[Green] Please review
frogdlm at gmail.com
frogdlm at gmail.com
Tue Jun 4 15:09:38 CDT 2024
Greetings Greenies,
Jim and I will be co-chairing GS for June and July. We were unable to
attend the May meeting. I have read over the minutes from our illustrious
scribe, Adeline and they look very informative to me. For those in
attendance at the May meeting, please review and let me know if there are
any additions or corrections.
Mahalo, Debra
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta
Green Sanctuary Committee Meeting
12:30 p.m., Sunday, May 19, 2024
In person RE/Office Building - Parlor, with Zoom option available
In attendance: in person - Adeline and Mike Bailey, George Banziger, Vic
Elam, Dawn Hewitt, Ginnie McNeil, Rebecca Phillips, and Cindy Taylor; on
Zoom - Anne Sparks.
Co-chair Dawn Hewitt called the meeting to order at 12:38pm.
Minutes of the April meeting were approved as submitted.
Do we want to sponsor "The Work That Reconnects" ?
Dawn moved that the Green Sanctuary committee sanction/sponsor this
in-person workshop led by Rev. Hillary Krivchenia. George Banziger seconded
the motion.
Discussion: The workshop is already underway, offered in five weekly
sessions in the FUUSM Social Hall, with a suggested $50 fee per participant.
Since Rev. Hillary is a friend of the congregation, not a member, having
GSC sponsorship would authorize the workshop as a congregational activity.
The motion passed unanimously.
Common Ground, the documentary about health and climate change benefits from
regenerative agriculture,was screened April 21st, hosted by GSC. Farmers
from Sugar Butte Farm near Lowell attended and shared in the discussion
after the screening. Interfaith Power and Light offered the film as part of
their Earth Day programming this year, and required in-person screening
during a set period around Earth Day 2024. Although GSC had already acquired
the DVD, Ginnie McNeil learned that FaCT Ohio would be donating a copy to
FUUSM as an anchor congregation. The DVD will be made available in the FUUSM
library for sign-out and home viewing.
Adeline Bailey announced that Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action would be
offering a follow-up discussion on regenerative agriculture and climate
change, meeting on Zoom only, on Thursday, May 23rd, with panelists
including the Gibsons from Sugar Butte Farm and others. Several additional
panelists were suggested.
Solar Charging Bench Update - Dawn Hewitt and Adeline Bailey
Dawn will contact Jay Warmke regarding assessment of flood damage to the
workings of the bench. The charging ports and lights are not operational at
this time. Updated signage will be needed at the beginning of June. Ginnie
MdNeil volunteered to gather info for the July calendar of events, and
Rebecca Phillips will work on the August calendar. Dawn and Adeline Bailey
have templates to create the posters and will get them laminated and
installed.
Ecological Restoration projects - Mark Krivchenia
Mark was not available for the meeting today.
Native Plant Sales in Marietta will be held Saturday, June 1, at the
Marietta Farmers Market. GSC volunteered to participate and share
information about the Harmar area pollinator habitat and Homegrown National
Park program during market hours (9am-1pm). Rebecca Phillips volunteered
for a shift from 9 to 11am; Dawn volunteered for the 11am to 1pm shift.
Rural Action and Native Roots will be selling native plants.
Pollinator Habitat (Rebecca's report at end of minutes) Rebecca is looking
for more volunteers. Although there have been some efforts to involve Girl
Scouts and high school youth, adult volunteers with strength and skills to
supervise and complete tasks are not currently available. The Heritage
Garden section, located in a flat area at the top above the habitat, needs
to be planted, and weeding and removal of Bermuda grass is an ongoing
problem.
FaCT Ohio updates - Ginnie McNeil
Ginnie said the recent Distinguished Speaker program with author Justin
Nobel discussing his new book, Petroleum 238, and his research on radiation
hazards from fracking and injection wells, was well attended, both in person
and on Zoom. She noted that several GSC members were in the Zoom audience.
Their June 15th program will feature Jennifer Ackerman, speaking on her
book, What an Owl Knows. The July program will be presented on July 24 by
Jake Bittle, on his book, The Great Displacement.
FaCTOhio continues their efforts to develop a youth education program
statewide.
