[Green] Minutes of July Green Sanctuary Committee meeting

[Dawn Hewitt]

Still no time for agenda, but did make time to read and edit the minutes from the July meeting. Adeline sent them promptly after the meeting. I intended to read and edit promptly, but got distracted. Here they are, finally, both as an attachment, and copied and pasted for the sake of those who to whom attachments often seem to be detached.

Thanks for being a greenie!  Prepping the agenda is nearly at the top of my to-do list!

—dawn


First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta
Green Sanctuary Committee Meeting
12:30 p.m., Sunday, July 16, 2023
In person RE/Office Building - Parlor, with Zoom option available
 
In attendance: Dawn Hewitt, Debra Miller and Jim Grecni, Adeline and Mike Bailey, Cindy Taylor, Shari Ballantyne, Vic Elam, Rebecca Phillips, and Ginnie McNeil in person; George Banziger, Lace Lynch, and Anne Sparks on Zoom..
 
After resolving some problems with the Zoom connection, Dawn called the meeting to order at 12:40pm.
 
Minutes of the June meeting were approved as submitted.
 
Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action’s plastic-free July campaign calendar was noted. Dawn, Adeline, and Cindy announced upcoming events, some of which will be offered at FUUSM. Of note is the presentation Plastics in Our Bodies and the Environment by Dr. Randi Pokladnik, scheduled for Thursday, July 20, at 7 p.m. Adeline mentioned the survey/contest investigating local businesses such as restaurants and grocery stores and encouraged GSC folks to register to participate. Anne Sparks mentioned an Athens effort, Rethink Plastics, as another campaign to check out on their website.
 
Ecological Restoration project - Mark Krivchenia 
Mark was not able to be at the meeting, since some of his restoration work is scheduled for Sunday afternoons. GSC members were encouraged to volunteer whenever possible. Dawn reported that Mark has been establishing a board of directors for the Friends of Ohio River Islands group. He has asked Dawn to be on the board, and she has accepted.
 
FaCT Ohio update
FUUSM is now an anchor congregation for FaCT Ohio, with Ginnie McNeil as liaison. Ginnie reported that FaCT Ohio is presently involved in grant writing and organizing a board training program. She encouraged GSC to reach out to other faith communities interested in “green” activities. Renewing “Just Dinners” —perhaps with a new name “Sustainable Supper” offered by Cindy Taylor—was suggested as a way to move forward with outreach. Dawn described her earlier attempt to contact other churches that got no response. Working through the Council of Churches was mentioned as a more effective way to make contact with other groups.
Ginnie announced the next program in FaCT Ohio’s Distinguished Speaker Series: on July 30, 8 p.m. Eastern on Zoom, historian Peter Schulman will be speaking on the history of coal extraction and its impact on domestic and international affairs. The speaker series will continue throughout the fall. Ginnie said the group is considering looking at the Indigenous perspective on climate change. Dawn suggested Robin Wall Kimmerer as a possible speaker.
Ginnie also discussed a green program for youth, hoping to get it going at FUUSM in September. Dawn suggested she talk to the Chalice Lighters project committee who share the interest in programs for religious education. She—in her role as “church lady”— has been working on a list of families with children to help them plan for reviving the BRIDGES program at FUUSM.
  
Pollinator Habitat - Rebecca Phillips (Report at end of minutes)
Rebecca reported that the habitat is in need of help with an abundance of plant growth that needs to be thinned out. She said the oversight group for the habitat is looking into revising their volunteer help and considering paying for regular workers to keep up with maintenance. With advice from local experts, water-safe herbicides have been applied to reduce some of the invasive weeds.
Harmar Days are scheduled for July 18–30, and help with tabling is requested. In preparation for the event, Rebecca is also requesting help next Sunday, July 23, with preparing seed packets to distribute at the event. She also described a handout that she is preparing and plans to purchase brochure paper with funds remaining in the DuPont grant.
Ginnie asked about youth participation, and Rebecca said it would be welcome, although for some of the work at the habitat a waiver would be required.
 
Solar Charging Bench
Mike Bailey reported that the desiccant pack he had tried was not working to keep the light box/poster display case from fogging up. Signage still to be developed will require moisture protection.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
 
Updates: Injection Wells, ReImagine Appalachia,CCL - George Banziger (report at end)
Injection Wells - George reported that two injection well sites have been shut down. Oil and gas producer Bob Lane’s appeal is still in the courts, and Lane thinks the shutdowns will help with his appeal.
ReImagine Appalachia - SAI, a new research center being developed just off Route 7 South near the Eramet site, will hold a grand opening on August 9. The facility combines data processing such as bitcoin mining with waste heat recovery and may create 50-100 jobs in the future. George said the new center is the kind of green economic development that ReImagine is promoting.
CCL OH 6 meets Monday at 7 p.m. on Zoom.
Fracking on public lands/ Save OhioParks. Letters in opposition to the three “nominations” currently under consideration must be submitted by July 20 to the Land Management Commission. Information regarding how to submit is available on the SaveOhioParks.org website.
 
