DEN Enews

Do you believe the Coastline Protection Act needs to be Legislated NOW! Join us at the rally TOMORROW at the legislature. Make your voice count!

Live on the Eastern Shore? Want to be a Citizen Scientist? Learn more at the next gathering of the Healthy Coastlines Project.

If you don’t know how much plastic ends up on our coastlines, check out these two Facebook groups to see how much is regularly removed: https://www.facebook.com/ScotianShores

www.facebook.com/kleanitup18

Now take the Plastic - Free-Pledge with the David Suzuki Foundation.

1. REFUSE single-use plastic items and anything else offered that you don’t need (e.g., napkins, shopping bags, freebies, etc.)

2. REUSE what you already have before buying or consuming new products that serve the same need.

3. REPLACE single-use items with reusable alternatives.

4. REVITALIZE an item’s use by giving it a second life before throwing it away or buying new. Get creative!

5. RECLAIM and find new purposes for things that would otherwise become waste.

6. RETHINK your needs.

7. OPT for plastic alternatives (or items that contain recycled plastic if non-plastic isn’t available).

8. PICK UP plastic debris when you see it and recycle it appropriately when possible.

9. ASPIRE to a zero-waste or low-impact lifestyle by taking small, tangible steps and being open to learning along the way.

10. SUPPORT efforts to limit global plastic production.

    How Energy Efficient is your Faith Building? FREE AUDITS. Go to: ecologyaction.ca/form/energy-audits

MAY 14 from 7-8:30 PM brings an evening of input and practice about Contemplating to Create a Climate of Change. This session is facilitated by Anne Marie Conn, RSCJ and Cathy Driscoll, Ph. D, Professor Emerita, Department of Management, Saint Mary's University.

Imagine a group of youth taking on one of the biggest polluters in the world; the United States. Levi grew up playing in the waves on a small island off the coast of Florida. Then floods came and storm after storm until his family was forced to leave their home. Levi has spent much of his young life involved in litigation aimed at holding federal and Florida-based leaders accountable on climate change and fossil fuels. Juliana v. United States of America is a climate-related lawsuit filed in 2015 by 21 youth plaintiffs, including Levi. This has been called the lawsuit of the century but has also faced many hurdles. Sadly, the US Department of Justice is doing everything they can to kill the case, and in just a few weeks the last chance to go to trial might be lost. Add your name to support these 21 brave youths who deserve to have their stories heard in front of a trial judge.

Last year, our government gave $20 billion dollars in financial support to oil and gas companies. These industries have spent decades profiting from activities that harm people and pollute our land and water. Fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate disasters like wildfires and floods, and they cost people their lives and homes in Canada and beyond. Lobbyists use their influence to extract tax breaks and handouts. Now Big Oil wants Canadians to pay for their latest greenwashing scheme: carbon capture. Even though these technologies are dangerous and ineffective, Minister Freeland and the Government of Canada are giving companies billions for carbon capture plans. This petition is asking that our country push for stronger action on climate change and not use tax dollars to finance pollution, environmental destruction, and injustice.

The winter home of monarch butterflies has been rapidly diminishing to make room for avocados. For the past decade, an estimated 10-plus football fields of Mexican forests have been cleared to expand avocado production every day. People in the United States eat 3 billion pounds of avocados a year and almost all are imported from Mexico. This demand causes deforestation, water hoarding, and violence. It has also destroyed nearly 2,400 acres of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Avocado production is predicted to grow substantially, and with it the harm to wildlife will grow unless people stand together to demand a different path. This petition is going to U.S. officials asking to protect Mexico's forests by halting avocado imports from recently deforested land.

Does it create beauty to poison our planet and threaten the health of communities? Dove has been creating mountains of plastic waste every year that especially devastate ecosystems in the Global South. Greenpeace has been campaigning for Dove, and Dove’s owner Unilever, to reduce plastic for many years. Nearly 150,000 people have signed a petition asking Dove to stop selling plastic sachets and commit to phasing out single-use plastics, and despite this they won’t talk or budge. This summer leads up to the 20th anniversary of Dove’s flagship Real Beauty advertising campaign in September. Take this pledge to say if Dove won’t ditch their plastic, it’s time we ditch Dove!

