Who We Are

As a subcommittee of the Social Responsibilities Council, GSC was begun as an effort to make our church more sustainable.  Since these early efforts, our goal has become to preserve the global environment on which all life depends by working to make the Earth sustainable and by addressing climate change.

Current Initiatives

• Read Chris Bystroff’s Earth Day Sermon from April 18, 2021 Click HERE.  

• Read Paul Fisk’s Commentary in the Times Union, “Remember reality of climate crisis when casting vote.“

• Read the recent article in the Times Union on the Faith and Values page about the Green Sanctuary Committee HERE.

• Earth Day launching of our campaign to make AlbanyUU green; UU members help us begin by taking the renewable energy SURVEY.

• The Green Sanctuary Committee supports a new online directory, www.BuyLocalGrowLocal.org.  The website has resources for growing and buying locally, with a directory that is devoted to a free promotion of businesses/organizations that are sustainable or socially responsible.  This is your go-to place for finding sustainable local businesses, and for supporting local agriculture, including in your own back yard.  You can also refer a business on the “Contacts” page.

• GSC continues to recycle a number of items in the cloakroom that cannot be recycled otherwise.  See the entire list HERE.  Did you know that in Albany less than half of the glass you put into single stream recycling is recycled?  Now you can bring clear glass to Honest Weight Food Co-op, and it will be brought to TOMRA Recycling Co.  Drop off clear, clean, glass jars and bottles which are free of metal and caps.  Paper labels are OK, but plastic labels should be peeled off.

• Read all the dos and don’ts of recycling in the Capital District written by Steve Davis of the Hudson-Mohawk Group of the Sierra Club entitled Aspirational Recycling. 

• Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy (SHARE).  See our “Working with SHARE“ PAGE.

Our Accomplishments

GSC was begun in 2003 by Amy Lent and Thayer Heath.  Albany UU was accredited in 2008 as a Green Sanctuary by the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth. See our HISTORY PAGE for more background and a (partial) list of accomplishments, such as our 2012-13 SOLAR PANEL INSTALLATION PAGE and our 2013-14 anti-fracking resolution, along with a list of forums the GSC has sponsored.

Our Partners

SHARE, the Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy.  See our “Working with SHARE” PAGE.

People of Albany United for Safe Energy (PAUSE)

Solarize Albany

Interfaith Impact of NYS

Capital Region Interfaith Creation Care Coalition (CRICCC)

New York Interfaith Power and Light (NYIPL)

Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline (SNYFGP)

Zero Waste Capital District

Extinction Rebellion 

Buy Local, Grow Local

Officers

Chuck Manning, Chair and Forum Coordinator

Barbara Spink, Recording Secretary

Sandy Steubing, Public Relations

David Musser/Barbara Spink, Webpage Administrators

Karen Kaufmann and Carol Butt, Social Responsibilities Council Liaisons

OPEN POSITION, Religious Education Council Liaison

Forum Coordinator, Chris Bystroff

Kathy Harris, Recycling Coordinator

Join Us

We meet on the fourth Sunday of the month on the lower level of AlbanyUU, excluding August.  (Join us virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.) Please confirm the date and time of each month’s meeting at our office (office@albanyuu.org).  Join our email list by sending a request to our office.  You can visit us on Facebook. 

Solstice Hike at Hollyhock Hollow, 2021