Sustainability
The mission of the Grove Sustainability Project is to promote care of God’s creation by adopting practices that make our church campuses more sustainable and by working with our community on sustainable practices and environmental justice. The vision of the Grove Sustainability Project is that by 2030, The Grove will be recognized in the community as a leader in conservation, sustainability, renewable energy and an advocate for Climate Justice.
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The Grove Sustainability Project
The Grove UMC established a sustainability committee in 2017 to continue implementing sustainable practices within the church following the addition of solar panels to the roof in 2016. The team also began holding annual events in 2017 to provide the Woodbury community with informational opportunities to understand climate change and other important environmental issues. Each year in the spring, The Grove Sustainability Project sponsors Creation Care Sunday, a special service focused on stewardship of creation and environmental justice.
In 2021, the team changed its name to The Grove Sustainability Project to reflect our enhanced mission to expand outreach about sustainability matters within the church and the greater Woodbury and East Metro communities.
The Grove UMC has earned a City of Woodbury Environmental Excellence Award and is a Certified Cool Congregation and Climate Justice Congregation by Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light.
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Events
2017 - Climate Change and Renewable Energy (with MNIPL)
2018 - Solar House Party (with MNIPL)
2019 - Healing Minnesota Stories (with Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs and the MN Counsel of Churches)
2019 - Water Quality Forum (with Conservation Minnesota and the Freshwater Society)
2020 - Voting and Your Values (with Secretary of State Steve Simon, Woodbury/Cottage Grove League of Women Voters, and Sam Benson of MNIPL)
2021 - Climate Change in Minnesota: Nature’s Solutions and What We Can Do (with Sachiko Graber of The Nature Conservancy)
2022 – Electrifying Transportation: EVs, Hybrids, and You (with Rebecca Heisel of the Great Plains Institute)
