Tag: Sustainability

The Brueggeman Center for Dialogue and the Ethics/Religion & Society Program invite you to attend Xavier University’s Inaugural Laudato Sí Lecture by Dr. Nancy Tuchman, Founding Dean of the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University in Chicago:  April 26, 2023 at 7 pm in the Conaton Board Room in Schmidt Hall on the campus of Xavier University. Laudato Sí refers to Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical and his subsequent call (the Laudato Sí Action Plan) for people of good will to create and implement plans that will promote care for the Earth, our common home.

Dr. Tuchman chairs the International Association of Jesuit Universities’ (IAJU) Task Force on Environmental & Economic Justice and she co-edits the Jesuits’ free online environmental science textbook Healing Earth, which received the inaugural Expanded Reason Award from Pope Francis and the Vatican in 2017.

Dr. Tuchman will speak on “The Role of Jesuit Universities in Advancing Laudato Sí.”

The FCGG Education/Lifestyles Working Group
Presents
The April 2023 EcoChallenge

Join our team, FCGG for Earth Month 2023, and compete with teams from around the world in this fun, free, educational, and interactive game.

April 1st through April 30th, 2023

You choose your level of involvement from simple one-time actions to daily activities. Each action earns points for our team. You can “chat” with teammates and give high-fives for great ideas. Invite friends, family, and members of your faith community to join our FCGG team.

The April Ecochallenge is designed to introduce you to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Ecochallenge transformed the 17 SDGs into 5 categories of daily and one-time actions that everyone can make. With easy-to-understand instructions and information on the Ecochallenge website, you will learn about the local and global benefits of each action. Our team captain, Becca Desai, at bfdesai@aol.com/ is here to assist you if you have questions.

Discussion facilitated by Deborah Jordan

Thursday, March 30th
7:30pm to 8:30pm

Live on Zoom: Register Here

Book:
Food from the Radical Center:
Healing Our Land and Communities
by Gary Nabhan

“In Food from the Radical Center (2018), Gary Nabhan tells the stories of diverse communities who are getting their hands dirty and bringing back North America’s unique fare: bison, sturgeon, camas lilies, ancient grains, turkeys, and more. These efforts have united people from the left and right, rural and urban, faith-based and science-based, in game-changing collaborations. Their successes are extraordinary by any measure, whether economic, ecological, or social.” quoted from Amazon.com.

Nabhan is an Agricultural Ecologist, Ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, and author whose work has focused primarily on the interaction of biodiversity and cultural diversity of the arid binational Southwest. A first generation Lebanese-American raised in Gary, IN., he is considered a pioneer in the local food movement.

There is a Cincinnati Public Library copy. It can be ordered from Island Press, the leading publisher on environmental issues in the U.S., for $30. There are copies available on Better World Books (a B corp) and Abe Books (a subsidiary of Amazon) for about $10.

Two new federal laws, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (a.k.a. the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), offer funding opportunities for energy projects at nonprofit organizations, including houses of worship! Funds can cover projects ranging from small retrofits (e.g., replacing lighting systems, adding insulation) to large upgrades (e.g., replacing HVAC systems, adding solar panels).

The new Energy Efficiency Pilot Program was created to set aside $50 million in grant money exclusively for nonprofits. Applications for these grants will demonstrate to Congress the need for more exclusive energy efficient funds for nonprofit organizations and will create more jobs in small towns and low-income communities. This is a win-win for everyone.

FCGG is honored to have speaker Dan Bresette, president of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI). Created by Congress and based in Washington D.C., EESI is as an independent, bi-partisan, 501 non-profit organization that seeks to be a catalyst moving society away from environmentally damaging fossil fuels and toward a clean energy future.

Learn what opportunities are available for you to help your religious facility fund efficiency upgrades this year!

March 14th, 2023
7:00-8:00 pm
Via Zoom

The Archdiocesan Care for Creation Task Force is eager to welcome people to learn about this powerful initiative from the Vatican to unite Catholics around the globe as we seek to love and care for all of God’s creation. Our Archdiocese has joined, and we’re looking to engage individuals and families, families of parishes, schools, and all others in this work.

