SOCIAL ACTION AT UUCGL

PROGRAMS ON SUSTAINABLE LIVING

It’s Easy Being Green
Our Church had an energy audit and YOU can buy energy efficient appliances at a discount!
Our board has voted to join the “Michigan Interfaith Power & Light (MiIPL).” MiIPL is a coalition of over 100 congregations across Michigan joining together to promote and implement energy conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable practices.
     MiIPL gave our church an energy assessment to identify opportunities for energy savings in our building. The assessment included investment and pay-back information.
     The church and every member will receive discounts on energy efficient products including appliances and lighting. MiIPL will conduct workshops on energy efficiency, and provide a video and other educational material on energy conservation.

Background on Sustainable Living Group
Welcome to “It’s Easy Being Green,” the first of what we plan as a monthly column. Who are we? We are the Sustainable Living Group. One of our goals is to help UUCGL members find creative, positive ways to deal with environmental anxiety. Environmental anxiety? That’s when you hear or read another news story that sets off that little voice in the back of your head that says “Uh-oh, that’s not good. We aren’t going to be able to keep that up for long.” Not that there’s not a good reason for anxiety. There are plenty! But if all you are left with is a sinking feeling, then all that information doesn’t do you much good. To make things better requires knowing that THINGS CAN BE BETTER (which reduces environmental anxiety) and knowing HOW so you don’t just feel immobilized and sad.

Recommendation for positive action #1: Inform yourself. Look for our programs at church and our articles in the Liberal Express. These will be offered to help you learn what we humans are doing to the interconnected web of existence and what we must change. In October, Alan Arbogast kicked off with an excellent program on the “Science of Climate Change.” We plan to show videos, offer workshops, recommend a book for the entire congregation to read and discuss . . . you name it. (Literally! Join us and help deliver the message in any way you like!)

For a “Green Action” check out the empowering and informative book, “The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices,” from the Union of Concerned Scientists. It’s exciting because it helps you quit worrying about the “small stuff” which is so often what the media focuses on. It is available at the Grove Street Bookstore or your local library.

UU tour of Urban Options
— Energy & Environmental Demonstration House —
We took a tour Sunday, January 15, 2006.
Contact Urban Options to learn ways you can Save Energy and Money  in your home this winter!  Aileen Gow, the Director, will demonstrate things we can do--this winter!-- to save energy (and money).The tour was sponsored by the Social Action Committee's Sustainable Living Group. We provided refreshments, too!

WALK THE TALK
    We are all contributors to the cause of global warming and energy depletion . . . all 6 billion of us . . . (especially in the USA) where energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission are about 5 times the world average. And we can all be part of the solution, too, if we work together and sacrifice. Our congregation joined the Michigan Interfaith Power and Light group, and we had an assessment of our facility back in November. The good news is we are not too bad for a building of our size, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
    Doug Black of "Enerficiency" conducted the assessment, and met with us on February 26, 2006. He went over steps we could take to improve our church building efficiency, and also gave us tips on where we, as individuals, could reduce our own home energy use.
     By the way, each time you replace a conventional bulb with a CFL bulb, you save over 75% on energy use.

Your Sustainable Living Group

Visit the JOURNEY TOWARD WHOLENESS webpage.

DONATIONS FOR HAVEN HOUSE NEEDED
Haven House provides emergency housing and support services for single-parent and two-parent families with children. The shelter helps families who are homeless prepare for permanent housing by developing and promoting self-sufficiency, stability and financial responsibility.
This month's targeted donation item: TODDLER ITEMS. Donations can be left in the first floor nook by the stairs. Thank you for your ongoing support!

UUCGL's Social Action Committee

Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing
855 Grove St. | East Lansing, MI 48823 | 517-351-4081
email: office@uulansing.org