Green Team

Our Purpose: We, the members of The Congregational Church in Cumberland UCC, want to create a community that helps protect our earth and our health by raising environmental awareness, by taking and encouraging local action, and by engaging in global thinking.

The Green Team was established in 2008, when the Church Council voted on a green theme for the year.  Since that time, we’ve worked to green the church and educate its members in a variety of ways.

Earth Care We celebrated the Earth Day season during Easter Week by inviting members and friends to go “plogging” or picking up trash while jogging/walking.

Energy Conservation From upgrading to efficient light bulbs we went on to install an electric vehicle charging station and solar panels, a church-wide effort.  We encourage our members to carpool, bike, or walk to church.  We’ve hosted and promoted community builds for Window Dressers Window Inserts to inspire church and community members to save energy and reduce costs.

Waste Reduction Starting with the 3 R’s, Reduce/Reuse/Recycle, we purchased more recycle bins and placed them in accessible places as well as signs to clarify where different forms of waste go.  We compost food and flower waste, reducing contributions to the landfill.

Education We’ve hosted film series and speakers exploring a variety of issues including climate change, pollution, and toxic chemicals as well as environmental justice along with the Social Justice Team.  Green Team Sunday services, Church School lessons, and newsletter articles teach and inspire people to do what they can to reduce their environmental footprint.

Advocacy We’ve invited members of the congregation to write postcards and letters to legislators about reducing toxic chemicals, supporting international climate change agreements, and reducing our carbon footprint at the state and federal levels.

Collaboration We’ve screened films with Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust, worked with Falmouth Foreside Church on the UCC Mission 4/1 Earth Challenge, and co-sponsored a Window Dressers build with Falmouth Community Church.

Awards We worked for 3 years to earn GreenFaith Certification.  We also earned a $1,000 Cool Congregations Challenge award as a Renewable Role Model from Interfaith Power and Light.