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Green Sanctuary Report to the UUA



SOUTH CHURCH ANNUAL GREEN SANCTUARY REPORT

Feb. 13, 2009

 

South Church, a UU church in Portsmouth, NH submitted its application for candidacy in late Feb. 2008.  The following is the annual progress report on the status of our Action Plan and our progress toward applying for certification as a Green Sanctuary.

 

Over 90% of the activities in the Action Plan, and additional activities, have been completed.  Highlights include:

  • We sold Equal Exchange Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolate for a year to raise funds for Sustainable Harvest International (SHI).  $2300 was collected in total including a special collection at our Arbor Day service and the sale of fair trade flowers.  This money is providing the majority of support for 11 families working with SHI in the village of Boom Creek, Belize for a year.  Two non-GS Team members of South Church have taken over the sales of Equal Exchange products and will continue to raise money for SHI.
  • An Arbor Day Service was held in April with a sermon by Flo Reed, the Director of Sustainable Harvest International.  She talked about her personal journey to start SHI and the work it is doing to teach farmers in Central America about sustainable agriculture methods.
  • Book signings were held with France Moore Lappe – “Getting a Grip”, David Korten – “The Great Turning”, Bill McKibben – “Deep Economy” and Alan Weisman – “The World Without Us” in collaboration with various organizations including South Church’s Minds Alive! program, RiverRun Bookstore, Seacoast Buy Local, Slow Food Seacoast, the Piscataqua Sustainability Initiative and the Dover Friends Meeting.
  • Intergenerational activities were held to show the film “The Arctic Tale”, to have a field trip to Creek Farm in Portsmouth, to visit the Ferry Beach Ecology School in Maine and to show the film “Wall-E”.
  • On June 1, members of South Church contributed plants and trees and joined residents of the affordable housing community, Pepperidge Woods, in planting them in their community. This was a joint effort with the South Church Outreach Associates. St. John’s Presbyterian Church also contributed saplings for plantings.

 

Activities to be completed include having the congregation vote on adding “honor the Earth” to our Mission Covenant Statement, formalizing a “Green” building renovation policy, moving forward with additional recommendations made by our electrical, lighting and heating audits and conducting a Blessing of the Animals service.  The status of the activities in our Action Plan is indicated in the line below the activity in the attached Action Plan.

 

As we move forward in the process to become a Green Sanctuary, we will continue to seek input from members of the congregation on outcomes of the many activities we have held and how the Green Sanctuary program at South Church has affected their lives and South Church and the “gifts” they have given to the Earth.  We have chosen Food as the theme for 2009.  We have had 2 “Menu for the Future” study groups using the Northwest Earth Institute’s study guide.  Our the sermon at our Earth Day service will be done by John Carroll, Professor of Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire on “the Soul of Agriculture.  This will be followed by a Minister’s Forum on his book “Pastures of Plenty.”

 

 

Judy Miller

Chair, Green Sanctuary Team

South Church