We have a long history of leadership within our association committed to caring for our Earth and taking action. Our campus is a living testimony of sacred green space on the lands of the Calusa Native Americans. One of our principles - The Seventh Principle - is “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” At our yearly General Assembly, where Unitarian Universalists meet to do the work of our denomination, dozens of social witness statements have passed. These statements make it possible for congregations to do the work of social-eco justice.\
Unitarian Universalists have played a prominent role in environmental and climate justice movements across North America and the world. UUs have served as organizers through GreenFaith, 350.org,
Greenpeace and other organizations - many of them on a local level. UUs have served as leaders of Interfaith Power & Light chapters; as activists in direct action campaigns and demonstrations like the
landmark 2014 People’s Climate March in NYC. At our own congregation we are affiliated with Pachamama, www.pachamama.org and an organization called ReSet www.swflreset.org. Visit their websites
when you get a chance. We also have community gardens on our campus and a new labyrinth to walk and meditate on.
The UU Ministry for Earth started in 1989. A Seventh Principle Project was formed and a Green Sanctuary Handbook was published in 1991. In 2002 the Seventh Principle Project incorporated and started a Green Sanctuary Program for congregations. Our congregation was one of the first congregations to receive accreditation. In 2005, the organization changed its name to Unitarian Universalism Ministry For Earth. UU Ministry For Earth has been instrumental in the passage of several social witness statements at the General Assembly. In 2008, UUMFE partnered with the national office of the UUA on the Green Sanctuary Program and organized and hosted a conference for representatives of a dozen groups committed to the work of environmental justice.
Within the past few months, our congregation has changed the name Green Sanctuary to UUCFM Ministry For Earth. We are still a Green Sanctuary; that designation hasn’t changed. We are thinking and talking about reacreditation with the Green Sanctuary Program. The Ministry For Earth Program is much broader than the Green Sanctuary Program. It is in this program where we can be connected to other Unitarian Universalists in what we might consider one of the biggest environmental challenges of our world.
Blessings from your UUMFE Team - Michele Bellinger and Pat Linhoff.
