Green Sanctuary

A GREEN SANCTUARY is a congregation that lives out its commitment to the Earth by creating a sustainable life style for its members as individuals and as a faith community. Sustainable living is not about our material comfort (though these choices are an important part of the overall life style); it is about choosing to live in a way that nurtures life, builds relationships, and rejects material consumption as the sole determinant of happiness.

DuPage Unitarian Universalist church was accredited as a Green Sanctuary by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) in March 2009. Our work did not end with accreditation. We continue our efforts to sustain and advance "green" principles in our church and in our lives. Read on!

DuPage UU Church Environmental Policy

Green Sanctuary's information center has moved!

Our new address is "the coat room" just to the right of the entry door.  It may seem inconspicuous as you arrive at church, but is very visible when you are coming down the stairs after services.  Look up and across the heads of the crowd to check out our new, colorful bulletin board display chock full of interesting information about how to live sustainably on the land. If you have used batteries or CFL bulbs to dispose of, there are baskets under the table for your convenience.   Please, no large tube flourescents.  For safety reasons, if it doesn't fit in the basket, don't leave it there.

Save your Styrofoam! Our next styrofoam collection will be the first Sunday of July.

Expanded polystyrene, Styrofoam, is collected quarterly on the first Sundays of January, April, July and October.  Accepted items are restaurant take home containers, meat trays, hot cups, egg cartons and packaging foam. No paper labels on any foam, and it must be clean.  We will take packing peanuts; they must be bagged. Please separate into food-use Styrofoam and packaging materials, using separate bags (clear if possible).  Or - if more convenient, take the Styrofoam to Dart Container Corp, 310 Evergreen Dr, North Aurora (no peanuts accepted at that site)

Directions at Dart's website. Thanks for helping the earth!

HOLIDAY LIGHTS RECYCLING

Beginning Thanksgiving weekend and continuing through the first week of February, we collect non-working strings of lights.  Beginning in 2012, we will take all collected lights to SCARCE (School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education) in Glen Ellyn because they earn funds for their operating expenses from this resource.  Your town may have a collection site that you find more convenient, but we will be happy to do it for you.  Collection boxes are located in the foyer and also under the Green Sanctuary table in the "coat room."

Hungry for Change: Food, Ethics & Sustainability, Discussion Circle

During the winter months of 2012, the Green Earth Institute offered a six-session discussion circle using material prepared by the Northwest Earth Institute (NWEI), Hungry for Change: Food, Ethics & Sustainability. The focus of the group was the impact of individual food choices on global sustainability, and  offered a chance to learn from others and explore personal action plans in support of global goals. NWEI has a long history of creating thought-provoking selections of readings from the foremost writers on environmental issues. Learn more at the NWEI website.  Pat Clancy attended this discussion circle and is willing to lead a group at DUUC next winter if there is enough interest.
 

WILDFLOWER SALE

In spring of 2011, the Green Sanctuary Committee had a very successful sale of wildflowers dug from our church grounds, and we thank everyone who participated. We achieved our goal of raising $1000 for the milling of ash trees into flooring for the new sanctuary!  All the plants are hibernating now, but next spring we will be rescuing more from the path of construction and sending them to new homes.

AVAILABLE IN THE MARY FROST LATHROPE LIBRARY

GREEN SANCTUARY BOOKS & DVDs

1.An Inconvenient Truth,Al GoreDVD

2.Environmental Ethics, Joseph Des Jardins

3.An Atlas of Biodiversity, Chicago Wilderness

4.Global Warming; Changing CO2 Use, NW Earth Institute

5.Peak Everything: Waking up to a Century of Decline, Richard Heinberg

6.State of the World 2003,Christopher Flavin

7.Urban Nightmares, Steve Macek

8.Watersheds No. 3, Lisa & Dilllingham Newton

BOOKS PUBLISHED BEFORE 2000

9.Earth In the Balance,Al Gore

10.Earth Works Group: “50 simple things …to save the Earth”

11.A New Covenentwith Nature, Richard Heinberg

12.Environmental Ethics, D. Van de Veer

13.Environmental Philosophy,Michael Zimmerman

14.Global Mind Change: Promise of the 21st Century, Willis Harmon

15.Green Thoughts, Eleanor Pereny

16.Guns, Germs & Steel, Jared Diamond

17.How To Make the World a Better P lace,Jeffry Hollander

18.Let It Rot--A Gardener’s Guide to Composting,Stu Campbell

19.The Ethical Process,Joseph Des Jardins

20.Trashingthe Planet, Dixy Lee Ray

21.Watersheds No. 1., Lisa & Dillingham Newton

22.Watersheds No. 2., Lisa & Dillingham Newton

GREEN SANCTUARY BOOKS FOR SALE

Earth in the Balance.  Al Gore

Sustainable Planet,  Edited by W. McDonough Nydia Valazqudz

Crimes Against Nature, Robert Kennedy

Earth Prayers,  Edited by Elizabeth Roberts Elias Amidon

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man Nature & Climate Change Elizabeth Kolbert

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Earth Day: An Alphabet Book, Gary Kowalski

I Love Our Earth, Bill Martin, Jr.

It's not just a compost bucket, it's a Fermentation Station!

