On July 21 the Sierra Club will show two films on the Gulf Oil Spill and what we can do about it. Movie will be shown here at the church. Stan has agreed to contribute the filing fee for obtaining the needed IRS tax exempt status. We need the status to apply for the Kroger companies grant. Jan is spearheading this effort.
Our refrigerator has started using very high amounts of electricity. A recycling grant of $50 is available to the church if we replace it with an efficient model.
PotLuck was last night. (Come the third Saturday of every month for dinner and a movie.
We lit a candle for Betty, who is still sick, one for Marco who is moving to California and a candle for the earth.
Mark Waite came to talk to us about Sustainable Reynoldsburg. It is a new community group started by just six residents in Reynoldsburg in 2009. Mark said it was a pair of long words that, even taken together are not terribly grand. Yet, they are making changes.
The planning and development of suburbs such as Reynoldsburg Ohio was based on the belief that there were no serious limits to cheap fossil fuels and other natural resources. The planners believed that our world will take all the greenhouse gas and pollution we throw at it. They believed that national chains are an adequate substitute for locally-owned businesses with a stake in the community.
Sustainable Reynoldsburg sees things differently and want to nurture a sense of community and take better care of our local and global environment. The vision for the group is to foster a way for people to connect with each other to do good things. They are trying to create a way for local residents to connect for practical action, positive discussion, and information to help make our community and homes resilient, liveable, and healthful into the future.
The “sustainable” movement is a wide variety of local groups. Mark has worked in other countries and he said members of communities have common circumstances the world over. Being a citizen is
In Candide by Voltaire, the hero travels the world over looking for perfection and ends up believing that working at home, as an individual, is important work. What does it mean to be a member of the Reynoldsburg community? This was the question also raised by David Soliday last week. According to Mark, it is partly to extend love to those around us and to be politically engaged to achieve wider change. What do we do in Reynoldsburg to affect climate change? For one thing, every time we tromp on the gas pedal we use finite resources.
Being a citizen is inextricable from being a good environmental citizen. Being a good citizen is being a good neighbor. Being a good neighbor involves sharing resources.
Sustainable Reynoldsburg is a very small active group of local residents who asked what can be done to help the community be resilient. As residents of Reynoldsburg (if only by church affiliation) “they” becomes “we.” We meet every 3 to 4 months. We use the group to combine energies but have not done anything to cause great publicity to come upon us.
Safe routes to schools: Anew initiate to help students walk and bike safely to school. Each school has a transportation plan, bike safety training, safety enforcement. Some schools start ‘walking schoolbuses.” We hope to leverage this beyond children to get people to ask why is the community question always framed in terms of cost instead of value.
Livingston Community garden: We are the motivating force behind this aspect of the city initiative to revitalize the Brice Livingston neighborhood. In taking responsibility to lay out plots when the snow was still on the ground, we find that others enthusiastically follow.
http:/groups.google.com/group/sustainable-reynoldsburg/
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago at 3:51 pm. Add a comment
Darby and Rachel helped Thurman clean up his apartment this week and Thurman wanted to thank them publicly. Nick is back in Ohio from College this week. He encountered first hand the mountain-top removal process for mining and he said it was much worse than people realize.
The children’s story this week is “OH the places you’ll go”
Our Community is Our Mountain. It is said, don’t bring the mountain to Mohamed, bring Mohamed to the Mountain.
We host AA meetings and The Humanist groups. We support individuals and we support each other. We invite out members to speak here on Sundays. We have something to offer the neighborhood, the City, the World.
Neighborhood churches transform neighborhoods. Hospitality, discernment, healing, contemplation, testimony (Sharing transformation), diversity, Justice in how we treat each other, worship in how we celebrate what is good, reflection in how we see things from other’s prospective, beauty.
Transformation takes place at the grass roots level. We are the community, we should be involved in the community.
Whatever you ask for in faith, you shall receive.
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago at 10:09 am. Add a comment
The Sierra Club and 1 Sky are joining a national demonstration of people outraged at the disaster of the Deep Water Horizon drilling gusher on the Gulf of Mexico (and beyond). It is actually a very brief action. People who care will be joining hands for 15 minutes at noon EST this coming Saturday June 26th.
There are two locations in Columbus. Hoover Dam and Weiland Park (a city park near OSU campus). The assembly time will be 11 am. It will take longer to drive than to carry through the symbolic action. To be a part of the visible reaction of individuals to powerful energy industries is small but united can be potent. Also UU First Church is informed and invited to participate in Hand Across the Sand.
For info and directions go to:
http://handsacrossthesand.org/organize.php?state=Ohio
If you have any questions contact Becca at (614) 260-1319
or nicole.sierraclub@gmail.com (614) 461-0734 ext306
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago at 9:51 am. Add a comment
Proclamation 8537 of June 18, 2010
Father’s Day, 2010
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
From the first moments of life, the bond forged between
a father and a child is sacred. Whether patching
scraped knees or helping with homework, dads bring joy,
instill values, and introduce wonders into the lives of
their children. Father’s Day is a special time to honor
the men who raised us, and to thank them for their
selfless dedication and love.
Fathers are our first teachers and coaches, mentors and
role models. They push us to succeed, encourage us when
we are struggling, and offer unconditional care and
support. Children and adults alike look up to them and
learn from their example and perspective. The journey
of fatherhood is both exhilarating and humbling–it is
an opportunity to model who we want our sons and
daughters to become, and to build the foundation upon
which they can achieve their dreams.
Fatherhood also carries enormous responsibilities. An
active, committed father makes a lasting difference in
the life of a child. When fathers are not present,
their children and families cope with an absence
government cannot fill. Across America, foster and
adoptive fathers respond to this need, providing safe
and loving homes for children facing hardships. Men are
also making compassionate commitments outside the home
by serving as mentors, tutors, or big brothers to young
people in their community. Together, we can support the
guiding presence of male role models in the lives of
countless young people who stand to gain from it.
Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may
be raised by a father and mother, a single father, two
fathers, a step-father, a grandfather, or caring
guardian. We owe a special debt of gratitude for those
parents serving in the United States Armed Forces and
their families, whose sacrifices protect the lives and
liberties of all American children. For the character
they build, the doors they open, and the love they
provide over our lifetimes, all our fathers deserve our
unending appreciation and admiration.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, in accordance with a joint
resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, as
amended (36 U.S.C. 109), do hereby proclaim June 20,
2010, as Father’s Day. I direct the appropriate
officials of the Government to display the flag of the
United States on all Government buildings on this day,
and I call upon all citizens to observe this day with
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. Let
us honor our fathers, living and deceased, with all the
love and gratitude they deserve.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord two
thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
(Presidential Sig.)
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago at 2:51 pm. Add a comment
