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From Methodist minister David Felten in Fountain Hills, AZ (where I worked for 16 years and lived in nearby Scottsdale): “For those who, like me, are so over the whole substitutionary atonement thing, here’s some encouragement from 12th-century theologian Peter Abelard (who opposed Anselm and the whole bloody, guilt-ridden satisfaction theory that still dominates most churches):" “Christ died neither because a ransom had to be paid to the devil, nor because the blood of an innocent victim was needed to appease the wrath of God, but that a supreme exhibition of love might kindle a corresponding love in the hearts of [all] and inspire them with the true freedom of [being children] of God.” May your Easter celebration not be about a once-upon-a-time story, but a rising up of hope in world entranced by despair. ~ Robin Meyers & Bruce Sanguin Felten is author of Living the Questions.

Unitarian Universalist Ministry For Earth "seeks environmental justice, beloved community and the flourishing of all life." Spring for Change: a Season of Sacred Activism is from March 20, 2022 (Spring Equinox) through May 22, 2022 (International Day for Biodiversity). This is an invitation to the Unitarian Universalist faith community to embody the transformational, regenerative power of Spring through sacred activism for Earth and all our relations. The 2022 Spring for Change theme is Get Rooted, Get Ready! During this Season of Sacred Activism Rev. Dr. Leonisa Ardizzone and Aly Tharp will be hosting three Eco-Ministry Community Support Calls for ministers, religious educators, eco-ministry professionals and lay leaders to find joy, resources and community support for their work! Calls will be one hour, and will include role-based breakout groups. Are you planning something exciting for Earth Day/Month? Are you looking for inspiration and ideas to catalyze your community? Are you losing steam and needing a morale boost? These calls are for you! Register for one or more community calls: April 7, 2022 at 1 PT May 5, 2022 at 1 PT May 19, 2022 at 1 PT

“Using our shared humanity to bridge divides.” Harmony Interfaith Initiative is “an educational community organization affiliated with The Charter for Compassion, with the goal to spread the message of harmony to people of all faiths.” They are offering a 4 week course Working Together Towards Harmony: Using Our Shared Humanity to Bridge Theological and Ideological Divides starting May 21, 2018. It includes interactive sessions, downloadable audio recordings for each session, worksheets, PDF documents, and a free PDF edition of Interfaith Minister Gudjon Bergmann’s book, Experifaith: At the Heart of Every Religion. The cost of the course is $15. All proceeds go to fund The Charter for Compassion. Register by clicking here. Learn more from the Harmony Interfaith Initiative website: “Harmony Exists on a Wide Spectrum – As humans move from acrimony to harmony, they go through a wide spectrum, anything from ceasing hostilities to increased tolerance and understanding, finally moving into cooperation and culminating in fellowship. The goal is to work towards harmony, not achieve it from the first moment. The Human and Ideological Personas – According to Padraig O’Malley, who was instrumental during the Northern Ireland peace process, each human being is a mix of two personas. One persona is human and shares a number of elements with other human beings. The other persona is ideological and often quite divisive. When people clearly understand the difference between the two personas, they can better communicate with each other, reduce the likelihood of dehumanization, and increase their ability so see similarities. Using Human Experiences to Build Bridges –  From breaking bread with strangers to working together for the good of the less fortunate, face-to-face human experiences have historically been essential to the bridge building process. By exploring a variety of experiences that people can create to connect with each other, our aim is to expand horizons and open up new possibilities when bridge building efforts are needed in the community. Dialogue Principles for Respectful and Effective Communications – The ten interreligious dialogue principles created by Dr. Leonard Swidler provide a template for all types of difficult discussions where divisions exist. The principles focus on respect, effectiveness, and humility, and can be applied much more widely than in interfaith settings. The dialogue guidelines set parameters and reduce the likelihood of tempers flaring during discussions. The Attraction–Repulsion Axiom – The attraction–repulsion axiom states that as an attraction to one thing grows, repulsion to its opposite is automatically triggered. Knowing about this inborn tendency, and having plans for what to do when it surfaces, will reduce the likelihood that love for one thing will turn into hate for another.” The Experifaith model rests on the notion that “the religions of the world are not the same, but they converge at the point of experience. With a sole focus on experience, the model identifies and validates two major experiential paths that are found in all religions and spiritual traditions: The path of Goodness is external in nature. It is expansive and focuses on increasing capacity for love, compassion, and empathy. The path of Oneness is internal in nature. It is introverted and focuses on detaching from all the elements that are not permanently present. To learn more about the model, visit www.experifaith.org or buy the book. Tags: Harmony, Building Bridges, Interfaith, Communication