The Green Sanctuary Committee and Grounds Maintenance Committee have collaborated to upgrade our system for processing kitchen waste. Instead of one white bucket for collecting coffee grounds, we now have two green buckets in which to process any type of food waste, including meat and dairy. The addition of bokashi, a mixture made up of wheat bran, molasses and microorganisms, causes the food scraps to ferment, odor free. Full instructions are posted in the kitchen, so check it out the next time you are on coffee duty or your group is having an event. Pat Clancy will be happy to show off the new system and answer questions any questions you have.

What can “UU” do to be more GREEN?

Participate in collections of hard-to-recycle items sponsored by the Green Sanctuary Committee. Look for dates and information the bi-monthly church Newsletter, the weekly Order of Service, or the online calendar in the right sidebar. On the home page, check the Latest News. Some of the items we've collected in the past have been:

  • metal tins
  • broken crayons
  • plastic lids
  • expanded Polystyrene #6, “PS”  (the foam, not the clear stuff)
  • CFL light bulbs
  • batteries
  • pop can tabs

Take note of these other GREEN ideas.

It’s Our Earth, a retail shop in Wheaton will take and “upcycle”:

  • Empty juice pouches- clean/ no straws
  • Broken or mismatched jewelry, beads and buttons
  • SCRABBLE™ and other game pieces
  • Old records (LPs) with or without the covers
  • Floppy discs
  • Unwanted fabric

Second Chance Resale, a resale shop with locations in Naperville and Westmont, will take gently used items for resale to benefit the Family Shelter Service.

Use both sides of paper.  Start a paper tray to collect paper (flyers, draft prints, etc.) that has been used on one side only, and use it for notes, reminders, “to-do” lists.  Print MAPS and DIRECTIONS and other informal documents on it!

Bring REUSABLE shopping bags with you to the store. Or don’t take a bag when you can carry your purchase yourself.

Look for products made from recycled material: paper goods, like toilet paper and paper towels, and plastic items, like “Ziplock” Evolve and trash bags, are now offered using post-consumer materials. If your favorite store doesn’t carry them, speak to the manager about ordering them.

Look for products with minimal packaging.

If you bring your lunch to work or pack your child’s, use locally grown or produced foods and consider reusable:

  • lunch bags
  • sandwich, chip & snack containers
  • drink bottles
  • cloth napkins

Don’t dispose of old prescription drugs in the trash or the toilet.  Check with your local police station or pharmacist to see if they are a collection center.

Recycling batteries:

  • Naperville hazardous waste drop-off at the Brookdale fire station
  • IKEA also takes batteries
  • Check with your community's waste collector. They may have curbside or centrally located options
  • AND - there is a GreenDUUCs bin for batteries in "the coat room" at church.

Green activities sponsored by the Green Sanctuary Committee and others in the congregation

HOLIDAY LIGHT RECYCLING

We collect styrofoam (not eligible for curbside recycling) each quarter and take it to Dart Industries in Aurora for reuse/recycling. In October we had three carloads, even more in January; next collection will be in early May.

BATTERY & CFL COLLECTION - Under the new Green Sanctuary table in the "coat room" we have a bin for each - bring used items at your convenience and GreenDUUCs will properly dispose of them.
PUMP U UP! - The youth of DUUC teamed up with Green DUUCs to check tires and inflate them to recommended pressure. Benefits: save fuel, reduce tire wear, improve comfort and safety. About 20 youth participated, and we checked about 50 vehicles' tires.

Two rain barrels co-purchased with the Grounds Maintenance committee are fully outfitted and collecting via the downspout at the southeast corner of the sanctuary.

Partnering with Building Maintenance committee, we have purchased recycling containers now placed in the church

The Green Sanctuary Committee is partnering with the Naperville Renewable Energy Program to promote the use of clean, renewable energy among members of our congregation.

The DUUC Green Sanctuary Committee is a partner of NCEC, the Naperville Clean Energy and Conservation committee, which is comprised of representatives from a number of religious organizations and private citizens. In June 2008, the city council voted (by a 7-2 margin!) to conduct a community-wide GHG emissions inventory. The inventory has been completed and submitted to the city for action.

The Green Earth Institute holds a yearly Green Earth Fair at the beginning of May. Activities usually include tours, lectures, vendors, children's activities, entertainment. Organic seedlings and native plants may also be offered for sale.

Books recommended by members of the congregation

The Omnivore’s Dilemma …Michael Pollan
In Defense of Food …Michael Pollan
Ishmael….Daniel Quinn
Sand County Almanac …Aldo Leopold
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek…Annie Dillard
Life on Earth…Dave Attenborough
The Inconvenient Truth…Al Gore
Lives of a cell…Lewis Thomas
The World Without Us…Alan Weisman

Natural Capitalism...Hawken, Lovins & Lovins

Recommended local spots to enjoy natural settings

McDowell Grove…Naperville
West Chicago Prairie
Herrick Lake…Naperville
McKee Marsh…Warrenville
Lincoln Marsh…Wheaton
Northside Park- Wheaton
West Branch of the DuPage River…by canoe
Morton Arboretum…Lisle
Blackwell Forest Preserve…Warrenville
Prairie Path…goes from Forest Park CTA station to Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, etc.
Hidden Lakes…off Boughton Road in Bolingbrook
Fullersburg Woods…off York Road in Hinsdale

Recommended National Parks to enjoy natural settings

Mammoth Cave
Yellowstone
Yosemite
Glacier National Park
Grand Canyon
Crater Lake
Muir Woods
Acadia National Park
The peak of any snow-covered mountain
Great Smokey Mountains
Zion
Denali

Online Green Information

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