Green Gaia
Veteran Member
Honoring "The Blue Green Hills of Earth": Earth Day 2006
As Unitarian Universalists prepare to observe Earth Day on April 22, and many UU congregations mark Earth Day Sunday on April 23, 2006, we recognize that we are called by our Principles to live in right relationship with the web of life. Across the country, Unitarian Universalists have joined with other people of faith to make personal, congregational, and denominational commitments to support our fragile planet.
Reflecting on the need to honor our planet on Earth Day and in our daily lives, the Rev. William G. Sinkford, UUA President said, "This earth is a creation which we have been given. Our Unitarian Universalist theology helps us know that our role is not to exercise dominion or control over the earth but to stand as stewards of the finely balanced system which sustains all life. We call this the interdependent web of existence. We watch with anguish as this delicate web is damaged and life itself threatened by changes to our environment caused by our presence."
Sinkford continued, "In addition to being a scientific problem, global warming is arguably one of the greatest moral and spiritual crises facing Earth's people today. On this Earth Day, I call on all Unitarian Universalists to participate in efforts in local congregations, our communities, and through international organizations, that will support the ongoing care of, and reverence for, our environment and this small blue planet that is our home."
UU congregations in the United States, and international partners as well, have been engaged in projects that help build reverence for the earth and educate individuals on what they can do to care for our planet. The UU Church in Peterborough, NH, and the UU Society of Laconia, NH, have both partnered with Sustainable Harvest International Restoring Forests and Nourishing Communities, to provide moral and financial support for the ecologically significant work that Central American families are doing.
From the UU Church of Akron, Ohio's Green Faire to Unity Temple UU Congregation's(Oak Park, IL) switch to geothermal technology to heat and cool their building, to the First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, New Mexico's presentation of a play entitled "Mother Earth vs. World's People: Perhaps the Most Important Trial in the History of Civilization," nearly two hundred UU congregations across the United States have reported on Earth Day observances they have planned and on community action that will continue long after April 22.
There is also action to report in the international Unitarian world. As part of the UU Partner Church Council Community Capacity Building program, local facilitators entered the village of Arkos in Transylvania to assess issues facing the village, as well as working to identify resources, prioritize needs, and develop action plans. According to Catherine Cordes, the UUA's interim director of international programs, the young adults (aged 18-25) in the village decided that their biggest priority was to improve the environment and clean up their village, including the badly polluted streams that were clogged with trash. The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, TX, which is partnered with the Arkos congregation, provided T-shirts for villagers to wear while doing the work, and the youth organized volunteers to clean up the streams and dispose of the trash, later constructing twenty trash receptacles which are now positioned through the village.
This year, acknowledging that our environmental stewardship must extend beyond our individual and congregational actions to our denominational gatherings, the UUA is "Greening" its 2006 General Assembly through a variety of means including asking conference hotels to be more environmentally sensitive, and arranging with the conference convention center (America's Center in St. Louis) to be more environmentally sensitive to how we can all tred more lightly on the earth.
Additionally, the General Assembly will collect an optional $6 carbon offset as part of the conference registration process. Voluntary donations will be collected and forwarded to Carbonfund.org, a non-profit organization that educates the public about the issue of climate change and works with businesses and civic groups on CO2 reduction programs.
We also know that responsible investment can make a difference. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), of which the UUA is a member, has joined Co-op America's Climate Action Campaign to encourage the three top mutual fund companies Fidelity, Vanguard, and American Funds to vote in favor of climate change resolutions. Learn more about how you and your congregation can join this effort.
The UUA Committee for Socially Responsible Investing (CSRI) represents the UUA in the ICCR coalition. See more information about CSRI and congregational resources.
Earth Day lasts for one day, but the need for all citizens of the Earth to live each day in reverence for our planet is more acute than ever before. As you go forward this spring, we encourage you to think about the ways in which you can minister to, and for, the Earth.
As Unitarian Universalists prepare to observe Earth Day on April 22, and many UU congregations mark Earth Day Sunday on April 23, 2006, we recognize that we are called by our Principles to live in right relationship with the web of life. Across the country, Unitarian Universalists have joined with other people of faith to make personal, congregational, and denominational commitments to support our fragile planet.
Reflecting on the need to honor our planet on Earth Day and in our daily lives, the Rev. William G. Sinkford, UUA President said, "This earth is a creation which we have been given. Our Unitarian Universalist theology helps us know that our role is not to exercise dominion or control over the earth but to stand as stewards of the finely balanced system which sustains all life. We call this the interdependent web of existence. We watch with anguish as this delicate web is damaged and life itself threatened by changes to our environment caused by our presence."
Sinkford continued, "In addition to being a scientific problem, global warming is arguably one of the greatest moral and spiritual crises facing Earth's people today. On this Earth Day, I call on all Unitarian Universalists to participate in efforts in local congregations, our communities, and through international organizations, that will support the ongoing care of, and reverence for, our environment and this small blue planet that is our home."
UU congregations in the United States, and international partners as well, have been engaged in projects that help build reverence for the earth and educate individuals on what they can do to care for our planet. The UU Church in Peterborough, NH, and the UU Society of Laconia, NH, have both partnered with Sustainable Harvest International Restoring Forests and Nourishing Communities, to provide moral and financial support for the ecologically significant work that Central American families are doing.
From the UU Church of Akron, Ohio's Green Faire to Unity Temple UU Congregation's(Oak Park, IL) switch to geothermal technology to heat and cool their building, to the First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, New Mexico's presentation of a play entitled "Mother Earth vs. World's People: Perhaps the Most Important Trial in the History of Civilization," nearly two hundred UU congregations across the United States have reported on Earth Day observances they have planned and on community action that will continue long after April 22.
There is also action to report in the international Unitarian world. As part of the UU Partner Church Council Community Capacity Building program, local facilitators entered the village of Arkos in Transylvania to assess issues facing the village, as well as working to identify resources, prioritize needs, and develop action plans. According to Catherine Cordes, the UUA's interim director of international programs, the young adults (aged 18-25) in the village decided that their biggest priority was to improve the environment and clean up their village, including the badly polluted streams that were clogged with trash. The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, TX, which is partnered with the Arkos congregation, provided T-shirts for villagers to wear while doing the work, and the youth organized volunteers to clean up the streams and dispose of the trash, later constructing twenty trash receptacles which are now positioned through the village.
This year, acknowledging that our environmental stewardship must extend beyond our individual and congregational actions to our denominational gatherings, the UUA is "Greening" its 2006 General Assembly through a variety of means including asking conference hotels to be more environmentally sensitive, and arranging with the conference convention center (America's Center in St. Louis) to be more environmentally sensitive to how we can all tred more lightly on the earth.
Additionally, the General Assembly will collect an optional $6 carbon offset as part of the conference registration process. Voluntary donations will be collected and forwarded to Carbonfund.org, a non-profit organization that educates the public about the issue of climate change and works with businesses and civic groups on CO2 reduction programs.
We also know that responsible investment can make a difference. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), of which the UUA is a member, has joined Co-op America's Climate Action Campaign to encourage the three top mutual fund companies Fidelity, Vanguard, and American Funds to vote in favor of climate change resolutions. Learn more about how you and your congregation can join this effort.
The UUA Committee for Socially Responsible Investing (CSRI) represents the UUA in the ICCR coalition. See more information about CSRI and congregational resources.
Earth Day lasts for one day, but the need for all citizens of the Earth to live each day in reverence for our planet is more acute than ever before. As you go forward this spring, we encourage you to think about the ways in which you can minister to, and for, the Earth.