Green Sanctuary

Starr King UU Church in Hayward, CA partnered with Hayward Community Gardens to help low income immigrant families use plots to grow their food in a variety of ways.

One of the first ways that they got involved with Hayward Community Gardens was  Renee & Darryl Ray, Starr King members, taught a composting workshop on April 25, 2009 for the community gardens.  At the workshop they were able to give out water timers and 20 Biostack composting bins due to a donation from the City and StopWaste.org.  Interpreters were there for the Spanish speaking community.  Starr King also got donations of 150 tomato plants from a local organic farmer. Sandy Frost, a Hayward Community Garden board member and volunteer helped to organize the workshop as well as supplying a wonderful local food spread.  Because the workshop was so successful, it was offered again in May and August of 2009.

Starr King participated in two volunteer workdays in 2010.  The first workday they helped to measure each of the 200+ plots to help determine what each member should pay for their plots.  The second work day, strong workers helped to build big compost piles.  With manure donations, clipped leaves and branches from their property and bales of straw, workers built three compost piles. The compost has helped to enrich soil, save water and improve crops. read more »

“The Unitarian Society of Germantown (USG) is a great example of the faith community’s engagement in sustainability.”  So read one recognition of this congregation by Philadelphia’s RecycleNOW.

For many years, USG worked with a local food cooperative, Weavers Way, by providing the USG parking lot as a recycling collection spot.   Then, starting in 2007, USG became an active supporter of RecycleNOW in furthering recycling efforts in Philadelphia.

Joe Walsh, a USG congregant and one of the co-chairs who began the church’s Green Sanctuary Committee, became interested in the city’s environmental politics.  He re-formed the at-the-time defunct Northwest Philadelphia chapter of RecycleNOW (R-NOW), a grass-roots city-wide volunteer organization, whose purpose was to lobby for improved city-wide recycling practices.  Carolyn Scott, also a USG Green Sanctuary Committee member, became the NW chapter’s scribe and then co-chair in 2008, when Joe stepped down from R-NOW.

Since 2007, USG has graciously hosted, without fee, the Northwest R-NOW’s monthly meetings.   When R-NOW obtained hundreds of big blue recycling bins to distribute in a recycling education/information/dissemination effort, USG became the unloading dock.  The bins literally lurked behind the bushes in USG’s grove for awhile! Through this tri-fold partnership—USG’s Green Sanctuary Committee, the City of Philadelphia, and RecycleNOW— 1,200 blue recycling bins were distributed.

In recognition of its good work, USG’s Green Sanctuary Committee was honored as a “Hometown Hero” in 2008 by the steering committee of RecycleNOW.

USG was accredited as a Green Sanctuary on June 7, 2010.  Check out the full list of accredited Green Sanctuaries at the UUA website

Interfaith Power and Light (IPL), a religious response to global warming, sponsored a National Preach-In On Global Warming February 11-13;  due to the UUA’s involvement in the National Standing on the Side of Love Day on February 14th the Green Sanctuary Program chose not to promote participation.  However, now that National Standing on the Side of Love Day was a huge success, we are encouraging congregations to make use of the materials provided by IPL for future services.

Congregations may also be interested in requesting a copy of Covenant: A Film About Faith in Action to host a screening at their congregation.  In addition to the film, IPL has Covenant materials that would help you hold a discussion and learn more information.

The Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, President and Founder of IPL, also encourages you to Tell Congress to Love the Earth.  And learn about what other faith communities did for the National Preach-In On Global Warming at the IPL Facebook page.

Update from Lynne Paradise, COC Chair and Arlington Community Garden Project Manager, former Green Sanctuary Chair at UUCJ

“In October of 2009 the Green Sanctuary Committee of Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville (UUCJ) applied for a grant to build an organic vegetable garden for the Arlington Community at Tree Hill Nature Center. The application stated that UUCJ would build the garden, manage it with volunteers from the church, and offer both educational classes and fun community events in order to educate the community about the environmental importance of local/organic foods, teach interested individuals how to garden, and enhance the spirit of community in Arlington.

Tree Hill agreed to partner with us on this project offering the use of their land, water, and expertise.  Members of both Boards (UUCJ and Tree Hill) signed off on the project, and in March of 2010 we were told that we were being awarded a grant of $18,886 to achieve our goals. Everything, however, had to be completed in 6 months.