John Cassidy of The New Yorker, in reviewing Adam Tooze’s book Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World (2018) says the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis produced a lost decade for European economies and helped lead to the rise of anti-establishment political movements here and abroad. “September 15th marks the tenth anniversary of the demise of the investment bank Lehman Brothers, which presaged the biggest financial crisis and deepest economic recession since the nineteen-thirties. After Lehman filed for bankruptcy, and great swaths of the markets froze, it looked as if many other major financial institutions would also collapse. On September 18, 2008, Hank Paulson, the Secretary of the Treasury, and Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, went to Capitol Hill and told congressional leaders that if they didn’t authorize a seven-hundred-billion-dollar bank bailout the financial system would implode. Some Republicans reluctantly set aside their reservations. The bailout bill passed. The panic on Wall Street abated.” For a view from the other side of the pond, check out David Runciman of University of Cambridge Talking Politics August 29, 2018 podcast interview of Adam Tooze. Geo-politics and economics only make sense together. China’s investments in the U.S., the banking crisis and oil prices are part of the picture. Runciman argues in his 2018 book is How Democracy Ends that rather than experiencing a return to the 1930’s “we will continue to trust in democracy long after it has ceased to work.” His recent Darwin lecture on Trump as conspiracy theorist can be seen here. Democracy has died hundreds of times, all over the world. We think we know what that looks like: chaos descends and the military arrives to restore order, until the people can be trusted to look after their own affairs again. However, there is a danger that this picture is out of date. Until very recently, most citizens of Western democracies would have imagined that the end was a long way off, and very few would have thought it might be happening before their eyes as Trump, Brexit and paranoid populism have become a reality. Meanwhile Goldman Sach’s so-called bull-bear indicator, which examines five market factors, indicates that “the likelihood of a bear market occurring is at its highest point since around the mid-1970s… and a period of lower returns should be anticipated.” A month and a half ago Morgan Stanley warned to “prepare for the biggest stock-market selloff in months.” John Hussman, whose claim to fame includes forecasting the market collapses of 2000 and 2007-2008, has repeatedly called for sharp stock market decline with his oft-repeated mantra of “overbought, overvalued, overbullish.” Truthdig’s Nomi Prins writes and speaks about the Banks That Run the World and Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World Probably the most dismal view is espoused by Chris Hedges who recently wrote Conjuring Up the Next Depression and the book America: The Farewell Tour. Watch his recent YouTube video here.

Southern Oregon University invites the Rogue Valley community, and beyond, to their annual Earth Day Extravaganza on April 22, 2022 from 3:30-6:30 p.m. at The Farm at SOU, located at 155 Walker Avenue, Ashland Oregon. There will be exhibitors, entertainment, an ecoquest adventure, educational mini-workshops, games and more, all in celebration of the 52nd Earth Day. Hands-on education and engagement activities will be offered for audiences of all ages! Mini-workshops and activity stations by SOU’s Masters in Science in Environmental Education students Pollinator Art Walk and Talk featuring artist Shoshana Dubiner’s art installation panels in the Farm’s Food Forest Tours of The Farm at SOU! The Earth Day Extravaganza offers a unique opportunity to engage with the community and share opportunities for action and education for the health of our planet and people. Exhibits will be related to environmental conservation, sustainability, sustainable living, or social justice and equity.