Announcements
Rivers, Trails, and Ales event will be held in Marietta August 10–13.
Dawn will be away on August 20, date for the next GSC meeting; co-chairs Jim Grecni and Debra Miller will chair the meeting. [This proved to be inaccurate. Dawn will be here.]
AlleghenyFront.org covered the July 1 rally at Salt Fork. See their website for info.
 
The meeting was adjourned at 1:52pm.
 
Respectfully submitted,
Adeline Bailey, scribe
 
Next GSC meeting: Sunday, August 20, 12:30 p.m. in the FUUSM RE/Office building.
 

Addenda

Fort Street Pollinator Habitat Report from Rebecca Phillips

July 2023

The good news: everything is growing nicely.

The bad news: everything is growing!

 The habitat is experiencing an overgrowth of its more enthusiastic plants and is in need of more human hands to thin them. The coordinating committee and our Marietta Main Street contacts, Jen Tinkler and Shane Colvin, are discussing possibilities for additional maintenance help, including the possibility of hiring someone if funds permit. Kathy Davis of the Soil and Water Conservation District, who has worked with rain garden maintenance providers and funding sources, has offered to meet with us. Geoff Schenkel is following up with her.

 Harmar Days volunteers needed. The habitat will have a table again at Harmar Days the last weekend of July. Once I know the exact hours, I will put out a sign-up list, but we are probably looking at Friday evening, most of Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. We will also need a few people to help make seed envelopes after church on July 23.

 The memorial garden has received additional plant donations: achillea from the Hoffart children, flowering raspberry from Tom Steckel, and cannas from Sara Chichester.

 

Reports from George Banziger - July 2023

ReImagine Appalachia

On June 22 I attended an RA-sponsored webinar called, Making it in Appalachia. Representatives from the following organizations presented at this webinar: Ohio University, PittOhio, United Electrical Workers. One item raised at this event was the idea of electric school buses, which are made in West Virginia. I asked the superintendent of Marietta City Schools if there is interest in applying for funds to acquire these buses in his school district. He said he would consider this opportunity.

I would like to think that a recent initiative announced by the Southeast Ohio Port Authority had something to do with the meeting that two ReImagine Appalachia staff members and I had with Jesse Roush, Executive Director of the SEPA a few months ago. In May of this year Roush announced a new project, Recycle Technology Development Center, to be located just off  Route 7 south of Marietta near the Eremet facility. The non-profit organization behind this initiative is OCEC (Organization of Clean Energy & Climate) I have met a couple of times with Dr. Tao Wu, the Executive Director of OCEC in order to understand this technology. Basically, this technology involves capturing heat from computer chips and transferring this heat via water to places that require heat for agricultural purposes, manufacturing, and recreational needs. There will be a grand opening of this research facility on August 9 where the heat generating computers, water pumps, and a greenhouse will be presented to the public. Dr. Tao has asked me to serve on the advisory board to OCEC. This kind of facility, which would replace natural gas as a source of energy, is exactly the kind of energy-development project that ReImagine Appalachia has been recommending. This facility is a research center, which will hire 50-100 jobs when fully operational; it will also have an educational component affiliated with Washington State CC.

Citizens Climate Lobby

A legislative item that CCL is supporting is the PROVE-IT Bill, which would authorize precise calculation of the carbon component in all goods manufactured by U.S. and foreign producers. This bill was introduced recently in the U.S Senate and will be introduced soon in the U.S. House of Representatives. Information from projects supported by this bill will be used to determine costs for the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

The extreme weather (high heat in the south, flooding in New England, and the smoke from Canadian wildfires in the Midwest and east) is a cause of much suffering and even death but does offer the opportunity to connect these phenomena to human-caused climate change. I have asked CCL members locally to make that case in letters to the editor.

One of the persons involved in our CCL chapter asked Sam Hattrup, Congressman Johnson’s Legislative Director, about Marietta College’s new plan to expand its Petroleum Engineering/Geology Department and establish a new program called, Energy, the Environment, and Earth with some focus on renewable energy. Congressman Johnson (himself and through Sam) said that he would not support this program through any ear-marked funds because it neglects the long legacy of the college in educating for fossil-fuel extraction. After our meeting with Sam I contacted ReImagine Appalachia and received a list of federal grant programs that might support this new program; I sent that list to one of the people who is closely involved in developing the program. That person is quite supportive of including the idea of capping abandoned oil/gas wells into the new program.

HB 507, Fracking Public Lands in Ohio

Since this legislation has passed both houses of the Ohio legislature and was signed by the governor, those opposed to this issue are left with expressing our opposition to the Oil & Gas Land Management Commission in response to requests for permits from oil/gas companies. I attended (via live streaming) the meeting of this group on June 28, where Randi Pokladnik, Ted Auch, and a fireman from Youngstown, expressed their concerns to this group.

 

On July 1 I attended a rally at Salt Fork State Park by a group called Save Ohio Parks, which is organizing opposition to this plan. There were about 50 people at that rally including Randi Pokladnik and Aaron Dunbar; I did not see any members of the press.

George Banziger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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