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:

the installation of low flow toilets
lighting controls
increased bicycle parking
installation of two separate rain gardens
the purchase of Renewable Energy Credits
subscriber food scrap composting
improved building wide waste reduction systems
In August 2020, the adoption of a resolution by our Board of Trustees to meet the goals of carbon reduction in alignment with the Paris accord and the Evanston Climate Action Resilience Plan (CARP)
ongoing research into enviro friendly HVAC solutions.

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.

Virtual Earth Day Celebrations

Our annual Earth Day event for 2021 can be viewed here.

Our annual Earth Day worship service for 2020 can be viewed here.

Organizations with whom we partner and share resources

Faith in Place (Illinois Interfaith Power & Light)
Evanston Citizens for Greener Evanston (CGE) – Currently involved with the adoption of the goals of the Evanston Climate Action Resiliency Plan (CARP) and with Environmental Justice, including monitoring of the efforts to keep the Evanston Waste Transfer Site cleaner and healthier. More info at here.
UU Ministry for the Earth (UUMFE).
UU Advocacy Network of Illinois (UUANI). We advocate for state legislation to achieve justice for the environment and our citizens.
Citizens Climate Lobby of Evanston
Collective Resource Composting

News & Updates from the Green Team

Celebrate Sanctuary, Measure our Carbon Footprint

The City of Evanston this October will vote on a historic Climate Action Resilience Plan (CARP), one guaranteed to shape the city in decades to come. Previous plans had the city shooting for carbon footprint reductions of twelve, even sixteen percent. The CARP under discussion aims to eliminate our carbon footprint entirely by 2050. This will affect transportation, business and buildings alike. More than a decade before the City of Evanston passed an ordinance demanding buildings benchmark their environmental emissions UCE Green Team member Alex Sproul began tracking ours. Using Alex’ data, and informed by UCE staff and membership Michael Drennan has begun creating a picture of what our daily life as a congregation means for the environment. Realistic in its assessment, this sixty minute carbon footprint analysis nonetheless finds good news in focusing future efficiency and conservation efforts towards the individual member. Join Green Team member Michael Drennan, October 14th after service in Rm 3 to learn about our carbon emissions, and celebrate the difference our sanctuary makes!

NEWS FROM GREEN SANCTUARY – FEBRUARY 2016 A TALKING FARM UPDATE SUBMITTED BY: JEANNE KERL

The Talking Farm (TTF) is a group of folks primarily from Evanston, Chicago, and Skokie who work on sustainable urban farming projects. UCE’s shared plate proceeds have funded TTF in the past, so we thought we’d update you on what TTF has been doing the past few years.

Here’s an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Huff Post recently:

“The Talking Farm (TTF) advocates sustainable agriculture and organic growing practices and runs the Edible Acre and Howard Street Farm projects. The organization was founded in 2006 out of the efforts of the Evanston Food Council.

The Howard Street Farm has been in existence since 2010, after the village of Skokie offered TFF, a 20 year lease on a 2 acre parcel of land right on the Roger’s Park/Skokie border. However, obtaining the land was only the beginning of getting the farm up and running. Over the next few years, The Talking Farm went through the long process of making it legal to have an urban farm in Skokie and sell the produce, which was the first of its kind in the area…

In 2015, TFF sponsored intern programs at their Howard Street Farm in Skokie, provided 285 hours of school instruction to Evanston Township High School, Y.O.U. (Youth Opportunity United) and the TOT Learning Center, 2498 hours of volunteer time were donated to help the Howard Street Farm operate. They now sell their produce from the Howard Street Farm to Local Foods in Chicago and several area restaurants including Farmhouse and Boltwood in Evanston. The farm continues to grow and flourish amidst the bleak industrial landscape surrounding it. Every September, they hold their annual Hullabaloo, which is a celebration of the farm and sustainable farming.”

The Green Sanctuary folks are hoping to organize a UCE work day this spring or early summer combined with tours of the Howard Street Farm. Stay tuned. We also want to celebrate the amazing work done by this local organization with the support of UCE.

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