Welcome to Unitarian Universalist Society East
Sunday Services at 9:00 and 11:00
Sustainable Living & Climate Action
UUSE is committed to ongoing efforts to save our planet through green action. We are a certified Green Sanctuary.
Green Sanctuary News
Green Sanctuary News
Can we stop climate change? At this moment in time, the jury is still out…but lately it feels like we’re losing ground. In May of this year, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations crossed a seasonal threshold of 430 parts per million for the first time in recorded history, according to NOAA. Rising CO2 acts like a thermal blanket, intensifying heatwaves, shifting weather, and altering ocean chemistry. The United States is the second-highest emitter of CO2 emissions in the world, surpassed only by China (and our per capita CO2 emission rate is still considerably higher than China’s).
We have the technology to change this! In recent years, the cost of energy from the sun crossed a tipping-point of its own, such that it is now less expensive to produce solar energy than energy from fossil fuels. But we need to change the minds of many in power--even in Connecticut--and we need to act fast.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Climate change is one of the most challenging problems that humanity has ever faced. At stake are hundreds of millions of lives, innumerable species and ecosystems, the health and viability of the economy, and the future habitability of this planet. Fortunately, climate change is solvable. We have the technologies. We have the science. We now need the leadership—and the courage to change course.” In an article entitled “Climate Solutions”, they outline a five-pronged approach to solving the climate crisis:
- Cut emissions
- Build resilience
- Fight disinformation
- Remove carbon dioxide
- Act!
I belong to an organization called Third Act, a group of senior citizens whose mission is to do what we can to promote “clean” energy (solar and wind power), call attention to the major fossil-fuel producers and their corporate enablers (banks such as Citibank, Chase and Wells Fargo are major financiers of businesses expanding fossil-fuel production), and encourage our politicians to support legislation that promotes sound environmental policy and environmental justice. There are many other organizations working toward similar goals (Citizens Climate Lobby, Sierra Club, the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network, to name just a few). UUSE as a Green Sanctuary and many of our members individually have for years been taking action in many ways. But it is going to take all of us, working together, to turn things around.
-Carole Tenny (Boster)
Go Solar!
The Sustainable Living Committee is thrilled to report that UUSE has contracted with Connecticut solar provider, Savkat, to resume our popular solar program! Savkat has agreed to donate $25 to UUSE for every appointment and $1,000 for every signed solar contract. The program begins immediately, and is available to all UUSE members, family, and friends. Just tell them you were referred by UUSE!
We will be hosting several informational sessions with our Savkat representative on Sunday mornings during coffee hour to answer any questions congregants may have. If you're interested in learning more about getting solar installed, you can make an appointment at this time.
Already know you want to reduce your carbon footprint by installing solar? You can contact our Savkat representative, Jordan Bernstein, right away! His contact info is below.
Thank you for caring about our planet!
Jordan BernsteinLead Manager
203.441.7961
Schedule a Meeting
Green Actions You Can Take
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Join our ecological landscaping team
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Help with recycling and composting
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Help sell "Fair Trade" coffee, tea, and chocolate after Sunday services
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Help with the annual organic veggie garden
About the Green Sanctuary program
UUSE has been a certified Green Sanctuary congregation since the spring of 2006. The Green Sanctuary program was developed and begun by the UU Ministry for Earth for UU congregations. The program at UUSE was led by the Sustainable Living Committee with approval and involvement of the policy board, staff, various committees and the full congregation. Goals and projects were developed in four different areas: worship, religious education, sustainable living and social/environmental justice. Our Action Plan for 2005 included 15 different projects, heavily focused on our response to global warming. It included implementing recommendations from an energy audit, starting our children’s organic vegetable garden program, starting recycling and composting programs, working with other state and local organizations on common goals, and much more. The congregation-wide support and success of the program led us to seek out the greenest way we could afford to implement our planned building and expansion project.
Between 2007 and the spring of 2010 we were deep into the planning, fundraising for and implementation of our building project. The Growth of the Green Sanctuary Program allowed it to become a project of the UUA. And by 2011 we were encouraged to apply for Re- accreditation. Our application for Re-accreditation included various projects in the areas of worship and celebration, religious education, sustainable living, and active environmental justice efforts, such as helping to pass CT’s first environmental justice law, working with local groups to start school and other community gardens and to help low-income residents benefit from CT’s Home Energy Solutions program. We documented all the work done in the UUSE building project including energy conservation work, the geo-thermal system and eventual solar panel system, and Energy Star certification with a 98% score in 2013, as well as various ecological landscaping projects. On February 17, 2013 we received the notice we were awarded Green Sanctuary Recertification. We were encouraged to continue our efforts to become a net zero facility and continue with our outreach and advocacy work.