Earth Day 2006
Honoring our Home, Planet Earth

Resources for Children, Youth, Families, and Religious Educators
Congregational Story

Earth Day Bags? Social Witness for the Earth with Children

By Rachel Tayse Baillieul
Co-Director of Religious Education
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, Ohio

Last year on Easter Sunday, the combined Sunday School class explored a different holiday, Earth Day. We began by reading a story by author Joe Miller  that questioned how humans would act "if the Earth were only a few feet in diameter ." Young people were engaged in this story, noting that it couldn't really happen, but wouldn't it be beautiful to see whales in the ocean, polar bears on the ice caps and all the people?

Then, the children decorated paper grocery sacks with messages and pictures about Earth Day. Their finished bags were too lovely to leave in storage until Earth Day, so they are displayed now in the window hallway for the he congregation to look at carefully and read the creative and inspiring messages.

Why decorate paper bags? The students are participating in a national project called Earth Day Bags. Students from around the country draw slogans on grocery sacks, return them to the store, and they are used on Earth Day. The project reminds students that using cloth bags is better than paper bags, but sometimes getting the message out is even more important. You can read more details on the website .

I am pleased that First UU is part of this project because it teaches another way to 'do' social justice. Many young people participate in projects where they collect goods or money for a cause. Many put their own time into clean-ups or other active supports of a cause. But many children do not know that spreading the message - saying what you think is right clearly and loudly - is also a way of acting with social justice at heart. As Earth Day approaches, let us all be examples with the young people to speak, act, and give in support of this important holiday.

• Earth Day & Global Warming: Frequently Asked Questions and Resources for All
• Earth Day 2006: Honoring our Home, Planet Earth

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