Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice

Process & Congregational Materials

The Green Sanctuary Process includes: 

  • Four Essentials of Climate Action 

  • Five Approaches to Support Your Congregation

  • One Requirement for Yearly Recognition

Four Essentials of Climate Action 

Image description: An image depicting the Four Essentials for Climate Action in four overlapping circles of blue, yellow, red, and green inside a light gray cross hatched sphere. At the center of each circle is one of the four essentials: “Justice, Community Resilience, Mitigation, and Congregational Transformation.”

Five Approaches to Support Your Congregation

Image description: An image depicting the five Approaches with  “Approaches” in the center of a web with five orange, yellow, purple, turquoise, and blue circles that form a hexagon, connected by short arrows pointing clockwise. Inside each circle is one of the approaches with an illustrated green icon: “Reimagining Our Community Thriving” with a thought bubble containing stars, “Exploring Opportunities” with a magnifying glass displaying a star, “Mobilizing for Action” with a group of small stars around a large star, “Nourishing Our Team” with a pair of hands holding a heart containing a star, and “Grounding in Our Context” with a circle of interlocking hands around a star.

Your team will engage in intersectional actions on each of the Four Essentials of Climate Action.

The Four Essentials for Climate Action present unique but interconnected areas that are critical to advancing climate justice.  While each represents a particular area of climate action, they are deeply intertwined.  

  • Congregational Transformation: Working together to improve the ways we organize and collaborate

  • Community Resilience:  Cultivating communities of care to prepare for and respond to climate disruption.

  • Justice: Partnering with those most harmed by climate change to build thriving communities

  • Mitigation: Reducing emissions from energy usage, transportation, waste, & consumption

As your team goes through the Green Sanctuary 2030 Process, you’ll have resources and activities to help you:

  • Develop and nourish your team

  • Ground your actions in the realities of oppression and harm in your community

  • Create a shared reimagining of your community thriving

  • Explore possible actions for each Essential

  • Agree on short-term actions and long-term goals

One Requirement for Yearly Recognition

Sharing your progress is the only requirement for Recognition.  When your team has completed at least one action per Essential with plans for ongoing action, you can apply for Yearly Recognition.  You do not need to share your responses to all the questions and wait for feedback from the UUA.  The Action Report tracks your congregation’s actions; there is no need for a final report.

  • Complete at least one meaningful action per Essential WITH plans for ongoing actions  

  • Share your progress (Action and Team Reports)

How to use these materials

Green Sanctuary 2030 Materials are here to support your congregation.  The materials are designed to build congregational comfort, understanding, confidence, and effectiveness.  You do not need to complete each Approach to receive Recognition.  You don’t have to get approval from the UUA at every step like in previous versions.  Do what works for your team! 

You can use the materials in two ways:

1) Use the prepared Team Meeting agendas and systems-based activities as designed. 

Each Approach has a corresponding agenda that you can use as is or adapt to your needs.

2) Work through the Questions for Exploration in whatever way works best for your team.  

Questions for Exploration pulls questions from each of the prepared agendas but does not include the systems-based activities, prompts, or timings. 

To learn more about the Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice process and how to use the materials, please join us for one of the monthly orientations. Find an upcoming orientation here.