GO see the movie “Trade” – then talk about it.

From the movie’s website:

The practice of slavery in the US is something most people think ended with the 13th Amendment in 1865, but in recent years it has returned in an even more virulent form. Fueled by the collapse of the Soviet Union and other eastern European countries, new technologies like the internet, and sieve-like borders, the traffic in human beings has become an epidemic of colossal dimensions. The State Department estimates that as many as 800,000 people are trafficked over international frontiers each year, largely for sexual exploitation. Eighty percent are female and over fifty percent are minors.Many people in this country push this atrocity out of their minds, believing that it only occurs in faraway countries like Thailand, Cambodia, the Ukraine and Bosnia. The truth is that the United States has become a large-scale importer of sex slaves. Free the Slaves, America’s largest anti-slavery organization estimates that at least 10,000 people a year are smuggled or duped into this country by sex traffickers.

When: Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Time: 7:00 pm—9:00 pm

Where: Sobeys Community Room,

9 Kinlock Road, Stratford, PE

Who: David Mikkelsen, Autism Treatment Services of Canada

Autism treatment services of Canada is a national affiliation of organizations that provide, or are actively planning to provide, treatment, educational, management and consultative services to people with autism and related disorder across Canada.

David Mikkelsen is the Executive Director of Autism Treatment Services of Canada and will be visiting Prince Edward Island to listen to Island families and share information about the organization. More information about ATSC available at www.autism.ca.

This discussion on local needs and supports will be of interest to all families of preschool and school-age with children affected by autism.

For more information or to RSVP, please contact April Ennis at aprilennis@gmail.com or (902) 620-1377. www.aprilennis.com

~ October is Autism Awareness Month ~

Interim Central Library Director Candy Bertelson recently posted to the project listserv to share what Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon is doing for their September Project, Banned Books Week, Freedom to Read, and the 2008 Election.

Their events include:

Writers Talking: Join Jewel Lansing who will discuss her book Portland: People, Politics, and Power, 1851-2001. Ms. Lansing was one of the first two women elected to Multnomah County government office and, since her retirement in 1986, spends her time researching and writing about history. This presentation will include a brief introduction to the history of politics in Portland, OR. Sunday, September 21, 1-2 p.m., Central Library

Vote 2008: Join Jim Moore, Professor of Political Science at Pacific University, for a discussion about the presidential hopefuls and the race to date.  Enjoy Dr. Moore’s commentary, bring questions for the group, and prepare to get involved in the debate.  Sunday, September 28, 1-2 pm, Central Library

Café Banned: Celebrating the Freedom to Read: Lawyer Steven T. Wax will be our guest speaker. As head of the Oregon Federal Public Defenders’ Office, Mr. Wax was responsible for representing inmates at Guantánamo. He also represented Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon lawyer who was falsely linked to the Madrid train station bombing. His book, Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror – A Public Defender’s Inside Account, examines this and other cases and the erosion of civil liberties in the wake of 9/11. Saturday, October 4, 1-2:30 p.m., Central Library

Ballot Measures 101: November Election Issues You Should Know About: Join the League of Women Voters of Oregon for a presentation and discussion about local ballot measures in the November election. Monday, October 20, 6:30-7:45 pm, Hollywood Library, and Wednesday, October 22, 6:30-7:45 pm, Central Library.

On Thursday, September 11 at 7 pm, Highland Park (NJ) Public Library will host author and professor Louis P. Masur for a presentation and discussion about race and other current issues.

Masur, a professor and director of the American Studies Program at Trinity College and a Highland Park resident, will talk about his recently published book, The Soiling of Old Glory: The Photograph That Shocked America, at the public library in Highland Park, New Jersey.

Masur’s book is about a photo taken on April 5, 1976 that fully exposed the racial tensions in the city of Boston during the era of forced school busing. The author uses this photo and others to show the powerful effect image has had on history and will open up discussion on race and other current issues.

If you had one wish for improving our campus environment, what would it be?
This is no fairy tale from once upon a time; our wishes can become reality! ANTS is holding a fundraising gala in late April and will offer guests an opportunity to donate some specific item to the campus. Each guest can choose from a list of suggestions what s/he wishes to donate.
We get to help make that list.

