Charlotte UU Environmental Justice Blog

PRESENTATION- 4

Third major point

5 Comments

5 responses so far ↓

  • number9writer // February 14, 2008 at 12:17 am | Reply

    #4

    A: Speaking: “Having outlined nature/scope, how do we as a congregation start to engage these issues in a meaningful way that embodies our UU principles, ends statements, call to social action, etc. We believe that we start by committing to personal transformation. Make the conscious choice to change the way we relate to the world, become intentional in our living, change our behaviors (let’s face it, WE are the “Who” whose “Choices” yield the “Consequences” presented in Slide #2), recognizing that before we can change our church, our community, the world, we have to change ourselves . . .”

    From this we go on to other levels of engagement (beyond individual to church and community). There’s a note in Kym’s PPT to incorporate Slide 3A from the Kermit outline, but looking at Slide 3a now, I’m not so sure. The main point is the multiple levels of engagement, starting with ourselves.

    B: Visual/Other: This slide currently has the pyramid, although inverted or not, ultimately I think we’ll need a different symbol. Note: This section of the presentation may take more than one slide, or (if we we actually have PPT), we can “build” the three layers of engagement one at a time.

  • Roger Coates // February 14, 2008 at 5:29 pm | Reply

    It should be fairly easy to trace an illustrative continuum from individual to community here. A simplistic example:

    a UU family studies/learns how to conserve water in a variety of ways (drip irrigation, shower water to flush toilets, etc), writes a column in church newsletter and conducts a demo, drip irrigation system installed in (new) UUCC garden, model system replicated in nearby (Grier Heights) community garden, publicity leads to (funded) opportunity to make simple how-to film, resulting credibility leads to City/County presentation and leverage on local water policy formulation.

    Not a great example, but the kind of illustration that will be needed to engage the audience.

  • Pete // February 15, 2008 at 9:23 pm | Reply

    Roger, I like this. I have to admit that I am not all that good at coming up with specific examples like this that connect a path from one level of engagement to the next. (I find I can think of discrete steps on a given topic but not necessarily a plan that ties the steps together as you’ve done here.)

    For example, for food, I can start a train of thought: “A UU family makes a food covenant (as in Davis, CA church) to eat at least X meals a week that include locally grown and/or organic food . . . ” but then I get writer’s (conceptualizer’s?) block.

    I invite other members of the group to weigh in on Roger’s example here and/or offer something similarly “complete” in another topical area such as energy conservation or recycling or . . .

    Another thought, and something that I think Kym mentioned in one of the discussion blog posts: Think of an example that starts with something specific that many individuals or families may already be doing (water conservation, recycling, organic gardening) and encourage/demonstrate how to take that activity to the next level by organizing, becoming more intentional, agreeing to train others, etc. It could be that people will be motivated and energized to become more fully engaged if they realize, “Hey, I’m already doing XYZ . . . and here’s a way I can make an bigger difference.”

  • Roger Coates // February 16, 2008 at 4:21 pm | Reply

    Pete

    A specific example involving our own Don B.:

    Master composter D.B. presents a class (or 2 that are age-focused) on composting that involves the composting bins already on our property (“How well are they producing now? How can we make these work better?”). An intergen team takes responsibility for accepting congreg raw materials from UU homes (I’ll bring my coffee grounds), using better composting practices, and sharing resulting compost with area community gardens (a new member has a truck). We develop working relationships with local urban farmers in the process, creating new locavores in our church. A church HS? group takes pix of the operation and posts to the Internet. Partnerships and visibility ensue…..

  • urbanministrygarden // February 17, 2008 at 9:47 am | Reply

    LOL, good old master composters. This is a good dialog, but I don’t see exactly what the name is?

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