Creatively United’s next webinar in our Climate and Artists Series will include inspiring interviews on a wide range of projects that are charting the future towards healthier, happier communities. In keeping with this season’s overall theme of Regeneration, on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 from 10:30 a.m. to noon, we will explore new technologies that break down barriers to net zero carbon living, including re-designing communities for the future with emphasis on: Zero waste buildings and harmless homes Creating cohousing as sustainable living Healthy energy & healthy homes Living forest communities, art & conservations Overcoming barriers to EV charging stations in stratas Can't make the live webinar? No worries. By registering for this free webinar, you will receive the replay link to watch at your convenience. Presenters include: Order of Canada award-winning singer/songwriter, Ann Mortifee, plus Jack Anderson, Helen Boyd, Jim Bronson & Sandi Goldie, Jim Connelly, Arno Keinonen, Doug Makaroff, and Roy Yeske. Register Here For Free About Our Presenters Jack Anderson launched Greenplan in 2001. His educational background comprises of architecture, urban design and ecological community design. He has 15 years experience for provincial and local government agencies, including: the City of Nanaimo’s first Planning Department; the City of Nanaimo’s first Park planner in the Parks and Recreation Department; and, from 1993 to 2000, within the Regional District of Nanaimo’s Building Inspection and Planning Departments. Helen Boyd is a registered nurse and mental health therapist who is passionately committed to conserving and enriching our planetary health for generations to come. She is the BC Representative of the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment and board member and liaison to the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Jim Bronson comes to climate activism as a scientist, Sandi Goldie as a teacher, and both as lovers of the natural world who want the best possible future for their grandchildren. In 2018, they began leading classes based on solutions to the climate crisis outlined in Paul Hawken’s book Drawdown, and were founding members of Drawdown BC. They lead online Saturday Solutions Synergy Sessions every two months, where people from the US and Canada meet to inspire one another with their work for a healthy planet. They moved to Oregon in 2021, where they are helping to create River Song, a co-housing community which is implementing cooperative living in a sustainable way. Jim Connelly is an estimator with more than 30 years of experience with Nickel Bros. He will share the many benefits of moving homes vs. demolishing them. Arno Keinonen is an innovator and pioneer dedicated to finding low carbon building solutions. His own home was created to become one of the world’s first test cases for disruptive and revolutionary new technology. He will share an update on what has been learned from this process since Creatively United produced The Harmless Homedocumentary in 2019. Doug Makaroff is the Executive Director of The Trust for Sustainable Forestry, a registered Canadian charity. Doug has 31 years of experience as a sustainable urban planner and real estate developer; creating new towns and walkable neighbourhoods with a mix of uses, ages and incomes. From 2006 to the present, Doug has focused on building conservation communities in BC; where light-on-the-land development is clustered on 5 to 15% of the land base, with the remainder of the forest land conserved or dedicated to the most sustainable forms of eco-forestry. He will share how this model is an alternative to clear cutting and suburban sprawl that also provides jobs and homes, while saving trees. Ann Mortifee, is an award-winning musician, artist, author, environmental activist and Order of Canada recipient and the co-founder and chair of The Trust for Sustainable Forestry. In 2002, Ann established the first Conservation Community on Cortes Island in British Columbia by registering a new land use zone (Community Land Stewardship Zone) as an alternative to suburban sprawl and deforestation. Not only is Ann a sought-after keynote speaker and facilitator of workshops on creativity and consciousness, but her dedication to human and planetary healing has resulted in Ann receiving numerous awards and recognition, including Queen Elizabeth II Silver and Diamond Jubilee Medals and being recognized as the YMCA’s Woman of the Year. Roy Yeske with more than 30 years of experience on strata councils and 35-years as an electrical engineer, manager and administrator at Saskpower, was well positioned to initiate, lead and manage his strata building’s conversion to full LED lighting and successfully install EV Ready Infrastructure to all 30 parking stalls in the building’s parkade for significant cost savings to the residents. He will share advice and tips on the many benefits these types of conversion offer and how to move projects like this forward with resistant stratas or building owners/managers.

