First Parish in Concord

Green Sanctuary Group

First Parish > Green Sanctuary > Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes

November 16, 2006

Present: Bob Andrews, Bob Harper, Gary Kleiman, Peter Norton , Andy
Proulx, Faith Bade (ex officio)

MEETING WITH FAITH BADE

At 7 p.m. Bob and Andy met with Faith Bade at her request to orient her
to our committee and discuss how she may relate to us in her new job.
She let us know that she will be, among other things, acting as a kind
of "point person" for the whole Social Action Program of the church. She
will establish and maintain connections with all groups and departments
with the goal of helping the Social Action Council develop a more
integrated church wide program and move toward a new level of excellence.

NEW GLOBAL WARMING GROUP

The scheduled meeting began at 7:30 p.m. and adjourned at close to 9:00
p.m. While Faith Bade was still present, we attempted to respond to a
question she raised about just how global warming activities in the
church relate to Green Sanctuary, and whether there is now a new
committee that deals with that issue.  Bob recalled that when he and
Andy met with Eric Van Loon, Claudia Nimar, CC King, and Faith Bade on
Nov. 13 those present agreed that they would, as a group, monitor and
coordinate follow-up on the Nov. 1 community-focused global warming
conference that we co-sponsored with Musketaquid. We had agreed that we
would meet again in a month to review progress and would be known as the
"Global Warming Action Group" (or committee ?). Andy and other members
of Green Sanctuary raised concern that if this is publicized as a new
church committee it may be confusing to the Parish. It was agreed that
there is a need for further clarification with Eric and Claudia as to
how that group relates to Green Sanctuary and whether or not it is a new
church committee that the parish should know about.  The Green Sanctuary
Group sees itself as being the primary resource for all environmental
activities, but will seek to work in harmony with the overall Social
Action Council.

One of the matters discussed on Nov. 13 by the Global Warming group was
finding people to be liaison people with other community groups about
topics discussed on Nov. 1. Some such people have already been
identified, but this will be an ongoing project to be pursued outside of
this meeting.

CHURCH BUILDING PROJECT

The discussion then moved on to the church building project. One of our
members, Sergio Siani, is on the Building Committee. Andy reported,
however, that it had been agreed that there was a need for someone else
to be a liason to the Building Committee, who is not a member of it.
Peter Nobile has agreed to be that liaison; and it will be his
responsibility to keep the committee informed about those aspects of the
emerging building design that are environmentally relevant.  A Parish
meeting for review of the building plans has been set for Dec. 2.
Shortly after that meeting, it was agreed, Green Sanctuary should call
an open meeting to look at the expansion plans from an environmental ,
energy-conserving perspective. Peter Nobile will organize and run the
meeting.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION

Another topic that was discussed in some depth was political action.  It
was agreed that this might be better named as "legislative action"
since our approach is not a partisan one and is aimed at getting
legislation that is consistent with scientific knowledge regardless of
what party proposes it. Bob Andrews will be the member of the committee
who spearheads this.  Gary Kleiman and Peter Norton both expressed an
interest in working with him on it. Sue Beck has also been involved.

Gary, who has studied the federal bills that have been proposed, said
that it may be premature to push for a federal bill at this time since
it will take a while for the reconstituted Congress to be ready to deal
with anything.  When they do it is likely that new legislation will be
introduced and bills that were introduced earlier abandoned.  Senator
Boxer is expected to introduce a bill in the Senate that is modeled
after the bill passed into law in California. The California bill is
seen as the most progressive bill to date. The relative merits of the
McCain -Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act vs. the Jeffords (and Waxman)
bill(s) was discussed. Gary reported that although the Jeffords bill
contains more extensive demands for reduction in greenhouse gases the
McCain bill contains economic measures to make these reductions more
realistic for industries to achieve. Without such measures no
legislation has much chance to be passed into law. The Climate
Stewardship Act could be a good beginning. We may, however, want to wait
until Senator Boxer makes a move to launch any letter writing or other
campaign.

 Bob Harper suggested that we give some attention here in Massachusetts
to the Cape Wind Project, which is being opposed by both Kennedy and
Kerry. We may want to work on switching them around or get behind a
similar project in another location.  We also briefly discussed the
issue of Massachusetts participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas
Initiative. Gary stated that with the new Patrick administration coming
in it is extremely likely that we will join with the other states and
that this will happen soon.

GREEN SANCTUARY COFFEE HOUR PROGRAM

We all agreed that having a regular Green Sanctuary table at coffee
hours is an excellent idea. While we initially talked about weekly
events, we later agreed that every other week would be sufficient. We
should coordinate with Eric and Claudia on any coffee hour plans that
they may have. Our general format will be to have two card tables and
large poster board displays that are eye catching.  In each instance the
table would be manned by someone who is well informed about the day's
topic and can answer questions.  Handouts will be available on the
table, along with sign-up sheets for new people who want to get
involved. One of the displays will always be a description of Green
Sanctuary and its overall program action areas. The others will change
from week to week. An initial series was outlined, as follows:

1) A December display focused on the First Parish Expansion.  Andy and
Peter Nobile will take responsibility for this.

2) A mid-January display focused on legislative action. This will not be
a display pushing for legislative action, but will provide up-to-date
information about current legislative initiatives and resources to
consult to get further informed and/or take individual action. Gary and
Peter both volunteered to work with Bob on finding good one page
descriptions of various legislative acts that we need to consider.

3) Later in January or early in February we will focus on energy saving
measures for the family and home. Bob Harper will work with Andy on this.

4) The time frame is still not clear for a display focused on local
food.  Andy, who has a strong interest in this and voluminous
information will try to find someone to work with him on this.

WEBSITE AND GOOGLE LISTS

The GS website was briefly discussed. It was agreed that this website
can be a valuable resource for environmentally concerned parishioners as
well as for the active members of Green Sanctuary. Steps will be taken
to make it as readily accessible as possible and to make others aware of
its existence. Electronic mailings to Green Sanctuary members will
utilize the Google Lists.

To Do List:  1) A link to Bob A's recent article in the Concord Journal
about the Nov. 1 meeting will be put on the Green Sanctuary Website.  2)
Peter Norton will get information to Bob about the Google list and
website. 3) Andy will get together with Peter Nobile on coffee hour table

highlighting LEED and how it relates to the expansion project at FP

 4) Gary Kleiman will get information to Bob on
legislative initiatives.  5) Bob A will communicate with Eric about the
character and publicity for the Global Warming Group. 6) Those to be
responsible for coffee hour displays, as specified above, will work on
preparations.

NEXT MEETING

_*The next meeting of GS is scheduled for  Dec. 14th  *_Andy will make
arrangements for the space. Until we hear from people that this is not a
workable time, we will continue to meet on the third Thursday evening of
each month.