Ecological Civilization:

Earth, Religion & the Human Future

With David Korten, Rev. Dr. Lucy Hitchcock, Aly Tharp & Michael Cox

                        
      

A Webinar to give our responses to the GA program, “Ecological Civilization: Earth, Religion and the Human Future.”

Please join UU Ministry For Earth, UUs for a Just Economic Community and Cedars UU Church, Bainbridge, WA on Thursday, July 14 at 5 PT, 6 MT, 7 CT and 8 ET, for our opportunity to reflect with David Korten on his vision for an Ecological Civilization and how we, as people of faith, can bring it into being.

Let us step out of the quagmire of war, disease, insurrection, political discord and impending climate disasters to focus on the positive steps we, Unitarian Universalists, are and will be taking to create and implement our vision of a better world for all.  Bring your clarifying questions, ideas, and examples from your experience of what our next steps can be.  Look through the attached Discussion Guide which provides a framework for our webinar conversation. 

If you have not yet seen the “on demand” video presentation, of “Ecological Civilization: Earth, Religion and the Human Future” from GA, or wish to see it again, you may view our recording of it beginning on June 27: click here to see the video workshop.

Join the Discussion! Program Follow-up Conversation
Thursday, July 14 - 5-6:30 PT /  6-7:30 MT / 7-8:30 CT / 8-9:30 ET
Hosted by UUs for a Just Economic Community and UU Ministry for Earth - Join presenters Lucy Hitchcock, David Korten, Michael Cox, and Aly Tharp in a follow-up discussion! This will be a time for audience engagement and robust dialogue.  See discussion guide here.
Register Here - https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwsf-2qqjMoH9LNUka71YzfgfW-k_cb0uyA 
 
For more information and resources from the workshop panelists, visit:
https://davidkorten.org/
https://uujec.org
https://www.uumfe.org/
https://www.cedarsuuchurch.org/justice/green-action/

   Cindy Piester 

2022 Action of Immediate Witness Proposal 

 Thursday, May 12 

 Watch the recording here: YouTube 

 Pressed for time, watch the slide show instead.

Dr. Chris Jones

Thursday, April 28 

Watch the recording on UUJEC's Facebook Page Live.  

Chris Jones is a Research Engineer with IIHR Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Iowa.  His research focuses on water quality in agricultural watersheds of the US cornbelt.  He has a bachelor's degree in chemistry and biology from Simpson College, and a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Montana State University.  He has previously worked at the Des Moines Water Works and the Iowa Soybean Association. 

Register to join via Zoom, so you can participate in the discussion.

To begin not shopping, pick up the book at your public library.

UUJEC Board Member, Rev. Bob Murphy, joins

Congresswoman, Rep. Frederica Wilson and other experts.

Florida has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 3.7 million cases and more than 62,000 deaths related to the disease.

The pandemic has laid bare the dangers our profit-driven health care system. It is past time to demand Medicare for All.

 January 27 8 PM EDT watch the webinar Discussion with Producer Robert Lang here.

Doris Marlin's Review of COP 26.

Thursday, January 13   View the recording here. 

Doris Marlin, Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth & Green Sanctuary Program; Strengthen Local Climate Commitments (SLCC) Campaign Coordinator, Member, All Souls Church UU, Washington DC Doris Marlin has been Unitarian Universalist since 1985 and a Board Member of the Unitarian Universalist Ministry For Earth. She is a member of All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, DC. 

Retired from federal service, she has an academic background in water resources management with 30 years of experience applying and credentialed in project and risk management. As the UUA Civil Society Observer Delegation Head for COP 26 in Glasgow, Doris and the delegation channelled attention towards the social justice and UUSC / UUA priorities that: Fulfill the US Fair Share of the Green Climate Fund, Dedicate funding for Loss and Damages, and submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) consistent with the goal of preventing warming that exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius

                                     Medicare (dis)Advantage with Diane Archer

November 30  View the recording: here

Diane has been leading the effort to build Just Care so that it helps ensure people's health and economic security.  Diane currently serves on the Board of Consumer Reports and the Benedict Silverman Foundation.

