Sponsors
of the Green Sanctuary Program
Unitarian
Universalist Ministry for Earth
formerly
The Seventh Principle Project
Box 11 , Lyme , NH
03768 office@uuministryforearth.org
/www.uuministryforearth.org
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clemson
c/o
Congratulations! With this letter, the UU Ministry for Earth
is honored to formally recognize the UU Fellowship of Clemson as a Green
Sanctuary. Your strong commitment to
caring for Earth is well demonstrated by your efforts. The Green Sanctuary
Review committee agrees that CUUF has met or exceeded both the spirit and the
action requirements of the program.
We are impressed with the work you
accomplished in your Green Sanctuary program.
In every focus area, your activities took you deeper into understanding
of your relationship with Earth and into commitment to act on behalf of Earth
and your community. Throughout your
program, you offered innovative opportunities for your members to be involved
beyond the ordinary. From religious
education and worship to environmental justice, you have consistently reached
beyond the minimum.
Your overall program included very
broad participation by the entire congregation in all aspects. You also reached out into the community,
especially in collaborations with the university but also more broadly through
community events and activism with other local groups.
Teens, covenant groups, and
university students each had a chance to offer worship that honors Earth. Serious environmental issues were addressed
in a faith context rather than just as an interesting lecture. The variety of topics and extensive
participation insures that these services have had greater impact on the
congregation.
You have made significant
investments in religious education programming for both children and
adults. Your evaluation demonstrates
that this has been effective in raising awareness and motivating changes in behavior.
We loved your idea to create a “tree” to collect leaves describing the
actions your members took. This looks
like a terrific way to maintain visibility for the congregation’s commitment to
“green” their practices.
Your environmental justice
activities demonstrate that you understand the concept and are willing to reach
out and advocate for systemic changes.
You offered an integrated approach with one project aimed at a human
issue (population growth) and one aimed at non-human species (wildlife
garden). One project included learning
about the issue and how to advocate effectively as a partner with Planned
Parenthood. The other invited members to
roll up their sleeves and get their hands in the dirt to make a more wildlife
friendly habitat. Both are on-going projects
that are now integrated into the life of the congregation.
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clemson Page 2
Green Sanctuary Committee
The variety of activities you
undertook to become more energy efficient and sustainable is very
impressive. We see that you’d like to
install renewable energy for your facility, but of course it’s hard to
rationalize the cost. Public policy will
have to change to impact the financial incentives, so your aspirations
to continue to try to influence policy makers is key.
We took note of your comment that
members of the congregation began using your local public transportation when
you made schedules available to them.
Transportation is one of our toughest issues in this culture, and even
small steps are hard to come by. Few
congregations have had any success at trying to establish car pools for Sunday
mornings, but a few are seeing some of their members to use alternative
transportation for some of their other commuting needs.
We are very pleased to see UUFC
serving as a model for sustainability in Clemson. Your outreach has clearly been successful if
you are becoming the go-to place for information and examples of sustainability
in the larger community. We’re always
pleased to hear that new members cite the environmental work as one of the
attractions of a Unitarian Universalist congregation!
Your application offers abundant
evidence of the positive environmental consciousness that has developed in the
congregation, resulting in new behaviors and new lifestyle choices by members
individually and by the congregation as a whole. You now have a great foundation for
continuing action in the future.
We have not yet begun to plan for
General Assembly next summer in
The UU Ministry for Earth believes
the connection between our faith and our environmental values is one of the
most important contributions we can make as Unitarian Universalists in response
to the environmental crisis. Our
relationship with Earth is both an intellectual and a spiritual calling. Without both elements our efforts will run
out of steam and succumb to the inertia, and even despair, that prevents
effective action in the world. Your
efforts make that connection evident at UUFC and in the Clemson community.
I do hope you are proud of your many
accomplishments. You have truly taken
the goals of the Green Sanctuary Program to heart. This is a lifelong commitment without an easy
road map that tells us what to do and where and how to do it. You have demonstrated creativity,
imagination, and commitment, and created the foundation for continuing
work. Again, congratulations on
successfully completing the Green Sanctuary program.
With Hope for Earth,
Katherine
Rev. Katherine Jesch
Director of Environmental
Ministry