Many of our members and friends took part in participant-led Northwest Earth Institute environmental discussion courses at UUCBV over the past twenty years. Now, they are back with a new name: Eco-Challenge Discussion Courses. And we will be sponsoring a new one starting Wednesday nights in September. It is titled Seeing Systems: Peace, Justice, and Sustainability. According to the website:
How does one mold such complex principles as peace, justice, and sustainability into a coherent story? The difficulty reflects the media’s broader struggle to convey how these themes are mutually linked. Seeing Systems: Peace, Justice, and Sustainability connects the dots between three of society’s most pressing challenges and helps participants find pathways for powerful change in our everyday lives.
The format is familiar to veterans of the NWEI courses, with a five-minute Opening by one of the members, often a show and tell or some other creative ice breaker, a Circle Question from the text which allows each member to answer, and then a series of discussion questions led by the facilitator for that night. There are also enhanced audio-visual resources as well as a special Eco-Challenge.
To get a feel for the course and how it works, please check out the contents, instructions, and the first chapter:
We will begin September 14th at 7:30 PM, like the regular book club sessions, however, since there is only about twenty pages of reading material for each session, we plan to meet weekly for about an hour and fifteen minutes through October 19th. We will end the series with a celebration sometime the following week. This will tentatively be a potluck at Jerry Wagnon’s house in Grimes County.
The text is available in either book ($32) or e-book ($30) form at the EcoChallenge website:
We encourage you to purchase your own copy, which saves the church money and supports EcoChallenge, however, if you wish to participate but feel you cannot afford it, please contact Allison Faber at dre@brazos-uu.org .
If you need assistance ordering supplies to participate, please again contact Allison Faber at dre@brazos-uu.org .
To sign up, if you have questions, please contact Jerry Wagnon jerrywagnon77830@yahoo.com.