DEN Enews

Climate Resilience Leadership Journey

This 9-month cohort program is for community leaders, connectors and hosts who want to deepen their leadership practice around climate issues in their communities. Following a 3-week cycle, starting in March through December, participants will: 
 
• practice navigating climate challenges with peers 
• strengthen resilience and learn practical skills 
• engage groups with confidence and creativity 
 
There is no fee, but space is limited to 25 people. 

This program is facilitated by How We Thrive.  

Learn more: https://www.howwethrive.org/leadership-journey 

Climate Conversation - Equipping Events

With the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty as our Test Topic

Online train-the-trainer for small group conversations

We will use a simple new resource that draws on wisdom from the Faithful Climate Conversations and the Jesuit Forum to offer a straight-forward circle process to discuss climate issues. For the sake of example, and because we are interested in supporting a conversation about fossil fuel phase out, we will lead these two conversations on the topic of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Come to learn the method and to consider what type of climate conversations you might lead in your community.

Thursday, February 26  - 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. ET

Register here:   https://fortheloveofcreation.ca/event/climate-conversation-equipping-event-daytime-option/

Wednesday, March 4 - 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. ET      

Register here:   https://fortheloveofcreation.ca/event/climate-conversation-equipping-event-evening-option/

Take action today and tell Canada’s federal government to stop putting our public dollars towards fossil fuel subsidies. This amounts to financing pollution, environmental destruction, and injustice. Instead, we need a just transition. Add your name to send a clear message asking our government to reject fossil fuel subsidies.

Bottom trawling is one of the world’s most destructive fishing practices. Dragging weighted nets along the ocean floor devastates coastal habitats, kills marine life indiscriminately, and depletes fish stocks. In the same way that bulldozing a forest destroys an ecosystem that has taken centuries to grow, bottom trawling decimates the seabed and scrapes up coral reefs and any life in its path. This practice is still permitted in some of Europe’s most fragile underwater ecosystems, even though they have been designated as marine protected areas. Sign the petition to urge the EU Commission to take action and protect their waters.

Butterflyway Rangers are volunteers who lead local efforts to create pollinator habitat. They bring people together around nature-based action, organize small teams, support garden projects, and help establish a Butterflyways in their communities. It’s not needed to be a gardening expert, just a person who cares and is willing to learn and work with others. Ranger recruitment opened last week, with a form on David Suzuki’s website to apply. It comes with some perks like a free t-shirt, garden signs, online training, and connection to a national network of Rangers through webinars, online meetups and regional gatherings. Learn more about the option of volunteering to help provide a home for Canada’s butterflies.

Chevron spilled millions of gallons of crude oil and intentionally dumped billions of gallons of toxic drilling waste in the Amazon. In a landmark case, an Ecuadorian court held Chevron liable for an unprecedented $9.5 billion for the deadly health impacts they caused in Indigenous communities — it was a historical victory, setting an early precedent proving that impacted communities could take on an oil corporation and win. But Chevron has never paid. And now, Chevron is pressuring the government of Ecuador to pay it $220 million, instead of the other way around!

Seed Share

Goodness! It has been a busy week with more seed donations arriving. This time T&T seeds sent us 25 bulk packs of Eastern Native Perennial grasses and wildflowers. William Dam Seeds is sending a donation. I think the lady in charge there is one of us, as she mentioned is working across our country.

We’ve chosen our first date for packing Seed Share packets. There will be at least three packing days in total. I’m inviting the environment-loving world (that means you) to come join us for a cheerful work afternoon at the Blandford Community Centre, Saturday, February 28th from 1:00 to 3:30.

All you need to do is find a comfy spot around one of the worktables. We’ll set you up with a handful of envelopes, a couple of sheets of labels, a bowl, and a spoon.

The assembly goes like this:
Take an envelope and add the front label.
Spoon in the seeds.
Fold the top, add the back label.
Repeat—chatting encouraged.

It’s simple, satisfying work, and every little packet helps support the pollinators who make our food possible. If you can spare an afternoon and a pair of hands, we would love to have you.

Use What You Have

Grandma has learned a few things over the years, and one of the big ones is this: you don’t always need to buy something new to get the job done. Most of the time, what you need is already sitting quietly in a cupboard, a drawer, or the back of the closet, just waiting to be noticed.

