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At the end of 2022, NPR News pondered how the Federal government's response to the climate emergency will be affected as Republicans get a louder voice on climate change as they take over the House of Representatives. "The plans include boosting domestic oil and gas drilling, building more climate-friendly energy sources like nuclear and hydropower, changing environmental permitting to make construction easier, securing supply chains so other countries — notably China — can't dominate them and planting trees to pull more carbon from the atmosphere." ~ NPR You might not know this, but according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energ) U.S. oil production has been on the rise for more than a decade and most imported oil comes from Canada. Also, the U.S. was a net exporter of petroleum products in 2020 and 2021. The Preamble on Kevin McCarthy's website stresses America's exceptionalism - the economy (energy independence, inflation, and reduced prices), public safety (crime in cities, border control of immigrants and military might), freedom (from government regulation), and accountability (spending for the recently passed IRA). Now that McCarthy has been elected Speaker of the House by making concessions to the far right, we can expect that Republicans in the House will attempt to expand new energy projects in America (oil and gas drilling leases, pipeline construction, and fewer environmental regulations); Although these Republican legislative efforts may be blocked by a Democratic-controlled Senate, Republican leverage will come when it is necessary to raise the debt ceilings, perhaps even with a willingness to shut down the government.

Southern Oregon Climate Action Now's (SOCAN) monthly general public meeting, on Tuesday January 31, 2023 at 6:00 p.m, will feature Oregon Senator Merkley to discuss: Expanding U.S. Climate Ambition in 2023. There is no charge for joining the ZOOM meeting, but participants should register at the link on the SOCAN calendar event: https://socan.eco/events/. "Despite holding a bare minimum of control in both chambers, during the last Congress Democrats managed to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, the most ambitious legislation targeting the climate crisis ever signed into law. However, as we enter a two-year period with Republican climate deniers in charge of the House, we now face the question of how we can continue and expand upon this climate action at the federal level. Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley will join an upcoming discussion to highlight continued opportunities for federal action, particularly from the executive branch, including implementing the legislation passed last Congress"

In his December 8, 2022 podcast, Jordan B. Peterson interviewed conservative philosopher Alex Epstein about "Green Dystopia - the undeniable need for fossil fuels, the toxic underlying nihilism of the climate concerned left; the need for balance between conservation and human progress, and the unexplored worth of wild potential." Richard V. Reeves, a Brookings Institute scholar who wrote the 2022 book Of Boys And Men says that Jordan Peterson is a conservative, public intellectual who appeals largely to young men because he does not mock or patronize them. Reeves empathetically devotes a chapter each to what Progressives and Conservatives get right and wrong. I like that. Alex Epstein is a "Koch-funded philosopher and writer" who argues that "human flourishing" should be the guiding principle of energy and environmental progress. He is the author of the 2022 book Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas—Not Less. He is also the creator of EnergyTalkingPoints.com offering conservative viewpoints on energy, environmental, and climate issues. In 2011 he founded Center for Industrial Progress (CIP), a "for-profit think-tank seeking to bring about a new industrial revolution." Wikipedia sources Jason Wilson of The Guardian who says: "Epstein has a close association with conservative advocacy groups and receives funding from the Koch brothers and that "Epstein's work has been popular and influential on the right because it is a particularly fluent, elaborate form of climate denialism." Slate writer Nitish Pahwa has reviewed Epstein's arguments in his Fossil Future book and acknowledged a few points of agreement, but enumerates "the myriad ways Epstein misrepresents history and science and activism." "The new style of climate denial is here: It’s not that carbon emissions aren’t increasing, or aren’t warming the world, but look, you’re doing fine right now, right? Really?? If we are to have intelligent conversations that overcome the con of climate change denial we must first understand the basis of their emotional appeal and learn not to deprecate them personally.

