From neal Sat Dec 11 23:50:46 1999 Date: Sat, 11 Dec 99 23:50:46 MST From: Neal McBurnett To: Anita Schwartz , Emily Lewis and Cindee Grace , Gayle Lalich , Joni Teter , Merry Gibb , Van Lepthien , strider@chisp.net Cc: Rev Kurt Kuhwald , Amanda Griffin , Sarah Watts , Medoh Walker , Nina Peterson , Subject: draft of a Responsible Consumption congregational resolution Reply-to: Neal McBurnett Status: OR Here is some input for a congregational resolution that we can talk about at our meeting tomorrow after church. [Yeah - like everybody reads email sunday morning before church :-] We want to publish a proposed resolution in the January newsletter, so this needs to be submitted to Amanda next week (by the 15th?) Cheers, Neal McBurnett 303-538-4852 Denver http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/ (with PGP key) [this should all be true by March 1st]: Whereas UUA has committed to a two year process of study and action related to "Responsible Consumption" based on pressing moral and environmental grounds that threaten our very ability to sustain an honorable existance; Whereas UUCB has long supported the seventh principle of the UUA, "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part", which is one of the underpinnings of the Responsible Consumption SAI; Whereas in 1998 we passed a resolution....[find it...] Whereas in the last year we have conducted three classes each lasting about 9 sessions with a total of about 30 enrolees, studying the topics of Voluntary Simplicity and Deep Ecology from the NorthWest Earth Institute. Whereas we have had two full services and elements of several other services dedicated to these topics in the last year, the text of which is available on our web site, along with other helpful pointers [real soon now :-]; The UUCB Congregation hereby Strongly endorses this study/action issue, commends it to our sister congregations, and looks forward to a strong, clear and meaningful Statement of Conscience next year; Commits to continue to study these issues and take action at the individual and congregational levels; Encourages the Reduce/Reuse/Recycle philosophy and the preferential purchase of recycled/recyclable products, organic food, energy from renewable sources, etc. and authorizes the expenditure of a reasonable additional premium for such products if necessary; Encourages our [name of committee] to continue to educate themselves and the congregation to continually improve our efforts at Responsible Consumption, as a congregation and as individuals; Requests that the UUA seize the opportunity to take a leadership position in this area, e.g. by providing increased resources for the development of a Green Sanctuary project along the lines of the Welcoming Congregation model. Recommends that these efforts focus on positive, inspirational messages, providing education and granting amnesty rather than evoking guilt, recognizing that different people are under different constraints and are at different points in this journey; Approved 2000-01-??. secretary: Other ideas: Work with other organizations, churches in the spirit of our 1999 Statement of Conscience "Beyond Religious Tolerance: The Challenges of Interfaith Cooperation Begin with Us" Advocate locally.... nationally... providing space for meetings of environmental groups Nuture our own church grounds in harmony with the surrounding bioregion. The web page for UUCB environmental pointers is at http://bcn.boulder.co.us/uuc/env/