Wednesday, June 6 at 7:30 pm

Dive

by Jeremy Seifert

Nearly 50% of all the food produced in the United States is wasted each year.  This comes at an enormously high social, environmental, and financial cost — the economy is struggling, 49 million Americans are food insecure, and climate change is rapidly intensifying.  Food waste squanders water, depletes soil, wastes fossil fuels, adds greatly to the world’s carbon footprint, and costs more than $100 billion each year.  Food is the single largest component of solid waste in municipal landfills and incinerators in the United States.  Rotting food creates methane, which is 25 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.  When the resources used to grow, process, and transport food are considered, wasted food represents 25% of freshwater use, 4% of oil use, and 23% of all methane emissions in the U.S.  This film dives into the issue of food waste in America and exposes not only what is being thrown away but the challenges involved in changing this inefficient and wasteful system.  The Department of Agriculture once estimated that recovering just 5% of the food that is wasted could feed four million people a day;  recovering 25% would feed 20 million people.  Today we recover less than 2.5%.  What can we do to create a food system that is more respectful of the environment and each other?

This film is brought to us by Dana Frasz, Founder and Director of Food Shift.   Food Shift is an Earth Island Institute sponsored project dedicated to building a more just and sustainable food system that curbs waste, empowers communities, respects the environment, and nourishes all people.  Food Shift educates and empowers consumers, businesses, and communities by increasing awareness about food waste and inspiring food-related behavior change.  By trimming our waste and diverting food loss, we can feed the hungry, create jobs, combat climate change, conserve natural resources, and cultivate more sustainable communities.  Please join us to see the film and participate in discussions facilitated by Dana Frasz.

http://www.divethefilm.com

http://foodshift.net/

To learn more about Film Series held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Earth Awareness Program

Monday, May 28 at 7:30 pm

Imperiled Life

Revolution Against Climate Catastrophe

Book Tour with author Javier Sethness-Castro

~~ appearing in person

Javier Sethness-Castro presents grim news from contemporary climatologists in his new book, Imperiled Life, while providing a reconstructive vision inspired by anarchist intellectual traditions and promoting critical thought as a means of changing our historical trajectory. This book is being co-published with the Institute for Anarchist Studies. Javier theorizes an exit from the potentially terminal consequences of capital-induced climate change. His book is a collection of reflections on the phenomenon of catastrophe — climatological, political, social — as well as on the possibilities of overcoming disaster. We can draw on this book for inspiration in these darkest of times.

Our Programs at Humanist Hall are accompanied by pot luck refreshments. Feel free to bring scrumptious food, organic and local, to enjoy with others. Our doors open at 6:30 pm for our social hour and pot luck refreshments and Javier’s talk will begin at 7:30 pm.

Donations Accepted

http://www.akpress.org/imperiledlife.html

To learn more about Sunday Programs

or Tuesday Programs held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Wednesday, May 30 at 7:30 pm

END:CIV  Resist or Die

by Franklin Lopez

This amazing film examines our culture’s addiction to systematic violence and environmental exploitation, and probes the resulting epidemic of poisoned landscapes and shell-shocked nations.  But it’s more than a film.  It’s a movement.  You can feel the anger and the urgency in every scene.  The film takes you on a whirlwind ride of emotion as you view the destruction that civilization has caused to the Earth and humanity.  Even though most of this film may be old information for those of us who keep on top of social, economic, political, environmental, and ecological collapse — the way it’s presented is so visceral that it will feed your inner revolutionary.  After watching this film, you may immediately want to get out and fight the capitalist system that’s causing so much suffering and death in the world.  The film calls on us to act as if we truly love this land.  It’s so invigorating to see the opinions of direct action activists finally put on the screen.  There is no walking on eggs in this movie.  It doesn’t hide the fact that violence must be used to stop these out-of-control political systems from killing us all.  This film does an amazing job at putting forth some of the key arguments of Derrick Jensen’s End Game.  Derrick Jensen famously says:  “If your homeland was invaded by aliens who cut down the forests, poisoned the water and air, and contaminated the food supply, would you resist?”  Everyone should see this film and join the movement to end the tyranny that is civiLIEzation.

$5 donations are accepted

http://submedia.tv/endciv/

To learn more about Film Series held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Wednesday, May 23 at 7:30 pm

Who’s Counting?

by Terre Nash

Marilyn Waring is the author of a book on women in the world economy entitled:  “If Women Counted.”  To this day it offers a persuasive and vivid argument against endless economic growth.  At age 22 Marilyn became the youngest member of the New Zealand Parliament.  She chaired the prestigious Public Expenditures Committee and became familiar with the Gross Domestic Product system and decided to disclose its pathologies in a film.  The film traces her quest to explore how the fate of women and of the earth are irrevocably tied up with the deadly pursuit of economic growth.