In 2017 the United Church of Christ (UCC) created the 3 Great Loves campaign:: Love of Neighbor Love of Children Love of Creation "These Three Great Loves point to what fundamentally motivates people to address the damage done to our climate. People care about neighbors near and far who suffer from rising sea levels, floods, droughts, and hurricanes. They care about the world their children and grandchildren are inheriting. They care about the natural world around them that is under assault. This guide aims to turn that love into action: climate action." The UCC Creation Justice Churches Program partnered with Blessed Tomorrow to offer a Guide To Getting Started to help congregations live into Three Great Loves through climate action For over four years Conferences and congregations embraced the concept, and although the campaign started drawing to a close during Synod 2021, "the mission lives on and will continue to grow." During 2022 climate and social justice were among the top UCC news stories. "UCC offered ways to respond to the climate crisis with webinars, a national climate summit Grants to develop the work of youth and young adults in the climate justice movement. Global Ministries held a Mission Dash 5K in August to raise funds to support the creation care efforts of global partners, and hundreds of churches registered to create Climate Hope Cards, which will feature youth artwork on postcards slated to be distributed to elected officials in 2023." UCC climate justice leaders reviewed how the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August 2022, could benefit faith communities and also pushed for the Environmental Justice For All Act, which they said could have a greater impact on the most disadvantaged communities. The UCC also created a new office linking environmental and racial justice, an achievement stemming from a history of fighting environmental racism that included activists from the UCC. A new Resolution on green energy is expected to be proposed at the General Synod 34 meeting in Indianapolis from June 30 – July 4, 2023

Catholics care about climate change! Since 1991 US Catholic Bishops have been calling for action addressing global warming. In 2006, to address growing ecological awareness and the need to implement Catholic social teaching on ecology within the US Church, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) helped form Catholic Climate Covenant. The Catholic Climate Covenant "inspires and equips people and institutions to care for creation and care for the poor." Through their 20 national partners, they guide the U.S. [Catholic] Church's response to climate change by educating, giving public witness, and offering resources." In May 2015 Pope Francis published the encyclical Laudato Si’: Care for Our Common Home,” It focuses on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship between God, humans, and the Earth. In November 2020, Pope Francis invited young people around the world to gather virtually to consider ways of making the economy of today and tomorrow, fair, sustainable, and inclusive. The Economy of Francesco gathering, inspired by the example of St. Francis of Assisi, featured workshops, seminars, and lectures with leading experts in economics, sustainable development, and the social sciences, including Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus." The Vatican describes the Economy of Francesco as “a different economy, one that helps people live and does not kill, that includes and does not exclude, that humanizes rather than dehumanizes, that takes care of creation and does not plunder it.” On November 16, 2022 Catholic Climate Covenant had a Zoom webinar, now on YouTub, featuring Catholic entrepreneurs, activists, and movement leaders who are answering Pope Francis' call to build a new, moral economy -- one that "centers on the vulnerable and most marginalized and cares for creation." You may ask to join the Laudato si' private Facebook page. whose purpose is to study Pope Francis' encyclical, "Laudato si': On Care for Our Common Home," They also gather weekly on FB Chat every Thursday for "a lively discussion, inspired by the Old Testament as interpreted in the Eco Bible and through our modern experiences. On January 19, 2023 the Laudato si' Facebook Group will discuss the book "Sacred Cow" Click here for a link to their Thursday chats; you will receive an email with the reading and the Zoom link.

"The Earth is being devastated before our own eyes, primarily due to the unsustainable economic, ecological, societal, geopolitical, cultural, and ethical decisions of human civilization. As a result of the injury to our collective home, a complex web of trauma is affecting humanity, frequently in new and unforeseen ways. While there are many who ignore or even profit from our unsustainable consumption, there are little sustainability efforts that rely on technology and even the shared wonder about nature shared by the world’s multiple religious traditions." In this GTUx Original course: Ecospirituality: Environmental Pathways to Healing, Dr. Rita Sherma is joined by guest speakers Valerie Miles-Tribble and Debashish Banerji in a discussion about how healing the innate connections between humans and their ecosystem requires new definitions of the relationships between ecology, therapy, spirituality, and sustainability. The course is divided into 11 modules Module 1: What is Ecospirituality? Module 2: Ecopsychology Module 3: The Biophilia Hypothesis Module 4: Contemplative Ecopraxis, Part 1 Module 5: Contemplative Ecopraxis, Part two Module 6: Intentional & Aspirational Eco-communities, Part One. Module 7: Intentional & Aspirational Eco-communities, Part Two. Module 8: Intentional & Aspirational Eco-communities, Part Three. Module 9: Intentional & Aspirational Eco-Communities, Part 4; Module 10: Ethics of Ecospirituality, Part 1 Module 11: Ethics of Ecospirituality, Part 2 Rita D. Sherma is founding Director and Associate Professor at the Center for Dharma Studies; Core Doctoral Faculty; and Co-Chair of Sustainability 360 Initiative at GTU The Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA. Additional Readings and Resources

