Certified Green Sanctuary Congregation
UUCF is an accredited Green Sanctuary Congregation as designated by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and UU Ministry for the Earth. There are currently six accredited congregations in the Joseph Priestley District. There are 88 accredited congregations across the country. What does that mean and how did we accomplish this certification?
The UUA Green Sanctuary Program was begun in 1991 with the publication of the first Green Sanctuary Manual and the accreditation process began in 2002. The purpose of the program is to give congregations actionable guidelines for integrating their environmental consciousness into their faith communities. Successful completion of a series of actions brings a congregation recognition as a Green Sanctuary. The goals of the program include:
- To build awareness of societal environmental issues among UUCF members and friends
- To generate commitment for personal lifestyle changes that promote sustainable development within our congregation, homes and community
- To motivate UUCF to community action that enhances environmental well being
- To build a connection between spiritual practice and environmental consciousness
- To build awareness of and rectify environmental injustices
To be certified, congregations undertake ‘projects’ in four areas: Worship and Celebration, Education, Environmental Justice and Sustainability. The projects undertaken for this program include not only what happens at church, but also what we do in our homes and in the community.
In 2007 the UUCF congregation voted to pursue Green Sanctuary Certification and the UUCF Green Sanctuary Group (GSG) was formed. Since then, the GSG (in partnership with other congregational entities such as the Property Stewardship Council and Adult Programs) has worked on a variety of projects including: "green" worship services and vespers programs; numerous environmental adult programs; the web-of-life religious exploration program; the farmers market; the New Orleans rebuilding trip; and the "green" renovations to our Sanctuary building. Our application recounting these and other accomplishments was 20 pages long!
The Green Sanctuary Group is in the process of developing an updated strategic plan. In addition, there are newly formed GSG task forces in place to address: UUCF campus energy use, residential energy use, food consumption and production and transportation.
Congratulations to the many UUCF members who contributed along the way. There is much more work to be done at UUCF, in our homes and in the community. Expect to hear more about GSG plans and projects in the coming months.
Learn about the current activities of the UUCF Green Sanctuary Group.
