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Music: "There'll Come A Day" by Irthlingz
• Words and Music by Bob Killian, courtesy of Irthlingz
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Main Site Links
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EIS Scoping Informational Forum
May 17, 2012 • 7:00 pm 9:00 pm • Sanctuary
RE Sources and GSP are teaming up to present a series of informational
forums concerning the Environmental Impact Study scoping commenting period coming up sometime in
June 2012. BUF will be host to the "Aquatic Impacts" forum which will address the concerns and
issues that the terminal raises around water and wildlife. Forum speakers and their presentations
include:
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- Matt Krogh, North Sound Baykeeper - intro to Waterkeeper
Alliance/North Sound Baykeeper/Power Past Coal
- Fred Felleman, Friends of the Earth - increased tanker traffic
impacts on herring and whales in the Salish Sea
- Kevin Ranker, Washington State Senator - ocean/oil spill
policy
- Dr. Rashid Sumaila, UBC - climate impacts on the biophysics
and economics of world fisheries
No events planned at this time.
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Adult Sunday Forums
Green Sanctuary has offered to provide a speaker for the RE Adult Education
forum series. One Sunday a month, we will bring in a local community organization to present
information and lead a discussion in specific environmentally-related issue.
We will be encouraging presenters from the community to talk about the
issues that
make their organizations/programs necessary in Whatcom County, rather than what their
organizations/programs do.
Please note the change in the forum program hours. We have now entered into our summer service
schedule. Starting April 22, 2012, forums will begin at 9:00 am.
They will end just before the only service of the day which will begin at 10:30 am.
All forums are held in the Conference Room unless otherwise noted.
May 20, 2012 • Gigi Berardi, WWU
Gigi Berardi’s work explores how we think about growing food and choosing the food
we eat. For example, in our imagination, we might link good food and fine eating with good farming. But
often the way we eat has little to do with the way we think food should be produced (or, the way it actually
is produced). For example, our sustainable farms in Whatcom County continue to be threatened by a range of
extreme events and by rapid economic changes. Indeed, many farms may be vulnerable, as they operate close
to resilience thresholds that threaten their long-term viability. At the government end of the food chain,
regulatory and corporate presence can demoralize farmers who are trying to do the right thing—tomato growers
do not get paid a cent for flavor, for instance – to the point where well-meaning farmers sometimes give up
and do something else with their lives. At the consuming end of the chain, we often let businesses make our
decisions about what we buy and eat. Such activity is inevitable as institutions of various sorts become less
empathetic and more focused on turning a profit. Berardi’s work is about changing the way we think about food,
advocating a curiosity about all that is important about food, all that food production entails, and all that
food means to our bodies and our lives. It is a story about what is good for our soul, as well as the global
political economy.
No events planned at this time.
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The next few months are going to be very busy as the Whatcom Community prepares
for the scoping process of the Gateway Pacific Terminal. Watch for lots of educational opportunities from various
organizations and prepare your comments on the scope of the environmental impact study.
National Geographic Live: Mattias Klum – Being There: On
Expedition with National Geographic
May 2, 2012
Take an awe-inspiring journey around the world, featuring unique perspectives on some of Earth’s
natural wonders: the Okavango Delta, Iceland’s glaciers, and the rainforests of Southeast Asia.
Your guide? One of the most important natural history photographers of our time, and one of National
Geographic Live’s most highly-acclaimed speakers
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Mt. Baker Theater, Main Stage, 104 N Commercial St, Bellingham
Cost: Tickets $35.00/$29.00/$22.50/$10.00 plus applicable fees. Group discounts available
Contact: (360) 734-6080
Backyard Homestead 101, SPR12-22
May 12, 2012
Backyard Homestead 101: Saturday May 12th, 2pm-5pm, (wrong date in WFS catalog!): A great Homestead 101 class for new homeowners or those new to sustainable practices. Make your backyard a healthier place for you, your family, the planet… and your budget! A guided tour of a backyard homestead will provide an overview of how to integrate elements of sustainable living into an urban backyard. Learn the basics about backyard chickens, water catchment, worm bins, composting, organic gardens, fruit and berries, and more. Discussion time will help you to prioritize your first steps. How to/resource handouts will send you home ready to begin on your own backyard homestead. Sign up through Whatcom Folk School at: http://www.whatcomfolkschool.org/for-students/sign-up-email-template
Time: 2:00 - 5:00 pm
Location: Birchwood area of Bellingham
Cost: $35.00
Contact: townmouse@earthlink.net or Whatcom Folk School (360) 319-7495
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David and Michael Hanson, Breaking Through Concrete: Building
an Urban Farm Revival
May 17, 2012
