Green Sanctuary Congregation

BUC became a Green Sanctuary Congregation in 2012. Green Sanctuary is a program of the UUA, in which congregations take real action on our 7th principle, “to affirm and promote the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.”

The climate-change crisis with global warming is an existential threat to the human species and the web of life. It is the urgent, overarching survival and justice issue of our time, calling us to impactful action now. In an era in which the call to dismantle racism could not be more clear, and when the COVID-19 pandemic stunningly highlights that systemic racism is inextricably bound to climate degradation and injustice, Unitarian Universalist Faithful Response calls us to bring our individual and collective gifts together to act with bold, inspiring, collaborative, networked, and effective leadership to ensure a livable world for all descendants and create climate justice with those who are systemically oppressed.

Green Sanctuary 2030

As the climate crisis develops, the Green Sanctuary program continues to evolve as well. In 2030 the UUA launched the 7th iteration of the program since it began in 1989. BUC’s Environmental Action team has evolved as well and is following the latest guidance.

The three pillars of the Green Sanctuary 2030 program are:

Mitigation

Mitigation is action to reduce the causes of global warming. Mitigation is essential for climate justice and a livable future with fewer disastrous climate impacts.

Adaptation and Resilience

Adaptation is the process of (a) reducing vulnerabilities to the harmful effects of climate change (b) making the most of potentially beneficial opportunities associated with positive responses to the crisis.

Resilience is the capacity to maintain function in the face of external stresses created by the climate-change crisis.

Justice

Working in partnership with communities who experience and confront the reality that the greatest impacts of the climate crisis are disproportionately imposed on those

  1. (a) historically oppressed and least responsible for the crisis
    (b) with the fewest resources with which to face the crisis while already under environmental stresses, and
    (c) future generations.

For more, go to https://www.uua.org/environment/green-sanctuary.