strong grassroots movement. Until we have a strong climate movement that can make our politicians work for us, they’ll keep working for the big polluters. We are called by our faith as Unitarian Universalists to get to work by changing our country from the bottom up.  As Congress finally begins to debate climate and energy legislation, we, as believers in the democratic process need to take a minute to ask our Senators a simple question: are you working with us or are you working with the big polluters?

Make a call and remind your Senator that they work for you, their constituent, not big companies. Use this resource from 350.org to make the call.

This is something *YOU* can do to help save the environment.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Canandaigua in Canandaigua, NY (about 30 southwest of Rochester, NY) is located in the midst of fertile farmland, where agriculture and wine growing are prominent features, sensitivity to and awareness of our connection with the Earth is a constant. A drive to the church from any direction leads past farm after farm. Although few of the parishioners are full-time farmers, a few who are employed elsewhere also farm their land and raise livestock.

Within this environment, it follows naturally that their Sunday services, Religious Education Curricula, and Social Justice initiatives are strongly influenced by an awareness of the precious resources placed under their care; a strong commitment to their preservation; and consistent exploration of ethical utilization of these resources. This is reflected in Sunday services through music, readings, and sermons. Many of the services involve the youth in storytelling and drama related to environmental issues.

In 2002 UUCC joined with two Rochester UU churches to applied for and received a grant for sustainability for the UUA.  One of the purposes of the grant was to create a church-sponsored community agriculture program.  In 2003 UUCC members met with a group of farmers to discuss their goals and requirements; however, for various reasons the plan was not executable.  Instead, Peacework Organic Farm mentored them for a year on operating a community supported agriculture (CSA) program.  Again, in 2004 UUCC members met with Canandaigua farmers to discuss forming a CSA; this time none of the farmers were ready or willing to take on their fledging CSA of approximately 20 members.
read more »

Transocean Ltd. Rig Deepwater Horizon, which was drilling for BP off the coat of Louisiana, has been the topic of conversation for many individuals that are horrified by events of the past several months. As the disaster has sparked the need for a criminal investigation, one might wonder how much economic liability BP will ultimately be responsible for. Additionally, many are frustrated by the lack of response to this crisis. How has this continued for months? How long will it continue? Many are hoping to see harsh penalties for BP, but at the same time some are beginning to feel hopeless at the possibility of this happening.

With that said, it seems only appropriate that my film review be in some way related to this recent environmental disaster. While searching for films that could be connected to this, I stumbled upon Out of Balance: ExxonMobil’s Impact on Climate Change, a film by Tom Jackson.  The film begins with Jackson discussing the present impacts of global warming on the world. After this introduction, Jackson then discusses the history of the most powerful oil company in the world, ExxonMobil. We then learn about the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill that occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska and Jackson delves into the ethical decision making of former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond regarding the response and clean up to this massive spill. The overall message that we get from this film is how influential one company can be on the state of the environment.
read more »