This poem was written by Glenn Thomas in 1996. I'd seen it before and was reminded about it over the weekend while I was looking through some conference proceedings. I just thought it was really appropriate to GINI's mission and decided to share it.

Tomorrow’s Child

Without a name; an unseen face

and knowing not your time nor place

Tomorrow’s Child,…

I have been looking for online information most of the day, and came across this website about conserving water, which I thought might be very useful to some people. It's from the Environment Canada website. Many of the tips that are given are just common sense. But it offers some good explanations and diagrams, and calculations of savings too.

FYI...I was at a workshop on 8/31 and 9/1, where I also heard estimates of actual savings (in dollars) from some "green" programs at…

Did you know that sustainable actions are part of the institutional structure at ETSU?

ETSU has an Office of Sustainability that is part of Housing & Facilities Management.  The Office's August newsletter is now out, and if you are interested, you can download here to see what they have been up to on campus: ETSU August 2011 Sustainability…

 I have been compiling quotes from various religious leaders, aided by the links at GreenFaith's website, and I wanted to post some here.  These snippets are extracted from larger proclamations put forth by church body committees or from singular leaders and they find themselves all in agreement that when we live selfishly, we hurt our neighbors, the Earth, and ultimately ourselves.

I think the most interesting ones to read have been those from the self-described "traditionally…

Marie Pendzich is a caretaker for some pampered hens. They are truly free-range (not just having access to an open door, which is literally all that's required to earn that label). Note that sometimes the required "open door" only leads into a open area that doesn't even have sod...just bare soil. So while they've earned the "free range" label, those hens really don't have access to nature, which is what is implied.

Marie's hens lay eggs that have beautiful (and nutritious)…

As a member of the Peacemaking Team at First Presbyterian Church in Elizabethton, I am often asked, "Where can I recycle (batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, cell phones, old computers, etc)"?

Here are two links to finding information on local options for recycling a variety of household items.

Earth 911

Johnson City Solid Waste Recycling

An article entitled, "Can you Test-Drive a Religion for a Month?" reminded me of the meetings that were scheduled this spring through the United Religions Initiative (URI). On March 13th, Rev. Hal Hutchinson of St. John's Episcopal Church in Johnson City and Rev. John Shuck of First Presbyterian Church in Elizabethton offered the…

Here's a waste audit "kit" posted from GreenFaith's website. I've conducted waste audits with school children and it is an interesting experience that really helps to inform your group about their contributions to the waste stream. Perhaps a small group in your faith community can be encouraged to do one, and then repeat it at three-month intervals to monitor…

Marie Pendzich forwarded this link about a bill that would give another subsidy to the natural gas industry. The activism alert was produced by Food and Water Watch.

Here's the link in case the embedded one in the first sentence doesn't work for you:…

They say "Many hands make the work light."  We're thankful to have thirty hands planting, weeding, building tomato cages, and turning this…

Want to read some positive news?  YES! Magazine offers stories about real people working for a better world.

Here, Wangari Maathai answers the question -  What role does spirituality play in our work to heal the earth?

 …

Maria Gunnoe's blog is worth sharing...

http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/05/31/231986/marie-gunnoe-mountaintop-removal-coal-mining-stops-here-at-the-last-mountain-2/

During my many enjoyable years teaching vertebrate zoology at ETSU, I would always end my lecture on the evolution of the vertebrates by saying we had now entered a unique stage in the history of life on Earth – The Age of Man.  I would then go on and point out that we have long been used to referring to various Ages of -- (Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, etc.) but there has never before been a time that only ONE species was the dominant biological force on…

Soaring, graceful mountains

              touch the sky

Filled with glaciers ,

                         and morraine

And Changes

They have survived fire, and ice

Made and echoed many sounds

Since cataclysmic forces hurled them

                                              through the ground

They have known

                               Beauty

                                   …

Way to go, Warren Wilson! 

Maybe we should take a field trip to check out one of the top 18 green colleges in the US. 

We have contacts over in the Asheville area, and they're only alittle over an hour away.

Check out the Princeton Review at  http://www.princetonreview.com/green-honor-roll.aspx

(Below is most of a blog of the same title posted on May 17th, 2011 by Earle Holland in Research News at Ohio State, but I've added a slightly different ending.)

Quoting Earle:

"Among those who do science (as well as those of us who cheer from the sidelines) the loss of public interest in recent years robs the…

 interesting info from Interfaith Power & Light, for Earth Month (well, how about the month after Earth Month)? 

How about "Be Another Person of Faith for Clean Air"?

...and some sample sermons on…

Gardening Tips from USA.gov

     The U.S. National Arboretum’s Gardening Page provides the public with resources related to home gardening, nurseries, horticulture, landscaping, and composting. Their gardening website identifies the most commonly asked…