Social Action Issues

Here are some of the social justice issues near and dear to our hearts:

• Global Warming, conservation and the environment
• Abolition of the Death Penalty
• Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Issues
• Peace and nonviolence

Here's what we have been doing this past year:

The Social Justice Committee chose Global Warming as our main study/action issue. We have many members with a strong environmental leaning and considerable expertise who are helping us to carry through with worthwhile goals and projects. The first step in this process was to have UU members and friends complete an Energy Use Questionnaire. We now have information from 50 households that will allow us to show the gains we are making as individuals and as a congregation. Our committee has selected a different Global Warming Action Initiative for each month, starting in October 2005 with our promotion of the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which can be purchased at the Social Justice table after services.

We have also formed three subcommittees to meet other areas of concern within the congregation. A member of our congregation who is active in the group New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty chairs our death penalty abolition subcommittee. Another member heads our efforts to help with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues. Our third subcommittee’s focus is peace initiatives. We encourage members of our congregation to participate in quarterly letter-writing campaigns directed at these and other critical social justice issues. In September UUers wrote 30 letters urging our NJ legislators to vote to abolish the death penalty in NJ.

You can find more information about local peace activities as well as opportunities for political action letter-writing at the Social Justice table each Sunday after services. We also provide information on our current and past monthly Global Warming Initiatives and we will continue to offer CFLs for sale. In addition, we collect money for scrip for ShopRite and Acme ($5 out of every $100 goes to UUCSJS), and we collect used ink cartridges for recycling.