Sweet Orange

Abundance--Southern California style

Here is what I seek this Thanksgiving Day and all days:

Empower me
To be a bold participant,
Rather than a timid saint in waiting,
In the difficult ordinariness of now;
To exercise the authority of honesty,
Rather than to defer to power,
Or deceive to get it;
To influence someone for justice,
Rather than impress anyone for gain;
And, by grace, to find treasures
Of joy, friendship, of peace
Hidden in the fields of the daily
You give me to plow.–Ted Loder

Photo courtesy Weekend Sherpa

If you would like a few laughs–well, a lot of laughs–with your environmental awareness, then How to Boil a Frog is the film for you. To see what I mean, watch the trailer. Along with the laughs, the film “offers five surprising ways we can save civilization while making our own lives better.” The writer and director, Jon Cooksey, started out with the goal of disproving climate change but while doing the research became a believer.

How to Boil a Frog will be showing at the Chapman University Auditorium on Sunday, November 20^th. General admission is $7 in advance and $10 at the door. The senior and student ticket price is $3 in advance and $5 at the door. However, no one will be turned away.

Times are as follows:

• Presentations-3 pm
• Film screening and Q & A with the writer-4 pm
• Catered reception at Chapman’s Fish Interfaith Center-6 pm

More information on this screening is available at OCICE.org. In addition, the DVD is available online.

Some of the sponsors are United Religions Initiative, Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment (OCICE), Westside Interfaith Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, Raul Wallenberg Institute of Ethnics,  Spiritual and Religious Alliance for Hope (S.A.R.A. H.), Church of the Foothills, Tustin, Aldersgate Methodist Church, Sierra Club OC Global Warming Committee, Sacred Seasons Center, Spiritual Salons, Unity and Diversity World Council.

Note: Additional information is available at Energy Bulletin.

The Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment (OICE) is presenting an energy symposium this Sunday, November 6th, that will provide information on why you should care about environmental issues. Among other things, the presenters will discuss how our energy use is tied to our national security as well as how caring for the environment has not only practical consequences but is also a moral issue.

Here is a bit about the four presenters as written on the OCICE website:

Robert Siebert–”Bob retired from an engineering career (secure long range data communications) in 1989 and founded Energy Efficiency in the same year. Energy Efficiency was a privately held solar electric systems design and installation company through 2002, when he sold the company….As a result of his hands-on experience with solar and a long term interest in renewable energy, Bob has continued advocating for a greater role for energy efficiency and for energy sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal in our national energy mix.”

Miranda Ko–”One of the youngest trained presenters under Al Gore, Miranda has already worked at Sanyo, Brown University, Clinton Global Initiative University, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD….In April 2011, Miranda was named Green Goddess of Women’s Health Magazine for her work with Al Gore and The Climate Reality Project, working as their Assistant Regional Manager for Southern California.”

Tom English, Ph.D.–”Dr. English is the President of the TESSI Endangered Species Institute, and the Creation Care Educator for the Presbyterian Church’s Synod of Southern California and Hawaii….He is currently featuring the effects of Climate Change and Extinction of Species on Food Supply and National Security.”

David Feldman, Ph. D.–”David Lewis Feldman is Chair of the Department of Planning, Policy and Design at the University of California, Irvine, and Professor of Political Science. His research and teaching interests include sustainable water resources management, global change and society, and environmental ethics.”

He has written numerous books and held numerous positions related to energy policy. Here are a few examples: Water (to be released in 2012), editor of The Geopolitics of Natural Resources (2011), and author of Water Policy for Sustainable Development (2007).

More in-depth descriptions of the event and the presenters are available on the OCICE website, but here are the basics:

What: Energy and Our Future Symposium

Time: 2 pm to 5 pm with registration at 1:30 pm

Location: Congregation B’Nai Israel (2111 Bryan Avenue, Tustin, CA  92780)

Cost: $10

Hope to see you there!