Green Sanctuary

Guest Author, Rev. Earl W. Koteen, Consulting Minister for Climate Justice, UU Legislative Ministry California

Prop 26 is a seriously flawed measure, and the independent, non-partisan Legislative Analyst says it would strip $1 billion from the general fund every year.  That puts education, public safety, health care, environmental protection, and other essential services at risk.  Big oil, tobacco and liquor companies are spending millions to try to pass Prop 26 because it would let polluters off the hook, and force taxpayers to pick up the tab.  Chevron has contributed $2.5 million and Phillip Morris $2.75 million.  Why? They don’t want to pay for damage they do to society. The cost of cleaning up oil spills, removing hazardous waste materials, or tackling tobacco-related illnesses would come out of your pocket, while the industries causing these problems won’t have to pay for the damage they do.
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This year in California, environmental activists are working hard to stop Proposition 23  (Prop 23). They have branded it “The Dirty Energy Proposition.” Prop 23 would suspend the implementation of the Air Pollution Control Law (AB 32) until unemployment drops to 5.5% or for a full year.

Why should you be interested?

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MUF fieldtrip to learn abiout solar panels

Morristown Unitarian Fellowship (MUF) in New Jersey became an accredited Green Sanctuary on December 28, 2001.  But their commitment towards environmental stewardship didn’t stop there!  On March 10, 2010 their application for re-accreditation candidacy was accepted by a Green Sanctuary review team.

MUF formed task a forces and was actively involved in the then Study Action Issue, now 2006 Statement of Conscience Threat of Global Warming/Climate Change .  More recently they have tackled the Congregational Study Action Issue Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice for 2008-2012 by engaging in the  Northwest Earth Institute course Menu for the Future,  participating in an Earth Dinner featuring local foods and provocative discussions about ethical eating, creating a lay-led service “Eating Locally, Thinking Globally, ” and most recently exploring ways to reduce the amount of solid waste produced in serving at the Morristown Community Soup Kitchen.

MUF Tree give away

As the congregation is out-growing their current building they have developed and adopted a Statement of Intent Regarding Sustainable Practices, towards a MUF Policy on Sustainable Practices: “MUF’s Green Road Map.”

And that’s just a small, quick overview of the many environmental activities they’ve been engaged in since accreditation. Now, MUF has a new Action Plan with new projects that they plan to complete by July 2011 when they will apply for Re-Accreditation.

We are excited that MUF has decided to engage in the Green Sanctuary Re-Accreditation process and we look forward to hearing about their progress.

The Green Sanctuary Program, originally nurtured and managed by the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, was designed to give roots and wings to the vision that, together, we can create a world in which all people make reverence, gratitude, and care for the living Earth that is central to our lives.

Voluntary participation in the Green Sanctuary Program provides a framework for congregations and congregants to proclaim and live out their commitment to the Earth. The framework of the Green Sanctuary Program is setup such that congregation evaluate their current level of environmental stewardship, propose an action plan to move their congregation further down the continuum of environmental stewardship through “projects” or “programs” in the four focus areas (worship and celebration, religious education, sustainable living, and environmental justice), complete or make significant progress on their action plan, and achieve accreditation.

But what happens next?

In the Fall of 2009, with the publication of the Green Sanctuary Manual, 5th Edition, September 2009 the Office of Congregational Stewardship Services at the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations created an official process for congregations who had already earned official Green Sanctuary recognition to receive official recognition for continuing their work to restore Earth and renew Spirit through the Green Sanctuary re-accreditation process.

The re-accreditation process is a voluntary process that congregations can choose to engage in 4-5 years after they have received initial Green Sanctuary Accreditation.

During the 2010 fiscal year, 3 congregations bravely set out on the road not taken. Morristown Unitarian Fellowship in New Jersey, Allen Avenue UU Church in Portland, Maine, UU Church of Saco and Biddeford, Maine all chose to embark on this challenge and will be featured in future blog posts.

Looking for books that help teach children how to eat healthy? I have found a number of books specifically geared towards children that address this topic. While there are, I’m sure, many other books that address this topic I found the following five books to be particularly well written, creative, and interesting.

In the Garden by Leslie Bockol
This book, geared toward children ages 3-6, teaches children the process of growing fruits and vegetables and introduces them to a variety of different fruits and vegetables that can grown in a garden. The art that accompanies this short and easy-to-read book is also lovely and would be quite enjoyable for a young child. Additionally, there is a page of gardening tips and recipes for a parent reading this book to a child.
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Guest Author, Mark Reynolds, Executive Director of Citizens Climate Lobby, sponsor of the Million Letter March

If you’ve been following the climate issue, you couldn’t help but notice that things have taken a turn for the worse lately: Droughts and fires in Russia. Floods leaving 20 million people homeless in Pakistan. A record-high temperature in Los Angeles of 113 degrees.

With all these extreme weather events – not to mention the tragic oil spill in the Gulf – one might expect a sense of urgency in Congress to enact a policy to mitigate climate change. But that’s not what’s happening. In fact, Congress this year isn’t going to pass even the weakest of measures to address climate change. This comes as a great relief to the coal and oil industries that have spent millions to block climate legislation, because they’re getting a pretty big return on their investment. The rest of us, however, are left stunned and saddened by the prospect that our world will continue to heat up with disastrous consequences.

The question then arises: What will it take to get Congress moving on legislation to stabilize our climate?

How about a million personal letters?
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On September 8th, 2010, climate scientist and founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben announced – “I’m going to the White House.” What he meant by that was that he was taking a solar panel that was once the White House roof in 1979 from Unity College where they now to the White House in an attempt to get President Barack Obama to commit to renewable energy for the White House.

After the initial announcement, Bill began a “Put Solar On It” road trip, making stops in places such as Boston, MA, New York, and DC, and was joined by a team of students to walk the solar panel the final length to the White House.  Their goal was to ask President Obama to put the solar panel back on the roof, alongside a full array of new photovoltaic and hot-water panels. The reason for the action is that Obama has drawn much of the blame for the failure of the climate legislation, which many believe he didn’t push aggressively; this would be a chance to make at least symbolic amends. Up to that point, 350.org and Bill McKibben had not gotten a firm response from the administration, even though other world leaders had pledged to join a Global Work Party on October 10th (10/10/10).

At the end of the road, Bill McKibben and company were disappointed at the White House for failing to make a firm commitment “anything.” And the 350.org team was inspired by the movement they built along the way.  Afterall, on October 1, 2010, 350.org announced that they had officially broke last year’s record with the number of events registered for the day of climate action.

*The most exciting news: yesterday, October 5, 2010 the White House announced that it is going solar!*

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Harriet Williams, a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix (UUCP), located in Paradise Valley, AZ realized that their were many members of her congregation that she didn’t know too well.  So, UUCP took the concept of member profiles, that some other congregations had been using in their congregation, and added a “green” element to it in order to introduce the members and their sustainability ideas to the congregation as a whole. These “Getting to Know You…The Green You” profiles were publish in UUCP’s monthly newsletter, Horizons.

Harriet chose to highlight two people per month in order to give a selection of experiences

UUCP found that this was a wonderful way to learn more about new as well as older members of their congregation and their household efforts to be green.  After the fact, one UUCP member referred to the people featured as “UUCP’s Green People”.

As an example, Harriet offered Lois Leader’s profile:
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