At its November 17, 2022 meeting, the Oregon Global Warming Commission (OGWC) discussed preliminary options for recommending an update to the state’s sector-based GHG reduction goals. Several states and the federal government have adopted more ambitious GHG reduction goals that better reflect the current science. Roadmap to 2035 is being finalized in January/February 2023 with the plan to publish and deliver it to Legislature by March 1, 2023. "While Oregon has taken action to reduce emissions, the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals no longer align with the science-based emissions mitigation pathways that have the greatest likelihood to avoid the worst impacts of global warming." ~OGWC The 2007 Oregon Legislature created the Oregon Global Warming Commission through House Bill 3543. Its mission is to "recommend ways to coordinate state and local efforts to reduce Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions, and to help the state, local governments, businesses, and Oregonians prepare for the effects of climate change." "The Oregon Global Warming Commission, in consultation with other state agencies, has historically had the role of tracking and evaluating progress toward achieving the state’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and recommending statutory or administrative changes to achieve the goals." Through the Transformational Integrated Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction (TIGHGER) project, OGWC determined through the modeling of their consultant SSG that "the programs and regulations already adopted by the state agencies put Oregon on track to achieve our 2035 GHG reduction goal, assuming they are implemented as planned and fully funded." SSG’s modeling has identified a list of about two dozen actions the state could undertake to meet to accelerate the 2035 goal to 2030: Reduce the floor area of new homes Shift to higher density residences in urban zones Require new residential buildings to be net zero emissions Require new commercial buildings to be net zero emissions Install electric heat pumps for new residential buildings and manufactured homes - heating step 3 Install electric heat pumps for new commercial buildings - cooling system efficiency Install electric heat pumps for new commercial buildings - water heating systems efficiency Implement a GHG performance requirement of existing residential buildings Implement a GHG performance requirement of existing commercial buildings Install electric heat pumps for existing residential buildings and manufactured homes - heating Install electric heat pumps for existing residential buildings and manufactured homes - water heating Install electric heat pumps for existing commercial buildings - cooling system efficiency Install electric heat pumps for existing commercial buildings - water heating systems efficiency Improve the energy efficiency of industrial facilities not covered by CPP medium and heavy duty zero emission plan with fin Implement a strategy on regional freight and micro-mobility, last-mile delivery Implement an electric micro-mobility strategy Expand Oregon Amtrak passenger rail Deploy shared vehicles Implement low emissions zones in urban areas Enhance the efficiency of the water system Organics diversion 2030 Deploy green hydrogen in industries not covered by CPP Blend in RNG to use full potential Blend in 15% H2 by 2035 Cap Fac Fuel Cells

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson offers her views on "How to Find Joy in Climate Action" in her recent TED Talk. "We can all play a role in the climate movement by tapping into our skills, resources and networks in ways that bring us satisfaction." Ayana suggests drawing a Venn diagram to map these questions: What are you good at? What is the work that needs doing? What brings you joy? Participate by creating your own Climate Action Venn Diagram. Find personalized ways to contribute to climate solutions on her website. Where your answers intersect is where you should put your climate action effort. "Averting climate catastrophe: this is the work of our lifetimes," ~ Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Johnson is editor along with Katharine K. Wilkinson of the 2020 book All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis - an anthology of writings by 60 women at the forefront of the climate movement. Women are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward.

