Green Team
The UCE Green Team puts into action the seventh UU principle: respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. UCE’s Green Team promotes good environmental stewardship in UCE’s facilities, at home and in the wider community.
The Green Team educates and motivates members of our faith community to promote and incorporate environmental consciousness into all activities. Since 2005 the Team has had a significant environmental impact at our house of worship with the following actions:
We are a Green Sanctuary as recognized by the UUA, practicing environmental sustainability in multiple ways.
Led by the programs of the UU Earth Ministry (UUMFE), the Green Team focuses efforts in several areas: Worship and Celebration, Religious Education, Environmental Justice and Sustainable Buildings.
UUMFE helps us learn about and focus on the areas of: activism & organizing, climate change, education, front lines solidarity, stories and actions. Our 2020 UUA General Assembly placed special emphasis on the support of Indigenous People and their struggles to protect the environment. The keynote address was made by Naomi Klein, noted environmentalist and journalist.
Currently, we are engaged with increasing our participation in areas of environmental justice and its intersection with racial and economic justice. In addition to having a UCE member sit on the Environmental Justice Committee of the Citizens for a Greener Evanston, we are monitoring efforts to improve air quality at the Waste Transfer Station and supporting efforts to block the relocation of General Iron’s metal shredder to Chicago’s Southeast side.
Monthly Meeting – All are Invited
The Green Team meets online monthly on the first Saturday at 1pm. Members, friends and guests are welcome anytime to bring issues to the meetings. Contact Shirley Adams or Michael Drennan to attend or to add something to our monthly topics. We could use your help in planning some local hikes, bike rides and hopefully a camping trip! We address environmental issues as well but celebrating the Earth sustains us through the challenges.
Composting at UCE
The EPA estimates that more food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other single material in our everyday trash, constituting 22 percent of discarded municipal solid waste. Food scraps in landfills create methane, a greenhouse gas that is 30 times more damaging than CO2 over the long-term and 80 times more damaging over the short-term! On other hand, food scraps that are commercially composted are given the right environment to biodegrade and thus do not contribute to methane gas production. Rather, composted food scraps are turned into rich, organic soil treatment.
You can become a part of the composting movement by joining UCE’s Compost Coop. The cost is only $60 per person per year (up to a $180 maximum per household). You can also participate during the winter months only (December-March) with an annual contribution of $20 per person (up to a $60 maximum per household.) If you are interested in signing up, fill out the composting signup form and email it to admin@ucevanston.org or return it to the church office. For an additional $10 (please pay for this separately as outlined on the signup form) Collective Resource will provide you with a kitchen counter composting bucket. For details on what is/is not compostable and answers to commonly asked questions, click on this Tip Sheet. If you have further questions about this program, contact Renee Hoff through the Realm Membership Directory or at admin@ucevanston.org.
Organizations with whom we partner and share resources
News & Updates from the Green Team
Tickets Now Available – Peter Mayer Virtual Concert: March 26, 2021
Peter Mayer, celebrated singer and songwriter, will perform on Saturday, April 24 at 7 pm. Peter’s work is known throughout the Unitarian Universalists Congregations and one of his best known and beloved songs Blue Boat Home is included in the UU Hymnal.
Our congregation was honored to see Peter perform in our sanctuary last year and are very excited to welcome him back, this time on Zoom. The concert is hosted by the UCE Green Team with proceeds benefitting The Talking Farm. Tickets are $20 per person and can be purchased through Eventbrite here starting Monday, March 29.
The Talking Farm is an initiative that helps people learn to farm and grow, harvest and eat their own food. It works closely with the students of Evanston Township High School, who work the Edible Acre, a garden across from the high school. Its harvest is used in the ETHS cafeteria and students learn about local climate, local farming, and developing a relationship with the land. Students from the Edible Acre will be participating in our April 22 Earth Day celebration!
For more information contact Sandra Robinson at srobinson@ucevanston.org.
7,000 tons and counting
Congrats! Collective Resource recently announced an inspiring “7000 Ton” achievement – check out the article reprint below. If you are not currently composting, we urge you to get on-board! One easy way is to join the UCE Composting Coop for only $5/month per person (max of $15/month per household.) See the 2-page Composting Tip Sheet for details. When you’re ready to sign up, just fill out the online UCE composting signup form. Questions? Contact Renee Hoff at rdhoff99@yahoo.com.
And (drumroll!) here’s the Collective Resource article reprint
We’re happy to announce that we have reached another diversion milestone: 7000 tons! Can you believe it?
What’s amazing to us is that’s 7,000 tons lifted, shifted and tipped by hand—no hydraulics. That’s a whole lot of muscle power from our crew. 14 million pounds of lifting and that doesn’t even include the weight of the containers, just the food scraps within. (1)
Because tons are kind of hard to visualize, we used this nifty calculator (2) to try to help you understand how very much that is. It’s about 1/4th as heavy as the Statue of Liberty and equivalent in weight to 60 blue whales, 560 school buses or 1,400 elephants. Can you picture that?
Who do we thank first? Our crew for all of the heavy lifting or our composting community for putting their money and effort where it counts? Don’t make us choose!
By diverting all of those food scraps from landfills, we’ve had the collective impact of reducing 11,978 tons of methane, and we’re not stopping there!
Collective Resource Compost
838 Brown Ave, Evanston IL 60202
customerservice@collectiveresource.us
www.collectiveresource.us
(1) The first ton was hauled by Erlene [Howard] with some help from her friend Marla.
(2) If you have a minute, play around with this calculator. On the right is something called “Sort Order”. Changing the setting from “closest first” to “highest first” or “lowest first” yields different and delightful results.