Creation Justice
The Green Team helps our church answer God’s call to care for all of creation. We focus on tangible, embodied action that integrates care for creation into the life of our community — introducing composting at coffee hour, installing solar panels on our church buildings, making plans to reduce our collective carbon footprint, and more. We get our kids involved too, with activities like our “Nature and Neighbors” summer program and Sunday School lessons about creation care. We welcome anyone interested in creation care to join us as we explore new ways we can be good stewards of the Earth.
In 2026, our congregation expanded our commitment to creation justice by voting unanimously to adopt the following covenant:
Creation Justice Covenant
Our Place in the Web of Life
We are inseparably part of the web of life; our well-being is dependent on the welfare of our neighbors and fellow creatures. As followers of Christ, we embrace our duty to care for all those who are poor, sick, unhoused, displaced, or marginalized. We know that climate change, pollution, declining biodiversity, and degradation of natural habitat disproportionately harm the marginalized and powerless. We also recognize the inherent value of the natural world and delight in it, independent of its usefulness to us.
Our congregation already has a history of bold ministry to preserve the natural world, including:
- installing solar panels on our Adams Street campus in 2018
- partnering with the UCC national setting as the recipient of their Climate Hope Grant to run a Nature and Neighbors summer program for children in 2023
- active advocacy in community groups such as Sustainable Milton
- introducing composting at all our church events
Therefore, affirming the divine gift of creation and our connection to God, each other, and the world around us, we, the United Congregational Church in Milton, Massachusetts, vote to become a Creation Justice congregation. In so doing, we commit ourselves as a congregation and as individuals to the intertwined responsibilities of caring for creation and seeking justice for the oppressed.
This commitment calls us to concrete actions.
Whereas, in October 2018 the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a special report that found that:
- climate warming greater than 1.5°C (2.7°F) risks unleashing far more severe climate change impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves, rainfall, and sea-level rise;
- that limiting warming to 1.5°C will require deep reductions in fossil fuel use and rapid, unprecedented transitions in all aspects of society, with global net emissions of greenhouse gases falling to zero no later than 2050
- that, even if this threshold is passed, there are clear benefits to reducing emissions as quickly as possible, asserting that “Every bit of warming matters. Every year matters and every choice matters”;
Whereas, in 2021, Massachusetts passed a landmark climate law that commits the state to achieving net-zero emissions of climate-warming pollution by 2050, and, in 2025, this goal was endorsed with 92% support by Milton’s Town Meeting;
Whereas, climate warming emissions in Milton are overwhelmingly generated by the use of fossil fuels in our homes and vehicles and the release of methane from organic waste that is sent to landfills;
Therefore, we pledge to:
- Replace fossil fuels in our church buildings with clean, renewable sources of energy by 2050
A. Develop a roadmap of projects necessary to achieve this goal within 12 months
B. Take the first step by installing a solar array at our Canton Avenue campus - Support our members and community to creatively and faithfully engage the challenge of eliminating the use of fossil fuels in their homes and vehicles by 2050
- Reduce waste by composting, recycling, and mindful consumption at our church events and in our homes
- Advocate for local, state, and federal policies that encourage a sustainable balance of human and natural flourishing
We further commit to ongoing prayerful discernment of the consequences of our choices for the earth and for human flourishing. We trust that, by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit will continue to reveal new ways we are called to care for creation and pursue justice.