It’s Medicare Open Enrollment season, and you are likely getting bombarded with pitches to sign up for different Medicare plans. Here are four things to think about: The doctors you can see, your costs, the care you’ll get and the administrative hurdles you’ll face, particularly if you develop a costly condition. Unlike Medicare Advantage, traditional Medicare gives you easy access to care from the doctors you want to see anywhere in the US. Medicare Advantage gives you an out-of-pocket cap, some additional benefits, and an insurance company that profits more the less care you get. What should you do?

Here are four articles that Diane has written about Medicare Advantage.

https://justcareusa.org/choosing-between-traditional-medicare-and-medicare-advantage-plans/
https://justcareusa.org/well-kept-secrets-of-medicare-advantage-plans/
https://justcareusa.org/ten-ways-medicare-advantage-plans-differ-from-traditional-medicare/
https://justcareusa.org/people-with-serious-health-needs-more-likely-to-disenroll-from-medicare-advantage-plans/

 Author Stan Cox

Thursday, November 11  

View the YouTube Recording here 

The crises that collided in 2020—climatic disasters, the pandemic, economic breakdown, near-collapse of the U.S. food system, unconstrained police violence—all disproportionately impacted marginalized communities. Various legislative initiatives to end these crises, including the Green New Deal, contain some solid “New Deal” policies for economic and racial justice; however, the “Green” policies remain wholly inadequate. The crucial but missing piece is a fast-falling cap on quantities of oil, gas, and coal that can come out of the ground and into the  economy each year, reaching zero within 15 years. Adapting to the cap will require that sufficiency, equity and fairness, not economic growth, become U.S. society's central aims.

Read Stan Cox's recent cover story for YES.

Thursday, October 28 

To watch the recording, click here.

Alan Michael Collinge is Founder of StudentLoanJustice.Org, a grassroots organization, and political action committee. He holds B.S., M.S., and Eng. Degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.

Since Founding StudentLoanJustice.Org in March, 2005 as a result of his own personal experiences with college loans, Collinge has been featured on 60 Minutes, and also in print media including Fortune Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Phoenix, The Village Voice, Inside Higher Ed, and others. He has published editorials in the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Denver Post, and many other outlets.

Green Hydrogen with Allan Lindrup

Thursday, October 14  

Watch the recording of this webinar on YouTube here.

Allan Lindrup, a UU since age 10, is retired after a 35 year career with the U.S. Social Security Administration. He is one of the founders of UUSJ (Chicago area), and has served on its Board since 1990. He Chairs its Task Force on Economic Justice and Homelessness and has also served on its Environmental Task Force for over 20 years. Allan has lead two UU church's successful efforts to become certified Green Sanctuary congregations.

Here's an article explaining green vs blue hydrogen.

Chuck Collins, author of "Is Inequality in America Irreversible?" and "The Wealth Hoarders" 

First Session: Thursday, September 23 

To watch the YouTube recording from September 23rd, click here. 

Second Session: Thursday September 30

To watch the YouTube recording from September 30, click here.

 This year we have a special offer for members: a copy of Chuck Collins’ book, Is Inequality in America Irreversible?, and many of you took us up on that. Thank you to those who joined us for our book discussion on September 23rd and for joining our second discussion with Chuck Collins about his latest book, The Wealth Hoarders, on September 30.

Here's a question it would be good for us to answer in pursuit of economic justice:  "What are the reasons the social benefits floor and safety net are so low in America? ... so low that so many do not have the basic right to a full education, a home of their own, guaranteed healthcare, dignity and safety in a job with a living wage for full time work?"  And what can we, Americans, do about it? 

Julie Skye

Watch now on YouTube

View Julie's slides with links to more information.

Neidi Dominguez

Watch our YouTube recording of the event here.

Neidi Dominguez is the Executive Director of Unemployed Workers United (UWU), a movement project to organize precarious and jobless workers. Neidi is a national immigrant and workers’ rights activist and organizer. Neidi migrated from Mexico at the age of 9 with her mother and younger sister where she resided in Pasadena, California, and began her involvement in social justice organizing from a very young age. In Los Angeles, CA Neidi was Co-Director of the CLEAN Carwash campaign that successfully unionized hundreds of workers in the country. Formerly undocumented herself, Neidi was a central leader in the campaign to win Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

UUJEC's Annual Meeting July 10 

Jerry Ashton, cofounder, will be speaking about RIP Medical Debt, a charity that buys struggling individuals’ medical debt from collection agencies with the express purpose of forgiving it, and his new book, End Medical Debt: The COVID-19 Edition, coming out late summer.