MOVCA update - Cindy Taylor and Adeline Bailey
MOVCA's follow-up panel discussion on regenerative agriculture will be
presented on Zoom this coming Thursday, May 23.
Their climate Ambassador program is seeking applicants entering 9-12 grades
in the 2024-2025 school year. Twelve spaces are available; some candidates
have already completed the interview process. More info is available at
movyouthca.com, the Climate Ambassador website.
Kayla Engle is the new coordinator for the program.
GSC Worship Service
Dawn said GSC had received a thank you note from the Worship and Music
Committee for the service presented April 14th.
Updates: ReImagine Appalachia, CCL, OCEC/SAI, Devola pollinator project,
Save Ohio Parks, Injection Wells - George Banziger (full report at end)
Highlights from George's report:
CCL OH 6 CCL state leaders ask that members wishing to promote candidates or
participate in protests act as individuals "outside of CCL." George says he
will continue to be involved as such. Several GSC members discussed their
concerns about the positions on climate held by current candidates for the
Ohio 6 district representative to the US House of Representatives.
SAI/OCEC projects OCEC has received a grant from the Marietta Community
Foundation to support educational programs on block chain and agricultural
uses in heat transfer technology.
Devola pollinator corridor George continues to use Neighbors Nextdoor to
promote a project to plant land disrupted by recent sewer line work in
Devola with native pollinator seeds.
Injection Wells George discussed his concerns about Deep Rock Solutions' CEO
Brian Chavez, who is currently completing the term left vacant when Frank
Hoagland left office, and will be on the ballot in November 2024, running
for a full, four-year term. Reports were published recently about leaks
from wells operated by Deep Rock, with clean-up costs being paid by the
state, with no reimbursement from Deep Rock. Anne Sparks said Ari Faber from
Athens will be running against Chavez in November.
Save Ohio Parks. Anne Sparks said that SOP received the community engagement
award at a recent Ohio Environmental Council gala. The Ohio Oil and Gas
Commission will meet Monday on nominations for fracking leases on public
lands. SOP plans to protest at the meeting, concentrating on the loss of
water for fracking and reports of high rates of cancer in areas near
contaminated wells.
Disinformation. George also said that Dr. Randi Pokladnik has volunteered to
do a program on carbon capture for GSC, citing concerns about
disinformation.
Upcoming Events Dawn suggested that GSC might support participation in the
June MultiCultural Festival in Parkersburg at City Park, especially if
FUUSM would be hosting a table/booth at the event. Since it is scheduled
concurrent with the UUA General Assembly this year, no announcements have
been forthcoming about participation, however the FUUSM annual picnic is
scheduled at City Park on the closing Sunday of the Festival.
Other Concerns Vic Elam mentioned that GSC should be involved in some way
with Marietta's recently announced riverfront revitalization project,
possibly funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. Members discussed
needing more information about the plans.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:07pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Adeline Bailey, scribe
Next GSC meeting: Sunday, June 16, 2024, 12:30 p.m. in the FUUSM RE/Office
building and on Zoom.
--- Addenda ---
Reports from George Banziger to Green Sanctuary Committee
For Meeting of May 19, 2024
ReImagine Appalachia. Some upcoming events (register on their web site)
-May 27, 11 a.m. -1 p.m. Appalachian Sustainable Finance Hub
(facilitating resources & connections for economic development)
-May 30 REAP Funding, Rural Energy for America Program (funding
for farmers and small businesses in rural areas to promote energy
efficiency)
Citizens Climate Lobby (I serve as the group leader for the Marietta
chapter)
We have continued our enhanced collaboration with the Mahoning
Valley CCL chapter (also in OH 06). Since Bill Johnson has left his seat in
the House (January 2024) to assume the presidency of YSU, we have been
focusing on our two US senators. CCL-Ohio is still looking for someone to
serve as liaison with Senator Sherrod Brown's office.
No response yet from Senator Vance's office on my idea to
arrange an "Appalachian Forum" to discuss energy end environmental issues
with a staff member from his office. I'll resend the request.
