Monday, December 8, 2008

1st EcoTeam Meeting, Nov. 10, 2008

1st EcoTeam is now meeting on a monthly basis. And the November 10 meeting was another filled with ideas and plans as well as reports on activities.


There have been ecoteam presentations to several Sunday School classes. Joe DeLeon and cohorts shared the Intro class with Doubleaires and Voyagers. The classes went well although it is now felt that there isn’t quite enough time to do the 11 minute video in the intro class. We’re hoping someone will find one that’s 3 - 5 minutes so that could be used instead.

There’s also a need for videos of this type for the web site. Several people have seen “The Story of Stuff” and suggested that there could be an excellent class built entirely on that.
Glen Suhren did the global warming class for the Voyagers. It was a two part series and dealt exclusively with the scientific evidence. As an engineer, Glen has a good grasp of the science and communicates it well.
Tom Downing and John Holbert did two “First the Word” Saturdays on a topic near and dear to doom and gloom environmentalists: The end of the world.


The committee reaffirmed our commitment to education at the church. People are largely uninformed about the strong, public statements that the Methodist Church has made regarding our responsibility to the environment. These have been part of The Book of Discipline for many years.
It was felt that there needs to be more attention drawn to the fact that FUMC gets 10% of our energy from renewable sources while Northhaven gets 100% from renewables.



Joan Cole suggested that we see if we can get Dan Northcutt as a speaker for one of our events. He’s director of environmental studies at St. Mark’s and does superb presentations on global warming and renewable energy. We’re hoping to make connections with Rocky or Dana so a coordinated event might be planned.
Lennijo Henderson announced that she will be leading a six week study group on the connection between food and sustainability entitled “Menu for the Future.” The course will be held from 6 - 8 pm at the Micah Center at Cochran Chapel UMC and a light supper will be provided. The cost of the six session series is $90 and includes all course materials.
As we look toward 2009 we need to be thinking about the One Great Gift of Service activity. Right now we’re thinking an EcoFair will be our contribution. Tom also indicated that there is still a need for more desk recycling containers. Someone also suggested that we should also make sure that trash cans are located next to recycling containers in order to insure that the right items land in the most appropriate container.
We’re also looking at a tree planting in the Fall. Mike Holloway will talk to Wayne Smith about identifying a park where we might do this.

We hope to have another recycling drive. Joe said he’d like to get that off the ground this year but several indicated that it’s not likely till after the first of the year.
There was some discussion of the 1st EcoTeam website. We’ll be posting the notes for all our meetings on the blog and it will be sent to interested friends — along with a note that they can be taken off the mailing list if they desire.
Someone asked where the 1st EcoTEam blog is located on the church web site. Answer: It’s under Missions and Outreach. Decision: Change it to: Missions and Outreach → 1st EcoTeam.
The original notes from the Nov. Meeting are available here.