Climate Action Team (CAT)

The Climate Action Team has its own website. Come visit!

Mount Vernon Unitarian Church has a long history of taking action on our shared commitment to care for the Earth.

The urgency of climate change and its impact on those most vulnerable inspired our Social Justice Committee to make climate change its primary focus in January of 2019 and the whole congregation adopted a year-long, church-wide focus on climate change In May of 2019.  Today the Climate Action Team continues to create opportunities for action and support as a standing committee, under the Program Council.

Anyone can attend the monthly meetings where we gather to support each other and organize church-wide events such as composting, vegetarian potlucks and the plastics collection that earned us a recycled plastic bench. Meeting dates are listed in the Church calendar.

Activities and groups include:

  • Arts
  • Advocacy
  • Communication
  • Economics
  • Education

Join our Google Groups listserv to share resources, ask related questions, and keep up to date on our latest activities. To be added to the group, contact communicationschair@mvuc.org.

Contact Climateaction@mvuc.org to learn more.

Brief History of Climate Action at MVUC:

2008: Mount Vernon Unitarian Church earned the Green Sanctuary Certification from the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, a process which took volunteers about 5 years to complete.

2011-2012: MVUC replaced existing HVAC equipment for the Meeting House with a renewable energy system. A geothermal installation for heating and cooling is combined with solar panels to generate electricity to heat and cool the sanctuary and office spaces. 

May 4, 2014: Our congregation adopted a Statement of Conscience affirming a commitment to several actions to respond to climate change.

January 2019: The Social Justice Committee held an open meeting to determine our 2020 priorities and chose a year-long focus on climate change.  The Climate Action Team was created to lead this focus.

May 5, 2019: At the annual meeting the congregation voted in favor of a Church-wide focus on climate change and the solutions based approach inspired by Project Drawdown and Active Hope.

May 2020: The year-long focus was extended for a second year. 

May 2021: The Climate Action Team became a standing committee under Social Justice.