[Green] Please review

Wed Jun 5 06:00:27 CDT 2024

I missed the typos (not fully caffeinated yet), but this looks good to me.

Rebecca

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."-- Cicero
________________________________
From: Green <green-bounces at fuusm.org> on behalf of frogdlm--- via Green <green at fuusm.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 4, 2024 4:09 PM
To: green at fuusm.org <green at fuusm.org>
Cc: frogdlm at gmail.com <frogdlm at gmail.com>
Subject: [Green] Please review

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.

##########

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://fuusm.org/pipermail/green_fuusm.org/attachments/20240605/09a6a196/attachment.htm>