Team Mission
Our mission is to educate and engage Unitarian Universalists and other concerned citizens about the urgent need for environmental and climate action. We strive to live our lives in harmony within ecological limits (our 7th Principle), and to lobby elected officials for sound environmental policies, commensurate with Article 1, Section 27 of the
Pennsylvania Constitution. We support local, state, and national environmental coalitions that focus on critically reducing our carbon footprint while also protecting our land, air and water for this generation and future generations.
2023 Meeting Dates
Tentative dates — please check back for confirmation.
Our monthly Zoom meeting is changing to the first Thursday of each month at 7 PM.
February 2
March 2
April 6
May 4
June 1
July 6
August 3
September 7
October 5
November 2
December 7
To attend our meetings on Zoom:
From your PC, Mac, Linux, iOS
or Android,
click this link:
https://zoom.us/j/7132347624
Or by phone:
1-408.638.0968 or
646.558.8656
Meeting ID – 713-234-7624
Our Biggest Weapon:
Pennsylvania’s “Green“/ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS Amendment
“…public natural resources are the common property of the people…”
Key Goals for 2021
- Resume lobbying and agitating as we are able (due to Covid-19)
- Find more team members! With your help, we’ll have more ideas, more influence, and more power!
- Distribute “PA: A Fractured State” video to legislators
- Continue to educate legislators, leaders, and congregations
about the urgent need to address climate change - Demand a Moraltorium on all new fossil fuel infrastructure
- Support legislative efforts and bills to expand renewable energy
Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution
provides as follows:
“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
Beginning with the landmark Supreme Court Robinson Township decision, this ERA’s power to protect PA citizens is bearing fruit. Below are some examples that include everything from stopping a development to denying power line approval. There are more examples on the website www.forthegenerations.org.
First, we need all citizens to know of the ERA, and then they need to deploy it. Here are some examples:
Click the image to watch the video —
Good News: Solar Panels at UU Meadville!
We’re also pleased to share this newspaper report of the environmentally friendly steps taken recently by the congregation of the UU church in Meadville, PA.
More Information
We are fighting a Goliath here in Pennsylvania: the fossil fuel industry, which is adding to our climate emergency in various ways. These include:
• Ethane cracker plants (single-use plastics)
• New fracking infrastructure
• LNG processing plants
• Mariner East Pipeline
• Environmental racism
The results? Contaminated water, damage to our health, cancer clusters, and
climate change. But we are fighting back!
Partner Links
Better Path Coalition
PennFuture
PennEnvironment
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Citizens Climate Lobby
Resources
- Article I, section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution
provides as follows: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural,
scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.” - PA Environmental Scorecard 2019-2020
- NEW Fracking Compendium – Physicians for Social Responsibility
- UU Climate Change Statement
- Oil & Gas Health Risks PA
- Oil & Gas Health Risks Eastern PA
- Environmental Justice Principles
- Clean Energy Jobs Fact Sheet
- Call to Communities of Faith and Spirit
- Actions to Take re: Fracking and Clean Energy
- CAPE (Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment) Report on Fracking
Watch the UU-produced film
on fracking in Pennsylvania!
Did you Know?
- In the Pennsylvania legislature, the Chair of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee lacks what should be a basic requirement for his job: a belief that climate change is real. Instead of tackling the issue for the citizens of Pennsylvania, he is an outspoken climate change denier. His name is Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, and he also serves on the Climate Change Advisory Committee. Rep. Metcalfe has called environmental activists “extremists” and “deep pocketed alarmists.” We have joined the many voices calling on Speaker Bryan Cutler to remove Rep. Metcalfe from these positions of power over our environment. This is just one example of the need to educate voters and “flip” elections in our Commonwealth in favor of candidates who realize the truth of climate change, and who will help us fight it.
- Climate change deniers seem to think that ignoring the issue is the way to make it disappear. Read Rachel Mark’s recent Letter to the Editor protesting Rep. Metcalfe’s attempts to silence environmental concerns:
PennLive letters: Metcalfe’s action for climate change is to banish the climate clock |
- Ten years after it was contaminated, the water in the low-income community of Woodlands, in Butler County, remains undrinkable. Approximately 50 to 60 of the area’s 200 homes remain without potable water. The well water was contaminated in 2011, shortly after State College-based Rex Energy (now out of business) began drilling and fracking multiple gas wells into the Marcellus Shale. These citizens are still waiting for municipal water to be connected to their homes. Stories like this are why we do what we do.
Action Alerts
Check back soon for the latest updates!
In the News
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), begun in 2009, is the first mandatory market-based program in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. RGGI is a cooperative effort among the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia to cap andreduce CO2 emissions from the power sector.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolfe has been working to However, reports from April 2021 indicate that the battle over the RGGI continues in the state legislature, where lawmaker Jim Struzzi reintroduced legislation in March to require the General Assembly’s input in joining the regional cap and trade program. House Bill 637, which we oppose, would create a process for legislative approval before Pennsylvania could join the RGGI, take any other action to control carbon dioxide emissions, or create its own cap and trade program. |
For more information, visit |
More About Our Team
WHY JOIN US?
You can help us achieve a social tipping point. Protecting our environment requires a massive movement at a whole range of levels, and we believe we can make it happen. What we ask of our members is this: do what you can and dedicate time to it. Be hopeful. We have found that taking action helps us generate hope — that’s how social movements work! We also commit and dedicate our environmental justice work to those we love.
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Team Leaders:Rachel Mark, Unitarian Church of Harrisburg Bob Redfern, Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County |
Legislative Goals
We Support:
- Redistricting Reform Constitutional Amendment
- Independent Redistricting Commission for Congressional Districts
- PA Community Solar Bill
- Transitioning to 100& Renewable Energy by 2050
- Gift Ban
Defeat
House Bill 637, which would require legislative approval before Pennsylvania could join the RGGI