Some suggestions:
A book for the ANTS library–”The Sacred Depths of Nature”: $15
Filling in one pothole: $75
Small recycling bins all over campus: $1000
A weatherproof sign for the Mixed Recycling Bin: $100
A cardboard Recycling Bin: xx per month; xx per year
Retro-fitting one campus building for energy efficiency: xxx
Solar panels on the roof of Worcester: xxx
Endowing a professorship in Environmental Ethics or Eco-Theology: xxx

This is a chance for us to ask for what we want, and also to communicate our passions to those who support our school.
All suggestions are welcome; the Wish List is not limited to “green” items.
Post your comments and ideas here so we can brainstorm together, then send them to Dean Nancy Neinhuis by mid-April.
Have fun!

There certainly is a rich bounty of environmental events in the Boston Area. Have you seen these three upcoming events in February? Two of them include religious environmental themes!!!

The Great Warming

From the home page of Andover Newton’s website

At their December meeting the Andover Newton’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to cut the School’s energy consumption by 20% within the next five years. They called upon the entire seminary community to join them in this effort which they have committed to monitor closely and publish progress reports annually.

Board Chair David Smith saluted the action and challenged everyone to use their creativity in meeting this new goal. “It is a great expression of our School’s core value of stewardship and I hope we will surprise ourselves with the innovations this commitment can generate,” Smith said.

The unprecedented action was taken upon the strong recommendation of the Board’s new Standing Committee on Buildings and Grounds, chaired by Trustee Rowland Bates. Other members of the committee include: Trustees Ted Murray, Judy Swahnberg, George Peters, and Russ MacPherson; faculty rep Brita-Gill Austern; student rep Cristina Cabrera; and staff Frank Cavaco, Nancy Nienhuis, Bob MacDonald and Nick Carter.

The Committee has taken several steps in its efforts to chart a comprehensive campus development plan that includes a proactive approach to ecological sustainability. They have committed examine how all new building projects are designed and executed; explore the development of new partnerships for developing a “green” campus, and launch several recycling projects. “We have a long way to go,” observed Committee Chair Bates, “but the steps we have taken recently are a great beginning. We thank the Ecology Ministry for their advocacy and witness.”

Have you seen this list of 15 green religious leaders on Grist? Check it out! Who would you add to the list? Who’s on it already that you especially appreciate? Comment here and be sure to comment on Grist’s site as well!

A Synopsis on Greening Seminaries compiled by Julianna Donofrio from
The Forum on Religion and Ecology Newsletter
Issue 1.3 (November 2007)
Contents
Forum on Religion and Ecology

The Green Seminary Initiative: Developed by Laurel Kearns, Beth Norcross and David Rhoads and launched at this years American Academy of Religion (AAR) Conference in San Diego; this initiative will build a broad, diverse, active coalition of faculty, administration and students committed to creating sustainable seminaries communities that will model care for creation and that will equip pastors and other religious leaders with the tools needed to lead their congregations and communities in responding faithfully to the ecological challenge.

The Green Seminary Initiative builds on the work of Theological Education to Meet the Environmental Challenge (TEMEC) and is supported by the
• Forum on Religion and Ecology (FORE)
• Center for Respect of Life and Environment (CRLE)
• American Academy of Religion (AAR)’s Religion and Ecology Group
• Drew Theological School
• Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago

The Green Seminary Initiative is premised on two convictions.
• The religious community has a unique and significant calling to turn back human-caused environmental destruction and to participate in bringing all of creation into health and wholeness.
• Seminaries should provide clergy and religious leaders with the tools necessary for them to lead their congregations, communities and organizations in meeting their unique call to protect and restore creation.

The Green Seminary Initiative fosters efforts by theological schools to
• Incorporate care for creation into the identity and mission of the institution such that it becomes part of its ethos.
• Work in five program areas: education, worship, building and grounds, community life and personal discipleship, and public ministry.

