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Friends,

In local communities across Canada this Saturday, May 10, folks of all ages and backgrounds will gather to affirm the good earth and the integrity of nature. And to work to find ways for us humans to be less destructive and more humble, respectful participants in the natural web of life. These gatherings are due to efforts of grassroots organizations across the country and local citizens.  Come to affirm, celebrate, and work for a better way to access/use energy and share life on this planet!

See website: www.defendourclimate.ca    Click onto “Find a rally” to locate an event in your community.  And get your butt out there! 🙂

Thanks, folks.

Tim

Hi, folks.  Great series we’re in.  Thank you to all organizers and participants!

Having lived for decades with the nomadic and “spiritually homeless” sensibility some of us from the Sixties generation inherited, I have a somewhat different take on location, place, land, etc.  Here’s an article I wrote on “place” for a Buddhist journal twenty years ago.  It’s still pretty much my outlook today, though I have now happily returned to live in my “navel of the earth”  (Cascadia–Vancouver to Bay Area, then down to Big Sur).

But note, I do reference positively Native perspectives on place and that of poet, essayist and deep ecologist, Gary Snyder.  Views very much in the spirit of Caring for All Creation.

Strangely Located-1

Strangely Located-2

Be well,

Tim

As the Caring for Creation series comes closer to its close, and the spring opens her full glory to us, I thought it would be fitting to finally have a listening party for the April 29th Caring for Creation class.  I invited a few of the finest of folks over to my house for potluck and fellowship before listening in on what’s happening in Vancouver.

Alas…. the best laid plans.  Our all-star broadcaster, Vida, was having some difficulties with attending the gathering and wouldn’t be able to send out the session on the #ds106radio airwaves.  What should I do??? Cancel the gathering?

I looked into the resources and prepared and impromptu discussion gathering and when folks arrived, I was prepared.

But then a wonderful thing happened!  We began to just sit and share with one another – our lives, our struggles, our observations.  Most of us knew each other, but a few were new friends, and others had much catching up to do.  We enjoyed our various food offerings and when it came time to turn over the attention to a video for discussion, we decided, instead, to make art.

I have struggled with inviting others into the spaces I have created this year – both in the digital and the analogue!  There have been few folks who have made it to my home and not been whisked away to a local coffee shop or pub.  Hosting this lovely group was challenging, and just allowing the evening to BE felt like some kind of risk.  In the end, I made a postcard for my boyfriend’s mom.  Another woman had her first experience enjoying making art!

Then I thought back to the reading about preparing the way for a world beyond capitalism and I figured we had done just a little work in that direction.  No television, no outside entertainment – just people getting together and enjoying each other’s presence.

Sorry to Jan who was trying to listen in to the broadcast – looks like the April 29th show was in the analogue.

In this archive from the March 3rd class,  Dittmar Mündel and Carmelle Mohr open the Caring for Creation series by turning us toward hope and love.  When we look at the multiple pressing issues facing our natural world, our communities and even our own lives, the weight can be paralyzing.  By turning away from fear and toward a deep and personal love for our places and their natural systems, we can act in gratitude.  Affection for creation helps us face these challenges with hope.

The Chester Ronning Center for Religion and Public Life at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta has been instrumental in the Caring For Creation, Spirit of the Land, and Responsibility for the Land courses.  The ongoing work of this unique center continues with an internship project investigating Alberta’s oil and gas economy.

Please see the letter from the Ronning Center that follows and consider supporting students in their continued work in addressing these pressing issues from holistic perspectives.

I write to you today to introduce a Ronning Centre Internship project – Responsibility for the Land. This initiative grew out of two conferences held on campus: Responsibility for the Land (2012) and Spirit of the Land (2013) and a number of courses held by the Ronning Centre to investigate the cultural and spiritual dimensions of Alberta’s oil and gas economy. Our research is centered on understanding and documenting the impact of oil and gas development given the primary place of the petrochemical industry in Alberta and to facilitate meaningful multi-perspective dialogue to connect health, land and community.

We ask for your assistance in supporting Ronning Centre Internships so we might continue important work such as this. With your help, this summer our students will investigate in greater depth the issues inherent in managing our natural resources and engage in meaningful dialogue with a diverse group of Albertans and form relationships with various First Nations, industry representatives and municipal politicians. It will be equally important to inform our understanding with scientific and analytical knowledge to provide a foundation for this discussion. We will share what we learn on our upcoming website, www.responsibilityfortheland.org, which will serve as an accessible and comprehensive resource, forming a basis for continuing and informed public discussion. (To see parts of the project already well underway, visit www.albertavoices.ca).

Augustana is committed to developing our students as thinkers, researchers and communicators – this internship opportunity will allow students to explore and apply their academic learning and advance their skill sets. With your help, a wise and on-going conversation regarding responsible stewardship of the land, the challenges presented by our energy needs and the impact of oil and gas developmentin Alberta will be generated.

Sincerely,
David Goa, Director
Chester Ronning Centre
For the Study of Religion & Public Life

As I was walking by the ocean I came upon a preschool class with parents. They were cleaning 4 waterfront areas , removing garbage and recycling objects, equipped with tongs and buckets. I spoke with a parent that said they were trying to help their children appreciate our creation,and to learn to care for it. They were clebrating Earth Day early. I spoke with a child who said it was sad to find tins on the beach but she was happy to take them away. She also said it was one of the best Saturdays she had spent with her family in a long time.
I grew up loving walks in the woods and by water and so appreciative of time outdoors. Proably why I like this course so much. So tomorrow is Earth Day and I am up island for a meeting with 20-30 others. I wonder how many others will think of carpooling. Our car is full.
What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day April 22?

Something that I assumed as we started this new round of gatherings in Vancouver and Victoria is that you would all be interesting people who bring with you lifetimes of experience, and 165 other hours in your week with which to live, love and learn. I have not been disappointed! It has been great to see how on-location and online members alike are engaging in these topics in their everyday lives. We’ve been sent a few event notices, so I’m including them here in this blog post.  And I issue a challenge to others: Share an event here on the blog, along with what it means for you! Tell us what you do with other chunks of your precious time, and why? To invite those who are close enough to join you, and to inspire event greatness further afield. For example:

April 19th, Shawnigan Lake BC: “Re-Becoming Villagers! A Day with mark Lakeman”. $75 includes a day of sessions and a delicious lunch. Click here for more details.

May 8th, Victoria: “The Judgement Game: An Interactive Afternoon of Game Play to Launch a Book of Fiction on Crime and Punishment”. This event is free but reservations are necessary. Click here for more details.