UUCJ rose to the challenge and everyone hit the deck running. Volunteers were recruited to manage the garden (“Garden Organizers”), to manage the grant and act as the garden Board (Garden Steering Committee), and a team of community advisors consisting of organizers of successfully operating community gardens and a landscape architect were tapped. Meetings took place at least weekly, often twice a week. By August of 2010 the garden was built and ready for business. A Grand Opening was held for the community that included several local dignitaries and reporters from The Times Union. At the ceremony the garden received an award of excellence from Slow Foods, an organization that educates the public about the importance of local foods and healthy eating. read more »

The Green Sanctuary Group from the Unitarian Universalist Society of Fairhaven (UUSF) and the Marion Institute have teamed up to sponsor a “South Coast Sustainable Cinema” film series this spring.

The South Coast Sustainable Cinema is set up to run every third Thursday of the month from January through June.  The goal is to turn individual passion and ideas into community-wide conversation and action.  Through the collaboration all films are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.  Doors open at 6:45pm and seating will be first come first served and free popcorn will be served.  The films will be shown either at Tabor Academy in Marion, MA or the Fairhaven Unitarian Memorial Church in Fairhaven, MA.

The kick-off film in January was Renewal hosted at UUSF. In the Fall of 2009 the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) Office of Congregational Stewardship Services (CSS) Green Sanctuary program shipped copies of the interfaith film Renewal and “Renewal: A Guide for Screening and Using the Documentary” to all UUA congregations free-of-charge, we are pleased to see that UUSF and the Marion Institute are making use of this resource. read more »

Press Release
Contact: Mary Paden at mepaden @ cox.net

On the snow- patched lawn of Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church (MVUC), on the chilly afternoon a few hours before the church’s Winter Solstice celebration, Rev. Kate Walker, clad in black robes, bade a ceremonial goodbye to a black-draped rusted heating and air conditioning unit before a small crowd that included U.S. Rep. Jim Moran and State Sen. Toddy Puller.

Rev. Walker began by noting that the congregation had been kept “comfortable” for many years by an energy system that allowed coal miners to “die deep beneath the Earth, mountaintops to be torn apart, soils to wash into the sea, and streams to turn orange with acid and metals.”   She said the congregation has decided to enter a new world “where lives are not devalued and the Earth is respected.”

Turning to the unit, she said “Today, I offer these words for our old-world heating and air conditioning system: You have served your duty. But your time is up. We say ‘no more’ to what you represent. We created you in a time of need and we shall terminate you now for our needs have changed. We have created your replacement.”

Board of Trustees Chair Joan Darrah stepped forward to cover the unit in a tasseled black cloth, as Rev. Walker pronounced, “Your existence is over, as ours begins anew.”

With that, Rev. Walker and Ms. Darrah, broke ground for a new geothermal heating-cooling system, that together with solar panels, will allow MVUC’s 5,200 square foot meeting house to become a net zero user of energy from the grid by spring, possibly making it the first church in Virginia to do so.

As she took the shovel, Rev. Walker said, “May this represent the turning over to a new future of living our deepest values.” read more »

EPA News Release

EPA is making approximately $2 million available in 2011 to reduce pollution at the local level through the Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program. CARE is a community-based program that works with county and local governments, tribes, non-profit organizations and universities to help the public understand and reduce toxic risks from numerous sources. Since 2005, CARE has reached 78 communities in several states and territories. A recent evaluation by the National Association of Public Administration (NAPA) recognized the CARE program as a solid tested framework for engaging communities and other stakeholders.

EPA will award CARE cooperative agreements in two levels. Level I awards range from $75,000 to $100,000 each and will help establish community-based partnerships to develop local environmental priorities. Level II awards range from $150,000 to $300,000 each and will support communities that have established broad-based partnerships, have identified the priority toxic risks in the community, and are prepared to measure results, implement risk-reduction activities and become self-sustaining.

Please note that due to appropriation law concerns, until Congress provides separate authorization, EPA can only award CARE Level II cooperative agreements to applicants that have already received CARE Level I cooperative agreements.

Applications for the CARE assistance agreements are due by March 22, 2011, 4 p.m. EST. EPA will conduct three Webcasts to answer questions from prospective applicants about the application process on February 8 and 23, and March 2 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

2011 CARE Request for Proposals (RFP).