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2011 PRIORITIES
Green Jobs -
Earth Sunday - Green Building
Zero Trash lunch support -
Ethical Eating
Nature Hikes - Socials
Interested in helping? Email
Katherine Dann at kbdann@gmail.com
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PROGRAM AREAS
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Core
Foundations
Core programs built from 2002 - thanks to all who make these happen!
Examples:
• Recycling ('02)
• Fair Trade ('03)
• Zero Trash lunches and events ('03)
2011 Priorities:
•
All above, including ZT lunch support
• Ethical eating initiatives beyond the delicious lunch offerings after service
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Green Sanctuary
Accreditation
All Souls is now a
'Green Sanctuary'
For this UU accreditation, we performed a comprehensive Environmental & Justice Audit in 2006 and an innovative Green
Sanctuary Action Plan from 2007-2010 comprising over 20 projects - Kudos to all!
2011 Priorities:
• Earth Sunday 2011
A 'Green Sanctuary' is a church that honors the Earth and justice in its church LIFE.
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Green Building
Showing our reverence for the Earth in
our sacred buiding and our operations.
Examples:
• Wind energy household switches
• Energy-saving lightbulbs
• Green Goods sales
• Recycled copy paper and office supplies
• Non-toxic cleaning agents
• Green Visioning
2011 Priorities:
• Green Jobs
• Green Building support |
Spirit & Connection
Taking the time to nurture our Spirit, support others, and make connections
Examples:
• Nature hikes, socials, and potlucks
• Partnerships in church and beyond
We are excited to support:
• Greater Wash. Interfaith Power & Light
• UU Ministry for Earth
2011 Priorities:
•
All above |
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Photos of some of our accomplishments...
Jan 16, 2010: Wine, Cheese, & Dessert Soiree
Hosted by Andrew Miller. Over 30 Green Souls and Friends came. We forged new friendships and brainstormed all things Green!
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Oct 4, 2009: Green Souls Supports New Orleans JazzFest
Evan Christopher's Clarinet Road and master drummer Shannon Powell wow'ed the crowd at All Souls Church. Proceeds went to non-profits in New Orleans. This was a Green Souls service event - we ran the will-call table and greeted people at the reception. |
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Sept 27, 2009: Creative 'Green' Visioning for 2020
Participants enjoyed an afternoon using playdough, music, dance, and a 3-D mockup of our building to create a 'green' vision for our building and programs. Ideas created, literally: community garden, solar panels and windmills, and a bus that brings those to church who may not otherwise be able, and more! |
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August 2009: Gordon 'Unplugged'
"Unplugged" performance of our very own music virtuoso, Gordon Kent. He wooed us with his amazing voice and diverse instruments at Banana Cafe. |
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April 2009: Gardening Day
Green Souls encourages a day of gardening to help beautify the grounds of All Souls. Held on Earth Day Sunday Service - see below).
All Souls holds regular gardening days during the Summer. |
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April 2009: Recycling Jingle Is a Hit!
In our Earth Day Service, Green Souls performs a hilarious recycling jingle to promote our big recycling boost at church. It received many laughs and a standing ovation from the Congregation! |
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April 2009: Blessing of the Bikes
All Souls Senior Minister gives a Blessing of the Bikes,
at our Earth Day Sunday Service. |
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2008: We're Named Green 'Congregation of the Year'
All Souls congregation is recognized for our work to promote environmental and social justice and to create a world where human actions are in balance with a healthy environment.
Presented by Greater Washington Interfaith Power & Light, a non-profit that promotes the reduction of human impact on the environment through dialogue and cooperation of diverse faiths. |
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December 8, 2008: Polar Bear Plunge!
Sponsored by Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) 4 Green Souls plunge into the icy Chesapeake with 200 other brave souls - to express a call to action on climate change. Green Souls had their banner at the event, and our own Pamela Sparr was interviewed on Fox News TV! |
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April
15, 2007: Champagne and Chocolate!
Held for the first 30 participants of the new Green Resolution initiative at All Souls. The honorees enjoyed tasting 6 different kinds of Fair Trade chocolate as they sipped on organic bubbly. A great time was had by all. |
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December
17, 2006: Silver Souls Going Green!
The Annual Holiday Luncheon was served in
real platters and china - all bought by
the Silver Souls in an effort to make a
beautiful dining setting AND help the church's
green goals of Zero Trash events. |
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October
8, 2006: Green
Sanctuary Signing Ceremony
We celebrate having our application approved
and becoming an official candidate church in
the national UU Green Sanctuary program and
to launch Phase 2 – implementation of
our Action Plan. Beginning with special words
from the pulpit by Rev. Louise Green we moved
into a fancy Zero Trash lunch complete with
organic “I Love the World” cake
made by our own Marc Ferrara; special activities
for children, youth and adults. Click
here to see our 2-year Action Plan.
September
10, 2006:
Zero Trash Goes Weekly
We raise the expectations bar as high as it
will go, and now arrange Zero Trash Sundays
WEEKLY. Help us live up to this wonderful aspiration.