People have always grown food in urban spaces, on windowsills and sidewalks, and in backyards and neighborhood parks, but today, urban farmers are leading an environmental and social movement that transforms our national food system. To explore this agricultural renaissance, brothers David and Michael Hanson and urban farmer Edwin Marty document twelve successful urban farm programs, from an alternative school for girls in Detroit, to a backyard food swap in New Orleans, to a restaurant supply garden on a rooftop in Brooklyn. Each beautifully illustrated essay offers practical advice for budding farmers, such as composting and keeping livestock in the city, decontaminating toxic soil, even changing zoning laws. --CO-SPONSORED BY THE COMMUNITY FOOD CO-OP, SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS and TRANSITION WHATCOM
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Village Books, 1200 11th St., Bellingham
Cost:
Contact: (360) 671-2626
Karriem Ali, Axicala Aliqu: The Sacred Song Of Life
May 26, 2012
Welcome to a great journey. You will enjoy meeting the Shaman Axicala Aliqu (Ah-SHEE-ca-la Ah-LEE-coo, meaning 'Sacred Song of Life'), and exploring the rainforest realm of his people, who are commonly referred to as 'The Unknown.' As you trek page by page, this realm will beckon your mind to open and explore the unknown under the guidance of the ayahuasca 'vision vine'--the yajé (ya-HAY)--that grows with each chapter along the way. Be assured that the substance of this book will not alter your mind in any way. Rather this story, like the yajé itself, is a mind-entering essence, a remembering, and has little to do with the substantial. At the beginning of the biotech boom, Dr. Ali was recruited from academia to lead pioneering ethnobotanical discovery expeditions. He explored to their depths the Amazon Rainforest and other remote regions of South America, Africa and Australia. Karriem found himself immersed in an ever more profound and life-changing journey, ultimately learning and sharing of life with the unknown, its hidden peoples and forests, their Shamans and traditional healers.
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Village Books, 1200 11th St., Bellingham
Cost:
Contact: (360) 671-2626
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Bellingham Earns No. 1 Small City in NRDC's
Smarter Cities Project
Situated on Bellingham Bay at the northern end of the Puget Sound, Bellingham is both a
university town and an industrial center, home to an aging pulp mill owned until 2001 by Georgia Pacific and other
facilities that required waterfront access. Over the last 20 years, however, Bellingham has transformed itself from
a manufacturing port to a post-industrial city, while updating some of its industrial facilities and remediating others,
including the brownfield sites at the pulp mill. The city is well served by transportation options, including an Amtrak
train from nearby Vancouver to Seattle and points farther south and a ferry to Alaska. It is home to a large number of
parks and provides easy access to nearby mountains and boating, celebrated in the city's annual Ski-to-Sea race, an
89-mile relay race combining cross-country and downhill skiing, running, bicycling and mountain bike riding, canoeing
and kayaking. Even for the less athletic, the mild weather makes for year-round outdoors activities (assuming you don't
mind the rain). The city has also been recognized by the EPA Green Power Communities program for drawing 11 percent of
its total electricity usage from renewable sources, putting it in second place among the most successful cities in the
program. And in May 2008 ICLEI honored Bellingham for its climate action plan. A network of green businesses in town
find their forum in Sustainable Connections, established in 2002 to educate business owners in sustainable practices,
connect them to one another and market their efforts. Sustainable Connection has since become the model for green
business networks across the country.
Green Building Ranking: #4
Transportation Ranking: #7
Green Space Ranking: #1
Air Quality Ranking: #1
Recycling Ranking: #4
Energy Production and Conservation Ranking: #2
For more information see
NRDC's Smarter Cities.
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Next step for a Whatcom Watershed Preserve
The Whatcom County Council today approved the next step toward
a Lake Whatcom Forest Preserve. Creation of the preserve will restore old-growth forests within
a watershed that provides drinking water for about 90,000 people, half the people in Whatcom County,
including Bellingham.
On November 12, the County Council authorized the County Executive to enter into an agreement with
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to work together to set the stage for creation of the preserve.
DNR manages about half the Lake Whatcom watershed and the various types of trust lands are scattered.
Under the agreement, DNR will block up forest board lands in two areas in the watershed: above Northshore
and around Sudden Valley. Whatcom County will pay administrative and appraisal costs, and meanwhile DNR will
not log on the lands proposed for transfer. When the process is complete, sometime in 2010, the county will
decide whether or not to transfer these lands from DNR to the county parks department.
The process will likely ultimately lead to 8,400 acres of timberland, about 25% of the watershed moving from
DNR management to county parks management. The county intends to manage the preserve for low impact recreation
and for restoration of old-growth forests.
To read the rest of the article . . .
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