Date of Interview: November 2004
Reverend Gary Kowalski
Size of Congregation: 570
Denomination: Unitarian Universalist

Activities: The First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington has a wide range of environmentally conscious activities. Some of these activities include, serving fair trade coffee at all coffee hours and church-sponsored events, having and energy audit performed on the church building, using only compact fluorescent light bulbs, and organizing educational events on issues of environmental consciousness.

Motivations: The primary motivation is the Seventh Principle of Unitarian Universalism, which states that all Unitarians must demonstrate "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."

Furthermore, the national Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) has taken an aggressive stance on environmental issues, including global climate change. At their most recent annual meeting, it was decided that climate change would be the UUA study action issue for the next two years. This two year commitment means that UU congregations across the United States will implement study action groups focusing on climate change and at the end of the two-year time period, there will be a Declaration of Conscience by the UUA on the subject of climate change.

Challenges: The primary challenge that Reverend Kowalski expressed to us was the high cost of some environmental initiatives. However, he stated that whatever is needed should be done, and therefore they will put forth the greatest efforts to provide funds for initiatives that they feel are important.

Interfaith Environmental Awareness and Action in Vermont:
A Service Learning Project with Vermont Interfaith Power & Light