Addressing the Climate Crisis in Oregon 2022 Legislative and OCAP Progress: Thanks to the Governor’s 2020 Executive Order 20-04, and passage of several bills addressing elements of the climate crisis, Oregon has started to regain climate leadership and resume its historic role at the forefront of environmental protection. The March Southern Oregon Climate Action Now general meeting, scheduled as a ZOOM program from 6:00 – 7:00 pm March 29, 2022 will offer a summary of what happened during the 2022 legislative session and what is happening on the agency front in response to the Executive Order. The program will feature Rural Oregon Climate Political Action Committee Director Hogan Sherrow, and SOCAN cofacilitator Alan Journet, both of whom have been monitoring developments and engaging where opportunities were offered. There is no charge for joining the ZOOM meeting, but participants must register. These meetings are free and open to the public Link to Register: bit.ly/SOCAN-MarchMtg

“We don’t have a healthcare system in this country, we have a disease management system.” ~ Andrew Weil M.D. “The American healthcare system is broken. American healthcare costs are rising so rapidly that they could reach $4.2 trillion annually, roughly 20% of our gross domestic product, within ten years. We pay more, yet our health outcomes are worse!” Watch the movie ESCAPE FIRE. It “examines the powerful forces maintaining the status quo, a medical industry designed for quick fixes rather than prevention, for profit-driven care rather than patient-driven care. After decades of resistance, a movement to bring innovative high-touch, low-cost methods of prevention and healing into our high-tech, costly system is finally gaining ground. Award-winning filmmakers Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke follow dramatic human stories as well as leaders fighting to transform healthcare at the highest levels of medicine, industry, government, and even the US military. ESCAPE FIRE is about finding a way out. It’s about saving the health of a nation.” The present healthcare system is generating rivers of money that are flowing into very few pockets. We need a whole new kind of medicine. Here are the issues: An Entrenched System – Pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, hospitals, and insurance companies are all profiting on our declining health. And all those companies spend their money lavishly – millions of dollars go to Washington lobbyists – to ensure that nothing ever changes. Overmedication – We spend roughly $300 billion annually on pharmaceutical drugs – nearly as much as the rest of the world combined. Overtreatment – One of the hardest things to understand as a patient is that “more” doesn’t necessarily mean “better.” But it’s imperative that we do. Recent studies have shown that “more” can often mean “worse” when it comes to our health. Paying More Getting Less – We pay more, yet our health outcomes are worse. We give well-intentioned doctors, nurses, and hospitals the wrong tools and the wrong incentives, and it results in higher costs and poorer health. Preventing Disease – 75% of healthcare costs go to treating diseases that are largely preventable. That’s a lot of unnecessary money, and worse, a lot of unnecessary disease. Reimbursement – The healthcare system often uses a “a fee-for-service” model of payment – government or private insurers pay a hospital or a physician every time a procedure is performed. Treating the Whole Person – Your body isn’t a car, but that’s how it’s handled when you take it into the doctor’s office. Instead of being treated as a person, your broken parts get fixed separately, one by one. Get educated on these issues and add your voice to a growing chorus for change. Click here to open The First Aid Kit – your chance to speak up, spread the word, and be a part of the solution.

Douglas Tallamy’s books have awakened thousands to the problem of wildlife decline and the solution that resides in habitat restoration. This is a solution of which you and your faith community can be a part. The solution can be as close as your backyard or the property surrounding your place of worship. In this webinar, Tallamy will outline the crisis faced and what we can do in response. The green teams and green thumbs of faith communities will learn not only about cultivating native plants in the landscapes around them, but also what can be done to create a transformative movement full of actions ordinary people everywhere can take. To care for God’s creation, we can start by simply stepping outside the doors of where we gather for worship to make the most of our sacred places. In this webinar, Tallamy will raise our awareness and equip us to make a difference in our world. This webinar is co-hosted by the Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt who serves as the Minister of Environmental Justice for the United Church of Christ and the Rev. Carol Devine who serves as the Minister of Green Chalice for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Interim Director of Blessed Tomorrow. REGISTER FOR EVENT HERE Event Co-Sponsors: Blessed Tomorrow, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Interfaith Power & Light, Multnomah Athletic Club, Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church, Planet Church of First United Methodist Church of Portland, and West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District.

