The Green Team first started meeting in November 04. We talked about recycling, using mugs instead of plastic and styrofoam cups, energy consulting for our Whitaker Mill building, green fundraisers. Communicate with refreshment team and staff about green options with food choices and with plates, cups, and utensils. Had a used dishwasher installed at Whitaker Mill location. (Still no mugs, but finally have compostable plates and cups.) Gave staff “Tips UCT can start applying Now!”

Ongoing recycling at UCT started with Karen and Joe taking recycling away to convenience center when Barry Vennard was minister in 99. Starting in the fall of 2007 we signed up with the City of Raleigh downtown recycling program, so recyclables are picked up at the curb now!!

Ongoing fundraisers : Sold Larry's Beans Coffee for almost three years 05-07 (fair trade, shade grown, bird friendly, and organic!!). 06 Collect cartridges for recycling with our Cartridge World partnership. April 08 Collect yogurt containers with TerraCycle’s Yogurt Brigade program to be reused as planting pots and donate money raised to Triangle Land Conservancy and NC Solar Center.

“Green tips” included in bulletin and e-update. Green articles for newsletter.

Month long Connect to Nature theme Aug. 06, including meditative walks in parks, Native American ceremony outside the sanctuary, and fall equinox ceremony at Mona’s.

Connected with Interfaith Power & Light through programs and showing the movies Kilowatt Ours and An Inconvenient Truth. Hosted a lunch featuring local foods in the 1880 Hall Sept. 07 for clergy in the area with Mark and Alice of IP&L (17 people attended).

Connected with Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (Tony Kleese) with the program and movie, The Future of Food

Input with a report from Green Team members on sustainable features to incorporate into our new building.

Worked with Nancy Calihan for the youth’s Service to Mother Earth July 07. Youth learned about conserving water, recycling, and picking up litter. They also learned about owls at a lock-in with a program by Steve Stone from the American Wildlife Refuge who brought rehabilitative Barred and Eastern Screech Owls. The youth also dissected owl pellets to learn about what owls eat.

Mother Earth Awareness Month, April 07 including youth puppet show; informational tables about recycling, solar center, One NC Naturally, Triangle Land Conservancy, etc.; gave congregants a CFL on Earth Day; and birding and hiking opportunities.

Through Interfaith Power & Light, set up an Energy Audit for UCT and the Long View Center that UCT members, LVC staff, and other LVC tenants attended in summer 2007.

Sponsored movie nights showing Green: The New Red, White, and Blue and How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.  Participated in Focus the Nation video presentation. Have shown Story of Stuff, The True Cost of Food, IP&L’s Renewal  and David Suzuki’s Suzuki Speaks  in between services.    

Book Study Aug. 07 in between services --Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Learned about eating locally. Encouraged members with announcement in bulletin and e-update to join the Eat Carolina Food Challenge July 08. Had list of local farmers’ markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Passed out water timers from the City of Raleigh to use in shower to encourage water conservation during the drought, summer 08.   

Sponsored a program by Amy MacDonald, with Environmental Defense and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy on Global Warming: Learn the Facts. (Evening movies and programs are advertised in the paper and often attract people outside of the UCT community!)

Sustainability: Education Potluck Sampler April 08. After church had potluck lunch featuring local foods, watched Story of Stuff, then broke into groups with topics on: What constitutes a green home, sustainable community, sustaining a daily mind-body practice, safety in skincare, creating a sustainable garden, and an online energy audit to explore your lifestyle.

Set up a display in the hall during and in between services featuring green gift ideas fall 07 and 09.

A few Green Team members attended the Green Tea Gathering at CUCC in May 08 with an interfaith group discussing what our churches were doing and sharing ideas.  

Sustainability NOW! Jan. 09, 9am -5:30 pm. Six speakers presented 50-minute programs. Pam Beck, Change How You Garden;  Lyle Estill, Living in a Local Economy; Andy Wood, with Rep. Grier Martin and Congressman Brad Miller, Motivating to Action: Education and Activism in the Legislative Process;  Carolyn Toben, Thomas Berry’s Sense of Self; Stephen Hren, Renovating Your Home to Be Carbon Free; and Wanda Urbanska as the Keynote, Simple Living: Achieving and Honoring Simple, Just, and Sustainable Ways of Life.. 104 people attended, with 2/3 of the attendees coming from outside of UCT.

Earth Day 08 featured local Lumpy’s Ice Cream and everyone received a reuseable bag from Whole Foods. Earth Day 09 Youth read Lost Generation poem by Jonathan Reed during both services. Bonnie talked about growing your own vegetable garden in between services. Earth Day 10 bird walk at Walnut Creek Wetland Center in the morning. Birds nesting material balls were made by the youth team for people to hang in their yards for the birds   and Ross read his Walnut Creek Wetland poem during the second service.

Brooks de Wetter-Smith presented Southern Ice a multimedia presentation that included Antarctic images, narration, and flute improvisation Oct. 09

Community Earth Care Interfaith Service for 350 at UCT 10/23/09 People from around Raleigh gathered an Interfaith Service for 350 as a kick off to part of the largest day of climate change activism ever. Participants joined more than 5,000 communities in over 180 countries as part of a global day of action coordinated by 350.org to urge world leaders to take bold and immediate steps to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions. Russ Stephenson, Raleigh City Council Member, At-Large, read the proclamation declaring October 24, 2009 International Day of Climate Action in Raleigh.

Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From? 3/25/10 Dinner and Movie.  Participants enjoyed a catered dinner from Green Planet Catering featuring local and organic food. After dinner we viewed the movie FRESH, a documentary about our food system and people who are trying to change it. Daniel Whitaker from Green Planet Catering led us in a discussion after the movie about the importance of eating locally and sustainably.

Experience Earth Connection at Peacefalls, 4/10/10 Bob Davis and Judy Morgan-Davis hosted an open house at their home, inviting people to connect to nature. They shared information about the sustainable practices they are incorporating in their lifestyle, including managing soil and water, gardening for food and for wildlife, minimizing resource use, and keeping chickens.