No one is too small to make a difference. — Greta Thunberg
Around 25 people participated in our initial organizing effort on March 8, gave feedback and expressed interest in general and specific action. Contributions covered a host of interests and specific skills including a citizen science project (budburst.org), composting/recycling/food waste projects, a volunteer for a presentation on the impact of deforestation on the environment and marginalized groups, building relationships with neighbors and marginalized communities, and ideas for local tree planting efforts.
For those unable to attend, it’s not too late. This UUFH Congregational Project is for all. Now it’s your turn:
What do you want to see? What talents and knowledge could you add? What groups are you involved in/do you suggest? What activity are you willing to lead?
Contact Charlotte Corrigan or Judy Lutzenberger to indicate your skills, interests or service ideas and your interest for either or both of the two programs below.
These two programs have been proposed as launch activities:
[1]. Book study: Justice on Earth, People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, and the Environment, edited by Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti and Rev. Jennifer Nordstrom.
Fourteen activist ministers and lay leaders apply a keen intersectional analysis to the environmental crisis, revealing ways that capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and other systems of oppression intersect with and contribute to ecological devastation. They also explore how spiritual practices, congregational organizing, and progressive theology can inform faith-based justice work in the twenty-first century. Each essay in the anthology is accompanied by suggested ways to take the next steps
[2]. UU Ministry for Earth (UUMFE) a 5 part program: Our Place in the Web of Life.
This 5-session curriculum is designed to support Unitarian Universalist congregational teams in learning how to use an environmental justice framework in your efforts, grounded in racial and economic justice.
Through film, music, participatory research, visual mapping, ethical reflection, meditation, and ritual, you’ll engage with where your congregation is located in the web, as well as who is “upstream” and “downstream” from you—the consequences of your actions on other people and ecosystems—and what it really takes to embrace interconnectedness.
One more thing: Anne Backer is working with local Organizations (El Centro, TrueRidge, Heart of Hendersonville, and the Board of Education) on several upcoming projects. One involves packaging gift bags of socks, bandanas, toothpaste, and toothbrushes, etc. for distribution in May. If interested in these aid efforts which build positive relationships with the migrant and immigrant communities, please contact Anne HERE.