Why a Green Seminary Initiative?
1. Through education, seminaries can develop foundational and elective courses to equip each graduate with the intellectual and practical tools they will need.
2. Creation care can become an integral part of courses across the curriculum.
3. Green seminaries can also become centers of scholarship on creation-related topics.
4. Through worship, faculty, staff and students come together as a Community with afforded opportunities for restoring and celebrating God’s presence.
5. Seminaries can provide opportunities to develop creation-care worship resources.

How Do Seminaries Model Eco-Sustainable Theology?
1. Through energy-efficient and sustainable buildings and environmentally sensitive grounds, seminaries—be a model and a laboratory for seminarians on how to limit their environmental footprint.
2. Bys showing at the institutional level how to model conservation of water, paper and energy, and use best practices in offices and the refectory.
3. By offering on-the-ground practical instruction on the building, financing and administration of creation-friendly buildings and grounds.
4. Through community life and personal discipleship, faculty, staff and students are encouraged to adopt personal and communal lifestyles that are simple and light on the earth.
5. By instituting food services, transportation, recycling, energy and paper usage will all respect and honor creation.
6. In public ministry by promoting ecological commitment in the broader religious community and in the world by offering creation care conferences, workshops and retreats and by providing printed and online resources.
7. Schools can also offer training to local religious leaders through continuing education and other means.

Where Do We Find Resources?
The Green Seminary Initiative are housed at the Lutheran School of Theology Chicago through the Web of Creation at www.webofcreation.org.
This website will provides
• Assistance to administrators, faculty, staff and students interested in greening seminaries.
• Reports from a broad spectrum of Seminaries on specific actions they are taking,
• Collections of syllabi for ecological courses.
• Links to relevant sites and networking opportunities.
• Step- by-step description of how to green a seminary.

What’s Next?
• To become a contact person for your seminary.
• To add a report of environmental actions at your seminary, or to submit syllabi.
Go to www.webofcreation.org, double-click on The Green Seminary Initiative, and follow the instructions.

Also:
To become involved with The Green Seminary Initiative or for more information about it, Please contact Beth Norcross at BethNorcross1@aol.com. Wesley Theological Seminary.

Available Now: Class Resources
• Developing a course on religion and ecology and want to see what others have done?
• Need a speaker on religion and ecology for one of your existing courses?
• Are you a student who wants to know where to go to study religion and ecology?
• Need video resources on religion and ecology?

Visit the class resources section of the forum on religion and ecology’s website: http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/education/classresources/index.html

If there is something missing that we should add, please email us: whitneybauman@religionandecology.org.

Other News and Upcoming Events
• A recent article in the Yale Daily News highlights the work that Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim are doing at Yale: http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/22132

• Here is an interview with Sarah McFarland Taylor about her new book, Green Sisters: A Spiritual Ecology (Harvard University Press): http://www.thestar.com/article/273256

• Conference of Religious Perspectives on Global Climate Change (lectures from people associated with the Forum on Religion and Ecology) pod cast now available & free. http://www.erb.umich.edu/HTML-email/news_events_other/perps-video-available.htm

• For a more comprehensive list of events, and archive of past events, please visit: http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/events/index.html

• 2nd Conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture National Autonomous University of Mexico, Morelia, Mexico January 17-20/08 http://www.religionandnature.com/society/upcoming.htm

• “Renewal” Sponsored by the Forum on Religion and Ecology of Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT. February 29-March 2, 2008, contact: tcmk@aya.yale.edu

Have you read about the Lights Out campaign taking place this Saturday in San Francisco?  Do you think we could pull it off at Andover Newton?

Check out this story, “Some Cities Try Going ‘Green’ With Blackouts,” in today’s Christian Science Monitor. 

Focus the Nation is an educational campaign going on now across this country. There are over 750 institutions already signed up. It culminates on January 31, 2008 with a national teach-in designed to engage millions of students and citizens with political leaders and decision makers about Global Warming Solutions.
January 31st is the first day of spring semester!

What should Andover Newton do? Please take a look at Focus the Nation’s website and reply to this post with your comments and ideas.

The current issue of Sojourners magazine is a vibrant read cover-to-cover.  But one article is a standout for seminarians.  Check out “The Green Gospel” and read their take on the three stumbling blocks seminaries need to face in order to effectively address the degradation of God’s sacred earth.