“In Ireland, some still follow the tradition where Catholics wear green and Protestants wear orange. These colors are associated with the religious sects and are the represented on the Irish flag; the white on the flag is symbolic of the peace between the two.” In the 1700’s Irish immigrants in the U.S. started the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City. The historic post card above shows the marriage between patriotism and Irish tradition. I’m wear’in white!

Faith groups in the Rogue Valley have been involved in advocacy through Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and several other organized groups: Divest Oregon Divest Oregon is "a statewide grassroots coalition of individuals and organizations representing unions with PERS members, racial and climate justice groups, youth leaders, and faith communities with the goal of calling the Oregon State Treasury to account for its funding of climate devastation rather than prudent investing in a sustainable future. Divest Oregon is a part of a national movement; a member of the Climate Safe Pensions Network and the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition. 350PDX was the founding member of Divest Oregon in mid 2021 and the campaign formally launched in September. They are an open-membership, non-partisan coalition that does not endorse candidates." Oregon Clean Energy Opportunity Campaign The goal of the Oregon Clean Energy Opportunity Campaign is "to reduce energy bills, support home upgrades that help keep families healthy, and create good jobs in clean energy projects across Oregon." With that objective in mind they advocated to pass three bills in the Oregon Legislature in 2021: House Bill 2475 Affordable Energy - the goal of this bill is to decrease utility costs for families already struggling in the economic recession by establishing a Low-Income Utility Rate Class. Click here for a factsheet on this bill. Click here to view Representative Maxine Dexter’s floor letter on House Bill 2475, including organizations in support of the bill. House Bill 2842 Healthy Homes - the purpose of this bill was to support home upgrades to help improve the health of families across Oregon. Click here for a factsheet on this bill. Amidst a record heat wave, on July 25, 2021 the Oregon Senate passed bipartisan bill to Invest $10 million in new healthy homes repair fund. House Bill 2021B 100% Clean Energy for All - Designed to "create living-wage jobs in the renewable energy sector and invest in local energy projects that are good for communities and reduce pollution while achieving 100% clean energy as soon as possible. Click here for a factsheet on this bill. Oregon Clean Energy Campaign's leadership consisted of rural and BIPOC-led environmental justice groups convened by the Oregon Just Transition Alliance and its members. Click here to see a list of supporters of HB 2842 Renew Oregon Renew Oregon is "a clean energy advocacy coalition of businesses and workers, healthcare professionals and parents, farmers and ranchers, faith and community organizations, and individuals coming together to move our state away from polluting energy to a clean energy economy. We are working to create good-paying jobs for all Oregonians, protect air and water from pollution, and help families stay healthy." "We believe in a clean energy future for the state we love: An Oregon with good-paying jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities. A prosperous Oregon protected for future generations. We’re working to transition away from dirty, polluting energy to a clean, equitable economy."

In her 2020 book The Dream of the Cosmos, author Anne Baring "synthesizes the work of Teilhard de Chardin, Margarita Gimbutas, and Carl Jung with her own story—of traveling extensive in India and the Far East and becoming a fashion designer and Jungian analyst." Baring's YouTube presentation explores five different cosmologies which have influenced Western civilization: The Lunar Era of the Great Mother 25,000 BCE - 1,000 BCE The Solar Era of the Great Father 2,000 BCE - 2,000 CE The Myth of the Fall 621 BCE Kabbalah Scientific Materialism She explains her understanding of a currently emerging New Cosmology, exploring the relationship between the feminine and masculine archetypes manifested in these five cosmologies and how our relationship with this planet and the cosmos has been affected by them. "This new emerging cosmology offers hope for our survival as a species and restores our forgotten relationship with an intelligent, living and sacred cosmos." Anne Baring, has a PhD (Hons) in Wisdom Studies from Ubiquity University (2018); is a Jungian Analyst; author and co-author of several books including: The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image (1993) The Mystic Vision with Andrew Harvey, The Divine Feminine (1996) with Andrew Harvey Soul Power: an Agenda for a Conscious Humanity (2009) The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time The Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul (2020) "The ground of all her work is a deep interest in the spiritual, mythological, shamanic and artistic traditions of different cultures. Her website www.annebaring.com is devoted to the affirmation of a new vision of reality and the issues facing us at this crucial time of choice."

