[Greensanctuary] Leadership Council Meeting: January 28, 2007

[Jim Paprocki]

The following are comments I made before the UUSBHC Leadership Council meeting on January 28, 2007.


I have been asked to speak for a few minutes on how being a Green Sanctuary Congregation will effect our procurement and other practices of our church. 

 

Let me first talk about what has been accomplished since this congregation made the decision, on April 23, 2006, to become a Green Sanctuary Congregation. 

 

On September 10, 2006, the Executive Board adopted the following 3 proposals on Procurement, Reusable & Recycling, and Socially Responsible Investing. These proposals were designed to establish formal policies and procedures consistent with our Seventh Principle.

 

Our congregation has a commitment to respect the interdependent web of all existence through the decisions we make in our daily operations. We aspire to achieve standards of efficient use of ecologically friendly materials; to operate a church that has a low environmental impact; and to enhance the connection between our members and nature.

 

 We commit ourselves to living in a more sustainable manner, and to set an example for future generations. We believe that single use items, (i.e., disposable items) provide a small measure of short term convenience while immensely increasing the use of raw materials, energy, pollution, toxicity, and waste disposal. Our congregation will strive to use and recycle reusable items rather than single use items.

 

We hold that financial planning is interconnected with the goal of building the most livable world for those who currently inhabit it and for future generations.  Our congregation believes it is in our best interest to proactively invest in firms known for corporate responsibility or that make positive contributions to society or to the environment; and to not invest in firms that make harmful products or that have a pattern of egregious behaviors.

The UUSBHC further supports the activities of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and efforts by the Unitarian Universalist Association to promote socially responsible investments.

The Green Sanctuary Committee took steps to complete an Environmental Audit and developed the action plan necessary for Green Sanctuary Congregation accreditation. This action plan includes 4 projects in the category of Worship and Celebration; 4 projects in the category of Religious Education; 2 projects in the category of Environmental Justice; and 4 projects in the category of Sustainability.

 

On November 16, 2006, our Application for Green Sanctuary Candidacy was sent to the UU Ministry for Earth. We received a letter from Rev. Katherine Jesch, on January 1, 2007, formally welcoming our congregation as a candidate to the Green Sanctuary Program.

 

In her letter, Rev. Jesch states: 

 

"The Green Sanctuary Review Committee has examined your application and is impressed with the diversity and ambition of the program you have proposed.  

 

On December 10, 2006, the Executive Board passed a motion authorizing the UUSBHC to become a congregational member of Iowa Interfaith Power & Light (IIP&L)

 

Tom Hayden in The Lost Gospel of the Earth says:

 

"The relationship between the human community and the natural world cannot be healed by a single, particular faith, but only by a profound understanding that all faiths should revere a single earth."

 

Iowa Interfaith Power & Light (IIP&L) is a joint initiative of the Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other faith communities to mitigate global climate change in order to protect the earth and to safeguard public health. These faith communities and their member households reduce their "carbon footprint" through conservation, renewable products, energy efficiency, and reducing overall energy usage

 

Eight members of this congregation recently attended a "Cool Congregations" workshop at Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, to learn how to plan a workshop for our own congregation. During the next few months, these members will facilitate workshops designed to educate our members on how to measure and reduce our own impact on the energy and resources of the earth. 

 

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. The Green Sanctuary Committee represents all aspects of the congregational life, including religious education, worship, communications, hospitality, building and grounds, finance, social justice and all other committees relevant to the life of our congregation.

 

The Green Sanctuary Committee met on January 18, 2007, for one final meeting.

 

The reality is that our present Green Sanctuary Committee has taken this congregation as far as it can toward becoming a Green Sanctuary. The challenge that lies before us is whether the next Green Sanctuary Committee will be comprised of a few passionate green members; or whether it will fully embrace the hopes and aspirations of all of our church committees.

 

Let me close by asking each of you to review the Action Plan. (Each of you has a handout reprinted from the December Newsletter) The Green Sanctuary Committee only has responsibility to be a resource, and to coordinate and document the completion of the requirements for Green Sanctuary accreditation. It is our responsibility to complete the projects that fall within Worship and Celebration, Religious Education, Environmental Justice, and Sustainability. All of us here today as a church community share responsibility for doing what is necessary to become a Green Sanctuary.

 

Becoming a Green Sanctuary is a significant step forward for our congregation. We need to dedicate ourselves to making this effort of paramount importance within our church community. We must collectively commit the resources of this community, including our financial resources, to advance environmental awareness throughout this congregation. 

 

One way of doing this is to have an annual Green Sanctuary appeal to raise needed funds. These funds can be used to landscape our church grounds, to address energy inefficiency in our church building; and other purposes consistent with creating a sustainable lifestyle as a faith community. For it will take considerable time, and a strong financial commitment, to operate a church that has a low environmental impact; and to enhance the connection between our members and nature.

 

 

 

 

 

 
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