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PROGRAMS & ACTIVITIES

Introduction
Social Action Programs
Social Action Events
African American Interests
Allies of the Wabanaki
Ethical Eating
Green Earth
Habitat for Humanity
Healthcare Issues
Peace Issues
Preble Street Soup Kitchen
Project Feed
Refugee/Immigrant Support
Welcoming Congregation
Social Action History
Spiritual Growth
Spiritual Enrichment Groups
Pagan Network
Dawn Redwood Zen Community
Adult Enrichment Programs
Music Programs
Community Groups
Men's Group
Ladies' Lunch Bunch
A2U2 Food Coop
Special All-Church Events
Audrey B. Seale Service Program

Green Earth

Our GREEN Table at the Holiday Fair was a spectacular success. We had cleaning kits (sold out in a half-hour), booklets for how to make your own cleaning products, A2U2 canvas bags, soaps, rags, Sunrise Guides and Fair Trade Chocolate.

Green Earth Mission Statement (2011-2012)

As part of the Social Action Committee, our mission is to facilitate and support the work of Unitarian Universalists by affirming and promoting our seventh principle:

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Informed by spiritual and ethical principles, we engage in practical actions that promote the health and sustainability of the living Earth.

OUR STRATEGIES (2011-2012)

1) Raise consciousness

2) Provide accurate and comprehensive information

3) Provide opportunities for practical action

4) Recognize and celebrate progress in achieving our goals

OUR GOALS (2011-2012)

Participate with our minister during Allen Avenue UU's Earth Month.
Continue our efforts of recycling using the Clynk Bag program.
Make original items to be sold at the Holiday Fair while providing useful information.
Continue efforts to conserve energy and inform ourselves on this topic.
Learn more about how to recycle and/or safely dispose of hazardous and electronic waste.
Educate ourselves on the dangers of nuclear power.
Learn more about and encourage permaculture.
Encourage Fair Trade.
Learn more about fracking and the dangers thereof.
Working in conjunction with the NCRM and their Got Your Bags program, continue our efforts to encourage more use of reusable bags and less waste with paper or plastic ones.

Got Your Bags?

Green Earth is working with the Natural Resources Council of Maine on their new initiative called Got Your Bags? The NRCM and the Merchants of Maine are committed to reducing the use of plastic and paper bags. In conjunction with Earth Day in 2010 and 2011, Allen Avenue's Green Earth committee held a church-wide Got Your Bags Event. Church members brought food for the food pantry, Project FEED, in reusable bags, some of which are pictured here at the church. These bags are then offered to the pantry's clients. Click here to read a report of everything we accomplished! FMI, follow the link to the NRCM’s website.

As a Green Sanctuary we

use china cups and plates and cloth napkins instead of paper
subscribe to green electricity through wind
reduce, recycle, reuse
installed a bike rack
presented numerous programs and services on earth-related issues
hold letter writing campaigns and petition signings and participate in demonstrations
are working to convert Project FEED, a food pantry, from paper and plastic to cloth bags through our Share the Plate

Members of the church use CLYNK bags for their refundable bottle and cans, the profits from which go to help finance green programs at the church

recycle their printer cartridges through the church
have pledged to purchase as least $10 worth of their weekly groceries from Maine-based producers
have established a new committee, Final Choices, which provides information on green burial options
use a loanable energy audit kit to evaluate energy use in their own homes
are learning to use clean/green household products
are working on a Green Sanctuary re-accreditation (see right sidebar)

The audit kit, which can be borrowed for personal evaluations, includes

kill-a-watt energy monitor
mini-temp infrared draft sensor
refrigerator thermometer
wizard stick draft detector
informational pamphlets and booklets

Contact the Chair of the Green Earth

for more information.

We are supporting a Citizen's Initiative to Expand Clean Energy in Maine.

To read more click here.

Green Sanctuary Items

What is a Green Sanctuary?

A Green Sanctuary is a congregation that...

Has received official recognition for completing the Green Sanctuary Program.
Lives out its commitment to the Earth by creating sustainable lifestyles for its members as individuals and as a faith community.
Is committed towards creating a religious community that has a fundamental, bottom-line, commitment to living in harmony with the Earth.

Click here for a complete description of the Green Sanctuary Program.

Click here for a copy of the re-accreditation plan that Allen Avenue is now pursuing.

You can have a clean house and save the environment at the same time.

Download the relevant information here!

Looking for great opportunities to eat locally grown food? See the Ethical Eating page.

Interesting Papers

Click on the link to view a recent article of interest written by our own Sally Breen:

Paradigm Shift

To contact your Maine legislators look here

Green Funerals in Maine

Green Earth supports green funerals, and recommends that interested individuals look into them for their family's needs. Final Choices is a church committee working to further our understanding of the many options. For more information, please see:

Funeral Consumers Alliance

Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maine

Recycling

If you have electronic waste to be recycled, go to the NRCM website.

More information about ewaste (computers, cellphones, etc.) can be found here.

More Information about Green Sanctuary

Please see much more at www.uuministryforearth.org

A2U2 Green Sanctuary Movement

A2U2's Green Sanctuary Accomplishments

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