View UUJEC's 2020-2021 Annual Report by clicking here

  Watch our YouTube recording of the event here.

Stop our Pollution! Take Action for “The Earth Bill” and Climate Justice Legislation

To learn more and choose the actions you would be interested in working on, click here.

Paul Greenberg and “The Climate Diet” Thursday, June 10, 2021  

How can we eat better for the climate? In this talk bestselling author Paul Greenberg will walk us through 13 simple steps you can take to change how you choose, cook, and manage your food. For a preview have a look at www.paulgreenberg.org.

Paul Greenberg writes at the intersection of the environment and technology, seeking to help his readers escape screens and find emotional and ecological balance with their planet. He is the author of six books including the New York Times bestseller and Notable Book Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food. His other books are The Climate Diet, Goodbye Phone, Hello World, The Omega Principle, American Catch, and the novel, Leaving Katya. Paul’s writing on oceans, climate change, health, technology, and the environment appears regularly in The New York Times and many other publications. He’s the recipient of a James Beard Award for Writing and Literature, a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and many other grants and awards.

Healing from Hate, with Moderator Car McCargo

To watch our webinar on YouTube, click here

Healing From Hate examines the root causes of hate group activity through the bold work of those battling intolerance on the front lines, including “Life After Hate”, an organization founded by former Skinheads and neo-Nazis, now engaged in transforming attitudes of intolerance, and groundbreaking sociologist Michael Kimmel (author, Angry White Men, Healing From Hate). Documenting a stunning year of hatred in America, Healing From Hate follows these reformers in their work to de-radicalize White Nationalists, and heal communities torn apart by racism - a deep dig into what's needed to return meaning, identity and tolerance to a generation of disenfranchised white men. 

Carl McCargo (M.S.) has been a UU for 34 years. He earned his M.S. in Clinical Psychology in 1981, entitled, “The Differential Portrayal of Black and White Television Families.” Carl has an enduring concern for the insidious and overt ‘teachings’ of racism in our U.S. media

Carl cautions you: It is my view that when you deal with antagonists as an enemy, using a combative approach to social justice (an us against them mentality), corporate leaders, are especially without redeemable characteristics.  Therefore, activists overlook and can't access the UU first principle of, "The inherent worth and dignity of everyone."  The activists' approach may feel that the only way to "get through" to those people at the top, is via the "sledgehammer" across the head method.  And, America sets-up activists for this failure by making the top level executives predominantly white.  It is therefore easy for a long-suffering activist who has seen and been a victim of police brutality as a set-up for activists to overlook a more humane approach to social justice work. 

Climate Disruption and Militarism with Cindy Piester

To watch on YouTube, click here

Cindy Piester’s earlier anti-war, justice, and human rights work included forming and chairing Venturans for a Just Palestine, as well as Citizens for Impeachment, Ventura County. This was during the George W. Bush years.  She was arrested for non-violent civil disobedience protesting the war against Iraq and the government’s spying on the American people and use of torture, and calling for Bush’s impeachment.  For six years she and a small team were actively engaged in alternative media programming featuring issues and voices such as Daniel Ellsberg and Ray McGovern who are often ignored by mainstream media.  

Dahr Jamail and the End of Ice

Click here to watch the webinar on YouTube

The Earth is now experiencing human-caused climate disruption at an ever-accelerating pace. At present, even the best case mitigation strategies will not stave off catastrophic changes that are already heated into the biosphere. How, then, shall we Live? The talk will give a brief overview of how far along we are with climate disruption, then shift into spending the majority of time addressing how we find meaning, and purpose, during such a time. 

Maya Rossum and the Green Amendments

 Click here  to watch the webinar on YouTube

Maya K. van Rossum will speak on the Green Amendments movement.  Maya is the author of The Green Amendment, Securing Our Right to a Healthy Environment and the founder of Green Amendments For The Generations, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring a movement to amend state constitutions to recognize and protect environmental rights on par with other inalienable civic and political freedoms. She is also a part of the Delaware Riverkeeper leading the regional advocacy organization.

Public Banking

February 2021 Click here to view the webinar.

