Just in case you were unaware that our Church is a formally accredited “Green Sanctuary,” I want to share some background. In May of 2006, UUCT formally applied for accreditation as a “Green Sanctuary” UU Church after a multi-year quest. The Green Sanctuary Committee led the church through the accreditation process to satisfy a checklist of ‘green’ initiatives that signified our church as a whole ascribed to a program of sustainable living, both in our congregation among members as well as in our individual households.

Two of the more prominent actions were the acquisition of our 10kW solar array on our Education Building and participating in the Big Bend Climate Action Team effort with the City for a clean energy plan that did not include a coal plant. However, these were but the shining lights that shone on a base of solid operational procedures in the church and on the grounds that moved us to a new level of Sustainability.

At that time we were able to say: “Welcome to UUCT, where every day is Earth Day.” Over time, however, the church has strayed from many of those earth-friendly goals. The re-certification process is being fueled by the implementation of an environmental justice initiative focusing on Food Insecurity. The process of selecting this project was guided by lessons learned from a book entitled Justice on Earth, which was read and discussed by a large segment of our congregation. At a time when our landscape blooms with colorful flowers attracting pollinators, our urban forest is healthy, and there is new congregational enthusiasm to tackle climate change, we are ready to carry out this re-certification process.

What better time than now to re-initiate our Green Sanctuary Committee, to review practices and reemphasize our previously established sustainability goals. We seek planners and decision makers for this new Green Sanctuary Committee as well as ideas from all members about improvements that can be made on our church campus as well as personal life practices. As a founding member along with Steve Urse and others, we’d like to invite all to join in a new committee to pursue re-certification of our ‘Green Sanctuary” status, fulfilling the new requirements of this program which have expanded to include engaging the church in an environmental justice issue present in our own Community.

So, all interested parties should contact Steve Urse or me. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.

Ed Oaksford

Those interested in serving on the Green Sanctuary Committee please read RENEWING THE GREEN SANCTUARY to familiarize yourself with the accreditation/reaccreditation process.