Good-humoredly, Marilyn skewers the official view of things:  “As long as the activity passes through the market, it’s good for growth.”  Marilyn and, through her, Director Terre Nash, address the “invisibility of women’s work,” which goes unpaid and is officially “of little or no importance,” referring to postwar rules that the international economic system imposes on all countries through the U.N. System of National Accounts.  We hear Marilyn’s voice in the film:  “Important decisions are made with these GNP figures, decisions which will determine whose needs are met first, decisions on how to spend your tax dollars, decisions on killing the planet, decisions on who will live or die….  This system cannot respond to values it refuses to recognize.  It is the cause of massive poverty, illness, and the death of millions of women and children, and it is encouraging environmental disaster.  This is an economic system that can eventually kill us all.”  They say that growth will solve the financial crisis.  GDP was invented by J.M. Keynes for Britain during WWII to pay for the war.  Now it is a mandatory accounting formula used by all nations.  GDP counts only cash transactions, giving no value to peace and the environment.  This means there is no value to peace, to the preservation of the environment, and no value to unpaid work.  The GDP system leaves out half the population of the planet and the planet itself.

Marilyn Waring is a vocal critic of the standard cost-benefit analysis of labor and productivity.  Her consideration of unpaid female labor throughout the world, which is officially discounted as being “nonproductive” in as much as it generates no capital gain, no “growth” to the economy.  Waring’s argument, however, is holistic rather than gender-partisan, surveying a wide range of matters, including the “productivity” that wars generate, through the prism of the dismissal of the value of women’s work at home.  This official view, she and Director Terre Nash contend, is nuts.  Who’s Counting?  The question holds a double meaning, referring to who fixes value, according to what set of priorities, and to who and what in this scheme is being “counted” as having value or not.  Marilyn Waring’s work and intriguing life is described in this eye-opening documentary film.

http://www.nfb.ca/film/whos_counting

To learn more about Film Series held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Events OPEN to the Public

Celtic Lunar Calendar

Events NOT Open to the Public

To see our other  monthly e-calendar,

Our HumaneCalendar

click here

Sunday Meeting

Sunday, May 6 at 10:30 am

MY Footnotes to Plato

by Sterling Bunnell

Sterling’s talk this morning will be about his personal philosophy.  He will express his own philosophy and mention where it is beholden to Plato.

All of Sterling’s talks manifest his brilliant command of both abstract explanations and historical examples — both theory and fact — and they exhibit the amazing broad scope of his mind, encompassing so many fields: the hard and soft sciences and earth and biological sciences, spirituality, psychology, philosophy, history, at alia. Sterling is a rare generalist, a philosopher, freely sharing his thoughts in our world of guarded specialists. Hear Sterling talk, participate in the group discussion, and get the education you might have missed in the course of your life!

Our Sunday talks are accompanied by optional pot luck refreshments. Please feel free to bring scrumptious food, organic and local, suitable for brunch. Our doors open at 10:00 am and talks begin at 10:30 am.

by

Joel Nakamura

To learn more about Sunday Programs held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Thursday, May 24 at 6:00 pm

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club

Monthly Meeting

Produced by the Wellstone Coordinating Committee

This is the monthly meeting of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club (WDRC). The Club works to renew and reform the Democratic Party.  The evening begins with a social hour and delicious potluck supper at 6:00 pm — bring your favorite healthy dish to share!  At 7:00 pm the Club begins its program and all guests of the evening, members and non-members alike, are invited to participate in the discussions.

This evening’s program will feature Soraya M. Castro Marino speaking about:

The Real Changes in Cuba

http://www.wellstoneclub.org/

Wednesday, May 16 at 7:30 pm

Earth Days

by Robert Stone

This poignant film looks back to the dawn and development of the modern environmental movement through the extraordinary stories of the era’s pioneers such as former Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall, biologist and author of Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich, Whole Earth Catalog founder, Stewart Brand, Apollo Nine astronaut, Rusty Schweickart, and renewable energy pioneer Hunter Lovins.  Widespread concern about the environment in America was on the rise in the early 1950s after a small group of scientists began to document the impact of our technology on the Earth’s ecosystem.  Within a decade it seemed to many Americans as if the post-war dream of a better world brought about through science, technology, and economic growth — the American Dream — was turning into an unfathomable nightmare.  The post-war economic boom had fueled industrial expansion, and the interstate highway program had encouraged mass migration to the suburbs.  But emissions from new vehicles and production factories clogged the skies, and cities around the country experienced “smog episodes.” 

In 1962, Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring called attention to the dwindling bird population in her town, placing blame on American chemical manufacturers.  A nationwide debate ensued between Carson’s followers and the chemical companies until President John F. Kennedy stepped in and called for further scientific research. When the evidence largely supported Carson’s claims, encouraged activists continued to raise public awareness about the environmental impact of industrial expansion.  As a new conservation movement sprang forth, groups small and large fought for causes such as preserving Florida’s Everglades and protesting dam construction in the Grand Canyon.  In December 1969, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson hired 25-year-old Denis Hayes to organize a national teach-in about the environment.  Just four months later, on April 22, over 20 million Americans across the country participated in celebrations and demonstrations — the largest in American history — demanding political action to protect the environment. Their grassroots call to action led to groundbreaking national legislation and created a new consciousness about the fragility of the earth’s resources.

http://bicycletouringpro.com/blog/earth-days-documentary-film-about-environmental-movement/

