CALENDAR

MAY 5

TED Talk Video
“How to Fight Desertification and
Reverse Climate Change”
Allan Savory, Zimbabwean biologist

“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And it's happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes -- and his work so far shows -- that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.
Desertification of the world's grasslands, Allan Savory suggests, is the immediate cause of poverty, social breakdown, violence, cultural genocide -- and a significant contribution to climate change. In the 1960s, while working in Africa on the interrelated problems of increasing poverty and disappearing wildlife, Savory made a significant breakthrough in understanding the degradation and desertification of grassland ecosystems. After decades of study and collaboration, thousands of managers of land, livestock and wildlife on five continents today follow the methodology he calls "Holistic Management."

In 1992, Savory and his wife, Jody Butterfield, formed the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe, a learning site for people all over Africa. In 2010, the Centre won the Buckminster Fuller Challenge for its work in reversing desertification. In that same year he and his wife, with others, founded the Savory Institute in Boulder, Colorado, to promote large-scale restoration of the world's grasslands.

"Allan's message is vital to the restoration of the world's grasslands -- a long-ignored component of the earth's lungs."
Christina Allday-Bondy on TED.com

IFC Food Pantry

 We will be collecting food and sundry items this Sunday for IFC. The economic recession has resulted in a loss of donations to this important social service agency, and it relies on organizations like ours to help its clients. Please contribute generously.

MAY 12

“Saving Planet Earth!”
Group Discussion

Environmental problems can be found throughout the world.  They affect our food, water and air.  These can result from what mankind takes from the earth – land for agriculture, increasing population, mineral and fossil fuel, and timber resources.  These problems include deforestation, erosion, damage to ecosystems and reductions in biodiversity.  Problems also arise from what we put into the environment, primarily pollutants.  These have created climate change, damage to the ozone layer, urban pollution and acid rain.  From a human perspective, the rapid climate change and accelerating biodiversity loss risks human security.   There are finite limits to ecosystems and wildlife, and the capacity to maintain food supplies for an increasingly large world population is rapidly diminishing.  Additionally, the toll on health from pollutants and devastation to land and homes from erratic weather is enormous.  A call for immediate pre-emptive action in the form of state and federal policies, community action, and personal endeavors to counteract is crucial to minimize the rapid deterioration of the earth’s resources and its climate change.

Our society recently presented several platforms about economic, social and political factors that impact directly and indirectly to negatively altering the earth’s environment.  The discussion will cover these issues and actions we can take to mitigate this problem.

MAY 19

Dedication to the Founding of EHST, Randy Best

This year is the 26th anniversary of EHST's incorporation as an Ethical Culture Society in 1987, and our program begins with Randy Best's Dedication to EHST.  Each year we commemorate our society’s founding, honoring those who started the society, its history, and pay our respects to those who make it function today.  We celebrate the role our society plays since its inception in fostering a commitment to ethical education, social justice, and equality for all.

MAY 24

IFC Cook and Serve

Our scheduled cook and serve project is this Thursday from 4:00 to 7:15 p.m. Contact Amy Piersma, amypiersma@yahoo.com, to sign up. The food is donated from the community and anyone who is hungry can eat. Our entire membership participates. On the fourth Thursday of each month, January through October, members cook from 4-6 p.m. and serve from 6-7:15 p.m. It's great fun and a worthy endeavor!

 

MAY 26

TBA

 

COMMUNITY EVENTS

May 16

"Does Responsible Conduct of Research Training Really Work?”
David E. Wright, Director, Office of Research Integrity

Parr Center for Ethics
Room 219, Brinhous-Bullitt Building
UNC School of Medicine
12:00 – 1:00 pm

In collaboration with the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute and the UNC Office of Research Ethics, the Center for Bioethics sponsors a monthly seminar series involving local and invited speakers addressing current ethical, legal and social issues in the design and conduct of biomedical research involving human subjects.

May 25, 2:00 pm

March Against Monsanto

This is part of a worldwide event that is taking place on May 25, 2013, to protest Monsanto, their policies and GMOs. The goal is to bring together local professionals, families and university students to spread the word about the importance of labeling GMO food, repealing the "Monsanto Protection Act" and educating our community of the dangers that GMOs pose to the human body and the environment.

Solutions we advocate?