on March 10

  

Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice:
Listen for a Change

•  Room A - Pamela Anderson
•  Room J - Kevin Sanders
•  Conference Room - Deacon Steve Skiffington
•  Bookshop - Susan Hotchkiss

  

Join us next Sunday, March 13, in the Great Hall during coffee hour to help make Palm Crosses.  There will be palm fronds, instructions, and lots of laughter. Make one or make many. 

Thursday, March 17, 7:00pm in the Assembly Area

As we close out our Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice series, we will have a Healing Service at 7pm in the Assembly Area.  The evening will begin with compline at 6pm in the church followed by dinner in the Great Hall for $7.  We will be on break March 24 since it will be Maundy Thursday and TNAC will resume on Thursday March 31 with a new set of classes TBA.  We look forward to seeing you Thursday night!

 

George Johnston

Women's Retreat

TREE Tip

  

Gas, Bicycles, and Plastic.

by Ann Rothschild.

  

With the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility leak in Los Angeles having spewed 107,000 tons (that's TONS) of methane into the atmosphere, it's enough to make one give up daily efforts to conserve gas and water. Heck-the facility "released the greenhouse gas equivalent of 572,000 cars in a year," (Sacramento Bee, 2-26-16). What's the use of my bicycling around the neighborhood in the face of this and other disasters? Well, I do enjoy cycling, it gives me exercise and fresh air, and I chat with neighbors and appreciate the blossoms on the trees. I guess it's worth it. Besides, I must keep on keeping on for my own self-respect.

  

It's important to seek out the good news too. Remember the Great Pacific Garbage Patch-that huge area of plastic rubbish the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean, (and yes, there is one such patch in every ocean)?   All the rubbish has been swirled together by the ocean currents. Well, scientists have been sounding the alarm on this for 20 years. One well-publicized solution is Dutch engineering student Boyan Slat's plastic-eating machine (www.theoceancleanup.com) suspended by nets on a long boom across miles of sea. Hooray- thank you, Boyan. However, critics' arguments are sobering: ocean pollution activist group 5 Gyres Institute asserts that much of the plastic is not in large bottles and bits that can be swept up by nets, but consists of clouds of microplastics, shredded to small grains by wave action, sunlight, and organisms, that are at various depths, are too small for Slat's machine, and yet deadly to sea life.

Environmental writer Chris Clarke points out that long booms with nets to catch plastic rubbish may work in calm waters, but will be broken up by stormy seas. The nets stand to capture sea life as well, migratory species of fish will be endangered, and, anyway, plastic recyclers are overwhelmed with too much plastic, which does not recycle well-it has to be "down-cycled" to lesser grade plastic. His essay explains this and more-check it out at

 https://www.kcet.org/redefine/6-reasons-that-floating-ocean-plastic-cleanup-gizmo-is-a-horrible-idea.

This is a fascinating on-going challenge to our scientists. In the meantime, please continue to avoid plastic bags and packaging whenever possible and recycle at all times, and never, never buy those single plastic water bottles!

NorCal AIDS Cycle

With dry weather prevailing for most of February, it seemed a good time to jump-start my training for NorCal AIDS Cycle... now just ten weeks away. I had worked out a nice thirty-four mile loop ride, using the new Cosumnes Boulevard extension, heading down to the town of Franklin, and then heading back on River Road along the Sacramento River. Unfortunately, fate had other ideas. There is a spot where Franklin Boulevard crosses some S P railroad tracks at a pretty sharp angle. I tried to get perpendicular to make a safe crossing, but my front wheel slid into the gap next to the track, and I came down on the pavement pretty hard.

The result was a lot of shoulder and neck pain, but nothing broken it appears. But a month later I'm still pretty sore. So it has cramped my training a little bit. But two weeks later, with a multi-day bike tour on the horizon, I nervously got back on the bike, and started training again.

Fund-raising has been in full swing, and donations are starting to come in. For the previous five years, I have been one of the top fundraisers for NCAC. I really don't want to be competitive about it, but I really can't help it! My biggest fund-raising event each Spring is a benefit pipe organ recital at Trinity Cathedral. This year it will be on Sunday, April 17th at 4:00 pm. More details can be found here: NCAC benefit organ recital  I hope you will be able to come for an afternoon of great music on our newly restored Cathedral organ, and also to support this excellent cause.

Once again, I am asking you to help me make my goal of raising eight-thousand dollars for NorCal AIDS Cycle. This worthy organization supports organizations who support our neighbors suffering from HIV/AIDS, and helping to prevent new infections. I am deeply appreciative of everyone who has supported me in this worthy cause!