To learn more about Film Series held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Sunday Meeting

Sunday, April 22 at 10:30 am

Earth Day is Every Day

Talk in Honor of Earth Day

By Florence Windfall

Florence’s talk this Sunday falls on Earth Day, which is once a year.   But we know that every day should be Earth Day inasmuch as the Earth requires our attention every single day.  But instead, what mostly attracts our attention are the various entertainments and advertisements, social expectations and exhortations, and subtle encouragements and unspoken cues directing us what to do, what to buy, what to imagine, how to think, how to feel, and how to live.  The Earth gets left behind in our stimulating urban existence, detached and disassociated from the needs and trials — not to mention the grandeur — of the Earth.  Today, Earth Day, will mostly be a celebration of our wonderful blue-green planet that includes our gratitude for being alive upon it.  But Florence’s talk today will be about the dark side of our love for the Earth.  She will speak to some of our prognostications of what this century could be like, given that we humans could be the death of Life — we could bring about the early death of Life on Earth.  She will draw her ideas from James Lovelock‘s 2009 book, The Vanishing Face of Gaia.  James Lovelock is a hero of science and it’s well to heed his words, grim though they be.  There is much truth in what he has to say.

Traditionally, Humanism did not officially include ecological or environmental awareness. Humanism was about humans, with humans central to its ethics and philosophy, rather than an alleged “God.” But today Humanism does embrace the environment, or what used to be called conservation. And what exactly do Humanists think they should do for the environment today? Do Humanists expect to save the Earth, or some part of it, from environmental destruction today?  What do YOU think Humanists should be doing for the environment?  And what are you doing, or what would you like to be doing, for conservation today?

Our Sunday talks are accompanied by pot luck refreshments. Please feel free to bring scrumptious food, organic and local, suitable for brunch. Our doors open at 10:30 am and this talk will begin at 11:00 am.

by

Joel Nakamura

www.joelnakamura.com

To learn more about Sunday Programs held

at Humanist Hall

click here

Tuesday, April 24 at 7:30 pm

Earth Awareness

and Climate Change Reality

for Science Fans

Presented by the Fellowship of Humanity

This evening’s program will feature a film by Alder Stone addressing earth’s current climate change.  It is Part III of a film he has created to explain natural processes of the earth including climate change.  In this third Part, Why Large-Scale Climate Change Cannot be Stopped, he illustrates why and how our current anthropogenic climate change is likely to be abrupt, what scientists call a “Type II” climate change.  This is not the smooth and gradual warming of the planet, allowing us humans plenty of time to adjust — “Type I” climate change.  This is the catastrophic jump of the planet from our present unstable climate state to a much hotter but stable climate state of the sort that occurred 55 million years ago in the PETM geological period.  Alder Stone’s film covers these issues:

Climate states:  We are not in control of Earth’s thermostat

Earth’s climate changes abruptly at tipping points

CO2 levels are far higher than normal & accelerating

CO2 residence time:  Even with zero emissions, the earth will still heat up

Methane:  A sleeping giant is waking up

Lag time:  Even after the gases stabilize, the earth will continue to heat up

Melting ice:  Why the poles are heating 2X – 3X faster than elsewhere

Heating oceans and unhappy algae

Forests are switching from carbon sinks to carbon sources

As yet there are no negative feedback processes to offset positive feedbacks

Aerosols and global dimming:  Are we already hotter than we think?

Earth Awareness is a support group for people who believe climate change is upon us all and who want to learn more about it and find ways to cope with it. We have some worthy resources to start out with: we can show films of talks by Alder Stone, Stephan Harding, and James Lovelock, and other holistic scientists, and enjoy round table discussions of these films and our own concerns about climate change. People who come can participate in choosing what we will watch and discuss. Everyone in the group is encouraged to bring new material, ideas, and experiences about climate change and/or systems science to share.

Alder Stone is able to facilitate our learning the fundamentals of systems science and geophysiology by way of his clear exposition and memorable pictures and graphs — which everyone can understand. He can introduce us to his Story of Gaia, an amazingly clear and basic, yet sophisticated exposition on the science of Gaia and the climate change that’s upon us. You don’t have to be a scientist to love science! All you need to understand the Earth in this new systems science way is to have enthusiasm for science! But most importantly, you will want to integrate your understanding with how you live your life!

Our meetings have three goals:

1) To understand the nature of the living Earth, and, in general, gain a deeper, intuitive, and awe-inspiring understanding for how nature works, including the nature of Life itself. This is not an intellectual exercise, but relevant to the survival of humankind.

2) To understand the abrupt, chaotic, extreme, and unstoppable 1-in-50-million-year climate-change event that has begun and will force a significant revision of civilization as we have known it no later than mid-century.

3) To discuss how we integrate our awareness of Earth and climate change reality into our own lives; to support one another around sacrifices we make and hardships we endure for the sake of our awareness; and to celebrate our successes in harmonizing with the Earth.

$5 donations are accepted

http://alderstone3.com/?page_id=433

To learn more about Sunday Programs held

at Humanist Hall

click here