Climate Action Group - Asylum Hill Congregational Church

Dollie Burwell Prophetic Action Award

AHCC’s Climate Action Group won the UCC’s Dollie Burwell Prophetic Action Award for collecting the MOST Climate Hope Voter pledge cards. We were honored to be recognized and for the video that was produced by the UCC about our efforts.

Watch the video here.

Our Mission

The purpose of AHCC’s Climate Action Group is to engage the congregation and the neighborhood in an ongoing program of education, advocacy, and action to make our church, our homes, our individual practices and the State of Connecticut more environmentally friendly in a way that both respects and preserves God’s gift of this beautiful earth and reduces our individual and collective carbon footprint on it.

Community Garden

The Climate Action Group worked on six plots at the Huntington Street Community Garden, yielding a variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers that are distributed regularly at the mobile grocery market at AHCC’s Weekly Community Meal for our neighbors in Asylum Hill. The garden was tended to with the support of Knox Hartford. Gardens naturally foster community, and self-resilience and play a vital role in preserving green space and providing outdoor classrooms/volunteer hubs.

Composting at AHCC

Our church has encouraged members of our congregation to sign-up for residential composting with a local company, Blue Earth, or take food scraps to their town transfer station, or compost at home. On Sunday mornings, and at occasional events, we have a Blue Earth composting bucket for people to use and see. In addition to composting food, the church has shifted to compostable plates, cups, and silverware.

For more information about composting please reach out to Climate Action Group Member Courtney Bourns. 860-983-7894, beachfive@comcast.net

Pollinator Garden

The AHCC pollinator garden was created with a Love Your Block grant acquired by the Asylum Hill Neighborhood Association, that provided for six pollinator gardens at six area churches. It is registered as part of the Pollinator Pathway, a national website coordinating all pollinator gardens. It was created in 2020 and is lovingly maintained every year by AHCC members.

For more information about AHCC’s Pollinator Garden please reach out to Climate Action Group Members:

Kathye Cipes, , 860-918-0231, kathye-cipes@hotmail.com

Christine Yohn, 860-558-6380, cpyohn@gmail.com

No Mow May

AHCC has been active in educating our congregation about the NO MOW MAY movement and similar ways to increase plant and insect diversity, supporting important pollinators. We offer No Mow May signs in early spring to church members and the wider community.

For more information about No Mow May, please reach out to:

Mally Cox-Chapman, 860-966-2844, mallycc@gmail.com

We are implementing the Southern New England United Congregational Church’s (SNEUCC) “Green Congregation Challenge” – a step-by-step approach that helps churches take small, but consequential, steps toward protecting God’s Creation. The challenge is comprised of four levels of recognition, each with five action categories: Educate; Organize; Reduce, Reuse, Rethink; Connect; and Advocate. These actions will help us integrate creation care throughout the life of AHCC.

AHCC has earned recognition of Level 3 of the SNEUCC Green Congregational Challenge!

We would love to hear from you. And we would welcome your help and participation in any way. The Climate Action Group meets once a month, on a Wednesday evening via Zoom.

Please contact AHCC Climate Action Group:
Pieter Werner – cell 860 502 0170, pieter.werner2454@gmail.com