In a November 18, 2022 press release, Rogue Climate vows to oppose the proposed GTN XPress Fracked Gas Project after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement. Excerpts from the press release are reformatted and republished below. From the Rogue Climate website: "GTN XPress is a proposal from TC Energy (the company behind Keystone XL) to increase the volume of fracked gas by 150 million cubic feet per day through the existing GTN pipeline. Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) is a 1,354-mile-long pipeline that cuts through British Columbia, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon." Click here for Rogue Glimate's Fact Sheet: Stop GTN Express. Click here for a link to the January 2022 Federal Register with GTN's Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for The Proposed GTN Xpress Pro Click here for a link to November 18, 2022, FERC Staff Report on the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the GTN Xpress Project. Click here for a link to Rogue Climate's Call to Action - Submit a Comment and Tell the Federal Environmental Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deny approval of GTN XPress The FTN XPress proposal is for the expansion of compressor capacity in three locations, not for adding new pipelines like the recent LNG proposal that was defeated. In Oregon, the existing GTN Kent Compressor Station in Sherman County (east of Mt. Hood) would "uprate an existing Solar Turban Titan 130 gas-fired turbine compressor from 14,300 HP to 23,470 HP; Install 4 new gas cooling bays and associated piping, and improve an existing access road." "The proposed GTN XPress fracked gas pipeline expansion would significantly increase the flow of fracked gas through the Northwest, The expansion of gas compressors capacity faces fierce opposition from a grassroots coalition of communities along the pipeline, climate advocates, tribal members, health professionals, and communities across Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho." "Members of a regional coalition comprising dozens of community groups immediately condemned FERC’s short-sighted analysis stating that "FERC’s analysis failed to resolve deep-seated concerns from states, tribes, and community groups about the broader impacts of the project, including its conflict with state climate goals and failure to address upstream methane emissions from the harmful practice of fracking." "The project has been heavily criticized by the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, who have decried FERC’s lack of consultation as well as the climate and health impacts of the pipeline. In August, they wrote a full comment letter to FERC outlining deficiencies in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement." "Most people near the pipeline and compressor stations don’t even know about the expansion,” says Diane Hodiak, Executive Director of 350 Deschutes. “There has been a near-total lack of opportunity for public engagement. It is being rapidly pushed with little room for input from the people who will be affected. With the rise in energy prices, ratepayers certainly don’t want to be on the hook for more price increases for the cost of infrastructure.” “From wildfires to droughts, Columbia River communities increasingly experience climate change impacts. That’s why West Coast states are united in opposition to GTN’s expansion plans,” said Lauren Goldberg, Executive Director of Columbia Riverkeeper. “FERC’s approach will worsen the climate crisis, downplaying the impacts of a proposal that will pollute our communities, impact health and safety, and create millions of tons of climate-changing pollution each year.” “Oregon’s largest County just issued a report recommending against using fracked gas in homes because of its harms to public health,” said David De La Torre, Healthy Climate Program Director of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “Pushing more health-harming fracked gas into our region may be in the interests of fossil fuel corporations, but it is contrary to the public interest and protecting people’s health.” "The proposed expansion of the Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) pipeline, a subsidiary of TC Energy, would transport approximately 150 million cubic feet per day of additional methane gas from Canada for sale in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and California. FERC previously found the project would emit approximately 3.24 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, for at least the next 30 years. This is equivalent to adding 754,000 cars on the road each year until 2052. Experts and over 1,000 commenters from across the region warned that FERC’s estimates are too low and that the real climate impact would be far greater." "This proposed pipeline expansion comes at a time when government agencies from the EPA to Multnomah County Health Department are calling for an urgent transition away from gas. Attorney Generals from Washington, Oregon, and California oppose the expansion, filing a Motion to Intervene and Protest in August 2022." "Following successful community opposition to proposed new pipelines in recent years, pipeline expansions have become part of a national strategy to increase fracked gas. FERC has approved 15 similar XPress projects over the past 5 years alone, resulting in a dramatic expansion of fracked gas in the U.S." In August 2022 the Attorney Generals for the states of Oregon, California, and Washington asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deny the TC Energy proposal due to climate change. "They argued that allowing more natural gas to flow from Canada to the U.S. would harm the state’s efforts to combat climate change as the region shifts to renewable energy sources." FERC is expected to make its final decision on the GTN XPress proposal on February 16th, 2023. Rogue Climate is having a "Fossil Fuel Fighters Kickoff: Stop the GTN XPress" on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, at 6 p.m. at their office in Phoenix (205 N. Phoenix Rd, Suite G.) There will be food, art, information, and action steps to help Stop GTN XPress and build community with other folks in Rogue Valley interested in helping save all we can, by fighting new fossil fuel infrastructure in our region. Register here. Rogue Climate helped bring communities together to stop the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and transition to renewable energy. You can connect with Rogue Climate on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Consider becoming a monthly donor to keep this rural movement for climate justice strong and growing.

