Environment Ministry Team
Red
dot campaign
Did you know that you have a choice to say no
to unwanted ad-mail? Check out Canada Post's eco-friendly Consumer Choice
option.
Here's a
link to the Red Dot
Campaign site.
green church, green home, families for earth
On Saturday November 3 at the
Centre for Peace, the Environment
ministry team will host a ground-breaking collaboration between Catholics, UCC's,
Presbyterians, Baptists and Anglicans. Come and hear about how you can start
walking with a lighter footprint on our sacred planet.
Canadian Memorial Church has been learning how we can be “greener”
and wants to share that with the community. Learn how to get started on an
energy audit for your church or home. Find out what your personal impact is on
the planet and how you can start to “lighten your footprint”.
Featured speakers include
Dr.William Rees (author of Our
Ecological Footprint), Maureen Wild, co-founder of Center for Earth and
Spirit, and Rev.Bruce
Sanguin. There will be lots of
hands-on breakout sessions to help us heal the earth.
This one-day event on Saturday November 3 from
9:30am - 4:00pm offers a little something for everyone, families included.
Don’t forget to mark this exciting event in your calendar. For more details
click here, or to
download the promotional poster click here.
To view some photos of the event please
click
here.
Ecopsychology Retreat
–
Reconnecting to Nature and Ourselves. Pasley Island
Sept 14-16
Led by Toni Pieroni, MA, RCC (Registered Clinical
Counsellor)
Ecopsychology explores the relationship between humans
and the natural world. It sees health as a function of connection. The more
connected and whole we are at every level, i.e., within ourselves, our families
and communities, and within the living systems of the human and non-human world
on our planet, the healthier we are. As people of faith, our participation in
the creation of a healthy world can be seen as a “spiritual practice”. This
retreat integrates experiential exercises in nature with 5 spiritual practices,
based on the work of Joanna Macy, which
focuses on our emotional responses to global issues of environmental and social
justice.
The 5 spiritual practices are called:
1. Come from Gratitude for the gift of life
2. Don’t be afraid of the dark – feel our concerns
for the condition of our world
3. Dare to vision – open to possibility
4. Know who you are as interconnected with all that
is
5. Link arms and know you make a difference
This retreat includes indoor exercises, group sharing and
some time on your own.
“Being in circle is the essence of us as human beings. The
energy goes out from these gatherings to the healing of the world,” Larry
Butler.
“I found Toni’s leadership and choices of exercises were
excellent. People felt at home in the group, in spite of being relatively
unfamiliar with everyone. There seemed to be a good connection. Free time was
perfect. The "elm dance" and its story were moving and inspiring. Other
comments: The fact that so many people spoke so positively about the workshop
and "being in circle" makes me think it was very well received.” Russ Quinn
The Nature Challenge
We encourage you to visit the
David Suzuki
Foundation site to answer their nature challenge.
"Many people ask Dr. Suzuki what they can do to make a
difference. The answer? Join the Nature Challenge!"
"We've researched the 10 most effective ways to help
conserve nature and improve our quality of life. Here’s how you can make
positive changes."
“The Earth is not part of the Human Story, the Human
Story is part of the Earth Story.”
- Father Thomas Berry
“Perhaps a new revelatory experience is taking place, an
experience wherein human consciousness awakens to the grandeur and sacred
quality of the Earth process. Humanity has not participated in such
a vision since shamanic times, but in such a renewal lies our hope for the
future for ourselves and for the entire planet.”
- Father Thomas Berry
“Our movement of lasting change in the world needs to be
rooted in love
and sacred action in order to survive…
The wounds on the earth and its
people are outward manifestations of inner disconnect."
- Julia Butterfly Hill
Mission
To cultivate a spiritual understanding of Creation, and
to adopt and promote awareness of a spiritually-principled approach to
planetary sustainability.
Values
1.
Diversity –
honouring and celebrating the diversity in the universe.
2.
Interiority –
“we are not a collection of objects but a communion of subjects”.
Acknowledge the sacred inner nature of all of Creation.
3.
Communion –
having reverence for the interconnectedness of creation and nurturing
relationships with ourselves, each other and with creation.
4.
Equity – honouring our fiduciary duty to pass
on a clean and abundant planet to present and future generations.
Vision
- To develop a deep understanding
within our congregation about God’s presence in Creation and our spiritual
connections to the planet.
-
To nurture in every member of the
congregation a new understanding of the Creation consciousness.
-
To periodically host events,
workshops, and symposia which promote Eco-spirituality and Cosmo-genesis.
-
To disseminate information regarding
events and activities that promote environmental awareness and speak to
related issues and concerns with posters, flyers, church bulletin and web
site.
-
To produce periodic reviews that
support our interest and increase awareness.
-
To carry out a sustainability audit
of CMUC.
-
To collectively become more aware
of and to reduce our ecological footprint.
-
To inspire and empower the
congregation to take actions that will make a difference in advancing
sustainability and honouring Creation.
-
To highlight what we are doing well at
CMUC and expand on it.
-
Have the church be a model of an
environmentally sustainable home.
-
To deepen our awareness of the
environment in biblical literature.
-
To challenge conventional thinking.
-
To have a section on the CMUC web
site that talks about the mission statement for the Ministry Team for the
Environment. Link our web sites to other web sites that support our goals.
-
To reach out to the broader local
community on eco-spirituality issues, through theme-based services such as
Peace in the City.
-
To connect with others in the local
environmental, spiritual and faith communities who share our mandate.
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