Resources

Carbon Footprint Calculators

A variety of internet sites help us measure our impact on our climate. To complete your calculations, you may have to know or look up some numbers, such as how much you spend on utilities, how many square feet are in your house, how many miles you drive, and so on.

Tom Brandstetter, First Church member, and perhaps our resident expert on these instruments, suggests that “the more specific the questions the better. I don't like ones that don't ask exactly how many therms or KWH are used. People need to know real numbers, not vague generalizations, like are you medium or large in size. I like ones that ask income, because there is a link between income and footprint. It takes money to be able to pollute by getting on an airplane I like ones at ask if you are a meat-eater, vegetarian or vegan; all this matters and many sites don't include this.”

This one is especially for young folks:

http://www.zerofootprintkids.com/kids_home.aspx

Here are some others:

http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/ Using this tool from the University of California Berkeley, you can save your work and go back to it when you’ve gathered more information.

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html. This site from the Environmental Protection Agency helps you explore actions you can take to reduce your footprint and how much you’ll save (in dollars and emissions) by taking these actions.

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/ (from The Nature Conservancy)

Sources of Information

www.uuministryforearth.org is the site of the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, and contains a variety of resources, especially for environmental justice work. http://uuministryforearth.org/environmental_justice_sermons

http://www.grist.org/: “Grist: A Beacon in the Smog,” bills itself as a site for “doom and gloom with a sense of humor.” By registering, you may subscribe to at least 6 different newsletters from Grist, including daily and weekly reviews of environmental news, “Ask Umbra” (green living tips), and “Eat your Greens” (food features).

http://www.sierraclub.org/: “The Club is America's oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization. Inspired by nature, we are 1.3 million of your friends and neighbors, working together to protect our communities and the planet.” You may subscribe to a dozen email newsletters from Sierra, and use their information to send messages to legislators and others about current issues.

http://transitionculture.org/ “Transition Culture,” from Rob Hopkins. A study group on this topic is forming at First Church.

http://www.naturalstep.org/ “The Natural Step,” from Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt.

http://www.350.org/ Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity. 350.org is an international campaign, dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis-- the solutions that science and justice demand.

http://www.peakoil.net Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, Dr Colin Campbell. This is a good general site with many links to others on Peak Oil

http://climate.nasa.gov/ Global Climate Change — NASA's Eyes on the Earth. This is a general site with many good links

Local Links

http://www.focusonenergy.com/ Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy provides information & incentives on energy efficiency & renewable energy

http://www.growingpower.org/ Growing Power, Will Allen’s organization at 55^th and Silver Spring, is the country’s premiere grass roots urban farm.

http://www.interfaithearthnetwork.org/ Our local group that bridges ecology and faith.

http://www.wicec.org The Wisconsin Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign has become Wisconsin Interfaith Power and Light, a state affiliate of the national Interfaith Power and Light organization (http://interfaithpowerandlight.org)

http://www.urbanecologycenter.org/ The Urban Ecology Center is one of the important local environmental organizations

http://thevictorygardeninitiative.com/about/ The Victory Garden Initiative, led by First Church member Gretchen Mead, promotes the use of our own backyards (and front yards and rooftops and patios) for the production of food.

http://www.sanc.org/ The Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, just 15 minutes north of downtown Milwaukee, provides environmental education, has a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) award green building, and offers programs, exhibits, and beautiful grounds.

Green Living Tips

For all sites on green living, we need to mindful of greenwashing, or encouraging us to buy something “because it will make our life greener.”

http://www.grist.org/column/ask-umbra: “Astute advice to green your life.” You can go to the website or receive posts by email on Mondays and Wednesdays. Umbra answers Grist readers’ eco-conundrums, and provides links to her advice videos.

http://www.nrdc.org/greenliving/?gclid=CJfyooSQuJwCFSDxDAodHTGEoA: At this site, you can read simple steps, green living guides, or you can sign up for a monthly column.

Sources of Inspiration

http://eco-justice.org/is the site of Eco-Justice Ministries, from whom one can receive a weekly newsletter, Eco-Justice Notes, which is an essay that tries to avoid gloom and guilt. Each issue has commentary on a relevant theme or event from a distinctly "churchy" perspective. Some are too Christian for the tastes of most UUs, but some are not.

http://www.ihmsisters.org/www/Sustainable_Community/sustaincommunity.asp gives the perspective of another religious body on decision-making for sustainable living.

Support

Some of these resources may be seen as inconsequential. Others may find sources of hope in them. Also see the SOS support page.

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4792 This article about the Transition Movement discusses how work in communities may be more effective than working on an individual scale (too trivial) or a national scale (my voice doesn’t matter enough).

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/. The author is a New York City writer who undertook an experiment with researching, developing and adopting a way of life for himself and his family—one wife, one toddler, one dog—to live causing no net environmental impact. “To do this, we will decrease the things we do that hurt the earth—make trash, cause carbon dioxide emissions, for example—and increase the things we do that help the earth—clean up the banks of the Hudson River, give money to charity, rescue sea birds, say.” His main philosophy is “Happy People, Happy Planet.” See if you don’t find some posts that speak to you.

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