Common question to poker players mulling over whether the hand they were dealt merits the risk of putting some of their hard-earned sheckels in the pot. But “You In — or You Out?” here refers to . . . well, it’s probably easiest to just take a look at what the deal here is . . .
Some Notable Doings This Week:
Wednesday, 12/3/14, 7-9pm, at the Forks Township Municipal Building: Forks Twp Compressor Station Informational Meeting – for concerned citizens opposed to the proposed enlargement of the compressor station on Klein Road in Forks Township as part of the building up of pipeline infrastructure for Marcellus shale derived natural gas.
Friday, 12/5/14, 7:30 am-2:45 pm, at Hotel Bethlehem: RenewLV invites you to their second annual Summit for Smart Growth and Sustainable Communities – Moving from Ideas to Actions – This dynamic event will engage community leaders and those who want to be part of the process in finding solutions to tough regional challenges: how we modernize governance, revitalize our urban communities, and preserve open space.
Friday, 12/5/14, 9-11 am, at Drexel University, Philadelphia: Rally and Protest: Saying No to Being a Shale Energy Hub. – Rally to show dirty energy corporations Philly is Not For Sale and that their dirty energy proposal is a dangerous and bad investment that the people of Philadelphia won’t tolerate!
Friday, 12/5/14, 7-9 pm, at LEPOCO Peace Center: Popcorn and Politics Film Series: “The Milagro Beanfield War” (1988) – this delightful comedy tells the story of one man’s struggle to defend his small beanfield and his community in the Milagro Valley against developers and their political friends. It has been described as one of the first U.S. films to fall into the Latin American tradition of magical realism.
There are lots of other goings-on. Check the Alliance Calendar and any of the other calendars – lots of “you in or you out” possibilities.
Work, Training, and Internship Ops
LEPOCO needs to replace Robert Daniels II, who had been a mainstay there since 2008, as soon as possible. Candidates need to be committed to nonviolence, enthusiastic about promoting LEPOCO’s peace and justice efforts, able to coordinate with and aid the various committees and working groups (CASK, NAS/Stop the Wars, ASG, Peace Camp, etc), participate in the Steering Committee, assist in office activities (newsletter, flyers, website, financial records, etc), interface with other peace and justice groups, and represent LEPOCO at various peace and justice events. More info.
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The Seed Farm has two full time Fellowship Opportunities for Organic Vegetable Production and Business Training for hands on training in organic vegetable production. Graduates will have access to land and equipment to start their own farms and have the production planning and equipment training to qualify for farm management positions in the community. More info.
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Alliance Internships are about working towards a more sustainable future — and this will involve systemic change, not just minor improvements to the current ways of doing things. This includes rethinking the current systems, building public awareness of the need to change, developing goals and action plans, and creating presentations and resources (both online and in print) to educate community groups and policymakers. More info.
Motivations: Why?
Why do folks become engaged in fighting the good fight? Even those who do take the risks involved are not sure why nor know how to get others to join in. Even researchers are scratching their heads.
A) Here are some serious searchings that seem to connect individual engagement in sustainability efforts with the importance to those individuals of being able to make connections with/reach out to others similarly aware and engaged – while those not engaged seem to be adrift, clutching at flotsam and jetsam to stay afloat:
“I am a graduate student studying Environmental Psychology at the University of Michigan. I am very interested in the Transition Network, and am currently researching what motivates people to become involved and remain active in Transition Initiatives.” — in an email from W dated 11/18/2014
“The bottom line for most people is their physical and perceived economic survival. This is true of the chaotic conditions from Pakistan to northern Africa, in the Ukraine, in Africa, in Western Europe and the rest of the world. Long term ‘sustainability’ is not their major concern. They want to survive now. They are not worried about tomorrow. People generally need a minimum amount of confidence that they and their children will survive in the present before considering longer term survival.” — in an email from X dated 11/23/2014
“There is nothing in the Lehigh Valley or Eastern PA that organizes for ending inequality, police brutality, corporate gentrification of the commons, the promotion of white elitist American consumerist values in the name of corporate military empire. When that happens I will be glad to be involved, if I am still on this earth plane.” — in an email from Y dated 11/27/2014
“There’s some research on social movements that has shown that most people do not get involved by learning facts or becoming persuaded by theories — they are more likely to get engaged when someone they know invites them to do something like attend a rally or get involved in discussions. Once they take that first step and start participating, their command of the facts and ideas grows. Facts & logic don’t really attract support.” — in an email from Z dated 11/27/2014
“Efforts to achieve sustainability cover a broad range of activities, from campus recycling campaigns to improving public transportation to political and social activism to organic farming. The following questions are designed to help explore what your organization has found to be successful ways for enabling and empowering people to engage in sustainability.” — From Nadia Tornieporth’s 8/8/2013 research questionnaire aimed at understanding how organizations engage people in sustainability efforts.
“Professional pursuits are often driven by personal, emotional needs. For me, over the last few years, that has been a need to allay anxiety, specifically anxiety about the environment. I’d think about the wildlife I’d taken for granted and lament the diminished natural wealth that future generations would inherit. Every day’s news brought upsetting developments-ice caps melting, northeastern bats dying of white-nose syndrome, bee colony collapses-and I realized I had two choices: erect a mental blockade and ignore it all, or find a way to engage with it. I chose to engage as a journalist.” —From Judith D. Schwartz’s Cows Save The Planet…, 2013:4-5
B) And here is a link to a not-very-serious, but hopefully-thought-provoking-nevertheless “motivational research project”:
“Vision Test” – Problems planning for the future? This test can enable you to identify problem areas in your visioning process.”
Please let us know if you thought it was funny, dumb, irrelevant, interesting, engaging, and if it actually helped you figure things out.
C) Send your thoughts to us and we’ll post them on the Alliance website’s Connect With Organizations & Events pages – and perhaps in future Sustainability Doings emailings – be sure to include your permission to print your name.
To promote the building of sustainable communities, we invite you to:
Donate to support the efforts of the Alliance
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Help make the changes in the Lehigh Valley you’d like to make!
Contact: steering@sustainlv.org
Comments welcome!!! You can contact us at:
sustainabilitydoings@sustainlv.org
Martin Boksenbaum, sustainability doings editor
