Share your smiles, compliments, time, talents, money, and energy with those around you. We must truly be the change that we want to see. And we can do it. We are doing it. Believe that the future is full of mindfulness where hearts mean more than our accounts.
The Love Initiative.
Notes From the Road – Bright Lights Blog
http://troubadourofpeace.blogspot.com/
Book a house concert or music for a yoga class today!!
TOUR DATES
| Date | Time | Venue | Location | Cost |
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| 3/22/18 | 3:00 PM | Choices | Akron, OH | |
| 3/22/18 | 6:00 PM | Tea Time for Peace | Kent, OH | |
| 3/23/18 | 5:00 PM | Friends of the Metro Parks Benefit w/ the Bright Lights | Akron, OH | |
| 3/27/18 | 7:00 PM | Brother’s Lounge | Cleveland, OH | |
| 3/30/18 | 6:30 PM | 330 Day @ Akron Civic Theatre | Akron, OH | |
| 3/31/18 | 10:30 AM | Celebration of Life for Marilyn Stroud | Cuyahoga Falls, OH | |
| 4/3/18 | 6:30 PM | MLK Kirtan | Akron, OH | Donations |
| 4/4/18 | 6:30 PM | Nonviolent Communication Circle | Akron, OH | Donations |
| 4/6/18 | 7:00 PM | Big Love Night @ Live Music Now w/ Rhodes St Rude Boys | Akron, OH | $5-10 |
| 4/7/18 | 8:30 PM | Mustard Seed Highland Square w/ Bright Lights! | Akron, OH | |
| 4/10/18 | 7:00 PM | Brother Lounge | Cleveland, OH | |
| 4/16/18 | 7:00 PM | Wolf Creek Winery | Norton, OH | |
| 4/21/18 | 6:30 PM | Bright Lights @ the Rialto | Akron, OH | $5 |
| 4/22/18 | 4:00 PM | Yoga Central | Canton, OH | |
| 4/28/18 | 7:00 PM | Wine Mill | Peninsula, OH | |
| 5/2/18 | 6:30 PM | Nonviolent Communication Series | Akron, OH | Donations |
| 5/4/18 | 7:00 PM | Big Love Night @ Live Music Now w/ Gretchen Pleuss | Akron, OH | $5-10 |
| 5/5/18 | 12:00 PM | Cleveland VegFest | Cleveland, OH | |
| 5/5/18 | 6:00 PM | Bent Ladder winery | Doylestown , OH | |
| 5/8/18 | 7:00 PM | Brother’s Lounge | Cleveland, OH |
For over 25 years, we’ve inspired, educated and activated thousands of communities and organizations through our solutions-focused programs and ready-to-use social and digital tools. Together, they provide the launchpad for emerging generations and sustainability leaders to experience “ah-ha” moments that lead to extraordinary environmental and social change.
Drawdown EcoChallenge is:
- a 21-day engagement program focused on carbon reduction;
- a challenge taking place April 3-24 and;
- following actions highlighted in Drawdown, a book based on meticulous research that maps, measures, models, and describes solutions to global warming that already exists and;
- where participants track and share their progress online in a robust platform and earn points for taking action and;
- the combination of collective action, camaraderie, and friendly competition makes change a little easier — and a lot more fun and;
- providing tools and inspiration to turn intention into action, and
- giving participants a fun and social way to think about and act on proven solutions to reverse global warming!
Over eighty actions within seven challenge categories
provide participants with diverse options to reduce carbon usage.
The EcoChallenge Platform is a signature offering of EcoChallenge.org (formerly Northwest Earth Institute), a sustainability organization that provides innovative social and digital tools designed to be a launchpad for emerging generations and sustainability leaders to experience “ah-ha” moments that lead to extraordinary environmental and social change. EcoChallenge.org also hosts a global October EcoChallenge which is free and open to everyone, everywhere. Over 73,500 people from 101 countries have used the EcoChallenge Platform and the organization has engaged over 250,000 people throughout its 25-year history. The EcoChallenge Platform can also be used to create custom Challenges that meet the engagement and action goals of your workplace, college, or community.
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 227 2807
Take Action with Creation Justice Ministries This September
Check out these different ways for you and your congregation to get involved. Come back every month for new ways to take action!
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#CareForCreation: September 2019
Share the Word
September 1, 2019
Online Prayer Service for Creation Day/World Day of Prayer for Creation
Creation Day, also called the World Day of Prayer for Creation, opens the Season each year. Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew, the World Council of Churches, and many other leaders have called the faithful to celebrate it. Christians from around the world are invited to join an online prayer service to come together in a joyful celebration of our common cause.
