Green Sanctuary Program
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Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship
Green Sanctuary Program |
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General Information GSP looks this year to increase its efforts in the environmental justice area. We will be adding to our long-term on-going projects, working more closely with the Social Justice Committee and adding more short-term activities. The tentative calendar for the 2008-09 year for environmental justice includes, but is not limited to the following. The rest of the GSP focus area (e.g. Worship & Celebration) events for the upcoming year on posted on the individual pages and on the home page. Details concerning social/environmental justice activities will be posted here as soon as the information becomes available. If you have any ideas, suggestions or want to lend a hand, let a GSP member know. Ideas and volunteers are always very much welcome and appreciated. September: "Local Food"
"Local Food" Consersation Cafe Crop Walk Food For Tots program
"Fair Trade" Consersation Cafe Fair Trade info available at the GSP and Social Justice tables during the Grand Coffee Hour
"Personal Green Resolutions" Conversation Cafe
"Social & Environmental Activism" Conversation Cafe Film/Guest Lecture Series
The GSP Team is working on bringing in environmental films and speakers to make presentations to the congregation. We will post details as the come available. Environmental Justice Organizations
Click here to enter the environmental justice organization listing page. Listed are several local, national and international organizations active in environmental issues that could use your support. 2008-2009 Collaboration:
Sustainable Connections For the 2008-2009 program year, Green Sanctuary has decided to make an on-going committment with another orgaization in our community: Sustainable Connections. Throughout the past year, the GSP has attended many of SC's activities and events and worked with some of their programs. This year we would like to focus more of our attention on SC's programming and lay the groundwork for BUF to become a more integral part of SC's efforts. Climate Change Events
To Be Announced: National UU Environmental Justice Conference To mobilize UUs to address environmental justice issues more effectively in their congregations and communities and to continue to spur denominational chabe from the Òbottom upÓ, UUMFE plans an extraordinary, first-of-its-kind, national UU environmental justice conference and training. This event, during Winter 2008 or Spring 2009, will be planned to speak and engage the whole person - - physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Vision The broad vision of the conference is to deepen and broaden the national momentum that exists among individual UUs and UU congregations to embrace the Seventh Principle. In particular, the focus of this event is to galvanize and equip UUs to more effectively address environmental justic issues in their congregations and communities and to continue to spur change from the Òbottom up: within our denomination. Objectives of the Conference Specific objectives include: 1. To promote a deeper awareness/understanding of the concept of Òenvironmental justiceÓ among UUs. 2. To provide an opportunity for significant theological reflection, so that grassroots UU leaders can discern and/or more easily articulate their faith-based values and vision of Òenvironmental justiceÓ, as well as the spiritual/theological/religious basis of their position. 3. To strengthen the existing national network of UUs interested in promoting more active work on environmental justice at various levels (e.g., congregational, community, state, and district). 4. To enhance grassroots/regional UU leadersÕ skills to promote environmental justice. 5. To support grassroots leaders by providing the latest information and educational materials on key environmental justice issues, including those relevant campaigns and programs that are national priorities for the UUA, UUMFE, and UUSC. Details will be released as they become available. Past Events
We sponsored a workshop on Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" on Septemeber 27, 2008, a 4-session Northwest Earth Institute course on climage change running throughout the month of October 2008, a video presentation/discussion event on David Korten's "The Great Turning" on November 8, 2007, a video viewing of "Digital Dump: Exporting Reuse and Abuse to Africa" on February 3 & 10, 2008 and finally a worship service by William Scarvie, a UU member very familiar with Mr. Korten's works in April 2008. 2007-08 Long-Range Collaboration - NSEA
One of the Green Sanctuary Program requirements is to establish an on-going, long-term relationship with an outside organization. GSP Coordinators Linda Fels & Deb Cruz met with Wendy Sherrer, Executive Director of NSEA, to discuss a wide variety of projects and programs with which congregational members could become involved. NSEA's mission is the restoration of sustainable wild salmon runs in Whatcom County. The association also works with the local First Nations, whose philosophy is, all natural resources and the people who depend on them, are connected. Salmon was an important part of the Northwest Tribes history and culture and thus, the destruction of salmon habitats, had a major impact on the Tribes. It's been years later, but we've finally recognized it has affected the rest of us as well. For this project, we felt that NSEA provides a variety of activities that are flexible with our congregation's busy schedules and wide range of ability to make commitments. It also provides ample opportunities to expand our involvement should the congregation choose to do so. Our plan is to start small and build from there. We need to build awareness of watershed and salmon habitat issues, become educated and educate, and develop skills that will allow us to take on larger projects later on. The initial steps were to organize the congregation to attend a spring work party and another one again in the fall. The first of these work parties was conducted on March 31st in conjunction with the Columbia Neighborhood Association and well attended by BUF members, particularly the Coming of Age group. BUF members have had the opportunity to attend NSEA work parties in both the spring and fall of 2007. We will commit to more this spring (2008). We can also set up work parties during the week to help pot trees at NSEA whose property is also on Squalicum Creek. Next year, at this time, we can evaluate where we want to go from there. Will it be time to adopt a creek or move in another direction? Click here for more details on NSEA activities
Sustainable Connections, a local, business-oriented, non-profit organization has a program that mentors new organic farmers in the county. Connections buys their produce for the first few years at wholesale prices and gives the produce to the local food banks. This innovative program supports sustainable agriculture and feeds the hungry. Since BUF has an on-going program exploring hunger and poverty in our county, this is a great way to tie that project in with our Green Sanctuary Program. The first step in supporting this program was to work with the Social Justice Committee and have the program as one of the Social Justice Collections. On September 16th, Linda Fels, GSP coordinator, introduced the program to the congregation for the collection. Brochures were obtained from the program and used as order of service inserts. The Social Justice Collection raised $828! Thank you BUF members! Future support for this progarm will be considered and announced at a later time.
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