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Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, California • Judy Moores, with encouragement from other concerned church members, contacted the UU Ministry for Earth (then called the Seventh Principle Project) and obtained the Green Sanctuary Manual. In May of 2005, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis congregation agreed by consensus that the church could work toward becoming a Green Sanctuary. • By July, members of the church, under the leadership of Judy Moores, formed a Green Sanctuary Committee. During the next few months, the committee completed several audits of the church including worship services and religions exploration programs, recycling, and investments, and a major professional energy audit by Steve Brennan, brainstormed projects, recruited additional members to help including Mary Wind as co-chair, met or otherwise communicated with members of the congregation including the minister, staff, board and key volunteers to keep them abreast of the committee’s work, systematically publicized their work to the general church community, and held some events. • Beginning in July, the committee provided a regular “Green Thoughts” column for the weekly church bulletin and the UUniverse, monthly newsletter. Topics included an explanation of what a Green Sanctuary might be, ideas for green living, progress reports, and inspirational quotes. • In September GS Committee hosted Jim Scott for a concert to kick off our GS work and held a pre-concert potluck. Over 120 people attended on very short notice, and the proceeds were donated to the UUSC to help with environmental justice efforts related to Hurricane Katrina. • Mary Wind and Judy Moores, as co-chairs of the Green Sanctuary Committee. joined the Care for God’s Creation committee to organize an Interfaith Conference on the “Tree of Life” to encourage people of faith to care for Earth. • In December the Committee sponsored a Holiday workshop for families. Junior High members and their teacher, Kate Raymond, helped. About 20 children and adults participated. Also, the Committee provided the congregation with a list of simple, green holiday activities. • In January, the committee completed the application for candidacy to become a Green Sanctuary, submitted it to the UU Ministry for Earth, and began to systematically carry out the projects. • By January, the Ministers and Worship Associates began to add a “Green” song, reading, dance or even part of a sermon in 2-3 Sundays each month. This is in addition to scheduling 3 or so specific services dedicated to our 7th principle for 2006. • On January 27, the Committee sponsored Michael Dowd’s workshop on “Beyond Sustainability: The Marriage of Science and Religion.” About 115 people attended from the church and broader community. As a result of the workshop, Tom Jankowski and Patty Lawrence started an adult R.E. class on “The Universe.” Judy Moores spoke to the UU campus group about GS. • In February, members of the GS Committee attended the church visioning workshop and were introduced to the congregation at the services on Feb. 19. Judy Moores presented a “Green Stole” (which she had made) to the Reverend Beth Banks to represent the work of the GS committee and our responsibility to be good stewards of Earth in keeping with our seventh UU principle. • On Feb.19, Leisa Huyck led the first of six sessions of a Water Justice Class. About 20 people signed up. The UU CA Legislative Ministry developed the curriculum. • Mandy Dawn put the Green Sanctuary application and other materials on the church website: www.uusofdavis.org. • The church joined the CA Interfaith Power & Light, and the Library Committee worked to add environmental items, which support the GS efforts. • On February 25, Judy and Jeannette Robertson taught a Vegetarian Cooking Class/Dinner and handed our information based on materials in the UUME GS handbook. • In March, the Committee received a letter from Reverend Katherine Jesch formally welcoming the Church as a Candidate to become a Green Sanctuary in a very laudatory letter that called the Church’s Application “diverse, well balanced and exciting.“ • In March, Vince Schwent and members of the Solar Power subcommittee held an open meeting for the congregation to discuss adding and funding a photovoltaic system to the church property. • April 5 – Judy spoke to the Women’s fellowship (about 25 women) on the work of Green Sanctuary. • April 8 - Eldridge Moores lead a geology fieldtrip for 25 to Cache Creek as a fundraiser for GS. • April 22, Earth Day, the campus ministry group and others marched in the University of California, Davis Picnic Day parade carrying GS signs: UUs for Earth, To Be Powered by the Sun, Walk'n'Roll to Church - May 21, etc.) (UCD Picnic Day brings thousands of people to town.) • On April 23, Gail Kennedy and her Clean Air Sunday subcommittee of the GS committee hung a huge map of the Davis region. Members were encouraged to put a pin where they live and sign up to bike or rideshare and "Walk'n'Roll Together" to church on May 21. They also set up two tri-fold tabletop displays (“The Green Spot” and “The Sun Spot”) with materials on clean air, biking, carpooling, etc., and gave out activities books on air pollution to elementary age children. • In the spring, the office began to use letter size paper for most orders of services and orders of service were not used at all about once a month. Also, every bit of paper is reused if possible before being recycled. • May 6 – The Sacramento Bee, with a circulation of about 300,000 published a major and excellent article about the UU Church of Davis’ efforts to become a Green Sanctuary. • May 20 – The UU Church of Davis will host an interfaith conference with the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and UU communities working together. We expect about 150 people to attend. The keynote speaker is Julia Butterfly Hill. • May 21 was designated UUCD Clean Air Sunday, a congregational event bringing people of all ages together to “Walk’n’Roll to Church.” Bike groups came as parades to the church from different areas of town. Over 50 people biked or walked. An additional 93 people carpooled. As we did not have enough bike racks for all to park and lock, we corralled them in a circle where we could see them from the sanctuary. Participants received small gifts (tire gages, pads, pens, pins, etc.). Records will be kept of the distances traveled so that we can estimate how much energy we have saved and pollution reduced. Cars and bikes had their tire pressure checked and aired up. And we celebrated the day with glacial melt (ice cream) cones after church. • At both the 9 & 11 AM services, the Rev. Elizabeth O. Banks spoke on “A Blade of Grass and a Star: The Interdependent Web” and related our environmental efforts to our history and values. • The Green Sanctuary Committee sub-committee on Solar Power, including Donna Lott, Rich Bradley, Vince Schwent, and Judy Moores worked very hard to find a way to provide the church with Photovoltaics System to provide electricity. Members of the congregation pledged sufficient funds, but in the end the committee could not justify the economic benefit of the project. For the present, the project is on hold and may be folded into the church’s plans for future development of the campus. • Members of the church community continue to report the changes that they are making in their lives as a result of the work of Green Sanctuary including bringing their own cups, plates and utensils to church potlucks, riding their bikes more often, being more aware in general, and composting at home. • Within the regional community, our church is being looked to for its leadership in the area of sustainability and environmental stewardship. We have under taken an important and critical responsibility. Let us use the opportunities that the Green Sanctuary Program gives us to make a difference in the world! Active members of the committee and subcommittees for 2005-2006 included Judy Moores, Co-chair, Mary Wind, Co-chair, Mike Pach, Steve Brennan, Vincent Schwent, Dawn Student, Tom Jankowski, Gail Kennedy, Kathy Coulter, Leisa Huyck, Donna Lott, Marcy Shannon, Scott Allen, Sharon Hale, Rich Bradley, and Virginia Thigpen. Our Minister, the Reverend Beth Banks, Intern Minister, Eliza Galaher, Mandy Dawn, Office Administrator, Sara Roberts, Bookkeeper, R.E. Assistant Becky Brooks, the Board of the Church, especially Sharon Hale, President, Donna Lott and Bob Young, Church Members, Gail Jankowski, Gale Sosnick, Thomas Harter, Kate Raymond, and many others to numerous to mention have supported our GS efforts. Thank you one and all. Contact: Judy Moores, c/o Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, P.O. Box 73710, Davis CA 95617 Location: 27074 Patwin Road, Davis, California Telephone: 530-753-2581 Fax: 530-757-8016 Email: office@uusofdavis.org Website: www.uusofdavis.org |