Ashland Culture of Peace Commission (ACPC) is hosting various concerts, labyrinths, vigils, talking circles for the 11 Days for Peace. 9/11/18 is the beginning of 11 Days for Peace culminating on 9/21/18 the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. “ACPC is celebrating one year of exploring a new culture that may become peace in our community. Individuals come together to take on hard questions and reveal solutions. Our focus is on how we can change from a culture that promotes separation, fear and violence into one of compassion and peace. Every individual, business, organization and agency is invited to be a “Pathway To Peace”. Schedule of events at the Thalden Pavilion, Southern Oregon University: Tuesday, 9/11/18, 6-7 p.m. – Sophia (sacred theater & community peace ceremony) Thursday, 9/13/18, 6-7 p.m. – Norma Burton & Adey Bell (soulful wisdom & music) Saturday, 9/15/18, 6-7 p.m. – Sound Healing (community experience) Monday, 9/19/18, 6-7 p.m. – Wild Honey (musical inspiration) Wednesday, 9/19/18, 6-7 p.m. – David Kai (musical inspiration) On Friday, 9/21/18, the International Day of Peace, after a minute of silence at noon there will be a World Peace Flame Lighting Ceremony. Savitri MacCuish, Executive Director of the World Peace Flame Foundation, along with State of Oregon and City of Ashland OR dignitaries, will light the World Peace Flame at the Thalden Pavilion, Sustainability Center, Southern Oregon University. A Native American song of healing will be sung by local tribal member Dan Wahpepah. The ceremony will be live-streamed via Peace Day Global Broadcast to over a million people internationally. Sustainability Center designed by Christopher Brown Architect On Saturday, 9/22/18, from 1-5 p.m. Savitri MacCuish will lead a benefit workshop Creating Balance in a Changing World: The Transforming Power of the Heart at Wesley Hall, United Methodist Church, 175 N. Main St. Ashland OR. Tickets are $35 advanced or $40 at the door. Click here to buy tickets.

The California Institute of Integral Studies will be hosting a Sacred Activism Conversation between Andrew Harvey and Sean Kelly on August 3, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. at 1453 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA. “Renowned mystical scholar and spiritual teacher Andrew Harvey shares his vision of Sacred Activism as a solution for the chaotic and dangerous times we are all facing.” “Sacred Activism is the transforming force that is born when the profound peace, passion, and stamina of deep spirituality is combined with radical action.” “In this conversation, Andrew shares stories about his development of practices that can ground you in divine peace, joy, and strength to give you the energy to persist and thrive even in difficult circumstances.” Join CIIS professor Sean Kelly in conversation with Andrew as they explore what it means to put love and wisdom into clear, wise action. Tickets are $15 for pre-registration or $20 at the door. Andrew Harvey is an internationally acclaimed poet, novelist, translator, mystical scholar, and spiritual teacher. He has written and edited more than 30 books-including the best-selling titles The Hope and The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. He has won the Christmas Humphries Prize, the Nautilus Prize twice, and appeared in two recent films (Dancing in the Flames, and Ethan Hawke’s Seymour: An Introduction). He has taught at Oxford University, Cornell University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the University of Creation Spirituality as well as at various spiritual centers throughout the United States and CIIS. He is the founder and director of the Institute of Sacred Activism. He is a kind-hearted rascal with a penchant for red pashminas, Maria Callas, white lions, and Chicago pizza. Sean Kelly received his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Ottawa in 1988. Before coming to CIIS, he taught religious studies at the University of Windsor, the University of Ottawa, and Carleton University (Canada). He is the author of Coming Home: The Birth and Transformation of the Planetary Era and Individuation and the Absolute: Hegel, Jung, and the Path toward Wholeness. Sean is also co-editor, with Donald Rothberg, of Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers and co-translator, with Roger Lapointe, of French thinker Edgar Morin’s book, Homeland Earth: A Manifesto for the New Millennium. #AndrewHarvey #CaliforniaInstituteofIntegralStudies #SacredActivism

