Environmental Justice

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Environmental Justice

• Fall 2009

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Seventh Principle

• Our seventh principle acknowledges that we are
  part of the interdependent web of existence.
• Ethical treatment of animals invovles many
  important factors how we eat, how we care for
  the environment, our acknowledgement of the
  importance of our companion animals, our
  responsibility for the treatment of non-human
  animals that share the planet with us.
• We propose to link ETA with a Seventh Principle
  Project

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Seventh Principle Project/ETA

• Build awareness of social aspects of
  environmental issues including the ethical
  treatment of animals
• Generate commitment for personal lifestyle
  changes
• Motivate us as a community to take action on
  environmental and ethical treatment of animals
  issues (such as support of legislation addressing
  global warming , energy policy,
  regulating/outlawing puppy mills, the conditions
  of factory farms and the use/treatment of
  laboratory animals)

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Seventh Principle Project Continued

• Build connections between spiritual practice and
  environmental and ethical treatment of animals
• Build awareness of and rectify environmental
  injustices and the cruelty of the unethical
  treatment of animals

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Discussion of Education Topics

• Seventh Principle Project including certification
  of First Church as a Green Sanctuary
• Partnering with community groups in
  sustainability projects
• Environmental Justice / The negative impact of
  degradation of the environment on poor and
  minority neighborhoods

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Discussion/Education Topics (Continued)

• Celebration of all of creation
• Legislation impacting animals such as the
  regulation of animal experimentation, factory
  farming, puppy mills, and the prevention of
  animal cruelty
• Legislation which involves preservation of the
  environment such as global warming and energy
  policy
• Elimination of violence to non-human animals
• The place and responsibility of humans in the
  spectrum of animal life
• Acknowledgement of the importance of companion
  animals in our lives
• Principles of Ethical Eating
• Exploration of the environmental and health
  impact of our diets.

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Actions Items

• Implementation of a Green Sanctuary/Seventh
  Principle Project
• Partnering with Neighborhood Sustainability
  Projects such as the one at the Greenfield School
• Creative use of local environment to enhance
  environmental appreciation/understanding such as
  meditative nature walks along the nearby
  Schuykill River Waterfront

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Action Items (Continued)

• Workshops and Adult and Children on the topics
  discussed above
• Worship Service Celebrating Creation and blessing
  animals
• Congregational updates on important environmental
  and ETA legislation
• Classes on Healthy Eating and Vegetarian/Vegan
  cooking
• Pastoral care to members/friends who lose a
  companion animal

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Costs and Funding

• Use of church space for workshops and
  presentations
• Sources of funding
• Fees for workshops
• Explore grants for Green Sanctuary Program
• Explore district and UUA resources

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Outcomes

• One worship service celebrating creation
• Participation in one community environmental
  sustainability project
• Offering one or two adult and child workshops
• Regular communication of important legislative
  actions concerning environmental sustainability
  and ethical treatment of animals

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Outcomes (continued)

• Offering vegetarian/vegan cooking class and
  resources lists/web pages
• Establish system of pastoral care for church
  members/friends who experience the loss of a
  companion animal
• Advertize First Churchs commitment to the
  Seventh Principle and Ethical Treatment of
  Animals to outside folks

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Resources

• UUA web pages on Environmental Justice and
  Ethical Eating
• Seventh Principle Project Website (includes link
  to the Green Sanctuary Manual)
• UU for the Ethical Treatment of Animals website
• Website about local sustainability projects, for
  example, at the Greenfield School

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Resources (Continued)

• Francione, Gary L. Animals as Persons Essays on
  the Abolition of Animal Exploitation. New York
  Columbia University Press, 2008.
•  Kowalski, Gary. The Souls of Animals. New York
  New World Library, 2007.
•  Nussbaum, Martha. Frontiers of Justice
  Disability, Nationality, Species Membership.
  Cambridge, Mass. Bleknap, 2007.

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Martha Nussbaum on Justice

• Political Philosopher and Religion scholar Martha
  Nussbaum writes
• We need to face issues of justice involved in
  our treatment of nonhuman animals. That animals
  suffer pain and indignity at the hands of humans
  has often been conceded to be an ethical issue
  it has more rarely been acknowledged to be an
  issue of social justice.

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Nussbaum

• Nussbaum looks at the issue of animals, or more
  precisely Species Membership and social
  justice, along with two other social justice
  issues, those of Nationality and Disability, in
  her book Frontiers of Justice.

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