CREATION JUSTICE
JULY IS PLASTIC-FREE MONTH!
We all try to recycle, but sadly much of what we recycle, especially numbers 2-7 plastics, end up in the landfill anyway. Putting “recyclable” on their plastic products relieves producers from replacing their plastic packaging with glass or compostable packaging. Our best option is to reuse, but how? Below are some suggestions from the Zero Waste Store. Check out their website and the other sites below.
Reduce your plastic usage & replace it with reusables or refillables.
Avoid single-use plastic.
Avoid small plastics that are unlikely to be recycled, (usually numbers 2 through 7).
If you see plastic pollution, pick it up.
Know where plastic is in your products. Replace it or avoid it altogether.
Recycle better. Know what your municipality can recycle and only send those items to the facility.
Vote & fight for legislation such as bag bans.
Pressure local government to enforce plastic bans and create better waste management rules.
Ask & call out companies to do better. From local restaurants to major corporations.
Rethink your wardrobe — or at least your next purchase. Try to avoid “fast fashion” and plastic materials.
In 2017, the City of Berkeley officially declared July Plastic Free Month joining international efforts to reduce plastic. Plastic Free July is an annual event that began in Western Australia in 2011 and has spread across the globe. It aims to raise awareness of the amount of plastic in our lives by encouraging people to reduce their reliance on single-use plastic disposables, reduce plastic pollution, and push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis- during July and beyond. Having launched one of the nation’s first curbside recycling programs in 1973, the Ecology Center has been a long-time champion of zero waste policies and models. We worked to bring Plastic Free July from Australia to the East Bay in the early 2010s in order to bring you into our fight against plastics!
Current Revolution screening
Thanks to everyone who joined the Mercy & Justice Ministry for in-person screenings of the film series, Current Revolution: Nation in Transition during the April 16 and 23 Second Hours in Fellowship Hall. And thanks to everyone who helped to make this activity a success: Eartha Newsong, Tre Frane, and Kathleen and Gene Wiegand.
If you missed one or both of the sessions, contact Nancy Thursby to borrow the DVD.
These films show the possibility of a just transition to a clean energy economy where the well-being of workers and frontline community members is valued.
If you would like to get copies of the handouts that were available at the sessions, stop by the Mercy & Justice table after church and see Karen Sanford. Also available, are fact sheets on several California bills, bills which would make progress on solving the issues mentioned in the film. Please consider advocating for them. There is information on the handouts, especially Handout 1, as to how to do that. Also at the table is an opportunity to participate in Interfaith, Power, and Light’s postcard campaign. The postcards call on Toyota to make all-electric cars by 2035. Find out a little more about this on Handout 2.
CREATION JUSTICE MISSION STATEMENT
Recognizing that :
Creation is a gift from God,
God proclaimed that creation is good and we ourselves have experienced this goodness,
God calls us to be stewards of God’s creation,
The UCC General Synod of July, 2005 passed the Resolution “Earth Stewards,” which “calls on all expressions of the UCC to implement programs for education and action to address issues of environmental protection, environmental justice and sustainable development,” and
The Orinda Community Church has a strong history of caring for the environment as evidenced by the 2007 report, “The Greening of Orinda Community Church: Where Are We Now,”
the members of the Orinda Community Church covenant with God and each other :
To be personally committed to be stewards of God’s creation,
To explore with the congregation the theological basis for the care of creation,
To inform the congregation on matters of environmental concern,
To involve the congregation in taking action within the local and broader communities, and
To partner with other environmental groups and organizations.
HISTORY and PURPOSE
The Green Team was reactivated in June 2018. The church had an environmental emphasis in 2006-2007, when Judith Holloway was a Minister-in-Training from the Pacific School of Religion with Rev. Frank Baldwin as her Mentor. Her final report of May 1, 2007, was entitled, “The Greening of Orinda Community Church: Where We Are Now.”
The reactivated Green Team (later renamed the Creation Justice Committee) is a sub-committee of the Mercy & Justice Ministry and is affirmed by the Church Council.
During 2019, the Green Team began working to complete the steps to Becoming a Creation Justice Church. After completing an all-church environmental inventory in early 2019, the team completed many activities within each of the dimensions of a Creation Justice Church.
The church holds at least one if not two worship services devoted to the care of God’s Creation each year, as well as including creation in the liturgy and prayers during services frequently during the year.
Our Institutional Life and Practice: The team (now the Creation Justice Committee) uses Interfaith Power & Light resources on a yearly basis for Faith Climate Action Week Activities. Recent DVDs shown were “Before the Flood” and “The Human Element.” In 2019, the team wrote a waste management policy for the church which is sent out to all users of the church facilities.
Expanding our Circles of Awareness and Advocacy: The team has affiliated with 350 Bay Area and its subgroup, 350 Contra Costa. The team is a member organization of the Interfaith Climate Action Network, a committee of the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County. ICAN helps the team be aware of regional climate issues and connects the team with ways to take action.
Connecting to a Broader Movement: The team has taken special interest in supporting “Decommissioning of Oil Refineries and a Just Transition to Clean Energy Production” and “Restore the Delta,” an organization that advocates for the protection of the Sacramento River Delta.