September 16, 2019
Webinar
Learn more
10:00 Eastern US / 15:00 London / 21:00 Manila
Please join us for a webinar to explore the connection between biodiversity and Christian spirituality. Speakers include Rev. Dr. Dave Bookless or A Rocha International / Lausanne Catalyst for Creation Care, Rev. Dra. Neddy Astudillo of GreenFaith Latino America, and Celia Deane Drummond of the University of Oxford. The conversation will be moderated by Rev. Rachel Mash, Environmental coordinator for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and Green Anglicans.
September 20, 2019
Global Climate Strike
Young people from around the world will come together for a remarkable day of strikes from school to demand urgent action on the climate crisis. Their parents, neighbors, teachers, and families will stand alongside them. The climate strikes were galvanized by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, and each strike to date has sent more than a million people into the streets. Learn more at Laudato Si’ Generation, the climate initiative by and for young Catholics.
September 21, 2019
International Coastal Cleanup Day
For over 30 years, communities have come together to remove trash from coastlines and waterways including ponds, lakes, and rivers. Together, these volunteers remove and catalogue mountains of litter every year. Your community is invited to join. To learn more, please visit the Ocean Conservancy.
September 23, 2019
United Nations Climate Action Summit
The UN Secretary General is hosting a summit devoted to climate change, with the aim of calling the world’s attention to the urgent need to implement the Paris Agreement. The Paris pact has been agreed to by every country–only the United States has said it intends to leave it. But countries have not made policies to meet its goals. Of the 197 countries in the agreement, only seven are on track to keep warming below 2 degrees celsius, and only two are on track to keep warming below 1.5 degrees celsius. Science tells us that every fraction of a degree in warming means more hunger, more sickness, more conflict. The UN Secretary General’s summit is a chance for the people of the world to rally around real, ambitious policies to solve this crisis.
September 23, 2019
6th International Conference on Ecological Theology and Environmental Ethics, Orthodox Academy of Crete Chania, Crete, Greece
Learn more
This conference will engage theology on key ecological concerns from a variety of religious traditions and perspectives. This year’s theme is “Ecological racism and prophetical voices for ecological crisis.” The conference will be a blend of learning and discussion, while attending to the magnificent Earth and cultural context of this region of Crete.
Guide 2019 – Season of Creation Theme – Web of Life
October 4, 2019 St. Francis Day Many traditions view St. Francis as an inspiration and guide for those who protect creation. October 4 is his feast day and the last day in the Season of Creation. Faith leaders from around the world will come together to reflect on how St. Francis has informed their spiritual journey and to celebrate our month-long journey together.
21 DAYS OF ACTION:
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WE, THE FUTURE GENERATION, ASK YOU TO CHOOSE US
On September 20, three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC, young people and adults will strike all across the US and world to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis. Millions of us will take the streets to demand a right to a future, and we’re inviting you to
#strikewithus
Whether you’re 7 or 77, you’re invited to join the movement.
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From Bill McKibben:
Dear Friends,
“Last week I ended up in jail for a little while, because I’d sat down in a Congress member’s office to protest the deadly confluence of climate and immigration policy. You can read about my day in the New Yorker1 story shared on the bottom of this email, but my point in sharing it with you is not to say that I acted nobly or that it was a big deal.
Instead, my point is simply that sometimes you have to act even if you’re not entirely sure what the effect will be. We’re coming up on the next great moment in the climate movement, the global all-ages climate strike on Sept. 20. Years of sustained resistance from Standing Rock to the school strikes and beyond, particularly from youth of color, have led us to this moment. So let’s make the most of it.
Whatever you do that day — whether you walk out of work or school, close down your business, or join a protest, it will help build the groundswell that is now clearly rising.
When you strike, you’ll be striking for justice above all — it’s one thing you can do on behalf of those who are incarcerated at the border, or who are living so close to the margin that taking a day off is not possible. If you have some flexibility in your life, it’s time to put it to work. If you don’t, sign up anyway, we’ll find other ways for you to participate and show your support.
The UN’s best guess is that unchecked climate change could produce a billion climate refugees this century. Think about that for a moment — a billion people whose lives would be utterly, permanently, devastatingly upended. Then think about whether you can take a day to do something real about it, even without knowing exactly what change it will produce.
Together we build movements, and when those movements get big enough they change history. You change history. Thank you for being a big part of it –
Let’s make change, “
Bill McKibben
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For more information, please visit strikewithus.org.
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ABOUT
We, as a global society, are at a crossroads. We have a decision to make. Are we going to choose money or power or are we going to choose the future? The September 20 strike is an invitation to everyone to choose us. Choose the kids, choose humanity, choose the future.
