Green Committee and Green Sanctuary
We are a certified Green Sanctuary, accredited
by the UU Ministry for Earth in December 2005. Our 7th Principle, “Respect for the interdependent
web of existence of which we are a part,” motivates us as we strive for
harmony with the earth in all aspects of our church life.
To become a Green Sanctuary we completed several activities in the areas of
Sustainable Living, Religious Education, Worship and Celebration and Environmental
Justice. Examples of specific activities included:
- Increasing the energy efficiency of our church by adding insulation in
the attic and to all hot water pipes;
- Eliminating ‘throw-aways’ at coffee hour and replacing with china
mugs and cloth napkins;
- Hosting adult RE programs that focus on Voluntary Simplicity and Simple
Living;
- Encouraging purchase of local food and the support of CSA’s (Community
Supported Agriculture).
Joining Saco’s recycling program and support for the principles of “Reduce,
Reuse and Recycle.”
- Crafting a Sustainability Policy that was adopted by our congregation
in June 2005.
We were encouraged to dream of Green Sanctuary accreditation based on the
enthusiasm with which our congregation greeted our global warming initiatives
in 2004. At that time, we joined two other local spiritual communities to form
an Earth Care Team. We challenged our congregation to use the Global Warming
Worksheet and to make permanent changes in their lifestyle to decrease fossil
fuel use. We hosted an Energy Fair, promoted energy audits and encouraged public
transportation. We worked hard to educate our members on the threat of global
warming and continue that work today.
For all our global warming work in 2004 our
Earth Care Team received a Creation Care Award from The National Religious
Partnership for the Environment. The photo shows us accepting the check
that came with the award that was “in recognition of faithful, creative,
and exemplary efforts in caring for creation.” |
HOW YOU CAN REDUCE CO2
EMISSIONS
WORKSHEET
This worksheet will help you to calculate
your energy savings.
Together we can reduce harmful
greenhouse gas emissions.
For More information about Global Warming:
Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth
www.uuministryforearth.org
Union
of Concerned Scientists
www.ucsusa.org
EPA's global warming site with activities for kids
www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids
Center for New American Dream
www.newdream.org
Environmental
Defense, one of the oldest and well respected environmental advocacy
groups.
www.environmentaldefense.org
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