Oliver Burkeman, writing in The Guardian on August 25, 2022, calls William MacAskill's new book What We Owe the Future a thrilling prescription for humanity." After reading Burkeman's 2012 book Antidote, I was a little surprised at his upbeat appraisal of MacAskill's book as "unapologetically optimistic and bracingly realistic, a philosopher’s guide to ‘ethical living’ for dangerous times - the most inspiring book on ‘ethical living’ I’ve ever read.." MacAskill makes the case for “longtermism” – “the idea that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time.” Urgency is not just for decarbonization to minimize the negative effects of human-induced climate change, but also the threats of losing control of innovations in artificial intelligence, whether to tyrants or terrorists, and an extinction-level engineered pandemic. Part of the appeal of MacAskill's book What We Owe the Future is that he considers the focus on personal ethical lifestyle changes a “major strategic blunder” - it’s good to be a vegetarian, but giving $3,000 to the right clean energy charity will make vastly more difference to the climate, he argues, than a whole lifetime of not eating meat. Instead of beating ourselves up over every choice of groceries or transportation, MacAskill suggests having a life we truly enjoy, "We are living through an extraordinary chapter in humanity’s story. Compared to both the past and the future, every decade we live through sees an extremely unusual number of economic and technological changes. And some of these changes—like the inventions of fossil fuel power, nuclear weapons, engineered pathogens, and advanced artificial intelligence—have the potential to impact the whole course of the future.” ~ William MacAskill,

In 2021, Oregon's Governor Brown signed House Bill (HB) 2021 into law, which provides an emissions-based clean energy framework for electricity providers. The goals include: 80% below baseline emissions levels by 2030; 90% below baseline emissions levels by 2035; and 100% below baseline emissions levels by 2040. In response, Pacificorp has been developing an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with the latest input to be filed with the Oregon Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) in March 2023. Final Public Input Meetings 9 and 10 are planned for January 12-13 and February 23-24, 2023 PacifiCorp's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) identifies investments in modernized transmission, renewable energy (wind & solar, hydro, thermal), storage, demand response and advanced nuclear resources. The expected results of that Plan is a "69% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2030." and will include the following: A clean energy strategy with proposed specific actions to meet outlined milestones; Measurement of potential benefit and/or impact to communities of the resources proposed; and Discussion of how PacifiCorp should comply with the requirements as it moves toward 100% renewable and non-carbon-emitting energy in Oregon. Electric power rates from Pacific Power are going up January 1, 2023 in the Rogue Valley, partially due to mitigation measures necessary in Fire High Consequences Areas (FHCA) (shown in gold on the map below.) In June 2022 the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer was released showing every tax lot in Oregon in a risk category ranging from zero to extreme. (note: The Senate Bill 762 statewide wildfire risk map and homeowner risk reports are unavailable while the map is being updated. The maps presented on the Risk Explorer are from the 2018 Quantitative Wildfire Risk Assessment.) Pacific Power uses the FHCA maps to pinpoint the areas with the most extreme risk (due to wind patterns, vegetation, and population) in preparation of their 2022 Wildfire Protection Plan.

