Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church - Unitarian Universalist

Your Green Sanctuary Task Force has had a busy summer.  Now you can learn more and join us in this major eco-justice movement.  On our new web page, you can read blogs and view YouTube videos of our June experience of bearing witness to Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining (MTR) in West Virginia.  Also to view excerpts from Laura Wallace’s sermon, “Healing the Gulf,” presented to the UU Congregation of the Peninsula in Newport News Aug. 22, go to our latest web page.

We are also organizing a carpool to attend a rally in Washington, D.C., Sept. 27 (Monday), “Appalachia Rising,” led by our new friends from Charleston, WV.

AND watch for our special worship service on Sunday evening, Oct. 17, A Vigil for the People and Mountains of Appalachia, our second annual vigil marking the International Day for Climate Action.  Speakers from Appalachia, mountain music, a Roll Call of the (Lost) Mountains, and Americana quilts will be part of this candlelight vigil to call attention to MTR and our complicity in it. Contact Sharon Baiocco, green@uucharlottesville.org for more information.

Green Sanctuary/Laura Wallace & Bob Kiefer

Anguish and anger over environmental devastation have torn our hearts and touched our consciences. This sermon explores how, although healing wounds to the environment is agonizingly slow, restoring our sense of wholeness and hope can begin right now.

Read the sermon Healing the Gulf-jul-25-2010 .

Larry Gibson's home is here on Kayford Mtn.

If you are outraged at the environmental disaster from the BP oil spill in the Gulf, you should know that one every bit as horrifying is taking place now in nearby Appalachia.  Mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR) has blown up 500 mountains and flattened an area the size of Delaware just west of us, and WE BENEFIT from this.  As in the Gulf disaster, the people, wildlife, and ecosystems may never fully recover.  The Green Sanctuary Task Force at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist in Charlottesville is leading an interfaith effort in this region to end mountaintop removal coal mining.  We believe the first step is to become witnesses so that we can tell others with authority what we have seen.

We invite you to join us on an overnight trip to Kayford Mountain, West Virginia, about 200 miles west of Charlottesville, to visit the home of Larry Gibson, founder of Keeper of the Mountains Foundation.  Gibson’s home is surrounded by 1200 acres of flattened mountains, but he has courageously fought to live there and protect it.

We will leave on Saturday, June 12, either by van or car pool, tour the site, and then drive on to Charleston where we will stay overnight (hotel reservations required, contact us).  All are invited to share a potluck picnic supper and discussion with UUs from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Charleston in the nearby Kanewha State Forest, which is threatened by natural gas and coal mining.  Non-UU group members can explore Charleston, the capital of West Virginia.  We plan to attend Sunday services with our fellow UUs before returning home, hopefully with photos and experience that will help us communicate what we have witnessed.  The tour is limited to 20 adults.  Eight spaces in the van are still available, at a cost per individual of $40 for rental and fuel.  A donation to The Keepers of the Mountain Foundation (founded by Larry Gibson) is also requested.

Those wishing to join us for only the MTR site tour may do so if they contact us before June 1.  To learn more about the trip and mountaintop removal coal mining, email Sharon Baiocco, Green Sanctuary Task Force Chair, green@uucharlottesville.org or phone her at 434-293-7797.

About 15 of us learned a lot about gardening as we toured the “Garden of Goodness” at Monticello Ave. and 6th Street on green space near public housing in Charlottesville Sunday, May 16.  RE Director Leia Durland-Jones presented “Farmer Todd ” with reusable bags decorated by the Stars Studio children during their Earth Stewardship RE study in February.  About 200 city residents participate in the gardening, supported by Quality Community Council.  During our tour, several neighborhood children joined us.  Volunteers to help with the garden are needed!  Contact QCC!

Moth-proof safely.  Packing up woolies? Skip the mothballs. Naphthalene vapor is baaaad, say the National Toxicology Program and the International Association for Research on Carcinogens: http://www.physorg.com/news70042017.html. Store woolens in sealed containers with herbal moth repellent sachets. Mix dried rosemary and mint, dried thyme and ginseng, and whole cloves.

Polish your panes. Use a cup of white vinegar per gallon of water and scrub windows beautifully clean with crumpled newspaper, brown paper, or recycled tissue. No need for fumes, chemical cleaners or wasteful paper towels.

Boost biodiversity. Order heirloom seeds for your garden from Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org/.  You’ll preserve endangered veggies for future generations while enjoying wonderful flavor and nutrition.

Rediscover rags. Old shirt, old sheet, too worn to donate? Rip it up and re-use it! No need for a a Swiffer, Sniffer, Snooper, Snorter, Pledge, Pride or other invented tool to dust, wipe, and wash surfaces with. Rags are recycling at its finest.

Clobber cat allergies. Once a week, kitty takes a shower! A gentle stream of warm water and drop of soap won’t hurt—start them young and kittens rapidly accept it. Remove dander before it permeates your home’s air supply. Or: keep buying air cleaners, mattress covers, fancy vacuum bags, expensive detergents, and prescriptions…. Mee-ow!