Our mission is to:
Here are decisions we made on October 26 (Pam, Paula, Jane, Ed, Julian, Jerry, and Leslie, plus Doris Utke).
On December 14, after the second service, we will have an all-church alternative Christmas, with a children's "gift shop." This will be in the Social Hall and downstairs, as last year.
September 14: We had a Lunch and Learn on September 14. "Women and Water: An International Perspective." The Arts Committee of the Minnesota Metro branch of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom* presented on local and international water issues and how they affect the lives of women especially in developing countries. They concluded their presentation with lively music by their water bottle percussion band, with audience participation (the band is intended to encourage creative recycling of plastic water bottles). The committee gave a $75 honorarium to the WILPF Arts Committee.
*WILPF is the oldest women's peace organization in the world, emerging from a meeting of American and European women in 1915 in The Hague. The women came together to try to affect the course and outcome of World War I, and after learning the details of the Treaty of Versailles, saw the need for an international peace organization. WILPF has sections in 39 countries and about 76 U.S. branches. It has consultative status with the UN and an international office in Geneva. Water issues have been a primary focus of the U.S. section of WILPF since 2005. Minnesota Metro is the Minnesota branch of WILPF; new members are always welcome. See www.wilpfmn.org or email info@wilpfmn.org for more information.
September 7: At Rally Sunday, we talked to people about water conservation and had two demonstrations. One showed how many water bottles the average American goes through in a year. The other was a bottled water vs. tap water taste test. Here's Judy Helgen's Here and Now submission on the subject:
You may be surprised that bottled water is less rigidly tested than public water supplies. You may know Americans buy lots of bottled water (28 billion bottles a year!); you may not know the impact on the environments where the water is drawn (lakes, streams, local wells), nor the energy costs of producing and landfilling all the waste. For instance, about 17 million barrels of oil are used annually to make water bottles, enough oil to run 1 million cars. For more information, stay tuned through the year.
Our committee decided that the focus should be on water. There are many concerns that water could become increasingly scarce, and that too few people know about the dangers. The following articles provide a good starting point:
Is Water Becoming the New Oil? on commondreams.org
Revealed: The Massive Scale of UK Water Consumption on guardian.co.uk
Outer Shelf Isn't the Answer to Oil Problems, by Rolf Westgard
How to avoid eating genetically modified food and find organic food, by Food First (scroll to bottom of page -- it's #4)
A fairly simple way to save millions In energy, by Gene Logsdon in the Energy Bulletin
Using coal cleanly, not renewables, is our only hope for future energy, by Rolf E. Westgard, on windaction.org
Priced Out of the Market, from the New York Times
Ethanol Madness, by Rolf E. Westgard
How To Build a Real Climate Movement, from Gristmill.com
The Last Empire: China's Pollution Problem Goes Global, from MotherJones.com
Congregations Caring for Creation
Cool Climate Calculator, from Berkeley.edu
Macalester Plymouth United Church
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