Green Sanctuary Program

Creating a Green Sanctuary

  A Green Sanctuary is a congregation that lives out its commitment to the Earth by creating a sustainable lifestyle for its members as individuals and as a faith community.  Sustainable living is not about our material comfort (though these choices are an important part of the overall lifestyle); it is about choosing to live in a way that nurtures life, builds relationships, and rejects material consumption as the sole determinant of happiness.

Program Goals

            To generate commitment for personal lifestyle changes.

            To motivate UU’s to community action on environmental issues.

            To build a connection between spiritual practice and environmental consciousness.

            To build awareness of and rectify environmental injustices.

            In the fiscal year of 2005-2006 the congregation went through a process where we presented a number of social concern programs in which the entire congregation would be involved.  The Green Sanctuary Program was selected at a congregational meeting.  A Green Sanctuary Committee was then sanctioned by the Board of Trustees as its special committee.

            In the fiscal year 2006-2007 we worked out 12 activities which various people or committees would lead.  The four focus areas of these activities are:

            Worship Collaboration

            Environmental Justice

            Religious Education

            Sustainable Living

Environmental audit notes

What UUCM is already doing for the environment.

April UUCM eco-tour.

Action plan (included in application)

Worship and Spiritual Practices:

4/15/07 07-08

1.    Earth day service April 15, 2007 followed by tour of gardens. 2.    Speaker from organic movement in western Marin County.

Joan Nelson

 Religious Education:

Fall 07 program year

1.    Adult Ed. Classes: Sustainable living and raising healthy children. 2. Child Ed. Curriculum:  Experiences with the Web and Keepers of the Earth.

Linda Haumann

Environmental Justice:

Upcoming and past events

March 2007: We replaced all the light bulbs in the Fellowship Hall with energy-saving fluorescent lights, funded by donations from many UUCM families.

April 2007: Service about Green Sanctuary and eco-tour of the UUCM grounds. Photos of service and eco tour including arbor, compost pile, and labyrinth. Hosted by Green Sanctuary Committee.

May 2007: UUCM has been accepted as a Green Sanctuary Candidate.

Oct. 28. Green Sanctuary Steering Committee meeting

Nov. 18: Social Concerns/Green Sanctuary Luncheon. Stuart Moody will tell us how we can free ourselves from the growing burden of litter and pollution, particularly plastics.

MAY GREEN SANCTUARY NEWS

It IS Easy Being Green! 

Livestock produces more greenhouse gas than the world’s entire transportation does.  Eliminating meat consumption completely is comparable to trading in an SUV for a hybrid. Say saying no to “industrial” meat (produced on a feedlot or in confinement) is like exchanging the SUV for a sedan.  The age of big-business organics “industrial organic” meat does exist. So look for grass fed or pastured meat.

There's No Time to Lose! So the Social Concerns/Green Sanctuary Committee is wasting none.

(1) We are renewing UUCM’s membership in the UU Ministry for Earth.

(2) Our Application has been submitted to the National Wildlife Federation to be certified as a Wildlife Habitat. 

(3) We have an Energy Report from PG&E.  Overall, we have good energy usage for a building of our size.  We are going to increase energy efficiency by replacing four-foot fluorescent tubes with more efficient tubes and ballasts.  We also had a water audit.

(4) We have volunteers in various Earth Day and other--ongoing--Sustainability activities. This includes our Earth Day Sermon and luncheon talk-back with retired Professor of Environmental Ethics, Allan Miller.

(5) This summer we will need people to water the acorn seedlings on their way to becoming oak trees in our Wildlife Habitat. Personal (Individual/Family)

(6) A personal (individual/family) Sustainable Practices Survey will be launched at the May Retreat. Think: Carpooling, Eating Locally/Organic, Recycling, etc.

(7) For our Environmental Justice Project: We are exploring joining the UU Service Committee, UU Legislative Ministry and Ministry for Earth to do a project on the Right to Clean Water as it was described in the April 6 sermon.

Jan Quinley, Chair, Green Sanctuary Committee

 

 

Children's/Youth involvement

Children had a visit from a barn owl.
Children will participate in counting the trees on the UUCM property.
Children will help plant native oaks.
Youth will learn about low carbon diets.

Links to other environmental information/organizations

UU Ministry for Earth

Sustainable Marin (select your city for local news)

Sustainable Novato

Empowerment Institute (low carbon diet)

California Interfaith Power and Light (religious response to global warming)

Recycling computers and other electronics: Renew Computers, Goodwill, Marin Freecycle

Purchase carbon credits online. Several organizations have created ways to help you offset your CO2 emissions by directly supporting the reduction of CO2 in other parts of the world:

Carbonfund.org (reduce your carbon footprint)

Renewable choice energy

American Forests (works to protect, restore and enhance the natural capital of trees and forests)

For additional information about UUCM's Green Sanctuary program contact Jan.

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