In the 2017 book Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet  the authors Michael Bloomberg and Carl Pope offer a "new approach to tackling climate change – exploring the solutions that hold the greatest promise, and outlining the practical steps that are necessary to achieve them.” Without agreeing on every point, Bloomberg and Pope “share a belief that cities, businesses, and citizens can lead – and win – the battle against climate change, no matter which way the political winds in Washington may shift… They turn the common line of thinking about climate change on its head: from top down to bottom up, from partisan to pragmatic, from costs to benefits, from tomorrow to today, and from fear to hope.” What is your take on this book? “Climate of Hope is an inspiring must read for anyone who wants to know how their local actions can have positive and significant impacts on the world.” ~ Al Gore

What are our shared beliefs in a divided Nation? In 2018 The Washington Post published an interesting project “What Unites Us? in an attempt to find some answers. They interviewed 102 people (2 in each state and Washington D.C.) and asked people “to contemplate what it means to be American in this time of upheaval and rapid change.” They used “census data to assemble a group of Americans that closely resembles the overall U.S. population in terms of gender, race, age, and class…. and included the same mesh backdrop in each portrait to create a unifying element in 102 different locations.” Spend some time reading these 102 portraits of Americans. Seven unifying themes: Community and empathy Opportunity and drive Diversity Fundamental rights A responsibility to engage Faith in the nation Fear for the future What do you think unites us? What words would you use? Note: The Washington Post article is behind their paywall.

According to David Vine, author of Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World (American Empire Project), the USA maintains approximately 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and territories abroad; see Vine’s maps for these base locations in 2015. And this does not include the military bases within the borders of the United States. Politico has a colorful map showing military bases and lily pads (military base locations with less than 200 personnel). It may not be politically correct to call it empire, but Abby Martin’s 2015 documentary refers to it as “The Rise of History’s Biggest Empire.” Journalist Abby Martin is the creator of The Empire Files @EmpireFiles and founder of @MediaRootsNews, Her Twitter account proudly proclaims that she was “accused by US govt of fomenting ‘radical discontent’ at RT’s @BreakingTheSet.” The Empire Files “explores the U.S. Empire, its rise to world hegemony and its impact on people and the planet… recording a world shaped by war & inequality.” Videos can be watched on TheEmpireFiles.tv or YouTube. You can also find some content from The Empire Files at TheRealNews.com. The Empire Files podcast can be heard on Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud. One might think that Abby Martin’s sensibilities are because she experienced political oppression, but Wikipedia says that she “grew up in Pleasanton, California, where she attended Amador Valley High School, graduating in 2002. She became interested in journalism when her old high school boyfriend enlisted in the military after the September 11 attacks in 2001. ‘I didn’t want him going to war, let alone fighting in one’, she recalls. ‘I began to critically ask ‘What is really going on?’ By the time she was a sophomore at San Diego State University, she began questioning what she called the ‘selling’ of the Iraq War by the media.” Millennial Magazine portrayed Martin in 2014 as an “unfiltered” media representative for the Millennial generation who reports “stories that deserve public recognition”. This 25 minute YouTube video traces “the rise of the U.S. empire to world hegemony and its impact on people and the planet.” Find out more on the subject from the series of books referred to as The American Empire Project. #AmericanEmpireProject #Geopolitics #TheEmpireFiles #AbbyMartin #BaseNation

