[GreenNotes] GreenNotes 3/29/2007
Tom Brown
tbrown at michiana.org
Thu Mar 29 08:31:32 PST 2007
Please circulate widely. Contact us to include your announcement in
GreenNotes.
<tbrown at michiana.org or karl_j_hardy at yahoo.com>
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PROGRESSIVE EVENTS CALENDAR
* April 12 - Monthly meeting of the St. Joe Valley Greens
* April 14 - Step it Up! - ND Students for Environmental Action event
* April 14 - Bagfest at IUSB
* April 17 - Progressive Discussion Group meeting; possible guest speaker
* Organic Produce Co-op, pick-up every Monday
* Michiana Peace & Justice Coalition peace vigils every Monday/Saturday
* GreenTV every Wednesday evening, 10pm, Comcast channel 99
* Just Goods open every Tuesday/Saturday 9am-3pm and by appointment.
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ST. JOE VALLEY GREENS MONTHLY MEETING
The St. Joe Valley Greens will meet from 7-9pm, Thursday April 12 at the
GBLT Center located in the 100 Center in Mishawaka.
Scheduled agenda items will be:
# Plan to hold the St. Joseph County Election Board accountable for the
failure to count votes cast for the Green Party candidate for Indiana
Secretary of State, Bill Stant.
# Possible Green candidacy for the 1st District Common Council seat in
South Bend.
# Project reports on the Progressive Web Portal, GreenTV, Earth Day
activities and co-sponsoring the 2nd Annual Community Forum on Economic
Developments spring forum.
# Probable visit of Elaine Brown to Indiana later this summer. Brown is
a prominent African-American activist and former chairperson of the
Black Panther Party. She is a member of the Green Party and has declared
her candidacy for the Green Party presidential nomination.
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STEP IT UP! WITH NOTRE DAME STUDENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION
The following comes from Morgan Dill, Co-President of Notre Dame
Students for Environmental Action:
This April 14th, tens of thousands of Americans will gather all across
the country at meaningful, iconic places to call for action on climate
change. We will hike, climb, walk, swim, kayak, canoe, or simply sit or
stand with banners of our call to action: "Step It Up Congress! Cut
carbon 80% by 2050."
Notre Dame Students for Environmental Action is organizing an event in
conjunction with this national call to action. The Notre Dame event
will be held on the main campus Saturday, April 14 from 1-4 pm with
music, art, information, games, speeches and some tree hugging, of
course!
We already have some ideas in the works, but we are looking to you, as
members of the greater Michiana environmental community, to be part of
this exciting event. You truly are resources to the community, and we
want to give you and your organization the opportunity to bring your
important message of environmental concern, change, and stewardship
together with others who share this mission.
In what way can your organization be a part of this exciting event?
Much of that is up to you, but here are a few ideas!
Native plant demonstration garden · Map your ecological footprint ·
Reduce your personal CO2 use to zero · Speech · Birds of prey
demonstration · Natural tie-dye · Information table · Taste of organic
food · Poetry reading · Climate change obstacle course · Global warming
dunk tank · Electronics recycling · And anything else you can imagine!
Let us know how you would like to be involved in Step It Up this April
14 in conjunction with Notre Dame Students for Environmental Action!
For more information on the national Step It Up campaign, visit
www.stepitup2007.org.
E-mail morgandill at gmail.com or call (616)283-8884 with questions, ideas,
connections and encouragement! We look forward to hearing from you!
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BAGFEST AT IUSB
BagFest: The Conserve Plastic Bags Festival is a community project with
two primary aims: (1) To raise public awareness on the consumption of
plastic bags and, (2) to instill moral and civic responsibilities that
inspire behavioral, environmental, and economic changes in our
community. To meet these goals, a festival will be held at Indiana
University South Bend (IU South Bend).
Saturday, April 14, 2007
12:00 noon - 4:00 p.m.
Volunteer opportunities include: assisting with the filming of a
documentary of the event, Bag Pile-Up, directing attendants to event
locations, helping load bag donations into a semi-truck, and helping
conduct surveys, contests, and interviews.