Using what we have is more than thrift; it’s a skill, a mindset, and a small act of kindness toward the planet. It’s learning to substitute instead of shop, to pause before purchasing and ask, “What could I use instead?”

No flowerpot? Milk jugs and reusable grocery bags work just fine.
No fancy cleaner? Vinegar, water, and a drop of dish soap have cleaned Grandma’s house for decades.
No seed trays? Egg cartons have started many a tomato plant.

In the kitchen, this way of thinking becomes second nature. That half onion? Toss it into tomorrow’s soup. Stale bread? Croutons or bread pudding. Overripe bananas? Muffins, pancakes, or into the freezer they go. A recipe calls for something you don’t have? Substitute. Improvise. Trust yourself.

The same goes for clothes and household items. Before tossing something aside, ask if it can be repaired, repurposed, or passed along. An old towel becomes cleaning rags. A worn shirt turns into garden ties. A chipped mug holds pencils or paintbrushes. Nothing fancy, just practical and sensible.

This way of living doesn’t mean doing without. It means doing differently. It’s choosing creativity over convenience and intention over impulse. It saves money, reduces waste, and teaches the next generation that the answer isn’t always “buy another one.”

Grandma knows the world is loud and fast and always selling us something new. But there’s quiet power in using what we already have. It’s gentle on the earth, good for the soul, and deeply satisfying.

So today, before you head to the store, take a look around your home. You might be surprised at how much you already have, and how far it can take you.

Crafting with what you have

Add brackets to an old large book to make an instant bedside table or shelf for anywhere you need it.

Have an old purse? Consider turning it into a planter. If used indoors put the plant in a leak proof planter. If outdoors poke holes in the bottom and hand it up.

We all use bottles for storage. Grandma sometimes buys an item just to have the bottle later.

Use all those cookie and cracker tins by painting them your favorite colour and decoupage pictures to the front. I just learned to drill a hole in the tin top and add just a wooden bead on a piece of twine, tied on the inside, as a pull stop.

Making a magazine organizer or file storage from a cereal box isn’t new. What I learned was to use the old paper cover from a book to wrap around the cereal box. Better still cut the pages from an old book and wrap that cover around the cereal box to make a hidden file.

If you have an old lampshade, tear off it’s covering. Find some pretty twine or even jute twine and weave the cord around the shade. Fill in the top and turn upside down for a wastepaper basket.

In the kitchen, substitute instead of shopping

Self Rising flour is 1 cup of regular flour, a bit of salt and 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder

Cake flour is 1 cup of regular flour, remove 2 tbsp of the flour and replace with 2 tbsp corn starch

Buttermilk is regular milk plus 1 tbsp lemon juice

Icing sugar is regular sugar put through a food processor until it is light and dusty

Brown sugar is regular sugar with molasses. Yellow brown sugar has a tbsp. of molasses Add more molasses for dark brown sugar.

Got to love easy ways to use what you have. Send some that you know to [email protected]

Making a meal from very little.

Buy a tin of “luncheon meat” be it Holiday or Spam or another brand

Shred it in a processor or even the large end of a regular box shredder.

Add onion powder and black pepper, and always a handful of cheese if available. Make into patties and fry them up. They can be put in a bun or just flat on a plate. A salad is a great side.

Another easy meal is open and heat a can of meatballs, heat it up and serve it over French fries.

A cheaper Instant Pudding

In a bowl whisk

1 ½ cups powdered milk

2 cups sugar

2 cups corn starch

Keep in an airtight jar till needed.

Add a half cup of mix to 2 cups milk and a tsp of vanilla and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes. Ladle into dishes and set aside till supper. (Less than the $2 box type)

Who knows of other store-bought items that can be repurposed to help or to become a meal.

Enough for this week. Always love to hear from you. Hopefully see a few of you on Saturday with happy dreams of planting.

The Fast Life

Fast from judging others;
Feast on Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from fear of illness;
Feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute;
Feast on speech that purifies.
Fast from discontent;
Feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger;
Feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism;
Feast on hope.
Fast from negatives;
Feast on encouragement.
Fast from bitterness;
Feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern;
Feast on compassion.
Fast from suspicion;
Feast on truth.
Fast from gossip;
Feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm;
Feast on prayer that sustains.
Fast from anxiety;
Feast on faith.

- Author Unknown