Meet the Green Sanctuary Working Group
What is Green Sanctuary?
Green Sanctuary provides structure, leadership, and support for the UU faith community to engage in an ambitious environmental and climate justice movement that seeks to live fully our 7th (and 8th) principles and achieve our vision of a sustainable and just world for all. This is the 7th iteration of the Green Sanctuary Program since it began in 1989. Learn more about Green Sanctuary Mission and VisionThe Green Sanctuary program is done in five stages.
Stage 1:
A Green Sanctuary Team forms and educates itself and the congregation about the program. The Team starts its application process by submitting the Congregational Profile. The Congregational Profile is in final editing phase and should be submitted the week of October 4, 2021.
Stage 2:
Opportunity Assessment: The Green Sanctuary team ascertains what is currently happening in various aspects of congregational life and its community, including calculating the congregation’s carbon footprint. The Opportunity Assessment is submitted to Green Sanctuary via the online application for review and feedback. The Assessment becomes the core of the Action Plan. We are currently gathering information for the Opportunity Assessment and assessing the most impactful projects for our congregation.
Stage 3:
Action Plan: Based on the assessment results, the Green Sanctuary team designs campaigns with projects that address the goals of carbon mitigation, adaptation/resilience, and justice and includes some form of civic action/activism. The environmental justice campaign must be done in partnership with a historically disadvantaged group. Action Plan is submitted to the Green Sanctuary Program staff, who give feedback and suggest any necessary modifications to the Plan.
Stage 4:
Final Report: The congregation implements the Action Plan and reports on the results in an online template where it will be reviewed and approved for accreditation/reaccreditation, or returned with comments suggesting what else needs to be done.
Stage 5:
Accreditation or Reaccreditation: Once approved the final report will become a public document for information sharing across congregations and organizations.
