Unitarian
Universalist Resources
and Statements from
other Denominations
- Beyond Science:Ethical/Religious Dimensions of Global Warming Are UUs prepared to address the ethical quandaries that global warming has set before us?
What will our role be in influencing the choices that have to be made?
How can we insure that the choices made will honor the worth and
dignity of the individual? And how can we protect the rights of
the individual while practicing a global form of justice and equity? By
what means do we broaden the concept of justice to encompass not only
human rights, but also the intrinsic value of plants and animals in the
all-inclusive web of life? This is a presentation at the 2006 UUA General
Assembly that Lisa Herschberger helped arrange with UU Ministry for Earth. Don Brown is
a UU and was also invited to speak last year at UMN.
- UU Ministry for Earth (formerly the Seventh Principle Project) is an
affiliate organization of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Their mission is to facilitate and support the work of Unitarian
Universalists by affirming and promoting the Seventh Principle of the
UUA, "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we
are a part." Our members believe that the Earth is in peril from human
activities, and for us as people of faith, this is a moral and
spiritual crisis of utmost importance. They sponsor the
congregation based Green Sanctuary Program.
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| Minnesota
Resources
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Educational
Resources
- Global Warming 101 Forum
is a creation of the Will Steger Foundation. The goal is
to post a variety of thought provoking comments and questions that will
grab the attention of a broad audience and elicit a response. The
forums are set up so that people can join different forums, including
some for the public, educators, students, college students, volunteers,
people of faith communities, etc... you may find you fit under more
than one of these. While you are on the forum, we hope you will
also take a moment to submit a question to "Ask the Experts". Will is
our first 'expert guest' and will respond to questions on November
15th. We are working hard to spread the word about the events and
encourage people to submit their questions. The more questions we have
posted, the more interest the events will attract.
- Minnesota Energy Challenge
The goal of the Minnesota Energy Challenge is to empower Minnesotans to
take simple steps to reduce their energy use and Minnesota’s CO2
emissions.
- Environmental
Literacy Scope and Sequence is a good resource to assist
groups doing environmental education.
- The
GreenPrint
offers guidance to individuals, organizations, and agencies that
deliver or support environmental education in Minnesota.
- SEEK
is Minnesota educators' online directory of environmental education
(EE) resources.
- The OEA EDUCATION
CLEARINGHOUSE is part of the OEA's Environmental Education program,
set up to help educate Minnesotans about environmental issues. The
Clearinghouse contains a wealth of hands-on resources.
- NATURAL
WONDERS was written especially for environmental
educators and naturalists who are interested in learning more about how
and why young children think and act. The guidelines offered will help
educators design developmentally appropriate programs and activities.
- HogBusters
Training Camp - An "energy hog" program for kids
where they tour a
home and find where energy is lost and when they find "energy hogs"
they have to play a game to defeat them. Pretty cool.
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Other
Resources
- A Call to Action
(pdf): Ten major U.S. businesses and four national environmental organizations
issued a joint report calling on the federal government to quickly pass
strong national legislation to cut global warming pollution.
- On January 28, 2007 Dale Lewellyn, a Green Sanctuary committee member, gave an excellent Sunday service on Keep the Earth Spinning (pdf). If you missed the talk, you can get a copy by clicking on the link.
- Will Steger’s next expedition joins four Inuit hunters on a
1200-mile, four-month-long dogsled expedition across the Canadian
Arctic’s Baffin Island. They embark mid-February and you can
follow their progress and observations along the trail and as they
interview the Inuit elders in some of the most remote Inuit villages in
the world at Global Warming 101.
- The Warming of GreenlandNew York Times article includes remarks by Will Steger.
- Five Reasons Corn Ethanol Won't Save the Planet And a discussion of the alternative biofuels that University of Minnesota researchers believe just might.
- Watch
the recordings of three recent global warming-related lectures at
University of Minnesota.
"Climate
Change and Intergenerational Fairness: Reconciling Ethics and Economics"
Prof. Richard B. Howarth, PhD, Dartmouth College, Tuesday, February 7,
2006
"An
Ethical Framework for Analyzing Global Warming"
Donald A. Brown, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection,
Thursday, November 10, 2005
"Changing
Energy Policy to Benefit the Environment and Human Health"
Prof.
Daniel M. Kammen, PhD, University of
California-Berkeley, Tuesday, October 18, 2005
- From Lisa Herschberger: I highly recommend this
recent MPR
interview about climate change with Peter Ciborowski of MPCA
. It helps put the magnitude of what we need to do to address the
global
warming problem in perspective. This interview was preceded by
a Dan
Olson story regarding our
personal choices that affect climate change.
- Here is another MPR link about the changes
to Minnesota’s forests. This is just one illustration
of why environmental scientists and ecologists are so concerned about
the extensive impacts of the unnatural rate of climate
change.
- Realclimate.org.
Frustrated
by Web sites claiming to debunk global warming, several scientists this
month launched their own blog on the evidence that humans are heating
up
the planet. They hope to counter industry-supported
sites where so-called experts "have a habit of seriously misquoting,
distorting,
and outright manipulating data," says co-organizer Gavin Schmidt of
NASA
(speaking in a personal capacity).
- Visit TOXMAP,
a new site from the National Library of Medicine that lets you chart
values
from the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory.
The
annual report tallies U.S. emissions of some 650 hazardous chemicals
into
the air, water, and soil. Using TOXMAP, you can pinpoint pollution
sources
or map up to 15 years of data to identify emission trends.
- Scoop
Independent News - I found this helpful to understand
the past
temperature variation and to put the estimated changes in context.
- A weekly newsletter
from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy (EERE).
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