[Dialogue] {Spam?} {Disarmed} SOME COLLEGIAL SHARING

David & Lin Zahrt chbnb at netins.net
Mon Jun 18 00:37:03 EDT 2007


Lin and I journeyed to Phoenix  last weekend to celebrate the  
completed life of Larry Henschen. It was a fine celebration.

Ray Caruso was there and we had a chance to spend a little time  
talking. He indicated that he was taking Buddhism seriously. I asked  
him if he had heard of the Jewish fellow who turned to Buddhism. He  
replied that he had not.

The fellow became Boohish! I tried to tell him what the fellow did  
when he made a prayer request, but I couldn't remember it while we  
were engaged in conversation. Only later did it come to me--When the  
Booish fellow made a prayer request he included all the deities  
because he was certain that the best possible mode of operation was  
to put all of his begs in one ask-it!

When asked what I was doing I told Ray about the Cool Cities program.  
There are over 200 cities that have decided to take the Kyoto  
Protocol seriously by doing it city by city. Seattle is the initiator  
of the effort. The Sierra Club is deeply involved in it. I'm  
attempting to inform the 'West Coast' of Iowa that they too can join  
the Cool Cities program. <http://www.coolcities.us>.

There is also a move within the church, initiated by Episcopaleans,  
to create Cool Congregations. Ray asked for more info. I'm hoping  
that Ray is on the Dialogue. If not I'll send it to him individually.  
But I felt prompted to share this with the Dialogue.


"Cool Congregations"-- Solving Global Warming One Family at a Time

At St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, a small group of  
dedicated individuals have taken the words of their priest to heart:  
"To keep the faith, we must keep the earth," says Rev. Benjamin Webb.  
Sarah Webb, Kate Dunning, Ann Eastman and Curt Ritter responded to  
this call by starting a program called, "Cool Congregations", as a  
means for people of faith to take practical steps to slow global  
warming. "Every faith tradition has a tenet calling us to care for  
creation," Sarah Webb says, "Cool Congregations" is a way to put your  
faith into action."

"Cool Congregations" adds a new dimension to regular financial  
stewardship programs in faith communities whereby interested  
congregants pledge to implement energy efficient measures in their  
own homes.  In doing this, they are pledging to reduce their personal  
family contribution to global warming, and often save money in the  
process! Energy efficiency is the first step to take to reduce a  
householder's contribution to global warming because it is the most  
cost effective and quickest solution.

"Cool Congregations" participants attend a series of small group  
meetings led by a trained Cool Congregations Team Leader. In these  
small groups, participants first measure their carbon footprint,  
which is a representation of how much energy a household uses, and  
therefore how much carbon dioxide (CO2) they contribute to global  
warming pollution. Then they choose just four or five actions from a  
list of many researched options to reduce it by 10%, and pledge to  
their faith community to take these actions. The pledges are  
collected and participants meet again after one year to recalculate  
their carbon footprint and submit total CO2 reductions to Iowa  
Interfaith Power and Light. Participants are invited to return to the  
program each year to choose another few actions to take in the coming  
year to reduce even further. Graduates of the Cool Congregations  
small groups are also invited to lead subsequent small groups.

At St. Luke's the 35 participating families hope to reduce global  
warming pollution equal to the amount that 18 average cars produce in  
a year. If all Iowans took simple steps to reduce by 10%, we could  
prevent the amount of global warming pollution that 604,000 average  
cars produce in a year. That's one third of Iowa's present fleet of  
cars.

"Cool Congregations" is a program of the new Iowa Interfaith Power  
and Light,  <http://www.ncrlc.com/IIPandL-webpage.html>, people of  
faith working together to slow global warming. Cool Congregations has  
trained 90 congregations in ’07 and will be doing more training  
workshops in ’08. To learn more contact Sarah Webb, <sarahwebb at cfu.net>

David

David & Lin Zahrt
Country Homestead B&B
22133 Larpenteur Rd.
Turin, IA 51040
-- Doorway to the Loess Hills -
<http://country-homestead.com>
Where a change of pace is as good as a vacation, and a sense of place  
is soothing to the soul.
<chbnb at netins.net>



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