Four Steps for Green Teams Affiliating with 350

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Photo: 350.org/Tim Patterson

If your green team has read about the UCC-350 pilot program that invites green teams from UCC congregations to affiliate with 350 and wants to explore this possibility, there are four steps to take:

  1. Become familiar with the 350 Organizing Principles and their process for registering as a 350 group.
  2. Consult the map of existing 350 affiliates and reach out to any existing affiliates in your city or state. With a sense of curiosity, consult with these affiliates to get a sense of any potential organization work in your area.
  3. With any input gained from existing affiliates, explore possibilities for how your green team can best discern its call to make a contribution to the climate justice movement. In some instances, a new affiliate group may not make sense if another group already exists nearby. A green team might decide it can easily join that group’s activities. In other instances, a new affiliate group may be preferable, especially if joining another group is not practically feasible or conducive to facilitating active involvement in the movement. A third option also exists: In Bennington, Vermont, environmental advocates at Second Congregational Church UCC wear two hats. For environmental ministry that is internal to the church, they act as a green team known as the Earth Advocates. When they engage the outside world, they change hats to join with others in the broader community as part of the Bennington 350 affiliate group.
  4. Once a green team has discerned a call to actively partner with 350, then that green team can fill out the 350 affiliate application and send additional email notification to both Brooks Berndt, the Environmental Justice Minister for the UCC, and Masada Disenhouse, the 350 liaison to the UCC. Ultimately, we will want to find ways for UCC affiliates to share and learn from each other’s experiences, while providing helpful insights for future UCC affiliates.