On October 27–29, 2017 Local Futures and David Korten’s Living Economies Forum presented at the Economics of Happiness Conference in Port Townsend, WA “to discuss, discover and devise better systems for now and the future.” Click here for a list of speakers. The conference program included plenaries, panels, interactive workshops and other participatory sessions. The wide range of inter-connected topics included: the New Economy movement, income inequality, local food and regenerative agriculture, public policy, local business, cooperatives, Transition Town initiatives, community-sourced finance, connection to nature, education, intentional communities, climate and environmental justice, and the impact of the economy on our psychological well-being. Click here to watch a YouTube shortened version of the award-winning 2011 documentary film The Economics of Happiness. You can watch, rent or buy the full 68-minute film at Vimeo. The Economics of Happiness film “describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, people around the world are resisting those policies – and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.” Like the Local Futures/Economics of Happiness page on Facebook. Follow them on Twitter @EconOfHappiness. Get involved in a new project. Find out how to make your work more effective. Link up with local initiatives. Explore new policies. Deconstruct the old. See the connections. Articulate solutions. Get engaged in creating the New Economy – one that works for people and the planet. #Localizing #intentionalcommunities #LocalFutures #localbusiness #happiness #NewEconomymovement #communitysourcedfinance #DavidKorten #publicpolicy #wellbeing #YESMagazine #education #connectiontonature #incomeinequality #environmentaljustice #LivingEconomiesForum #cooperatives #Regenerativeagriculture #TransitionTowninitiatives

On February 24-25, 2023 Southern Oregon University is having Climate Justice Conference 2023 "to discuss, learn, and take action toward centering racial equity and social justice in the climate change resistance and resilience movements. The goal of the conference is to accelerate the pace with which a racial equity lens is integrated into regional climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience efforts." "This two-day conference will feature case study presentations, panel discussions, workshops, and keynote speakers from Southern Oregon and beyond, around these three themes: Climate justice activism, action, and learning Adopting a racial equity lens – for individuals, for groups, and for action Learning lessons about equity and resilience from the 2020 fires Conference registration is now open with varying rates (lunch on Saturday is included in the registration fee): Register here. College and high school students: $20 General full-conference registration: $45 before January 27, 2023 Late general registration: $55 starting January 27, 2023 Virtual-only registration (keynote and plenary panels only): $20 Presenters: free Financial assistance is available Southern Oregon University offers sustainable degrees emphasizing sustainability in a wide range of programs from art to business. Options highlighting human/environment interaction specifically include Environmental Science & Policy, Biology, Sustainability Leadership, Outdoor Adventure Leadership, Sociology & Anthropology, and Environmental Education.

At the United Nation's Stockholm+50 held June 2-3, 2022 (the week of World Environment Day), world leaders made calls for bold environmental action to accelerate the implementation of the UN Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, including the 2030 Agenda, Paris Agreement on climate change, the post-2020 global Biodiversity Framework, and to encourage the adoption of green post-COVID-19 recovery plans. The event took place five decades after the 1972  United Nations Conference on the Human Environment with the theme "a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility," The UN's Global Climate and SDG Synergy Conference took place in Tokyo on June 20-21, 2022.

Chanukah is the Jewish eight-day, wintertime “festival of lights,” which begins this year Sunday night, Dec. 18, 2022 and continues through Monday, December 26, 2022. It is also Christmas eve, another festival of lights. In this TED Talk, Rabbi Sharon Brous pleads that we must reinvent religion to meet the needs of modern life. In this impassioned talk, Brous shares four principles of a revitalized religious practice and offers faith of all kinds as a hopeful counter-narrative to the numbing realities of environmental loss, violence, extremism, and pessimism. She offers a prescription of Wakefulness, Hope, Mightiness and Interconnectedness. Brous is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR, a community “that has become a model for Jewish revitalization in the US and beyond. IKAR’s goal is to reinvigorate Jewish religious and spiritual practice, inspiring people of faith to reclaim a moral and prophetic voice in counter-testimony to the small-minded extremism now prevalent in so many religious communities.” As Rabbi Michael Lerner said in Tikkun Magazine “Chanukah and Christmas can be turned into occasions for the spiritual progressives in these religions to unite, affirm their shared message of hope and insist that all our friends and families stop wallowing in despair and cynicism and instead join us in challenging the forces of fear that have led so many people to embrace militarism and xenophobia.” “Let them hear the voices of those who raise high the banner of love, kindness, generosity, social and economic justice, environmental sanity and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe — and let that message be prominently and explicitly articulated by YOU throughout this holiday season.” “It’s a spiritual progressive approach — and you can be a militant atheist, agnostic or secular humanist and still be a spiritual progressive — you don’t have to believe in God or be part of any religious community, you only have to be willing to commit your energies to build a world of love, justice, and environmental sanity," Reading Tikkun's vision at www.tikkun.org/covenant and then join their international movement at www.spiritualprogressives.org/join.” Let there be light this sacred season, among all of us!

