Green Tip of the Month
This month’s tip is actually a short primer on recycling. I know it seems like a lot of trouble to rinse out those containers before tossing them into the recycling bin, but please take the time! It pays off in many ways: It is considerate to those who volunteer their time to collect and deliver the items. (Imagine having to smell sour milk or dried-on, spoiled food. Not pretty.) Secondly, it eliminates odors in the Town’s collection bins, and finally it eliminates contamination at the end-point. Thanks for your help in staying green and clean.
Send your green tips to katdargan@sbcglobal.net
UUS:E became an officially designated Green Sanctuary in June of 2006. We are one of 50 congregations in the nation that have been certified by the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth (UUMFE), and are the first in Connecticut. The congregation has come though a long process that involved an environmentally focused evaluation of all aspects of congregational life, and the creation and completion of a 15 step action plan.
We try to incorporate “green” thinking and actions into all areas of programming at UUSE – from worship services, to adult and youth Religious Education, to recycling many types of items and purchasing recycled and earth friendly supplies, to composting and growing an organic vegetable garden. We practice energy conservation, and purchase Connecticut Light and Power’s 100% Clean Energy Option. We have also been working on plans for a new “green" addition to the building. Green Sanctuary is our way of bringing our UU Seventh Principle to life: “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”
The Green Sanctuary program is facilitated by the Sustainable Living Committee (SLC) which plans and promotes programs and activities at UUS:E. The committee also works with other local, state and national groups on environmental justice issues. SLC co-sponsors educational programs and encourages congregational participation in working for positive change in the wider community.
The Sustainable Living Committee meets the second Tuesday of each month from 7 to 9 P.M. in the Program Room. For information about the committee or upcoming events please click on Sustainable Living Committee (SLC)
The committee also writes a monthly article in the UUS:E newsletter entitled GREEN SANCTUARY.
The newsletter includes a Green Tip of the Month. A recent Green Tip of the month can be found to the right of this column. For some past Green tips click on More Green Tips
If you interested in participating in UUS:E’s new Ecological Landscaping Team to help plan and implement a comprehensive design for our grounds as we prepare for the building expansion and changes to our site, contact Carol Marion, who has agreed to chair the team!
Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolates are on sale in the UUS:E lobby on second Sundays each month after both services. Purchasing these products helps small farmers in Central America and Africa earn a decent living for themselves and their families and helps them to practice sustainable farming methods that are safe for the farmers and the environment. Your purchases also help to cover the costs of using Fair Trade organic coffee at all of our congregational events.
The following guidelines were adopted in May of 2007 for use in our UUS:E kitchens:
If you are interested in helping UUS:E in its work as a Green Sanctuary congregation, you are invited to attend the next meeting of the Sustainable Living Committee on Tuesday, March 11, at 7:00 P.M. in the Program Room. For more information contact co-chairs, Ellen Castaldini at ellen.castaldini@sbcglobal.net, 860-644-1539, or Kat Dargan at 860-533-0456, katdargan@sbcglobal.net.
We thank all those who came out on January 26 to our program and film showing of the “Warming of Connecticut.” We were especially grateful that Roger Smith of the CT Climate Coalition was able to join us for a very valuable discussion following the film. We hope the displays and booths and activities gave food for thought and action and that you went away with new ideas and information on solutions to global warming and climate change.
One way to combat global warming is to support a local organic food system. To learn more about this, consider attending CT NOFA’s annual conference, Cultivating An Organic CT, on March 8 at Windsor High School. With over thirty workshops to choose from, a keynote address by Chef Michel Nischan of the Dressing Room in Westport, a fantastic potluck lunch for around three hundred people and an organic marketplace to browse in, you will find something of interest< and information for everyone. Go to www.ctnof.org to register and read about the conference. Some brochures should be available in our lobby.
Whatever your thoughts are on the wisdom of the Federal Stimulus Package, here is one
thought on how to use it: Stimulate your LOCAL economy by purchasing a share in the produce of a
local organic farm. Joining a CSA means paying up front for a weekly supply of fresh organic produce.
You pick it up at the farm from July through October (generally). We have contacts with two
CSA farms in Glastonbury (and I just learned about a new one in Ellington). Check with Janet at
janet.heller@snet.net for more information.
This spring we are planning to install two rain barrels to collect rain water from the UUS:E roof, which can then be used to water the organic vegetable garden in back of UUS:E this summer. The barrels will be installed by the Building and Grounds Committee. One will be donated by Sham and Jennie Elshakhs, and the other will be purchased by the Sustainable Living and Religious Education Committees.
The annual organic vegetable garden is a project of the Religious Education classes and adult volunteers. If you have an interest in helping to plan and organize the garden project this year, please contact Janet Heller,645-6897 or janet.heller@snet.net. Or you can talk with Vicki Merriam. Many helpers are always needed.
Food and drink are served in the "china" dishes and washed in the dishwasher. Directions for dishwasher are printed and taped directly above it. For small events, cups, etc. can be placed upside down on a rack in the dishwasher to be washed later when the rack is full. Before leaving be sure dishwasher is in "Drain/Off" position or it will run all night! Also check stove burners and ovens!
If there are not enough dishes because of the size of the group, only recycled paper products should be used, and only if absolutely necessary. (Chinet brand paper plates and Marcal or Seventh Generation brand napkins are made from recycled paper, are sold in stores and usually on hand in hall closet.) Recycled paper cups are hard to find and expensive, so please use the mugs for all beverages when possible.
Use spoons instead of disposables for coffee stirring. Use cloth
table covers instead of disposable ones.
Following pot lucks and other food events, place the white plastic pans on counter or table just outside kitchen door so people can separate food scraps (compost), trash, and dishes thereby keeping the kitchen from filling up with too many people.
Coffee grounds and food scraps go into the compost pail under the kitchen counter next to trash bin. The compost is emptied weekly or as needed in the tumbler behind the dumpster in the far-right parking lot.
Glass, metal, and plastic #1 and #2 containers (no lids) are rinsed and put in appropriate bins under same counter.
Clean paper and light paperboard (example: cracker box) is flattened and put in paper bin next to container bin. ( But no greasy pizza boxes. They go in the trash.) Corrugated cardboard should be flattened and placed on the back porch or taken to your town for recycling.
If your event generates a lot of recyclables or compost, please help by emptying the compost pail into the tumbler, and by taking recyclables to your town or to the paper bin behind the Senior Center (corner Vernon St. and E.Middle Tpke.) Hopefully with all this, you will not have enough trash to bother taking it out to the dumpster! That's the goal!
Some important web links:
For information on current and upcoming programs and activities go to the Sustainable Living Committee
Last updated
Mrch 7, 2008
