To all
"Greenies":
Please find
below the Green Team Report of "Making Connections", the Fairlawn
Lunch & Learn Seminar Series on Global Warming Jan/Feb 2007, starting with
the Executive Summary, followed by the full report.
Executive
Summary of Action Areas
Here are
the action areas for us to focus on for our "greening" initiatives. Please join an action area activity by notifying me – fairlawngreenteam@gmail.com - to
help us move forward in our efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions.
|
Action Area |
Participants |
|
1. LEED, property improvements |
John Cowan |
|
|
Nancy Risebrough |
|
|
Peggy Williams |
|
|
Tom Cullen |
|
2. Gardening |
Rob & Sue Metcalf |
|
|
Sheila Corkill |
|
|
Doreen Lander |
|
|
Peter Heinz |
|
|
Kathy Salisbury |
|
3. Buying locally-grown food |
Kathy Salisbury |
|
|
Rosalie Cowan |
|
|
Pat Deacon |
|
4. Communications, promotion |
Kathryn Cullen |
|
to educate and create excitement |
Sheila Corkill |
|
|
Tom Cullen |
|
5. Waste - R R R (reduce, reuse, recycle) |
Eleanor Heinz |
|
|
John Cowan |
|
|
Carolyn Hay |
|
6. Activism and Advocacy |
Rosalie Cowan |
|
|
John Cowan |
|
|
David Lander |
|
|
Marion Boyce |
|
|
Wilf Boyce |
If you weren't there for the meeting, or to signup for an action
item at the end of the meeting, simply email me at fairlawngreenteam@gmail.com and
let me know which of the 6 action items you would like to participate in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE
REPORT:
Summary
of the four Lunch & Learn Seminars on global warming:
Sunday
January 14 – Renewing the Sacred Balance
The Fit with Faith – Consider your own faith and what it
means in terms of stewardship of the planet. Hear ideas from
various other faiths on the sacred balance.
Greening Sacred Spaces – Learn about this initiative from Faith & the
Common Good to join with individuals and faith communities across Canada in
greening sacred spaces – in the home and places of worship – to help Canadians
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and live more sustainably.
Energy Action Planner – Share successes and questions on how to conserve energy
in your home from the checklist of ideas in the Energy Action Planner.
Sunday
January 28 – An Inconvenient Truth
The movie, "An
Inconvenient Truth", offers an inspirational look at the crusade to halt
global warming by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it, and
presenting scientific facts and projections on the increase in CO2, temperature,
hurricanes, melting glaciers and rising sea levels. The
movie emphasizes that there is still time to make a difference.
Sunday
February 11 – The Science of Climate Change
Dr. Paul Kushner, Assistant Professor of Physics,
This is a must see for anyone who is skeptical about the facts of global warming.
Sunday February 25 – "So, Now What?"
This session will provide an opportunity to discuss your thoughts on the
previous seminars and your reactions to what you’ve learned. We
will share insights into energy conservation activities of Stage 2 of the
Energy Action Planner, and consolidate our action ideas for implementation at
home, at church and in the community.
Session 1 - Sun.
Jan. 14 – Renewing the Sacred Balance
We viewed two videos (Greening Sacred Spaces
2003" and "Excerpts from the David Suzuki series, Renewing the Sacred
Balance"). We discussed the fit with faith as well as the Greening
Sacred Spaces program which includes the Energy Action Planner that 70 people
in the Fairlawn community have signed up to do.
The purpose of the
"Energy Action Planner" is to lower home energy usage as part of our
obligation as a faith-based community to preserve the health of our sacred
planet. This is a great way for each of us to begin to
make our own small contribution to reduce global warming. Collectively,
these small contributions really add up. (See
attachment - Energy Action Planner activities.)
Flip charts from
Session 1 - Jan 14
Objective for attending:
- Home
- Be a part of
a bigger whole - have a bigger impact
- Greening /
Greed connection
- Beyond what
we do at home
- How to
approach others and have a voice - part of a larger group
- Concern
about polar bears
- Groundswell
--> kids and grandchildren to care
- Political
will re carbon tax - national concensus
- Concern
about garbage:
- shipped
"away"
- packaging
- the technology is there!
- Disheartened
that politicians use the issue
- Community of
churches working together
- Urgency
- Need a
precipitating event
- Learn about
Bullfrog
Reactions to the Session 1 videos:
- Many faith
communities with the same objective
- Scale is not
the only issue
- interconnectedness
- one area affects all others
- Our
footprint is huge -- can't tell other nations [to improve their footprint until
we improve ours]
- Example -
ozone layer improvement
- Greening Sacred
Spaces (GSS) is national -
- Purpose of
our "Making Connections" seminars is:
- awareness, education
- action (e.g., starting with the Energy Action
Planner)
- Recycling in
our own church:
- recycle the
Sunday bulletin at the back of the church in recycle bins
- do not leave
them in the pews
Session
2 - Sun. Jan. 28 – The movie "An Inconvenient Truth"
We viewed
the Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth" and shared a handout from
their web site "What you can do" (see attachment).
Session 3
- Sun. Feb. 11 – The Science of Climate Change
The presentation from Dr. Paul Kushner will be available in the near future as a link from our Green Team page on the Fairlawn web site http://www.fairlawnheights.ca/greenteam.htm
Session 4 - Sun. Feb. 25 –
"So, Now What?"
Lunch and
filling out the Energy Action Planner survey Stage 2
Review
original objectives from Session 1 - Jan 14
Video from
Greening Sacred Spaces
Brainstorm
actions, initiatives
Breakout
groups, and reporting back
Objective for Session 4 Feb 25
The goal is
to "TURN OUR LEARNINGS INTO ACTIONS"
Vision brainstorming at Session 4 Feb 25
LEED
certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
Lead by
example and reputation
Re-using
furniture, etc. - run or participate in a "furnishings bank"
Be the
composting/garbage magnet
Everyone
involved builds community
Three
spheres: work/community/home
Brainstorm action ideas in Breakout groups at Session
4 Feb 25
- Transportation - Promote car pooling to church and to other locations.
- Influence
work environments - we
could take our message to our work places.
- Education - lead by consciousness raising
- Promote ourselves as a
"green" church - put a "green" emblem on our church sign
1.
LEED, property improvements
4.
Communications, promotion to educate and create excitement
5.
Waste - R R R (reduce,
reuse, recycle)
|
One Green Team member will liaise with each of the six Action Areas. |
Thanks to all
of you for your participation, input and action!
LEED -
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
see: http://www.cagbc.org/building_rating_systems/leed_rating_system.php