The collective mission of The Great Turning Initiative at Findhorn is "to cultivate a spiritually-awakened, holistic, life-affirming counterpoint to support humanity to navigate the challenges of our times and accelerate our evolutionary impulse toward a mature planetary civilization." The Great Turning Initiative brings together the visionary work of the following: Craig Schindler & Gary Lapid, The Great Turning: Personal Peace, Global Victory (1989) Joanna Macy, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power (revised 2022) Thomas Berry's The Great Work: Our Way into the Future (2015); The Dream of the Earth David Korten, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (2006) Duane Elgin, Choosing Earth: Humanity's Journey of Initiation Through Breakdown and Collapse to Mature Planetary Community (2022) In the YouTube video above Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee describes the inspiration behind his new publication of essays, Seeding the Future: A Deep Ecology of Consciousness. #GreatTurning #JoannaMacy #ThomasBerry #DavidKorten #DuaneElgin

Can you imagine a world where humans work together to reverse the negative effects of climate change and created a flourishing, sustainable world for people and all living things? As the YouTube video above says, "Anything we ever achieved started with someone imagining it first." Can we cut greenhouse emissions by 50% by 2030? Can you imagine 2040? 2040, the movie "is a hybrid feature documentary that looks to the future, but is vitally important NOW! A story of hope that looks at the very real possibility that humanity could reverse global warming and improve the lives of every living thing in the process." Lloyd Gerring in his 2013 book From the Big Bang to God: Our Awe-Inspiring Journey of Evolution concludes: "We can draw hope from the 'Great Story" of how we came to be here at all. It is a truly awe-inspiring universe that has brought us forth and, at least on this planet, has come to consciousness in us, displaying the human inventiveness, creativity, and entrepreneurial skills that have helped to make us the creatures we are. And this potential may lead us to as yet unimaginable heights." #Future

From SOCAN: "From rising temperatures and heat waves to water shortages and drought to reducing snowpack and increased wildfire risk, the evidence that a climate crisis is here in Southern Oregon is probably clear to every reader of this sentence. The questions then become: ‘what is driving this crisis? ‘how is the crisis affecting us? and “what, if anything, can we do to avert a worsening crisis?" "For several years, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now has offered a ten-week course providing a summary of the critical elements of the issue. By completing the 2023 offering of SOCAN’s ‘Master Climate Protector - A Primer for Action,’ residents of Southern Oregon can join the over 100 graduates of this course in gaining a better understanding of the issues." "Over the ten weeks of the course, SOCAN will cover: the basic science, alternative explanations for the warming trend, energy, construction, transportation, agriculture, terrestrial natural communities, human health, population, consumption, climate justice, and what we can do individually and collectively. SOCAN will also discuss ways to talk with friends and family who are skeptical about climate science." "The offering begins on February 6, 2023 and runs weekly from (6-9 p.m.), ending on April 17, 2023 (no class on Feb 20) at the RCC/SOU Higher Education Center (HEC) on S. Bartlett in Medford. In order to keep the sessions interactive, SOCAN will limit enrollment to 20 participants. The cost is $100 but thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, SOCAN has scholarships available." For more information and to register, visit: https://socanmcp.eco/ or contact: ellie@socan.eco