Volunteer 2 hours once a month. Click here to
contact the coordinator: Matt
Cohen at mattandeliz@yahoo.com
July
16, 2006: ASC Board affirms
Green Sanctuary Application
By unanimous vote, All
Souls Board of Trustees affirms our
Green Sanctuary application and action plan.
This is the final step before submitting the
application to UU Ministry for Earth for evaluation
and approval.
June
25, 2006:
Global Warming Statement of Conscience
The Unitarian Universalist Association meeting
in St. Louis votes for a strong Statement
of Conscience
on
global warming, guiding national advocacy, congregations
and individual actions. All Souls members' ideas
made their way into the final document and they
played key roles in St. Louis.
Feb
26, 2006: Environmental Justice Sunday
We sponsored a special sermon and a “Beat
the Heat” information and action fair
for Environmental Justice Sunday Feb. 26th,
2006. The focus was global warming. To hear
or read the popular sermon by our Social Justice
Minister, Rev. Louise Green, go to the Feb.
26th sermon on the sermon
page.
For information and action materials distributed
at the "Beat the Heat" fair, click
here.
Environmental
Audit
We worked for 18 months
with church volunteers, staff, and committees
as well as two paid technical experts to assess
our church’s environmental impact and
how well we integrate the Seventh Principle
in all that we do. We have gone beyond the national
requirements and have pioneered an environmental
justice analysis of our church’s “environmental
footprint”. The audits are done and are
now being compiled, synthesized and analyzed.
Stay tuned for highlights of our environmental
and environmental justice audits.
Church Growth
We are working with ASC’s anti-racism
and multicultural groups to influence plans
for church growth to address church culture
and institutional practices around inclusion,
diversity and connectedness. As part of this,
we launched an ongoing discussion about what
a “theology of place” could be.
Fair
Trade
We
sold over $3,500 worth of Fair Trade products
in 2005. This brings our cumulative total sales
to more than $12,000 since we began this project
in 2003. (2005)
Some of Current Projects
GREEN SANCTUARY
As a flagship
UU church in the nation’s capitol and
with many members passionate about Creation
and environmental justice, we decided to seek
to obtain “Green Sanctuary” status
from the UU’s Earth Ministry project.
This is a special credential congregations can
receive after meeting a variety of educational,
operational, spiritual, and advocacy requirements.
To receive the Green Sanctuary accreditation,
we must go through (3) main steps:
1. Conduct a thorough assessment
of church programs and operations for their
environmental impact
and connection to the Seventh Principle. Done!
2. Develop and submit an action
plan which is approved by the national project.
Done!
3. Successfully implement
the action plan Done!
ZERO
TRASH
We
are committed to reducing waste at our church
- through Zero Trash
lunches and events.
Question: How many
disposable forks, knives, plates, cups, and
napkins get saved at a ZT lunch?
Answer: Approximately
750 items at EACH Zero Trash lunch at All Souls!
Zero Trash
Lunches involves using real dishes instead
of disposables.
The Result? A prettier place setting and
a smaller footprint on the environment.
Zero
Trash Highlights
*WOW!
Went to weekly Sunday ZT lunches!!! (Fall
2006)
*Boosted
ZT lunches from once per quarter in '03
to twice a month in '04 and '05
*Saluted the efforts of our chefs in a Hail
to the Chefs lunch (Dec 2004)
*Established a volunteer program (2004)
*Church members made home-made napkins for
ZT (2004) |
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VOLUNTEER
to bring out the real dishes. Contact:
Sarah Mullins at smullins9@yahoo.com
FAIR
TRADE
Our committee
seeks to help build a world that is not only
ecologically sustainable, but also is economically
just.
One way we do this is through supporting "Fair
Trade". Fair Trade refers to the fact that the
growers or producers of a product have received
a "just" price (generally significantly above
the market level) and often are supported in
other ways (favorable credit terms, free technical
assistance, grants for community-related projects,
etc.) by the vendor. We partner with the Unitarian
Universalist Service Committee to sell fair
trade and organic coffees distributed
by a worker-owned and fair trade certified company
- Equal Exchange. We work with another religious
organization, SERRV, to sell organic and/or
fair trade teas, chocolate and olive oil. We
have new products from South Africa and Palestine!
Come sample them!
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products are normally sold in Pierce Hall
after the service on the first and third
Sundays of each month. (See calendar below
for dates.) We are also exploring the
possibility of hosting a fair trade study
tour to one or more Central American countries.
VOLUNTEER
to help sell these products.
Contact: Marc
Ferrara at marc_ferrara@yahoo.com |
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How to Get Involved
Membership
and ListServe
The Committee consists of Members and Allies.
Members attend monthly meetings and take a leadership
role in projects. Allies do not attend meetings
regularly and participate in projects as they
are able. Both members and allies stay informed through our active listserve - to join, go to the subscription box at the top of this
page.
Volunteer Needs and Meetings
We always need help, be it with specific events we'd like to hold or in more leadership positions.
Co-Chairs
Heather Driscoll and Linnea Nilsen Capshaw
Contact Us!
Email
Katherine Dann at kbdann@gmail.com
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UU
Ministry for Earth
Click the link above to find
out what UUs are doing nationally on the Seventh
Principle.
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