[Green] Please review

Tue Jun 4 22:27:04 CDT 2024

Hello,
I see several typos that I missed before sending the minutes to Dawn.
Sorry about that!
Adeline

On Tue, Jun 4, 2024, 4:09 PM frogdlm--- via Green <green at fuusm.org> wrote:

> 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 Know*s. 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 30
> th 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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