First Parish of Sudbury

GreenSanctuary
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As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks that the mesh of a net is an independent, isolated thing, he is mistaken. It is called a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes. — Buddha

The GreenSanctuary Congregation Environmental Audit (survey)

may be found online here. Please do the audit and help us establish a baseline for comparison with the next time we do an audit 2-3 years from now.

Green Sanctuary Committee Preliminary Description

March 4, 2006 DRAFT

The Green Sanctuary Committee is responsible for implementing a program that increases our practice of the Seventh Principle of the UUA in our church, our community and private lives: “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part." This permanent committee will be guided by the UU Ministry for Earth’s (MFE) Green Sanctuary Program. We will seek and maintain MFE Green Sanctuary Certification.

We will strive for broad congregational and community participation in activities and lifestyle changes that result in our treading more lightly upon this planet, specifically in the areas of energy usage and conservation, use of raw materials, pollution, environmental injustices, the 3R’s of Reuse, Repair and Recycle, and in our spending and investing. In support of this we will assist in integrating an environmental focus into our religious education for all ages and into worship practices that honor our interconnectedness and Earth centered wisdom.

The Green Sanctuary Program is administered by the UU Ministry for Earth (MFE), a UUA affiliate. Per the MFE, the Green Sanctuary Committee “Members will represent all aspects of the congregational life, including RE, worship, communications, buildings and grounds, finance, social justice, and any others that are relevant in our congregation. The Green Sanctuary committee will coordinate activities and document their completion. The role of this committee is not to "carry the water" of the environmental commitment, letting the rest of the congregation off the hook. Instead, the committee will facilitate planning and provide logistical support to the congregation so that the activities can be accomplished more effectively.”

We will remain open to new ideas and members as we warmly welcome anyone who wants to participate in the Green Sanctuary Program. Membership terms for some committee members may be determined by how long they represent other committees, otherwise there is no term limit.

Audit Results and Program Proposal

The possible elements of a program proposal are now available for your review and input. Please contact any member of the GSC with feedback on which of the program elements you will support with your time and efforts. upload:greensanctuaryproposaldiscussion.pdf

Audit Results 11/3/06 - upload:audit-results.xls

Your Ecological Footprint

There are an plethora of carbon and ecological footprint calculators on the web. Unfortunately most are fairly incomplete. We're still looking for a really good one but until then here are some things to try:

Estimate your annual carbon dioxide contribution to global warming and make a donation to offset it. The money goes to build Wind Farms, reforestation, etc. List UUMFE as your referrer and UUMFE get's 7% of your tax deductible donation. - http://carbonfund.org/

This calculator lets you enter information for several cars per household. You need to know utility amounts, kwh, gallons, etc. - http://www.safeclimate.net/calculator/

An Inconvenient Truth, the movie website, has a good, easy to use, fairly accurate individual CO2 contribution calculator. All you need to know is your household size, auto year, make, and model, miles driven per year, number of flights taken and approximate length, and the $ amounts of your utility bills.
Unfortunately it takes no account of your purchasing and recycling habits. - http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

How many biologically productive acres do you require? This quiz is quite detailed but it does not give you an estimate of the CO2 that you contribute.
Take the online quiz at http://www.myfootprint.org/

Estimate your annual carbon dioxide contribution to global warming and see the effect of various lifestyle changes graphically, including the effects of recycling and reducing your trash output - http://reference.aol.com/nowyouknow/globalwarming/calculator

Documents

Draft Audit Form (draft in process of being created) - upload:audit-form.doc (updated 11/3/06)
New England Wind Fund donation form and information — upload:newindfunddonate.doc

Outside Links
Sudbury Earth Decade Committee - The EDC is the Sudbury chapter of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN) and is dedicated to raising environmental awareness and sponsoring earth-friendly activities in our community and beyond.: http://www.sudburyedc.org/
UU Ministry for Earth: http://uuministryforearth.org
UU Ministry for Earth Green Sanctuary Program: http://uuministryforearth.org/gspoverview.html
UU Green Sanctuary discussion listserv: http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/greensanctuary
UU Global Warming discussion listserv: http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/globalwarming
Four steps to becoming a Cool City - a Green Sanctuary program for Sudbury? : http://www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/coolcities/foursteps.asp
Ceres - is the largest coalition of investors, environmental and public interest organizations in North America. They rate companies on sustainability. http://www.ceres.org
HCF - Hinckle Charitable Foundation: http://www.thehcf.org/. Has six concise, clear reports about global warming. If you read all 6, HCF will send $100 to a carbon offset organization of your choice.
New England Wind Fund: http://www.newenglandwind.org/wind/home.php Learn more about increasing wind power locally. Donate to reduce carbon emissions and get matching funds back to your town for renewable energy projects.

Articles

Review of 3 new global warming books: http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/33481/
Fossil Fuel for Breakfast: How much fossil fuel goes into providing the food you eat. http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/34073/

Mailing List:

The committee communicates internally via a mailing list. To subscribe see TomYelton (moderator approval required).

Meets:

First Thursday of each month at 7:30pm in the First Parish library. Meetings are open — anyone can come.

Members:

Bruce Langmuir	Full Member	Buildings & Grounds, Faith in Action, Community & Hospitality, Town Center Task Force
Carolyn Lee	Full Member	Adult RE, Worship, Fundraisers; Town Solid Waste Options Comm.
Tom Yelton	Full Member	Committee on Ministry, FPS webmaster
George Siscoe	Full Member
Ginny Perkins	Full Member
Marc Klureza	Full Member	Children RE
Marion Tratnyek	Member At Large	Landscape, Community & Hospitality
Carla Moquin	Associate Member
Peg Petro	Associate Member	Landscape
Leslie Lowe	Associate Member	Spirit Play Task Force
Margherita Walker	Associate Member	Kitchen

Revision 3. Last edited Fri 11 Apr 2008 12:03pm by TomYelton