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will be central part of Annual Meeting shape
Resolutions will be central part of Annual Meeting
Resolutions propose action both globally and locally
May,
2003
Delegates to the 203rd Annual Meeting will be asked to vote on two resolutions
related to the environment; one aimed at toxins in Massachusetts and
the other with a much more global view.
A Resolution for a Healthy Tomorrow urges churches to consider joining
a coalition of Massachusetts citizens, scientists, workers, health
professionals, parents, educators and cancer survivors who are working
to change government
policy as it relates to toxins in the environment.
“The Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow is an alliance of people – not
huge organizations,” said Kelly Gallagher, Associate Pastor at First
Churches
in Northampton. “The other thing appealing about this group is that
it speaks to accountability, and says that when there is possible
danger, the accountability shouldn’t lie with the consumer, it should
lie at
the production level. If there is a possibility that this could be
making
people sick, it’s the responsibility of the manufacturer to prove
that it doesn’t.”
Gallagher said the Environmental Task Force of the Conference’s Commission
for Mission and Justice decided to sponsor this resolution so that
people could really focus on one issue.
“Instead of trying to do 1,000 things at once, our goals was to
educate people on one issue – the issue of toxins,” she said.
The resolution
is a follow-up to a workshop held at last year’s Meeting on the
same topic.
The Resolution to Invite Congregations to Endorse the Earth Charter,
on the other hand, focuses on issues from a more global, viewpoint.
The Earth Charter is a declaration of principles for building
a just, sustainable and peaceful global society that was developed
with input
from people in all regions of the world.
The First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in
Williamstown voted at its last Annual Meeting to endorse the
Charter, and to
ask other Conference churches to consider doing the same.
“What we were looking for was ways of determining priorities
in our church,” said Moderator Lauren Stevens. “This Earth
Charter includes
social justice
and peace issues as well as environmental issues.”
As a result, Stevens said, his church is examining everything
from its mission program to the church’s lighting and heating
in view
of the Earth
Charter.
“It gives us a framework in which we can operate,” he said.
The United Nations first called for an Earth Charter to
be developed in 1987, and it was part of the unfinished
business
of the Rio
Earth Summit in 1992. In 1994, an Earth Charter Commission
was formed and
after years of cross-cultural consultation, the charter
was officially launched
in 2000.
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