Wolves in the Northern Rockies have been under attack for years. Over the past few months this has only been escalating. A horrific story from Wyoming about the callous treatment and death of a 9-month-old wolf has been unfolding. People around the world are outraged and the situation is at least helping bring awareness to the brutal plight wolves face in this region. Canadians can join in pushing for change by signing this letter going to President Biden asking him to use his Executive Order authority to stop the killings of wolves on federal public lands

The Price of Recycling

Chatting to a neighbour this week she told me how her tabletop water cooler started leaking.  _{They took it apart, placed it in a clear collection bag, and called our local waste facility to see how to dispose of it.}

Water coolers can NOT be put out curbside nor can they go to any access depot for technology. Due to having freon in the unit, they needed to be brought back to Kaizer Meadows for disposal

Kaizer Meadows is 45 km, over half an hour, away. Then we hear how much gas has gone up in price.

The water cooler will sit in her shed till they go apple-picking in the fall.

It seems recently my shed has turned into a recycling facility. There sit the aerosol cans that go to a depot 30 km or 20 minutes in one direction. Luckily I can detour from my haircut route or eye exam and pass those in.

Toners and the pen, marker, and highlighter collection go in another direction.

The shed holds the glass bottles waiting for the once-a-year bottle pickup by a local recreation group in May.

Grandma considers herself rather a determined Earth Warrior. Things can sit in the shed till we take a trip near a facility. How many others would do that? When your income stays the same but things like gasoline go up, shoving certain things in the one black bag that is allowed, is tempting.

Will high gas prices meant to save carbon, actually make more carbon when people won’t properly recycle?

Just something to think about.

Garden

Every year I show you a picture of a wattle fence. It is the easiest way for me to “get rid” of all my pruning sticks. It adds a bit of that “something different” to your yard.

I sharpen the ends of my thickest pruning branches. One year I used up all my saved broomsticks and odd ski or trekking poles. Pound them into the ground as deep as you can. The stronger the upright, the stronger the fence.

Weave the rest of your pruning in between the upright poles. Weave as quickly as you can after cutting the branches to make the most flexible sticks to weave. They will dry and become rigid even a day later.

A Crown Craft

“All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall

Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all …..”

In my imagination I see the three little boys wearing crowns and shaking their yoghurt sand shakers to the beat of the hymn. (We are using sand shakers to teach that hymns are church songs that we all join in together) Maybe it is a bit far-fetched but they will like these crowns.

 How to make a crown (3 kid Sunday School Style)

Cereal Box laid out flat

Ruler, marker and scissors

Crayons, markers or coloured pencils and stickers

I glue plain copy paper to the box board so the kids can colour their crowns whatever colour they choose

Draw a line 3 inches up the side of your boxboard

Draw a second line 2 inches higher again

Between the two lines draw triangles for the points of a crown.

Colour and cut out the crown. Add stickers to the points of the crowns.

Make the crown the size of their head. Cut off excess and tape or staple the crown ends together.

 Something to Eat

This one is made a bit different, so I had to see what the difference made. The bars were lovely but I can’t see an advantage to boiling the butter and brown sugar compared to just mixing everything together.

Cinnamon Bars

Dry Bowl

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp soda

2 tsp cinnamon

In a pot add

2/3 cups butter or margarine

2 cups brown sugar

Cook until melted and remove from heat

Two minutes later add

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs and stir till combined

Add to dry mixture

Put in an 8 x 10 pan and bake 350 for 25-30 minutes

Some people brush with melted margarine and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top

SO good!

 _{We pray that all people feel called to discern their role in protecting our oceans and hope that each of us feels a renewed sense of connectedness with the ocean and its many gifts to us:}

_{May You cast all our transgressions into the depths of the sea.} 

_{We pray for the more than 3 billion people whose livelihood depends on the health of our oceans, those who fish the waters for food and nutrients, and those whose culture and spirituality are entwined with the ocean and its mysteries:}

_{May You cast all our transgressions into the depths of the sea.}

_{We pray for small island nations and those most impacted by humanity's destructive processes that rob the ocean of its natural ability to regulate:}

 _{May You cast all our transgressions into the depths of the sea.} 

_{May the love of God be as deep as the ocean floor, as sweeping as the currents, and as soothing as the waves crashing on the shore. Creator of mysteries, help each of us be stewards of the ocean. Stir our spirits with wonder and amazement knowing that Your love for us extends even beyond the horizon of the open sea. We rejoice in the living waters of the ocean and tread lightly on Your shores, hoping to leave this miraculous creation a mystery to behold for all future generations. Amen.}