Sarah Manning, Rebeca Jasso-Aguilar and Melissa Pickett are volunteers with the Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity, the think tank for a New Mexico Public Bank. A public bank is owned by the people through their representative government: a Tribe, City, County, State or Federal Government. It can receive deposits of public funds (taxes, fees, fines and interest earned) to  make loans to business and fund infrastructure projects.  Public Banks take our money out of Wall Street to keep our funds safe, local, and working.

Additional Information:

Public Banking in Northeast and Midwest White Paper

                 Public Banking in New Mexico

                                 How Public Banking will change things

Panel discussion and webinar:

Thursday, December 10 

UUJEC Green Task Force hosts a monthly zoom meeting.  In December, we are trying something new: a discussion of The Story of Plastic.  We will send participants a password-protected link to watch the film during the 10 days before our meeting, which will be on December 10.

We are currently assembling a panel to lead us in the discussion of this complex subject about a class of material that seems ubiquitous, but that can have serious environmental impacts.  We will start with a panel discussion, then break into small discussion groups.

Roots of Justice

October 8  Click Here to watch a recording

What are the roots of justice? How do we create and grow justice? Our deteriorating ecology, politics, and economics have given new salience and urgency to answering these questions by living our faith and acting upon our principles. To create and grow justice, we need to throw off the shackles of our conditioning. We must learn the purpose and the history of the injustice and how we acquire the power to defeat it. Our education and our media have poorly served us. To find justice and build solidarity, we must learn what they are and the obstacles to clear thinking and decisive action. We must acquire the power to create and enforce justice.

Solutionary Rail Webinar

Thursday, September 10 2020

Bill Moyer of Vashon Island, Washington has dual and intersecting paths as an activist and artist. In 2003, he co-founded the Backbone Campaign with friends from an artist affinity group. In the last 17 years, Backbone has emerged as a leader and innovator in the theory and practice of “artful activism.” Bill works with progressive change agents and organizations around the country to design and produce creative protest actions and provide training in grand strategy and creative tactics.

Bill is also the co-author and project lead for Solutionary Rail, a book produced by the Backbone Campaign in late 2016. Solutionary Rail provides the guiding vision for a people-powered campaign to electrify America’s railroads and open corridors to a clean energy future. Rail, unique among forms of mass transportation, can easily be electrified and is being electrified around the globe. Because electricity is increasingly coming from clean sources such as sun and wind, rail has the potential to serve as a clean and reliable form of transportation while invigorating communities along the way. Solutionary Rail proposes overhead rail electrification (possibly in combination with batteries) powered by renewable energy, utilizing rail corridors for efficient long distance transmission, as well as track modernization and mode shift of freight from trucks to trains.

Adam Wasserman, UUJEC Board Member and Webinar Facilitator 

Thursday, August 13 

In this webinar we will introduce the En-Roads Climate Simulator, an online model of the global climate system developed by Climate Interactive in conjunction with Ventana Systems and MIT Sloan.  The En-Roads Simulator allows an individual or group to quickly see the impact of a wide variety of climate interventions—economic, technical, and behavioral.   In real time, users can see how valuable different policy choices are in actually affecting global temperature and the concentration of greenhouse gases.  Participants will get a brief overview of the simulator and how it is being used by Climate Interactive to educate involved citizens and policymakers all over the world.  We will then use the simulator to look at how different technologies and policies affect global climate.  We all have our favorite approaches to stopping global warming—which ones really work?  Let’s find out! Adam Wasserman, leading the workshop, is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Fe.  He is active in environmental issues in his congregation and in 350 Santa Fe.  He is a member of the board for UUJEC.  He recently completed an online training program for the En-Roads model. 

A General Assembly Debrief  

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Members and friends of UUJEC will share highlights from this year's General Assembly.  We'll discuss changes in process and changes that happened to accommodate a virtual event.  We'll talk about UUJEC's proposed Action of Immediate Witness, AIW: The Pandemic: A Religious Response.  UUJEC's sponsored workshop: Reparations: Rooted in Repair will surely be a conversation starter.  Come as we share our biggest take-away and you can share yours.

What is the United States strategy to pass federal legislation to achieve the Paris Climate Accord?

July 1, 2020. Noon-1:30 Eastern

Urgent: Federal Climate Bills & Strategy

Co-sponsored by UUJEC