Please contact the project director for more information:
Michelle Verges, PhD
Phone: (574) 520-4593
mverges at iusb.edu
http://www.conserveplasticbags.blogspot.com/
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PROGRESSIVE DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING
The Michiana Progressive Discussion group will meet from 7-9pm, Tuesday
April 17 in the Malloy room located downstairs in the main branch of the
St. Joseph County public library (304 S. Main).
The groups will potentially host Jackie Smith, a professor at Notre
Dame, who is interested in doing a short talk and leading a discussion
regarding the US Social Forum to be held in Atlanta later this summer.
The US Social Forum will be the first of its kind and will mirror the
efforts of the many World Social Forums held in various parts of the
world since 2001. These events often counter the World Economic Forums,
a gathering of elite business and political officials.
For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_social_forum
The discussion group is dedicated to the promotion of grassroots
democracy through the free and open discussion of current events,
political philosophy, arts, culture and anything else we feel like
talking about.
Join us!
For more info: karl_j_hardy at yahoo.com
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ORGANIC PRODUCE CO-OP
An organic produce co-op is now operating out of the StudioArts, located
at 807 Lincoln Way West (corner of Cottage Grove and Lincoln Way).
Participants pay $23 per week and receive a selection of organic fruits
and vegetables. Additional amounts of produced can be purchased if desired.
Pick up fresh organic produce every Monday evening from 5-7pm at
StudioArts. Enter at the rear off the parking area through the door on
the right.
Information: elizabethbiddlecome at hotmail.com or 287-8565
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MICHIANA PEACE AND JUSTICE COALITION EVENTS
The MPJC holds weekly peace vigils each Monday from 5-6pm in front of
the Federal building in downtown South Bend (corner of Jefferson and
Main) as well as each Saturday from 1-2pm at the cemetery corner of the
intersection of Grape and Cleveland near University Park Mall.
http://community.michiana.org/justice/
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LOCAL GREENS EXPOSE ST. JOSEPH COUNTY'S FAILURE TO COUNT VOTES CAST FOR
GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE IN NOV 2006 ELECTION
The St. Joe Valley Greens are pursuing an explanation and acknowledgment
of St. Joseph County's failure to count, record and report votes cast by
citizens of St. Joseph County for Bill Stant, the Green Party candidate
for Indiana Secretary of State.
Karl Hardy and Kathleen Petitjean co-wrote an op-ed piece that was
published in the Tuesday, March 20, edition of the South Bend Tribune.
The text of their Michiana Point of View piece can be found here:
http://www.sjvgreens.org/current/noExcuse.shtml
On Wednesday, March 21, the Greens and supporters again sought an
explanation from the Election Board regarding the failure to count votes
for a registered candidate. Mr. Stant addressed the board and requested
that the votes be counted as mandated by law and asked the Board for a
formal apology.
The Board declined to offer an apology, insisting their had been no
wrong-doing and voted to table the item until the April meeting in
order to determine if and how the votes could now be counted.
An article regarding the meeting was written by James Wensits of the the
South Bend Tribune and was published on Thursday, March 22, the text of
which can be found here:
http://www.sjvgreens.org/current/electionBoard.shtml
Members of the St. Joe Valley Greens are following up with the Indiana
Election Commission to determine if the statements of explanation given
by the St. Joseph County were factual and viable. Dale Simmons, the
legal counsel for the Indiana Election Commission, and both the
Democratic and Republican Co-Chairs of the Commission have been
contacted regarding this issue.
Greens will return (for the third month in a row) to the next St. Joseph
County Election Board meeting scheduled for April 11.
Information: Karl Hardy at karl_j_hardy at yahoo.com
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OPPOSE COAL POWER PLANT PROPOSALS
Joe Miller writes:
In September, 2005, citizens, local groups (e.g., Michiana Quality of
Life), and statewide groups (e.g., Citizen's Action Coalition of
Indiana), joined together to persuade the St. Joseph County Council to
deny a proposal by Tondu Corporation to build a 1 billion dollar coal
gasification electric power plant west of South Bend in New Carlisle,
Indiana. The proposed 550 megawatt plant would have employed a
commercially unproven integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC)
technology to produce electricity.