CCL-National encourages us to focus on lobbying sitting members
of Congress and not to engage in partisan support for particular candidates
running for office in our CCL capacity, nor should we protest issues like
fracking in our capacity as CCL members. I told John Sabin, our temporary
state coordinator of CCL, that we in eastern Ohio are very concerned about
issues like fracking and injection wells and will support candidates with
similar views to ours and will publicly protest issues like fracking under
public lands while not identifying our membership in CCL. These activities
may detract from the time we can devote to CCL actions. An example of this
issue is the active support of many of us in CCL 06 for the Democratic
candidate for Congress in this district in anticipation of the June 11
special election.
Organization of Clean Energy & Climate (I serve on the advisory group of the
OCEC non-profit)
We received official notice last week that OCEC has been awarded
a grant of $7,582 from the Marietta Community Foundation. This grant will
support the acquisition of supplies for the greenhouse at the Gravel Bank
Road site (between Marietta & Belpre) and costs of curriculum development in
applied computer technology (relevant to heat-capture practices) and
agriculture (relevant to growing vegetables in the greenhouse).
Dr. Tao, Executive Director of OCEC, and I are identifying and
pursuing other grant options, particularly from the U.S. Department of
Energy.
He has also made arrangements with the Washington County
Commissioners to provide heating (from data centers) for the county jail.
Devola Pollinator Project
On April 18 I delivered seeds, planting instructions, and a
species list to the first family to request the seeds. I look forward to
delivering the sowing materials to the remaining families who have already
expressed interest and more families as word of mouth spreads the message
about the project. Last week I posted on Next Door Devola another reminder
about the availability of seeds for native plants from me while also
reminding people in the area about the FUUSM plant sale and the June 1 event
at Marietta Farmers' Market where native plants will be available for
purchase.
Injection Wells
I have no news about the legal case Bob Lane has taken against
injection well companies. My offering for the Climate Corner of the June 1
edition of the Parkersburg News & Sentinel is about fracking.
GSC members may have read about our newly appointed (by the
governor) state senator, Brian Chavez, who is the Chief Executive Officer at
Deeprock Disposal. There was a major leak at one of his company's injection
wells, which ODNR cleaned up. He has yet to reimburse the state for the
costs of that clean up. I sent a letter to Governor DeWine about this
matter, pointing out that Chavez was a poor choice to represent the 30th
Ohio senate district because of his interest in injection wells, which are
opposed by a broad cross section of citizens in Washington County.
Save Ohio Parks
SOP is urging those concerned about fracking under public lands
to send comments to the Oil & Gas Land Management Commission about the
latest "nominations" for fracking at Egypt Valley Wildlife Area and Keen
Wildlife Area. These two "nominations" will be discussed by the OGLMC on May
20 in Columbus. SOP is organizing a protest of this anticipated approval at
the Ohio Department of Public Safety, 1970 W Broad St. Columbus, gathering
at 12:30 p.m.
Anne Sparks who is on the SOP Steering Committee may offer more
details on SOP
.##########
Pollinator Habitat Report, May 2024
Submitted by Rebecca Phillips
The habitat is doing its job of attracting pollinators and songbirds, but
its good soil continues to be a problem. Due to a lack of volunteers during
the optimal weeding season, the enthusiastic plants continue to encroach on
many of those from Andrew's design. I am looking at ways to protect them
without completely eliminating the more aggressive native volunteers, which
are beneficial plants in their own right. This may involve moving them to
the base of the slope where they can be more easily protected and leaving
the steepest parts of the site to the toughest plants.
The proposed heritage garden has not come into being. After an initial
flurry of interest and the creation of a mowing edge by volunteers from
Morning Rotary and Marietta College, there has been no sustained volunteer
weeding corps, and not enough plants have been donated to cover the site.
Despite heavy mulching and herbicide applications to control the bermuda
grass, the site is overrun by opportunistic invaders. Dimex has donated
three rolls of plastic lawn edging and is willing to donate more, but the
invasives will need to be removed for the barrier to have much effect.
Jen Tinkler of Main Street and I have been in discussion of possible
solutions to the poison hemlock that has moved in along the river since the
city removed vegetation and soil in that area. With the city's financial
problems, there is no staff to engage in hemlock control.
##########
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