Led by a diverse coalition of youth-led and adult-led organizations,
September 20 is an intergenerational day of striking
that will launch an entire week of climate action across the world.
September 20 is only the beginning. We must carry this energy to the 2020 elections, and beyond to ensure real, bold action is taken to address the climate crises. This is history in the making, and it’s time we take back the narrative to save our futures.
The demands set forth by the youth coalition will be released soon.
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MEET THE STRIKE TEAM
YOUTH COALITION
ADULT COALITION
STRIKE SPONSORS
MOVEMENT PARTNERS
The first North American Day of Sustainable Communities will be held on September 21, 2019. All individuals and communities who are catalyzing transformation in the face of ecological and climate breakdown are invited to host an event on the day.
Learn more and register your event at https://www.sustainablecommunitiesday.net/
ECOLISE
The European Network for Community-led Initiatives on Climate Change and Sustainability, is the initiator and main organiser of the European Day of Sustainable Communities. We have 46 member networks and organisations across Europe
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A celebration of local communities taking action for a zero-carbon, regenerative and inclusive Europe.
This is an ECOLISE flagship event. #EDSC19 #SustainableCommunity
Become a co-creator of the day! For details see https://www.sustainable-communities.net/
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Our mission is to protect the environmental, recreational and commercial integrity of the Hudson River and its tributaries, and safeguard the drinking water of 9 million New Yorkers. –
Riverkeeper
Restore & Protect NYC Waterways
NYC at a Glance
Over the coming years, New York City’s population growth will present both a challenge and an opportunity. The number of people living alongside the city’s waterfront is expected to continue to grow, so too will the risks those residents will face; from climate change, legacy toxins, and ongoing sewage pollution.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers are increasingly taking to the water, whether for fishing, kayaking, biking, and swimming. As more people play in or near our waterways, public concern and awareness grow, leading to increased community advocacy.
Around the city, Riverkeeper has been working to engage and activate communities along diverse waterfronts. We actively support and strengthen the work of organizations like the Guardians of Flushing Bay, Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Newtown Creek Alliance.
In the 50 years since Riverkeeper’s founding, we’ve been glad to see a sea of change in the way the city approaches clean water. Public access points, triathlons, ferry services, green infrastructure, esplanades, education centers, and restoration work has bridged the pollution-based divide that once separated New Yorkers from their Sixth Borough – the waters around them.
Much work remains, however — and Riverkeeper looks forward to helping steward the next 50 years of change in New York City.
Contact Us
Riverkeeper Address
20 Secor Road
Ossining, New York 10562
Directions
Phone:800-21-RIVER
Fax: 914-478-4527
Email: info@riverkeeper.org
To Report a Polluter
Phone: 800-21-RIVER ext 231
Submit a report online
Membership Inquiries
Monica Dietrich
Phone: 914-478-4501 ext. 222
Email: mdietrich@riverkeeper.org
For Journalists
Leah Rae
Staff Writer and Media Specialist
Phone: 914-478-4501 ext. 238
Email: lrae@riverkeeper.org
Request a Speaker
To request a speaker from Riverkeeper, please please contact Jen Benson at jbenson@riverkeeper.org
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September 21, 2019: 1:00PM to 10:00PM
Factoria at Charles Point, 5 John Walsh Blvd, Peekskill, NY 10566 map
Join us for Rally on the River, a brand new event to bring our community together for a common cause: The Hudson River. Run, paddle, revel and recreate on the banks of the River at the Factoria at Charles Point. This daylong festival will feature something for everyone including the Surf and Turf Challenge!
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Basics
The Hudson River is not your typical river. In fact, most of the Hudson is actually a tidal estuary where salt water from the ocean combines with freshwater from northern tributaries. This “brackish”, or mixing, water extends from the mouth of the Hudson in NY Harbor to the Federal Dam in Troy, approximately 153 miles.
The salt front of the estuary, where the freshwater runoff meets the saline water, can range from the Tappan Zee Bay near Tarrytown/Nyack in the spring to Newburgh Bay in Poughkeepsie/Newburgh in the late summer or during droughts.
Because the Hudson River is a tidal estuary, meaning it ebbs and flows with the ocean tide, it supports a biologically rich environment, making it an important ecosystem for various species of aquatic life. For many key species, it provides critical habitats and essential spawning and breeding grounds.
To learn more about the unique regions of the Hudson River take A Hudson River Journey.
History
More than nine million people living in New York City, Westchester, Putnam, Orange and Ulster Counties enjoy clean, unfiltered drinking water from the Croton, Catskill and Delaware Watersheds. The 6,000-mile network of pipes, shafts and subterranean aqueducts carries approximately 1.2 billion gallons of pristine water each day from 19 upstate reservoirs.