Citizens now need to support battles that are being waged downstate by
citizens and groups such as Citizens Action Coalition, Hoosier
Environmental Council, United Senior Action, Valley Watch, and others to
stop the approval of IGCC coal plants that are being proposed in
southern Indiana to produce either synthetic gas for gas utilities or
electricity. The first alert below describes the issues and
alternatives related to the use of IGCC coal gasification to produce
synthetic gas, and the second and third alerts below describe the issues
and alternatives related to the use of coal gasification to produce
electricity.
All three alerts present compelling reasons to oppose the plants, and to
embrace renewable energy alternatives and energy efficiency. As John
Blair of Valley Watch says in the second alert/article, "Indiana is
already the largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal burning in
the nation and CO2 is the principal gas that is known to cause global
warming."
To learn more about the devastating consequences of the large
concentration of coal power plants in southwest Indiana and the lower
Ohio River Valley, as well as the strategies that citizens are mounting
to address such consequences, visit the excellent Valley Watch website.
For information on the massive destruction caused by mountaintop
removal coal mining, and the strategies that citizens are using to stop
such destruction, visit the excellent Stop Mountaintop Removal website.
http://valleywatch.net/valleywatch/index.asp?id_nav=1
http://valleywatch.net/valleywatch/index.asp?id_nav=2
http://www.stopmountaintopremoval.org/
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INDIANA HOUSE BILL 1351 - PROVIDES FUNDING FOR
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Linda Wolfson of the Community Forum on Economic Development writes:
At the meeting last week, we distributed a "Call to Action" from the
Inner City Task Force of the Community Forum. It concerns an important
piece of legislation that would establish a permanent source of funding
for Housing Development Funds and that could provide up to $25 million
statewide for the development of affordable housing.
This bill passed the House and is now in the Senate Budget and Finance
Committee. Senator Luke Kenley, the Chairman of that committee, is
threatening not to give HB 1351 a hearing. Senators Broden, Weatherwax,
and Lubbers are encouraging a hearing and need your encouragement.
The Inner City Task Force would like each of us to call Senator Broden's
office to thank him for sponsoring the legislation and for working to
get a hearing on the bill.
His phone number in Indianapolis is 800-382-9467 or 317-232-9432.
His email address: s10 at in.gov
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CAFO BILL TO SUPPORT
Alert sent by Rae Schnapp of the Hoosier Environmental Council:
HB 1197 is now in the Senate Environment Committee chaired by Senator
Gard. This bill would provide setbacks, certification for manure
haulers, fees for annual inspection, and stiff penalties for violators.
Some of the committee members are sympathetic to our cause, but they
have concerns about the setback approach. We need to convince them that
CAFOs deserve setbacks similar to those for airports and landfills. By
creating a default setback with an exemption process, this bill actually
provides more meaningful local consideration than we have currently,
even in the 14 counties with no zoning. Please ask Senator Gard and
Committee members to help protect rural residents from the multiple
impacts of industrial scale livestock production by SUPPORTING THIS BILL.
Senate Energy and Environment Committee Members
Senator Gard, chair s28 at in.gov
Senator Riegsecker, s12 at in.gov
Senator Bray, s37 at in.gov
Senator DIllon, s17 at in.gov
Senator Drozda, s21 at in.gov
Senator Hershman, s7 at in.gov,
Senator Miller, s32 at in.gov
Senator Hume, s48 at in.gov
Senator Errington, s26 at in.gov
Senator Lanane, s25 at in.gov
Senator Tallian, s4 at in.gov
s28 at in.gov, s12 at in.gov, s37 at in.gov, s17 at in.gov, s21 at in.gov, s7 at in.gov,
s32 at in.gov, s48 at in.gov, s26 at in.gov, s25 at in.gov, s4 at in.gov
Please copy bill author Representative Pflum h56 at in.gov and
rschnapp at hecweb.org
Thanks for all your help!
