Green Sanctuary Project
Our Goals:
- To build awareness of societal environmental issues among UU’s
- To generate commitment for personal lifestyle changes
- To motivate UU’s to community action on environmental issues
- To build a connection between spiritual practice and environmental consciousness
- To build awareness of and rectify environmental injustices.
Program Activities
The Green Sanctuary committee sponsored the endorsement of the Earth Charter by UUFG. We conducted an educational service on the Earth Charter prior to the congregational vote. We are now designated as a UUA Green Sanctuary.
We have begun a gardening project to feed the homeless. It has widespread support including advice and work contributions from several master gardeners and a botanist at UF. The Youth Group helped prepare the garden the first year. Sunday school classes have helped plant and harvest and attended a class on composting. We maintain a compost pile and organic practices are being used to educate the congregation. The produce is used by the food shelf and a local soup kitchen and has been integrated with the IHN homeless shelter at UUF by providing produce for our guests during their stay. We also regularly teach Sunday school classes with an environmental theme using the garden as a teaching tool.
The committee sponsored a switch from plastic plates and silverware to melamine dishes and "real" silverware for use in the Fellowship Hall, although large events sometimes involve use of some disposables.
We have provided environmental education to the Fellowship through garden tours, bulletin board displays on global warming in Florida and handouts on environmental activism. At Christmas we dressed as elves and handed out packets on green Christmas practices such as recycling trees. We also gave gifts of reused paper notepads made by our committee chair.
We also have participated in a Gainesville Regional Utility Energy Audit of the Fellowship buildings and have toured examples of natural landscapes in Gainesville. These landscapes minimize the use of energy, water and chemicals while maintaining a beautiful environment.
We have worked closely with the Buildings and Grounds, Religious Education and Social Concerns committees on all of these projects.
Green Sanctuary Program Members:
- Gainesville UU Ministry for Earth (GUUME): Marilyn Kershner
- Buildings and Grounds/Facilities Representative: Llew Kohler
- Bird Memory Garden: Bob Kendall & Anne Margoluis
- Garden: Mary Bahr & Sue Dudley
- Labyrinth: Denis Whittaker
We are an OBGLTC-certified 
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