We’ve got multiple virtual introductory sessions coming up, and we’d love for you to join us (and bring a friend!) for an hour to learn about the LSAP and how you can get involved.

Tues. 2/7 at 12:30pm https://catholiccincinnati.zoom.us/j/86503581210

Tues. 2/7 at 6:30pm https://catholiccincinnati.zoom.us/j/81726969116

Registration is not required, but we would love to know if you plan to attend. RSVP with Tammie Mers, in the Catholic Social Action office. Please contact Liliana Sierra, with any questions. All are welcome!

Faith Communities Go Green invites you to join them for a free, virtual workshop to address the climate crisis through the moral teachings of faith traditions.

This workshop will cover empowering faith leaders to advocate for protecting the environment; inspiring faith-based organizations to support implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and enabling leaders to communicate with decision-makers and the public.

Sessions are available from 1:00-2:00 pm or 7:00-8:00 pm on Thursday, February 16. Register for the event here.

Join us at Ohio’s largest sustainable agriculture conference February 16-18, 2023, in Newark, Ohio! The 44th annual OEFFA conference is three days full of live learning, shopping, sharing, and connecting with sustainable farmers, gardeners, and local food supporters.

With 50+ workshops on everything from farmers markets to livestock management, a big exhibit hall for shopping and networking, a few happy hours to gather and celebrate, locally-sourced lunches, and much more, we hope to see you there!

Presented by the FCGG Facilities Working Group
on January 31 @ 7:00-8:00 pm

Now more than ever, it’s vital to reduce the carbon footprint of our worship facilities. Hear stories from three people who succeeded in getting solar installations on their religious facilities. Learn how they did it, how much it cost, where the money came from, and when they will see the return on their investment. How did they get members and leaders of their congregation to agree and support the idea? How much CO2 emissions will be reduced by their effort? Bring your questions and curiosity. Ever wonder if you can inspire your congregation to embrace the idea of solar installation for your religious facility? Find out how you too can put solar on your house of worship.

Register for this inspiring zoom conversation!

On Saturday, March 4, 2023, the Archdiocese Care for Creation Task Force will be holding a full-day Laudato Si Action Platform conference at Curran Place on the University of Dayton campus. It’s scheduled for 8:30am – 4:30pm and will include opportunities for prayer, learning, networking, planning, and sharing. We’ll have information on multiple topics for multiple audiences, both in large group sessions and breakouts. Visit this website for more information and (coming soon) the registration link.

The Laudato Si Action Platform is the collaborative effort of the global Roman Catholic Church to address caring for God’s creation. You can learn more about it here or contact Andrew Musgrave with any questions.

Faith Communities Go Green’s Education and Lifestyle working group invites you to a webinar on:

Sacred Grounds
Stories and best practices for sustainably stewarding the grounds of faith communities

Presented by: 

Susan Fox is a registered landscape architect and horticulturalist, having worked for 30 years mostly in residential landscape design and construction.  She has a passion for ecology, native plants, and how ordinary people can arrange their environments to be nourishing to both people and the natural world.
Lyric Morris-Latchaw  is a multidisciplinary urban farmer and visual artist whose work focuses on creating meaningful, equitable relationships between neighbors, land, and creatures. She currently tends the Church of the Advent’s Good News Garden, a community pantry garden in Walnut Hills, and grows grows food for a sliding scale payment community-driven CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). She previously farmed for and collectively ran the pay-as-you-can pizza restaurant Moriah Pie; she is co-author of The Moriah Pie Cookbook: Recipes and Stories. She was co-founder of the Hughes McMillan Street Community Garden, and helped establish Wave Pool Gallery’s Community Garden and Grassroom.
The Rev. Canon Jason Oden is the diocesan Canon of Formation for the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. He is also the parish pastor for the Church of the Advent in Walnut Hills.

This is a virtual event. Please register to receive the zoom link.

Faith Communities Go Green partners with religious communities to create a more sustainable and equitable future for all by mobilizing their moral voice to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change.

To learn more and join the team, go to FCGG.org