Thanks to those of you who were able to attend our recent planning meeting. Here is a summary of our discussion and other news of interest:
1 – Divestment of Church Funds from Fossil Fuel – UU Cville has its funds invested with the UUA; we recently learned that some of the UUA fund support various fossil fuel industries so we have formally urged our church leaders to divest from this fund. Our request was well received by the Finance Committee and the Board; we expect that they will be investigating and researching further.
2 – Composting – We discussed signing on with Black Bear Composting (for a monthly fee of $60) and decided it would be best to start small with our program to make sure it would be worth the expense. We will be composting in the Social Hall after the Service and if it goes well, expand the program to other areas/groups in our church community (the homeschool program, etc). Thanks to Tamera for taking the lead on this!
3 – Environmental Advocacy – We will be joining with Citizens Climate Lobby on Sunday July 14 at Pen Park for potluck picnic and writing postcards to voters. As we get closer to the election, we will be holding more postcard parties to help get environmentally friendly candidates elected.
4 – MFE Newsletter – We are sad to say that Johanna Woodchild will be unable to continue working on our newsletter. We would love to have another partner in this endeavor – if you like to research and write, please get in touch!
5- Fall Education Programming – We are planning to hold a MFE program of events through the fall and we would love to get your input and hear your ideas!
Here are the ideas we have so far:
Book Club and Author Talk: “Am I Too Old to Save the Planet? A Boomer’s Guide to Climate Action” – by Lawrence MacDonald, who offers to do in person talks
Book Club (aimed at parents): “Last Child in the Woods” about the value of outdoor play that isn’t regulated (highly recommended by Kim)
A series of In person and/or Zoom talks, perhaps offered to the wider Cville Community
- a session on invasive species led by Blue Ridge PRISM
- a session by Piedmont Master Gardeners – possibly making a hypertufa or how to do “square foot gardening”
- a tour of native gardens owned by our members – with a representative from Thomas Jefferson Water & Soil Conservation District (who give out grants)
- a session by ReLeaf on the importance of the tree canopy and how we can help underserved Cville neighborhoods
- Film and Discussion of a recent climate movie (Cooked?)
Thanks for being part of our movement!
Ellie and Kim
