Click Here for a Quick Link to Martha’s Vineyard Green Resources (more info below)
GREEN TEAM HISTORY- (as of SEPTEMBER 2023)
BEGINNINGS
Our commitment to earth care began in 2013 with a six-week worship series led by Reverend Cathlin Baker, with sermons, music and meditations focused on creation. Speakers from the Martha’s Vineyard Conservation Society, the Polly Hill Arboretum, the Nature Conservancy, the MV Shellfish Group, Mass Audubon, and Island-Grown Schools gave coffee fellowship talks to the congregation about climate change, recycling, water quality and the importance of locally-grown food. The Earth Care book group gathered for many weeks to discuss books such as Jim Hansen’s Storms of My Grandchildren, Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, and Bill McKibben’s eaarth.
In 2015 our church led an interfaith study group on the Pope’s encyclical, Laudato Si. Congregation members participate in the Island-wide Earth Day beach cleanup. Our building is also greener: The church replaced its oil furnace with a high-efficiency heat pump system and installed LED lighting in the parish hall and church offices All of these actions led to the church achieving the Green Congregation Level One Certification. David Fielder and Jana Bertkau accepted the Certification on behalf of the church at the 2017 UCC Annual Conference.
ADVOCACY
Members of our church participated in the Climate Change March of 2017, both in Washington, D.C. and Martha’s Vineyard, as well as the Climate Stand In at Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s office in the fall of 2017.
Members of the church joined the UCC Faith contingent of the Climate March in Washington D.C. on April 29, 2017.
Members of the church participated in the Stand In at the MA Governor’s office asking Gov. Baker to “Stand Up for Climate” in the fall of 2017.
In 2020 and 2022, the Green Team promoted the Southern New England Climate Justice Voter Challenge.
We supported the youth led Plastic Free MV initiative by inviting the youth to speak at our church and by hosting them at two of our berry festivals in the summer where they spoke with festival attendees
We spoke at a forum held by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission against the proposed installation of plastic fields at the high school. This issue has not been resolved yet.
We supported Fridays for Future youth by displaying signage in front of our church.
CHURCH RESOLUTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
At the June 2017 Congregational Meeting, the church passed the following Climate Change Resolution :
We, the members of the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury, are committed to living our faith through our actions and doing so by protecting God’s greatest gift -Life as we know it on our earthly home. We see clear evidence that the threat to our world is real, further exacerbating the social, political and economic inequities that divide and threaten us. We believe that a clean and safe environment is our right and a responsibility we owe to future generations. We affirm the spirit and intent of the Paris Climate Accord, believing it is consistent with the best prevailing scientific knowledge of our times.
As such we pledge to take each and every opportunity as individuals and as a collective to act proactively to defend our environment. These may be small individual steps, yet combined they will result in a greater impact. Our Earth Ministry and Green Team is charged with advancing this cause, staying abreast of the issues, making regular update reports to the Congregation and supporting our minister, association, conference, and national clergy as we take up the mantle of moral leadership. The Green Team promotes sustainable programs within the church and in the community. We have partnered with Island Grown Initiative to create recycling stations for our fruit festivals, as well as for Sunday morning fellowship, as we strive to become a zero-waste organization.
To read the UCC statement on climate change, click here.
Green Team Members in 2020 with the Earth Day Banner.
EDUCATION
We have co-hosted multiple workshops at the library addressing Recycling, Composting, Energy Conservation, and Solar as well as offering informational sessions during coffee hour in our parish hall after Sunday morning worship.
The Green Team started a “Sacred Grounds’ program last summer. We had a composting expert explain the importance of composting during coffee hour and distributed tabletop compost buckets for members and friends. We now collect compost at a special tote on the property and have it picked up and delivered to a central composting station.
PARTNERSHIPS WITH OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
We have partnered with Island Grown Initiative through the composting program, with the Vineyard Conservation Society on recycling messaging and with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission on the annual Climate Change festival.
Our Green Team founded the Martha's Vineyard Interfaith Climate Action Team in 2021 with other Christian, Jewish, UU, and Catholic faith communities. We are members of the Faith Communities Environmental Network on Cape Cod.
The Interfaith Team shares best practices. We offered an interfaith “Prayers for the Earth “at the Island Climate Action Fair in May 2023. We, along with other churches rang our bells 40 times at noon to mark the kickoff of the fair as well as the island’s goal to be fossil free by 2040.
Our minister, Rev. Cathlin Baker, has delivered environmental justice and inspirational talks at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs and to the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions based in the Washington D.C. area.
DIVESTMENT
The Financial Development Board moved the church’s investments into a fossil free portfolio several years ago.
CHURCH BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS
We have held two energy audits of our building and have made changes through heat pumps, insulation and other steps to lower our energy usage.
Our electricity is drawn from renewable sources. One of our members donates her excess solar energy to the parsonage.
We do not use styrofoam and have greatly cut back on the use of paper plates and plastic utensils. We are increasing our usage of environmentally friendly cleaning products.
We participate in No Mow May to offer bees, butterflies and other pollinators a larger and more readily available source of flowers to pollinate.
Our lawn and flower beds are free of chemicals.
INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKERS
We have hosted Bill McKibben, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grimm, John Phillip Newell, Terry Tempest Williams (by Zoom), Jim Antal, Ursula Goodenough, Reebee Girash, Margaret Bullitt Jonas, and Noah Brewer-Wallin in our sanctuary.
VINEYARD GREEN RESOURCES
Blue Dot Living, a green-themed magazine published on Martha’s Vineyard, has provided a great resource for environmentally friendly alternatives on-island. Click here for a link to their Ultimate Simple Smart Sustainable Handbook To Martha’s Vineyard.
JOIN THE GREEN TEAM
Climate change is an emergency. We invite all interested members and friends to join our GREEN TEAM to identify and implement steps our congregation can take to promote stewardship of God's creation. For more information, please contact Molly in the church office at officewtiscong@gmail.com or (508) 693-2842.