It is a remarkable engineering achievement and the single largest man-made financial asset in New York State. But, today the city’s reservoir infrastructure is in serious trouble, as is its ability to continue supplying New Yorkers with water.
Many of the nation’s water systems are over 100 years old and in a state of grave neglect. Between 23,000 and 75,000 combined sewage overflows occur each year as a result of failing infrastructure, spilling out 1.26 trillion gallons of untreated sewage annually and incurring $50.6 billion in clean up costs.
Protection
Photo: Leah Rae / Riverkeeper
Riverkeeper believes that access to clean, affordable drinking water must be a human right. In the interest of protecting human health and preserving freshwater ecosystems, filtration of public drinking water supplies should be considered as a last resort to be employed only when an unfiltered water supply poses an imminent threat to public health. Sound watershed protection programs not only safeguard human health and aquatic life but also are vastly more economical than filtration.
Public Access
Riverkeeper generally supports expanded opportunities for low-impact, passive recreation that is compatible with watershed protection goals on water supply lands. It is through use and enjoyment of our shared resources that people become invested in their long-term protection.
Our Story
In 1966, the Hudson River was dying from pollution and neglect. Run-down factories choked it with hazardous waste, poisoning fish, threatening drinking water supplies, and ruining world-class havens for boating and swimming. Sadly, America’s “First River” had become little more than an industrial sewer.
At that time, the Hudson River fishermen decided they had enough. Because their catch reeked from oil spilled daily into the river, they banded together to use a decades-old federal law to the tide from ruin to recovery.
This was the founding of the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association – now Riverkeeper. Today, Riverkeeper continues its fight, seeking out polluters and teaming with citizen scientists and activists to reclaim the Hudson River. And, we also work to ensure that over nine million New Yorkers have clean, safe drinking water. Today, pollution levels are down, and swimming and boating are back.
But the Hudson’s recovery is still fragile, still incomplete. Some fish species have not recovered, and many remain too toxic to eat; pollution levels spike with every rainfall. Mammoth cuts in government spending threaten to reverse a half-century of water quality gains, and we face the challenges of antiquated power plants, climate change, and emerging, harmful pollutants.
Riverkeeper’s vision is of a Hudson teeming with life, with engaged communities boating, fishing and swimming throughout its watershed.
Here’s what Riverkeeper stands for:
- Guarding your waterways. Riverkeeper holds polluters accountable, making the Hudson safer and cleaner each year. We patrol the river, inform the public, and go to court whenever it’s necessary, to eliminate illegal contamination.
- Defending clean drinking water. Community water supplies are increasingly threatened by pollution and shortage. Riverkeeper empowers citizens to make their voices heard and assure that their precious drinking water resources stay clean and plentiful. Our locally-based “water democracy” approach gets results.
- Finding solutions. Riverkeeper fights threats to clean water like destructive power plants, reckless development and decrepit infrastructure. We also specialize in solutions: we improve wildlife habitat, foster sustainable energy, increase investment in water supply/sewer systems, and rally thousands of volunteers to restore their local river fronts.
“Our strategy for success hasn’t changed much since we started out as the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association in 1966: Support the grassroots. Be data driven. Don’t flinch when the going gets tough.” – Paul Gallay, President and Hudson Riverkeeper
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Our annual People’s Ecochallenge is back to invite you to do more environmental + social good.From October 2 – October 23,create more environmental + social good alongside your peersand thousands of global changemakers.Connect the dots between your values and the impact of your actions.The People’s Ecochallenge harmonizes individual and collective action,camaraderie, and friendly competitionto create significant collective impact.Over 100 actions within nineChallenge categories await you. Register today! |
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Connect the dots between your values + the impact of your actions during The People’s Ecochallenge!
Ecochallenge.org’s social change platform + curriculum connect a global community of advocates and changemakers, each doing what we can, in ways that are most relevant to us, to make this great spinning dot we call home a healthier, more equitable, more sustainable place. Welcome to The People’s Ecochallenge!
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The 8th Annual Children’s Global Wave Of Love
June 21 at 1:11 pm in your heart and time zone.
We collectively come together to cultivate and
send forth our mission
“Children Across the Planet in Love, Care, and Respect.”
Since everyday is children’s day, we create a year-long, free, activity platform for children, families, communities, schools, organizations and YOU to empower
heart space and help transform the world!
Our Mission Statement: Our mission is to provide complete and total support to all children with an entire month of activities that enhance all aspects of a child’s life.
