Green Corner: Starting In Our Own Back (and Front) Yards

As the effects of climate change accelerate, it’s easy to get discouraged. Lifestyle changes are needed on a massive scale, and it’s hard to see how our individual actions can make a difference. But while we wait for our leaders to make the major changes, there are things we can – and should – do. Whether you do your own yard work or hire a service, choices we make about yard care can make a huge difference.

This Spring:

• Ditch the gas mower and leaf blower. Per the EPA, one hour of gas-powered mowing = carbon footprint of 100-mile car trip. Electric tools are quieter, cleaner, greener. Rakes and old-fashioned non-motorized mowers work well, too. Beyond being polluting, leaf blowers destroy micro-habitats.

• Go No-Mow. Replace all or part of your lawn with ground cover or native species. Ground covers such as thyme, clover, or moss are hardy and very low-maintenance. Plant a native perennial garden – Flowering native plants are also hardy, beautiful, and provide much-needed habitat for bees and other helpful insects.

• Reduce watering. Grass will develop deeper roots if watered deeply and less often. Use rain barrels and soaker hoses. Early morning watering decreases evaporation.

• Stop using artificial fertilizers and pesticides. They’re bad for the environment and just aren’t needed.

• Switch to an eco-friendly lawn service. There are several in our area. Just DO it! Make this the year that your corner of the world helps – instead of adding to – the problems. Every bit helps, and if not us, then WHO?

Resources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/opinion/climate-change-gas-leaf-blowers.html?referringSource=articleShare (Here’s a Better Way to Care for Your Yard)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/opinion/leaf-blowers-california-emissions.html?referringSource=articleShare (First Thing we’ll do, Let’s Kill All the Leafblowers)

https://www.ecowatch.com/eco-friendly-lawn-2651194858.html (Six Ways To Transform Your Lawn Into An Eco-friendly Oasis)

https://www.ecohome.net/guides/3402/grass-lawn-alternatives-eco-friendly-bee-friendly/ (Bee-Friendly and Eco-Friendly Alternatives to Grass)

Argus Farm Stop  is an “everyday year-round” farmer’s market and café that sells locally produced food to benefit farmers and help grow our local agricultural economy. They have three locations in Ann Arbor (325 W. Liberty, 1226 Packard, and 1200 Packard). Until the end of the year, by rounding up your purchases at Argus, you can help close a gap in funding for Double Up Food Bucks. This is a program of the Fair Food Network that matches EBT/Bridge Card or food stamp dollars spent on fruits and vegetables, up to $20 per day. Please consider helping to fight food insecurity in Michigan: Shop at Argus and “round up”! Questions? Email FoodJustice@uuaa.org.

Have you made your financial commitment for the capital campaign? If not and you are able, please take the time to do it today! This effort will fund major changes—most importantly, paying off our mortgage—as well as working toward one of our Vision 20/50 Foundational Areas, Financial Stability. Find more information and how to pledge here.

Join millions of people around the world in the Plastic-Free July Challenge. You don’t have to give up all plastic at once, but choose one or more ways to reduce your plastic use. Check out www.plasticfreejuly.org for lots of ideas.

We know that single-use plastics are choking our oceans, filling landfills, using fossil fuels, emitting greenhouse gases, and now are found in the organs of living humans and other beings. Be a part of the solution. Choose to refuse!

For more information: 

Click here to download the weekly news for July 14 – July 20, 2022.

Click here to download the weekly news for July 7 – July 13, 2022.

Click here to download the weekly news for June 30 – July 6, 2022.

Green Corner | Protein of the Future—Bugs!

Would you try a snack of fried mealworms or crickets? What if you knew it was a much better protein source than beef or pork, with an itty-bitty carbon footprint? Insects are a nutritious staple for half the world’s people, and if we Westerners hadn’t been taught that bugs are yucky, we’d be happy to eat them, too. In fact, crickets are so tasty, some call them a “gateway bug!”

Check out:

Click here to download the weekly news for June 23 – 30, 2022.

The summer provides a beautiful opportunity to build relationships between sibling UU communities, something that enhances our connection to a broader sense of Unitarian Universalism. This Sunday, UUAA will join our siblings in Birmingham, MI and, over the course of the summer, either Lansing, MI or Davie, FL. Our summer services will similarly provide opportunities for UUs from Traverse City, MI and Davie, FL to virtually join us, among others. In addition to helping build relationships across communities, these joint/shared Sunday services provide a meaningful opportunity for members of UUAA’s Sunday staff team to have a small respite, as we likewise support other congregational staff teams in being able to do the same.

Click here to download the weekly news for June 16 – 22, 2022.

For those wondering how to celebrate the upcoming new federal holiday Juneteenth (June 19), the Food Justice Team has the following suggestions.

In a recent edition of Code Switch, a podcast focused on “fearless conversations about race,” hosts Karen Grigsby Bates and Gene Demby discuss Black foodways and how Juneteenth provides a way to celebrate those foods in an episode titled “A Taste of Freedom.” You can listen to the podcast or read the transcript of it here . 

Part of that episode references favorite Black cookbooks, which blend recipes with memoirs and African American history. You can read about some of these beloved Black cookbooks for Juneteenth here 

Finally, the Food Justice Team highly recommends the recent Netflix 4-part series High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America. Food writer Stephen Satterfield hosts the program that traces the origins and history of African American cuisine, making current connections with Black chefs, historians, and foodies, and reminding us that Black food is American food. Watch on Netflix or learn more at https://www.netflix.com/title/81034518. 

Questions or interested in connecting with Food Justice? Email foodjustice@uuaa.org. 

(https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1006735929#:~:text=A%20Taste%20Of%20Freedom%20%3A%20Code%20Switch%20%3A%20NPR&text=A%20Taste%20Of%20Freedom%20%3A%20Code%20Switch%20Juneteenth%20commemorates%20the%20day,celebratory%20meals%20and%20red%20drinks)

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1006735929#:~:text=A%20Taste%20Of%20Freedom%20%3A%20Code%20Switch%20%3A%20NPR&text=A%20Taste%20Of%20Freedom%20%3A%20Code%20Switch%20Juneteenth%20commemorates%20the%20day,celebratory%20meals%20and%20red%20drinks.

Click here to download the weekly news for June 9 – 15, 2022.

Click here to download the news for June 2 – June 8, 2022.

June 5 – June 11 

Two years ago, the Ann Arbor city council adopted a plan known as A2 ZERO, to transition the city to carbon neutrality. This week-long celebration features walkable, family friendly, and informative events—music stages every day, plus food, a movie, a bike rally, and a Dance Party for the Planet on Thursday, June 9, with a local DJ powered by a solar generator. Find out more about the June 9 events here. Check out all the week’s events by clicking here.