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What is the Green Sanctuary program?
Here is an excerpt from the webpage of the Seventh Principle Project which explains. The entire article is available on the Seventh Principle Project Website.
"It is based on the Welcoming Congregation's model, with "Founder's Churches" across the U.S. and Canada. Green Sanctuary asks a church to engage in 17 actions over a candidacy year, organized into six areas of church life:To obtain recognition as a Green Sanctuary, a church must follow through on five steps, outlined on the Program Overview, and submits an application for accreditation at the end of the church year.
A church that undertakes to become a Green Sanctuary examines every area of church life--outreach, social concerns, religious education, buildings and grounds, social events, church communication, and church administration--to see that its activities reflect respect for the interdependent web. It's walking the talk in a big way, and it gives the church a real sense of following through on its commitments in tangible, outwardly visible ways."
What is OUUC doing?
Global Warming Activities in 2005
Global
Warming Service April 24, 2005
OUUC
Individual Actions to Cool the Planet form
Bibliography on Global Warming
Leslie Romer, coordinator of the program
See detailed information about the program here.
Leslie Romer's Service on Green Sanctuaries from July 14, 2002
To fund bike racks and other
environmentally friendly transportation improvements, eight families recently
donated thirteen bicycles to a fundraising “Bike Exchange.” We raised
$255 for our projects, with the unsold bikes donated to the Out of the Woods
Program, for their clients’ use.
The next steps for the transportation improvements are the purchase and installation
of bike racks (involving both Buildings and Grounds and the Aesthetics Committees
again) and installing two new ramps in the parking row on the south side of
the building. The latter is intended to improve access to the church for anyone
needing a ramp. Another minor project will be to develop a brochure on parking
at the church, with suggestions on how we can get the best use of the limited
number of parking spaces we have.
The next steps for recycling are to complete a youth brainstorm on recycling
at the annex building, and outreach to other users of our buildings.
The winter heating and lighting season will be a good time to look at our energy
use, to see what improvements we can make to our use of electricity. A formal
energy audit would be the preferred way to accomplish this examination.
We should also examine our use of chemicals in and around our buildings. If
non-toxic and effective alternatives are available, all users of our buildings
will benefit.
Water quality and conservation at OUUC are another topic that should be examined.
Is our stormwater retention pond still working to protect downhill properties
and to filter parking lot run off? How efficient is the water use in our buildings?
Are there improvements that we should make?
When all these projects are completed, we will have established a baseline for
environmental conditions in our facilities. If you would like to get involved
in any of the projects mentioned above, please contact Leslie Romer (lesliehr@aol.com).
A variety of skills and interests are needed, and your long or short-term involvement
is welcomed.
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