An Upcoming Event

 At least 15 years ago, a couple of us started what we called the Earth Care Working Group. We urged the folks at our Quaker Meeting to join us once a month for an evening of education, fellowship, and a tasty dinner. It became an event that attracted many people outside our Quaker circles, and it lasted for a number of years. Then another group began doing the same thing, and we decided to leave it to them. That was before. But recently, with our world facing a host of challenges on every hand, we decided to start it up again. This time three Quaker congregations are joining to collaborate on it. And as before, we're wide open to anyone joining us. Quakers may have nudged this group into existence again, but it is definitely open to the wider community. 

My own impetus for bringing these gatherings back to life is this: from where I sit in this increasingly chaotic and disturbing (if not scary) world, it looks like we really need to join together to find and follow paths that feel useful and positive, that are beneficial to the whole.  With a general population extremely divided along political and philosophical lines, we really need to find ways to come together on things that we are all concerned about, no matter our political affiliations or religious denominations. And wherever you look around the planet, there are challenges that are asking for help. We hear about these all the time: our crazy current political drama in this country, the decline and disappearance of thousands of species of animals and plants, the climate crisis, the unsustainable trajectory of economic systems....  The list goes on. And rather than hiding under our covers and hoping it all will pass, it feels better to join with others who are concerned, educate ourselves, brainstorm, and together find positive ways to live in our current world.

At each of our monthly gatherings, we'll explore different subjects, many of them environmental in nature. I know the majority of you who read this blog are from places far away from where I live, in Iowa City. But there are quite a few who are local as well. And this blog post is an invitation to you more local folks to join us for our second Earth Care Working Group gathering. For those of you who live far away, who knows? It might inspire you to begin a similar group in your neck of the woods. This gathering happens in six days, this coming Saturday, here at Prairie Hill Cohousing community. Here's the official announcement:

Come join us for the June 7th meeting of the Earth Care Working Group!

When: Saturday, June 7th, 2:00-4:00

Where: Prairie Hill Cohousing, 140 Prairie Hill Lane, Iowa City. Come to the central common house, lower entrance.

Our program this time will be in two parts. First, Anthony Robinson will present an overview of the Transition Town movement that was prominent around 2010, and active forms of it that can be found today under such names as "Transition Movement" and "Resilient Communities". We will have time to discuss how we see it intersecting with our interests in the Earth Care Working Group.

Then, after gathering snacks to sustain us during the rest of our time together, we'll watch the first half of the feature film Common Ground. This film explores how many of the problems that all humans face these days result from the state of the world's soil. Independent farmers implementing historic indigenous techniques demonstrate how changing agricultural practices could potentially save the world. It's a film that is bound to generate discussion and reactions.

All are welcome. We look forward to seeing many of you as we look toward ways of taking care of our planet earth. If you have questions, write to Nan Fawcett at nanjfawcett@gmail.com.