April 20th is filled with Earth-centered community activities near and far. Friends of the L.A. River (FOLAR) presents La Gran Limpieza which Mount Hollywood has supported for many years. And Heal the Bay is sponsoring a beach clean up at the pier Santa Monica Pier. Check out our Facebook page to get better informed on these Earth Day activities!
Thanks be to God that Mount Hollywood is taking a stand to combat climate change. Many of our members have taken a pledge to be more committed to the Earth. Our people came up with great ideas and I admire their thoughtfulness and willingness to change habits in order to fight for the Earth. If you’re still meditating on how to manage a greener lifestyle, try shopping at farmers’ markets instead of grocery chains. That way you support local farms and get better quality food. Plus, not every piece of fruit will have a sticker on it and your veggies won’t come in a sealed plastic bag. Or try imagining things that you can add to your lifestyle instead of taking away. Perhaps you can regularly volunteer for Heal the Bay, FOLAR, Green Peace or a myriad of other organizations doing their best to promote earth justice. God bless you, Leslie P.S., Those who came out to see Dolores are yet to receive their beeswax wrap. I will be making them soon. Let me know if you'd like to help and keep posted for the date! The Green Committee had a wonderful time eating yummy, yet healthy Walnut Cake and watching Dolores, while sipping Pinot Noir. Personally I am in awe of heroes like Dolores Huerta for her social, political, and environmental activism. Please let Dolores’ activism rub off on you by getting involved in Earth Day activities all year long.
If you care about the Earth, please step up to help save her! April 22 is Earth Day and there are activities all month long that are crying out for us to become involved. Heal the Bay is prompting people to “Take the Plastic Pledge”. One simply completes this statement: “I pledge to ___ during Earth Month." Here’s my pledge inspired by Heal the Bay: I PLEDGE TO SHOP LOCALLY INSTEAD OF BUYING FROM AMAZON, DURING EARTH MONTH. By shopping locally I can eliminate the packaging involved with each Amazon purchase and at the same time support our local economy. Heal the Bay is also having numerous beach clean-ups during April. My hope is that a group of us will join forces and help clean the beach on April 20th. If you can’t come to church the next couple of weeks, do not fret, simply go to Heal the Bay’s website to check out all of their community activities. We are "greening-up" our church with our banishment of single-use plastic cups, styrofoam, and paper plates. How can we green-up our homes?
Last Sunday the children heard that cans and bottles that are placed in blue recycling bins do not get recycled unless they are clean and the paper wrapping is removed. If we all make a commitment to remove the labels from our soup cans and ketchup bottles and put them in the recycling bin naked and clean, we'll be doing a a good deed for Mother Nature and help to green-up our church, our homes, and our communities. I'm happy to say that the "greening" of Mount Hollywood UCC is happening in big and little ways. Foremost, we are teaching our youngsters to appreciate all of creation. We are standing up for justice by voting, marching, protesting, and striking. We are an open and affirming congregation caring for those in need, and we are teaching our young ones to appreciate nature and to defend her. We have joined La Gran Limpieza to help clean the Los Angeles River for about 10 years now. We have discontinued the use of styrofoam and single-use plastic-ware from our coffee hour. We've shared books and movies about our reasons for our "green revolution." Still many people have remained quiet on this front. It's time to speak out and to encourage dialogue even though we may disagree along these fronts. It's time to go deeper!
In the Green Committee, we have realized that we need counsel from our UCC sisters and brothers to learn how they are dealing with these huge global issues. So, it is with a happy heart that I bring some great news! We are expecting a resolution that is due this spring at the UCC Synod. It's time to take responsibility for our lifestyle choices. Yes folks, the time is ripe to become more involved in this green revolution. We have been approached by Mr. James Martin of Irvine UCC who wrote a resolution confronting climate change. This resolution is a collaborative effort to be presented for ratification at the UCC Synod. Our Green Committee has read and endorses this proposal and wishes to help move it forward because we are aware that climate change isn't a hoax and that the USA is one of the largest contributors to climate change. I think we all can agree with the majority of the scientific community that climate change is happening and is caused by humans worldwide. Let's move forward with dialogue and solutions. It's time for the people to make their voices heard. Please take the time to read James Martin's resolution and respond with a yea, nay, or comment, so that we can discuss this important issue and make a move to help Mr. Martin and many others confront the challenge of climate change with real life solutions. Leslie and Jean Koch Ochs, Green Committee |
AuthorWritten by the Green Committee at Mount Hollywood United Church of Christ ArchivesCategories |