Grace Episcopal Hosts ‘Green’ Series

Local Church Organizes Environmental Lectures, Park Cleanups

This spring join members and friends of Grace Episcopal Church for a series of environmental lectures and park cleanups throughout the City of Medford. The Grace Church Green Team is very excited to bring several dynamic and fascinating speakers to our community during the season of Lent. Legendary activist and award winner Marion Stoddart will be joining us for a screening and discussion of the documentary about her drive to clean up the Nashua River. Many consider her to be the matriarch of environmentalism in Massachusetts and she is an empowering and motivating speaker. Other speakers include Joseph Asaya from Greener Earth who will speak about their campaign to bring opportunities to people in third world countries by increasing their access to solar energy and Deborah Brown from the EPA who speak about environmental justice issues here in Massachusetts and some of the things that are being done to address these issues. Alicia and Jonathan Hunt of Medford will speak about cost effective ways of reducing energy use in your home or apartment. Alicia has presented home energy savings seminars around Massachusetts and together they have cut their electricity and gas bills in half in recent years. Bishop Bud Cederholm, known as the “green bishop”, is a thought-provoking and entertaining speaker who will lead a discussion about “the most important ethical and moral challenge the world faces today.”

Please join us weekly at 6:45PM in the parish hall of Grace Episcopal Church, 160 High St, Medford starting on Wednesday March 16th. More information is available at http://gracemedford.org/

Last spring Grace Church partnered with the City of Medford, Friends of the Mystic River, Brooks Estate Land Trust, and Friends of Wright’s Pond to coordinate community cleanups in seven parks and public spaces throughout the City of Medford. Over six weekends more than 250 people throughout the community helped to pick up trash, paint tables and benches, rake leaves, spread mulch and sand and generally make public spaces in Medford comfortable and beautiful for the residents. Local businesses including Kelly’s Roast Beef, The Magnificent Muffin & Bagel, Whole Foods, Hillside Hardware, Home Depot and MassJunk donated snacks and supplies to support the participants. Grace Church is currently in the organizational stages for this year’s park cleanups and welcomes any participation and donations from the community to make this year’s cleanups a success. Those interested in volunteering or donating should contact margaret.smist@gracemedford.org or they can call the church office at 781-396-7215 and leave a message.

For additional information please contact Alicia Hunt at iggy@mit.edu.

Mark Your Calendars! Upcoming Environmental Lecture Series

Green Faith Lenten Environmental Series: Throughout Lent Grace’s Green Team will be hosting the Adult Ed. Series of Wednesday’s at Grace as part of our parish-wide Lenten focus on Environmental Stewardship. The series will include several prominent guest speakers and will cover a variety of topics including Environmental Ethics, Environmental Justice locally and abroad, and how individuals can make a difference at home and in their communities. The schedule for events is as follows:

March 16: Green Faith – Repent, Reconcile, and Renew, with Bishop Bud Cederholm. Bishop Bud, the “green Bishop” kicks off our series with worship, song and discussion around the Christian response to “the most important ethical and moral challenge the world faces today.”

March 23: Greener Earth: Leading Green International Projects Locally and Internationally, with guest Joseph Asaya. Join us as we welcome Joseph Asaya from the Greener Earth campaign dedicated to the full rejuvenation of the earth’s green nature by giving opportunities to people in the third world countries to have access to Solar Energy. Our discussion will include the benefits associated with living green such as cost benefits, reduction of carbon footprints and health benefits as well as the dangers of continuing in the status quo such as the rise of water level, global warming, death to polar bears and eventually the quick end to earth.

March 30: Work of 1,000 with guests Marion Stoddart and Sue Edwards. Marion Stoddart, a young mother of three, lived next to one of the nation’s most polluted rivers. At a low point in her own life, she took on its clean-up as a personal cause-for herself, for the community, and for future generations. She had no special skills or training, but what she did have was a vision for what was possible. And, an unwavering resolve to save the dying river. Marion’s historic success in cleaning up the Nashua River-recognized by the United Nations, National Geographic, and chronicled in books and now a movie-is an inspirational lesson about the impact one person can have in the world.

Come watch a 30-minute film about her, and meet Marion Stoddart as we discover together how we might turn our vision of change into a reality.

April 6: Environmental Justice in New England: Protecting the Urban Poor, with guest Deborah Brown. Deborah Brown, who currently works for EPA’s Environmental Justice team, will talk about the environmental justice issues faced by communities in New England. She will also talk about what EPA and other groups (including religious organizations) are doing to address those injustices. Deborah has been a passionate advocate for environmental justice issues in all her positions at EPA; for example when she ran the Toxics and Pesticides enforcement program, she developed a very strong program dedicated to fighting the scourge of childhood lead poisoning.

April 13: Ways You Can Save Energy at Home, with Alicia and Jonathan Hunt. Over the past several years, Alicia & Jonathan Hunt have cut their electricity and gas bills in half through a combination of behavioral changes and weatherizing their house. They will speak about some of the best and most cost effective ways to reduce energy use in your own home. Questions are welcome and they will have tips for both homeowners and renters.

For more information please contact Jonathan McIndoe Hunt at jmhunt@mit.edu

– Submitted by Alicia Hunt