Covid-19, Zoom, social media, the internet, and political polarization have changed the fabric of "community," Businesses, schools, churches, and other institutions are struggling to adapt and rebuild, but some things will not return to a prior "normal." Robert D. Putnam’s (2000) book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community chronicles the rise of civic participation during the fifties and sixties, followed by a decline in social capital over the next three decades. Social capital refers to connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. Social capital is simultaneously a “private good” and a public good”. As Claude S. Fischer puts it: “Social networks are important in all our lives, often for finding jobs, more often for finding a helping hand, companionship, or a shoulder to cry on.” Some small groups and clubs exist primarily for the private enjoyment of their members, although they may also serve public ends. “When economic and political dealings are embedded in dense networks of social interaction, incentives for opportunism and malfeasance are reduced.” As L. J. Hanifan notes: “Social networks and norms of reciprocity can facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit.” Civic engagement and social capital entail mutual obligation and responsibility for action. Frequent interaction among a diverse set of people tends to produce a norm of generalized reciprocity. Probably the most important dimension when discussing social capital is the distinction between bonding (or exclusive) and bridging (or inclusive) Quoting Putnam, “Some forms of social capital are, by choice or necessity, inward-looking and tend to reinforce exclusive identities and homogeneous groups. Examples of bonding social capital include ethnic fraternal organizations, church-based women’s reading groups, and fashionable country clubs. As noted by Xavier de Souza Briggs. “while networks and the associated norms of reciprocity are generally good for those inside the network, the external effects of social capital are by no means always positive for those outside.” Other networks are outward-looking and encompass people across diverse social cleavages. Examples of bridging social capital include the civil rights movements, many youth service groups, and ecumenical religious organizations. Churches have a tendency to emphasize the bonding needs of their members and miss the missional calling for bridging. Some emphasize pietistic, individualistic experience and personal salvation and underplay or entirely miss the church’s social responsibilities, except perhaps to their own. Some are rigidly exclusive, particularly on doctrinal matters, as if to protect their purity from the taint of the world. Other churches are overtly inclusive, welcoming all. Where is the balance in our community? How can we be both bonding and bridging? Is it possible to create bonding around the idea of bridging? I think so. #Bonding #Bridging #Community #Socialcapital

9/11 was over 20 years ago, but it still seems like just yesterday. Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues after a year and a half. The Global Conflict Tracker lists 27 current conflicts around the world. Will homo sapiens ever establish peace among peoples and nations? Sunday on Global Public Square (GPS) Fareed Zakaria took a deep dive into Artificial Intelligence: Its Promise and Peril, interviewing Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Schmidt said AI needs to be given human-like behavioral rules as it moves toward recursive self-improvement, perhaps within the next five years. Google's DeepMind details some AI risks. September 8, 2023, from 6:15 a.m. - 7:15 a.m. PDT the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is having an online conversation on AI and the Next Generation of Peacebuilders. The rapidly evolving world of AI offers "potential as both a beacon for peacebuilding and a challenge for global stability. The discussion will feature perspectives from USIP’s Youth Advisory Council and shed light on AI’s transformative implications for conflict resolution, societal structures, and the role of youth in shaping this digital future." Register here. About the United States Institute of Peace United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is "a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded in 1984 by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for U.S. and global security." The USIP works “to save lives, increase the government’s ability to deal with conflicts before they escalate, reduce government costs, and enhance our national security.” USIP has a Global Peacebuilding Center that has education programs, multimedia exhibits, and a Building Peace website with resources and activities. They focus mainly on students and educators, and seek to introduce the key concepts and skills in conflict management, and to the challenges and importance of peacebuilding. The website includes an interactive Virtual Passport experience and ways for young people to engage and connect as peacebuilders. It also features a Peacebuilding Toolkit for Educators – middle school and high school volumes – including lessons and activities to bring peacebuilding into the classroom. USIP concerns itself with three phases of conflict:  prevention, mediation and resolution, and post-conflict stabilization. The Institute is made up of three centers, with a fourth set of centers whose issues cross each phase of conflict. USIP identifies and applies best practices in twenty topical areas whose issues cross each phase of conflict through this series of Centers.