Welcome to Unitarian Universalist Society East
Sunday Services at 9:00 and 11:00
Sustainable Living & Climate Action
UUSE is committed to ongoing efforts to save our planet through green action. We are a certified Green Sanctuary.
Green Sanctuary News
Green Sanctuary News
Despite the anti-climate rhetoric coming from Washington, D.C. these days, Connecticut is forging ahead, unwilling to stop working on saving our planet in any way we can. The Sustainable Living Committee Is offering an exciting Film Festival at UUSE on September 14 that will run from 2:00 pm until about 4:30 pm with time for discussion at the end. We will have tables set up to introduce you to the latest goings-on in and around Connecticut. It will give you a chance to talk with our members who are looking forward to a large crowd of folks coming out to explore the creative offerings from around the world. This Climate Café is one not to be missed!
The following week, September 21, from 12-4:00 pm we will set our sights on Connecticut State University where the Connecticut SUN DAY Festival will be set to celebrate the unstoppable rise of CLEAN ENERGY! It will be well worth the trip to New Britain to partake in the many activities planned for that day. Hope to see you all there!
SAVE THE DATES!
Sunday, September 14, at 2:30 PM. CLIMATE FUTURES FILM FESTIVAL at UUSE. Ten award-winning films from four continents explore the human and artistic response to climate change. These short films use various artistic ways, through drama, documentary, humor, and stunning animation, to express human feelings about climate change – hope and cynicism, denial and grief, rage and heartbreak, resilience and resolve. There will be tables and people to talk with working on these issues to give us ways to take action. Come early!
For more information about the festival see https://www.climatefuturefilm.com/
Sunday, September 21, from 12-4:00 PM. Connecticut SUN DAY Festival at Connecticut State University, New Britain.
Elders Climate Action https://www.eldersclimateaction.org/. This organization will be one of several groups promoting SUN Day September 20-21. They are highlighting solar and wind power. We’ll be learning more about this important event.
Go Solar!
The Sustainable Living Committee is thrilled to report that UUSE has contracted with Connecticut solar provider, Savkat, to resume our popular solar program! Savkat has agreed to donate $25 to UUSE for every appointment and $1,000 for every signed solar contract. The program begins immediately, and is available to all UUSE members, family, and friends. Just tell them you were referred by UUSE!
We will be hosting several informational sessions with our Savkat representative on Sunday mornings during coffee hour to answer any questions congregants may have. If you're interested in learning more about getting solar installed, you can make an appointment at this time.
Already know you want to reduce your carbon footprint by installing solar? You can contact our Savkat representative, Jordan Bernstein, right away! His contact info is below.
Thank you for caring about our planet!
Jordan BernsteinLead Manager
203.441.7961
Schedule a Meeting
Green Actions You Can Take
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Join our ecological landscaping team
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Help with recycling and composting
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Help sell "Fair Trade" coffee, tea, and chocolate after Sunday services
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Help with the annual organic veggie garden
About the Green Sanctuary program
UUSE has been a certified Green Sanctuary congregation since the spring of 2006. The Green Sanctuary program was developed and begun by the UU Ministry for Earth for UU congregations. The program at UUSE was led by the Sustainable Living Committee with approval and involvement of the policy board, staff, various committees and the full congregation. Goals and projects were developed in four different areas: worship, religious education, sustainable living and social/environmental justice. Our Action Plan for 2005 included 15 different projects, heavily focused on our response to global warming. It included implementing recommendations from an energy audit, starting our children’s organic vegetable garden program, starting recycling and composting programs, working with other state and local organizations on common goals, and much more. The congregation-wide support and success of the program led us to seek out the greenest way we could afford to implement our planned building and expansion project.
Between 2007 and the spring of 2010 we were deep into the planning, fundraising for and implementation of our building project. The Growth of the Green Sanctuary Program allowed it to become a project of the UUA. And by 2011 we were encouraged to apply for Re- accreditation. Our application for Re-accreditation included various projects in the areas of worship and celebration, religious education, sustainable living, and active environmental justice efforts, such as helping to pass CT’s first environmental justice law, working with local groups to start school and other community gardens and to help low-income residents benefit from CT’s Home Energy Solutions program. We documented all the work done in the UUSE building project including energy conservation work, the geo-thermal system and eventual solar panel system, and Energy Star certification with a 98% score in 2013, as well as various ecological landscaping projects. On February 17, 2013 we received the notice we were awarded Green Sanctuary Recertification. We were encouraged to continue our efforts to become a net zero facility and continue with our outreach and advocacy work.