Sierra Club News A Publication for Members and Friendsof the Roanoke Group of the Sierra Club October-November 2006 Contents (quick links): Fred First is guest speaker
at Earth Friendly Friday October 13 Earth Friendly Friday - October 13 - "Field Notes from A
Slow Road: A Personal Ecology of Place"
Fred First, essayist, photographer,
columnist, and author, is our guest speaker at October's Earth Friendly Friday.
Fred has recorded almost twenty Friday morning essays on NPR station WVTF, he has penned more than forty pieces in his "Road Less Traveled" column in the Some of us long for belonging to the land, for roots in particular and special places where, for reasons usually beyond our knowing, we resonate with the landscape. For those like Fred First who have lived other places and been drawn to southwest Virginia, it is almost always the mystery of mountains that has brought them here, a "magnetic resonance in their bones" that attracted them to an altitude, latitude and slant of sun that simply felt right for them. For such souls as this "the mountains hold a certain nutrient that they can not live without."Fred's
presentation, "A Personal Ecology Of Place", is an invitation to join him in
nurturing a close relationship with whatever land we find ourselves a part of. Fred has collected some eighty of his digital
photographs into a “photomemoir”, a 28
minute presentation that weds words with image. Fred
will narrate this multimedia program, followed by some words about and from his book,
appropriate for those who, like him, are in a deep and committed relationship with these
Blue Ridges of home. Copies of
Fred's book will be available for purchase and signing before and after the program. For time and location details, see "Earth Friendly Friday" below. Roanoke
Valley Cool Cities Coalition takes off!
Roanoke Sierra Club is committed to the Cool Cities campaign slogan: "Solving Global Warming One City at a Time". We plan to be part of the solution in the Roanoke Valley by advocating for energy conservation, efficiency, and clean, renewable energy. To succeed we need to reach out to all corners of the community to forge alliances on this critical issue, and that's just what we're doing. At our August ExCom meeting, we approved the formation of a local coalition for our campaign - it's called Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition, or RVCCC for short. We started
networking . . . not only with the our friends in the
environmental movement, but casting a wider net to people we know in business, government,
education, churches and professional organizations. The
results thus far have been very rewarding. Within
just over a month, 17 affiliates have signed on. The
list is impressive, and our process of building the coalition has just begun! For an up-to-date list of affiliates, visit the
coalition web site: WWW.RVCCC.ORG. Members make a difference! Remember those 150 or so postcards that we got people to send to Mayor Harris? We think they had an impact! Last month the Roanoke City Council approved membership in ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, an organization dedicated to helping cities set and attain goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Our group chair Mark McClain spoke at City Council in support of this action, which was approved unanimously. Mayor Nelson Harris and Councilwoman Gwen Mason were instrumental in getting this resolution passed, and we commend them for their leadership on this issue.We've also
begun an outreach program to take our story into the community. We'll be making presen-tations to anyone who will
listen. Mark kicked this off last month when
he spoke at the Roanoke Valley Rotary Club. Here's how you can help. To maximize our impact, we need to more organizations and businesses to be a part of our coalition. If you own or are involved in managing a business, or have a leadership role in a local organization of any kind, we need your support. We are not looking for financial support (there is no cost to become an affiliate), we just want you to stand up with us and say "it's time for us to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global climate change". All the details of affiliation with RVCCC are on the web site, including a registration form.. . . Just one more thing - There's one other way you can help: allow us make a presentation to your club, church group, class, civic organization . . . any venue where people gather. Our presentation (15 minutes to an hour) is not a lecture on the horrors of global climate change - it is an appeal for actions that can start us back on the road to a conservation ethic and make us part of the solution. We think this is the most important environ-mental issue of our time, and we want everyone to know what's happening and what we need do about it.
Butch Kelly - "Birds, Wildlife and Wildflowers of
|
| Adoption
Announcement We are pleased to announce that the Roanoke Sierra Club has adopted the Falling Waters Cascade Trail (near Peaks of Otter area on the Blue Ridge Parkway). Would you like to help take care of our new baby? See Calendar listing for October 14, 2006! |
EARTH FRIENDLY FRIDAY - Roanoke
Celebrating its first anniversary in October, Earth
Friendly Friday is a monthly program series to celebrate the natural wonders of the earth
and to mobilize our community for needed action to protect our environment. This series is sponsored by the Roanoke Sierra Club
and the Environmental Concerns Committee of Roanoke Unitarian Universalist Church.
LOCATION:
DATE/TIME
: Second Friday of each month. Doors open at 6:30 PM, program starts promptly at 7:00. Everyone is invited to bring a snack dish for sharing (optional), and to enjoy socializing, music and refreshments before and after the program.Earth Friendly Friday is always FREE and open to the
public! For details of programs for the coming months, see articles above. Contact: Diana Christopulos 387-0930
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FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON OUR LOCAL EVENTS, CLICK HERE!
