Planet Circle

For the love of our planet…The Planet Circle began meeting in February 2007 under the name Planetary Concerns Group. The group members were interested in exploring ways of making concern and respect for the environmental health of the planet more central to our physical and spiritual life, as individuals, as members of this church community and members of the larger community. From the start it has been important that the membership of the group reflect  the various aspects of church life, so that the Worship, Library, Property, Communications, Music and RE committees have all been informally represented.

The range of Planet Circle activity is as varied as the issues and the members themselves. The ‘Environmental’ focus of members can range from personal to local, political, global, congregational or regional.

Over the first 18 months, the group has organized and led a number of Sunday worship services focused on ways of living more gently on our planet, and various members have attended climate change workshops directed toward faith communities and organized by Clean Nova Scotia and various churches and synagogues. The Planet Circle also organized a workshop on climate change, held following the service on February 17, 2008 in which participants explored ways of reducing their ecological footprint on the earth. Ongoing Planet Circle activities have included; promoting the ‘buy local’ philosophy, reviewing church property maintenance practices, and providing the congregation with updated resources, tips, links and general information via this site, bulletin boards, and the monthly newsletter.

With encouragement and support from the Planet Circle, the Worship Committee has organized at least one monthly environmentally-focused worship service during our period as a lay-led congregation, until September 2008:

The children’s Religious Education program for the year 2007-2008 focussed on fostering environmental consciousness among the youngsters.

The Property Committee arranged for an energy audit of the building.

The Communications Committee set up and promoted a church listserve and now emails newsletters and orders of service.

The Music Program planned and coordinated 'The UU Green Review’ a variety show involving much of the congregation, that took place on April 4, 2009, generating a fun-filled ‘buzz’ for the Green Sanctuary Program.

The Planet Circle has formed an ad hoc working group to facilitate the process of realizing and formalizing Green Sanctuary accreditation for this church (see Green Sanctuary Program information). The Planet Circle meets on an ad hoc basis. Watch for announcements of upcoming meetings.  All are welcome. 

(photo below) UUCH joins in May, 6, 2012 Climate Change lobby,  350.org awareness event

UUCH cimate change data graph on front of Inglis St. building

 

Below, you will find a number of links to a variety of web sites related to environmental responsiblity

 

Click Here to Go to the UU UNO Climate Change Task Force Web Site:  www.digitaluniverse.net/uuuno/

Click Here to Read Joanne Light's  (friend of UUCH) Poem, 'Green Man': GREEN MAN 

Click here to view  "CLEAN & GREEN!"  (PDF).  For  ideas about natural products to clean your home 

 What's new with the UU Ministry for Earth?  Click Here:  www.uuministryforearth.org

 Click Here for David Suzuki's Foundation: www.davidsuzuki.org

 

Read Elizabeth Greenhaven's newsletter submission on Copenhagen talks (Sept. 2010)


What They Did not Talk About at Copenhagen?
from a Justnews discussion paper by Richard
Heinberg
Normally we humans like to focus on one problem at
a time and it’s how the political process is set up to
function. But reality is not always so simple and
clear-cut. Climate change is just one of several
enormous interrelated dilemmas that will sink
civilization unless all are somehow addressed. These
include
· Topsoil loss of 25 billion tons per year
· Worsening fresh water scarcity
· Death of the oceans—currently forecast for
around 2050 based on current trends
· Overpopulation and continued population
growth
· Accelerating, catastrophic loss of biodiversity
· Peaking fossil fuel production
· Ongoing financial crisis
How do we address, collectively and individually,
the complexities of the 21st century implicit in these
interrelated issues? Surely the first step toward
action is awareness of the dilemma. It’s small
wonder that more was not achieved at Copenhagen.
“Indeed”, says Heinberg, “It seems likely that for the
foreseeable future, economic implosion will suck the
air from any room in which heads of state are
gathered.” We are faced with a glaring lack of
agreements and protocols in all the areas he has
listed.
This is not to say that nothing is being done. In fact
many organizations and communities in many
nations are doing path-finding work to address each
and every one of them. A book in our church library
lists hundreds of undertakings and contacts
worldwide.
Is local effort enough? Obviously not. But absent
local agreements, local efforts are what we’ve got,
at least for now. If dramatic impacts are coming—
and we don’t know what, where and how they will
land—the most sensible strategy seems to be to
build resilience throughout the system. That implies
dispersed control points and inventories. In other
words, regional self-sufficiency, according to
Heinberg.
If we agree with him, what steps can we take,
individually and as a community, to play a
significant part in that effort?
I cannot do everything
But I can do something
And I will not allow my inability to do
everything to interfere
With the something I can do.
The CUSJ article on which this piece was based can
be found at postcarbon.org. Richard Heinberg is a
fellow of the Post Carbon Institute.
--Elizabeth Greenhavens