Earth Justice Team

​Earth Justice Team’s Mission Statement 

  • Uphold the connection between spiritual practice and ecological consciousness. Affirm and celebrate Earth as sacred, and acknowledge our human relationship to the wondrous whole.
  • Understanding how our environmental practices affect people around the earth.
  • Educate ourselves and our congregation about environmental challenges.
  • Consider our impact on the environment when we plan and pursue any activity in our life together as a congregation, as well as in our personal lives.
  • Transform our habits and practices to contribute to a more just and sustainable future for all life on Earth.
  • Provide an example of Earth-friendly practices for our community.   
Members of the Earth Justice Team:  LtoR: Linda Poss, Doug Williams, Linda Burke, Nick Hodsdon, Kay Grunwald
First Congregational UCC became a Creation Justice Church in 2025!

Earth Team is an inclusive group of FCUCC members and friends who encourage recycling, reducing our carbon footprint and promoting Earth-friendly practices on our campus and in member’s lives, and maintaining a small pollinator garden. We advocate on behalf of sound environmental policies, helping to create a clean environment and protect the Earth for future generations. 

Earth Team’s accomplishments:

  • Led Creation Justice Sunday worship service for Earth Day Sunday.
  • Led Faith Formation classes (see below images)
  • Replaced energy-consuming incandescent light bulbs on the FCUCC campus with energy-efficient LED bulbs.
  • Started writing articles for weekly church newsletter to help raise awareness of the importance of caring for Earth.
  • Sponsored the film, Our Movement Starts Here for the congregation and local community.
    Sponsored a TED talk during Friendship Time on the importance of eating a plant-based diet.
  • Established recycling collection containers in the Friendship Hall, on the lower floor of the Education Building, in the offices and in the Narthex. Clean paper, cardboard, glass, metal, and plastic items are collected by Curbside Management and re-purposed into useful materials.
  • We have a small pollinator garden behind the church which is part of the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge.
  • We also coordinate with the FCUCC hospitality team so coffee time after Sunday worship uses sustainable rather than disposable cups and utensils.
  • Earth Justice Team members provide leadership for occasional Sunday school and retreat classes that explore how to and why we need to take better care of the Earth.
  • We contact our legislators both on the state and federal level to advocate for wise environmental solutions.​

In 2025, we held a three-part Faith Exploration series discussing the book, Earth Our Original Monastery by author Christine Valters Paintner. In addition, we sponsored a presentation on Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love, by Mallory McDuff, Professor at Warren Wilson College.
Contact the Earth Justice Team with any questions.  

Some of the organizations that we interact with:

MountainTrue, a community collaboration for a cleaner environment.
Green Opportunities, which sponsors green job training and neighborhood improvement.
Creation Care Alliance, an inter-faith group addressing education and action on caring for the environment.

Additional Resources:  United Church of Christ – A Kairos Call to Action

If you have questions or are interested in participating contact Deb Morris at dmorris@mhu.edu or Kay Grunwald at kaygarner@gmail.com. ​