Calendar

We had a very good turnout and discussion at the meeting on September 30th. Let me know if you want to be “in the loop” on correspondence for this group. I don’t send it all out to PESC. Facebook site: here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/mobileprotection#!/groups/257609947692711/?fref=ts

The next “Transition Town” meeting.

Palouse Transition meeting Wednesday at 5:30 pm at UUCP Church basement. We will begin to establish working groups at that time, so please try to attend as we really need all the help we can get to start making things happen. Possible groups: Generational / Food-producer vs. consumer (growing-processing) / Energy / Waste / Education / Youth / local economics / Water / Transportation / Local government-Political / Transition Town process

Double-check time on this.

Sponsored by Friends of the Moscow Library. She recently published a book on this subject. PESC tried to set up a presentation from her back at the beginning of this year but conflicts got in the way. Her talk should be interesting and perhaps controversial because she presents climate change from the perspective of geologic history. Flyer about E. Kirsten Peters talk, “The Whole Story of Climate Change.”

While the recent work of climate scientists has added
greatly to our understanding of the fragility of climate, the
public rarely hears from geologists— even though
geologists have been studying climate change for almost
200 years. The typical American has the impression that
climate would be stable if it weren’t for industrialization and
the production of greenhouse gases from smokestacks and
cars. However, geologic history reveals a ceaselessly
changing climate going back millions of years before the
modern economy.

As The Whole Story of Climate explains, several long, cold
spells have been punctuated by short, warm ones. We are,
in fact, currently living in one of the short, warm periods
that the Earth has seen many times before. There is even a
serious hypothesis worth exploring that if it weren’t for the
greenhouse gases created for millennia by agriculture we
would today be headed back into a time of bitterly cold
temperatures worthy of the mastodons and mammoths
many of us read about as children.

Elsa Kirsten Peters grew up in Pullman. She was a geology major
at Princeton and earned her PhD in geology at Harvard. She has
taught undergraduate geology at WSU and is the author of several
books, as well as the syndicated “Rock Doc” newspaper column.
She has also published murder mysteries under the pen name
Irene Allen.

The Hanford cleanup is costing taxpayers billions each year. We regularly hear about radioactive leaks and delays in processing waste. What’s the rest of the story? Ginger Wireman’s presentation, ‘What’s Up with Hanford Cleanup?’ will explain the current status of Hanford cleanup and the State of Washington’s role in cleanup oversight. Wireman has been a community outreach and environmental education specialist with the Washington Dept. of Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program since 2001. She has an MS in Environmental Studies and has written and illustrated a children’s book, ‘If Wishes Had Wings’, which explores the animals and habitats of the Washington shrub steppe and Cascade Mountains through a child’s imagination. This presentation will be at 7 p.m., Tuesday, November 12, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse, 420 E. Second St., Moscow. Sponsored by Palouse Group of the Sierra Club and Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition. For further information, contact Al Poplawsky.

A presentation that will launch the Palouse Region chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby and explain the case for a revenue-neutral federal carbon fee and dividend. William Barron, Regional Coordinator for Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL), will lead the presentation. Saturday, March 29 from 1 pm to 4 pm, Fiske Room of the 1912 Center.

The Palouse Region CCL is officially started now, following a great opening meeting last Saturday with front page coverage in the Daily News on Monday! (One of the first items to discuss will be the best time for everyone to meet.) The following is from an email from Rob Briggs and Pat Rathmann last Thursday:

 

We will have our first regular meeting on Monday April 7 at 7:00 pm in the sanctuary (up stairs) of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse, 420 E 2nd St, Moscow, ID.

 

The agenda for the meeting will include listening to the national Citizen’s Climate Lobby conference call.  These calls are invariably upbeat and informative and provide concrete actions that we can take to move the campaign for effective federal climate legislation forward.

 

Additionally, we will be taking initial steps to organize into interest groups to tackle various educational, outreach, and lobbying activities.  We’re hoping to establish multiple interest groups that feel empowered to act, and then use the monthly meetings simply for coordination and sharing successes.

 

There is a wide variety of productive roles you can play in CCL.  These range from reliably reading local newspapers, to serving as behind-the-scenes climate science advisor, tabling, giving presentations, writing letters to the editor, and meeting with Senators and House members.  There are important roles for all skill sets and comfort levels.

 

As Bill Barron mentioned several times on Saturday, CCL likes things to run on time.  We’re hoping to run our chapter meetings in a disciplined and effective way that is respectful of everyone’s time.  CCL suggests that monthly meetings run for two hours.  We rather like the idea of finishing early and retiring to some gathering place to socialize and strategize informally.  CCL provides great opportunities for us to innovate locally, share nationally, and thereby attach a big multiplier to our creative efforts.