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SAVE the ST. JOSEPH COUNTY CAFO HEALTH ORDINANCE
Linda Wolfson writes:
SB 431 is one of three CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)
bills currently being considered in the Indiana General Assembly.
This bill was amended before it passed the Senate to give IDEM and the
environmental boards sole regulatory authority for protection of human
health and the environment concerning both CAFOs and CFOs (confined
feeding operations - smaller than CAFOs). It also limits political
subdivisions (such as St. Joseph County) to regulating CAFOs and CFOs
only with regard to land use and zoning. If passed, this law would
take effect on July 1, 2007.
"SB 431 would take all authority away from the local health departments
and prevent implementation of the St. Joseph County CAFO health
ordinance.
The House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee will hold a
hearing on SB431 this Tuesday, March 27, at 8:30 AM (Room 156C at the
state capitol).
Please take a few minutes to express your opposition to Section 8 of
SB431. We hope that a deluge of opposition from St. Joseph County will
help to convince our legislators to remove this amendment from the
legislation. There are many good provisions in SB431. Section 8 is
not one of them!
For complete information on SB 431, go to
http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2007/SB/SB0431.3.html
For more information on our local ordinance, contact
lwolfson at sbcsc.k12.in.us
To communicate your views on this legislation, email the following
before their meeting on Tuesday morning.
(1) We suggest that you identify your position in the subject of the
email. For example, Subject: Remove Section 8 from SB 431.
(2) Send your email to the Chairman of the House Agriculture and
Development Committee: Representative Pflum h56 at in.gov and
Cc the other members of the committee:
Representative Stemler h71 at in.gov
Representative Battles h64 at in.gov
Representative Bischoff h68 at in.gov
Representative Dembowski h17 at in.gov
Representative Goodin h66 at in.gov
Representative Grubb h42 at in.gov
Representative Gutwein h16 at in.gov
Representative Friend h23 at in.gov
Representative Knollman h55 at in.gov
Representative Lehe h15 at in.gov
Representative Stutzman h52 @in.gov
(3) Send your email, as well, to your own representative so that they
know of your interest in this legislation.
Representative Fry's email address is h5 at in.gov
Bauer: h6 at in.gov
Niezgodski: h7 at in.gov
Dvorak: h8 at in.gov
Walorski: h21 at in.gov
Neese: h48 at in.gov
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VOTER REGISTRATION CAMPAIGN
Rusty Wilson writes:
I have 50 registration forms to start with and can get 1000s more if
needed. Make it a part of your daily habit of asking people if they are
registered. You can send completed forms my way at 1108 S. Spring St. in
Mishawaka, or call me and I can pick them up and drop the forms off
personally at the registration office.
My phone number is 574-254-0644, if I don't answer leave a message.
Anyone wanting to help with getting people registered can pick up forms
at the voter registration office. You will want to talk to Pam in the
St. Joeseph County bldg.
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NEW GREAT LAKES ENVIRO WIKI SITE
Jeff Sutter passed along this site:
http://www.greatlakeswiki.org/index.php/Main_Page
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JOB OPENINGS AT CIRCLE PINES SUMMER CAMP
Circle Pines Center is always looking for summer staff and resource
people. For more information call Meryl Domina at 574.246.9263 or visit
our web site at http://www.circlepinescenter.org/.
Circle Pines is located on 294 acres of rolling hills with woodlands,
meadows, and a sandy beach on a spring fed lake in Barry County,
Michigan, 2 hours from South Bend. Circle Pines Center is a cooperative
whose mission is to teach peace, justice, and environmental
sustainability through a summer camp and programs for adults and families.
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10 KEY VALUES OF THE GREENS
1. Ecological Wisdom
2. Social Justice
3. Grassroots democracy
4. Nonviolence
5. Decentralization
6. Community-based economics
7. Feminism
8. Respect for diversity
9. Personal and global responsibility
10. Future focus
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St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN
http://www.sjvgreens.org/
mailto: greentv at sjvgreens.org
####
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