UMW: role models and leaders in protecting our environment

Captions: Naomi Yaeger, UMW Green Team Representative, asking trivia questions of the audience. (The winners got organic fair trade chocolate pieces). Some of the women in the audience.

Yesterday was Just Cap It Day and International Day of Climate Change Action or 350.org Day. In conjunction with this I gave a UMW Green Team presentation for the Minnesota UMW district officers training event held at the Koinonia Retreat Center in South Haven (which is about 15 miles south of St. Cloud). What a beautiful place to meet, especially with the colorful autumn leaves. I did have be to extra careful driving because of a few large slow-moving farm vehicles on the road. Fall is a beautiful season.

This event was attended by 83 women. I was excited to meet so many active leaders; women who are involved and working for social justice through their faith. I am pleased at their level of commitment to the environment.

I talked about why the Women's Division started a Green Team: because so many of the vulnerable are paying the price for environmental degradation. Instead of putting a bandage on the problem we need to get on the front end of the problem. Let's solve the issue instead of mopping up the mess.

We reviewed the UMW policies:

• Don't use bottled water. (If this is necessary consider larger containers and filters.)
• Avoid Styrofoam
• Use Chlorine-free paper
• Sign your Countdown to Copenhagen postcard, or do it online here. We want our president to attend this summit with the rest of the world leaders.

Remember, you are a role model for others and you DO have power. Every time you use or purchase something you are exercising that power. Choose wisely.

(Would you like me to speak at your UMW meeting, church event or a non-faith oriented event. I can tailor the presentation to your interests and can meet with large or small groups.

Popular topics include:

• making your own cleaning supplies
• food
• planning an environmentally-friendly event
• request your own topic

Contact me at naomi AT sundogpress DOT com

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Reducing CO2 with a Green Midday Lunch

Caption: James Merle and Tressa Erickson are members of the College of St. Scholastica's Earth Action club. The club provided a locally procured meal and encouraged students to compost food waste in their dorms with these tiny buckets. (See below.)

Three-hundred fifty, that's an important number. It is the number of the upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that our earth can sustain before we have damaging effects. Right now we are at 390 parts per million. But it IS POSSIBLE for us to reduce this. There are many things you can do. For example, did you know that the biggest culprit of fossil fuel usage in agriculture is fertilizers and pesticides? (Learn more at Sustainable Table.)

Today my daughter, Rebecca, was visiting, and we decided to participate in the Earth Action Green Midday Lunch at the College of St. Scholastica. Everything that the students provided for this lunch was locally grown or raised.

The lunch, held in Tower Hall at the Multicultural Center, was served on ceramic plates, and tumblers were provided for people to get water from the drinking fountain. We got there a little late, so we missed out on the lasagna, but we did get the vegetarian rotellini and blue corn chips. Our dessert, the apple crisp, was great.

Learn more about the International Day of Climate Action which is Oct. 24 at 350.org.

See more photos of the Green Midday Lunch here.

See the Twin Ports 350 blog here.

Learn about 350 Day of Action

350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in "Parts Per Million" in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it's the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.

Learn more about what people of faith can do here.

This is taken from the the 350 International Day of Climate Action

So here’s the plan. On October 24, we need you to organize an action in the place where you live, something that will make that most important number visible to everyone. People in more than 1000 communities around the globe have already announced plans—they’ll be school children planting 350 trees in Bangledesh, scientists hanging banners saying 350 on the statues on Easter Island, 350 scuba divers diving underwater at the Great Barrier Reef, and a thousand more creative actions like these. At each event, people will gather for a big group photo that somehow depicts 350--and upload that photo to the web 350.org. As actions take place around the world, we'll link all the pictures together electronically via the web--by the end of the day, we'll have a powerful visual petition linking together the entire planet that we can deliver to the media and world leaders.

So far more than 100 nations are taking part—it's shaping up to be to be the biggest day of grassroots action on global warming ever. But we need it to be much larger—we need you, in your village or town or city, to take part. It’s not hard—we can help you with materials and ideas. But you need to take the first step, by registering an action and starting to let your friends and neighbors know about it.

If you want to be environmentally-friendly, stay organized

I have found that the key to having an environmentally-friendly life is to be organized.

I subscribe to Flylady.net and to the Organizer Lady and they help me with organizational skills.

I found this message from the Organizer Lady very helpful:

1. New Message of the Day - DEADLY WORDS

Seven words that will kill the order in your
home are these, "I'm going to take care of that
soon." When they are often used, these are the
words of a procrastinator and procrastination is
poisonous to living an orderly life. It has two
traps that will snare us.

Leaching car battery

This battery was left on the couch and and the whitish trail is what leaked out.

Batteries need to be disposed of properly.