Join us for our movie discussion on April 19th and let's talk about this!  What specific actions can we adopt that might help address food insecurity, food waste and negative climate impacts from our food choices?  Register to receive your link to the Zoom discussion here.

What if there was a simple solution that could help balance our climate, replenish our freshwater supplies, and feed the world? That solution is right under our feet.

Kiss the Ground is a new film about how regenerating the world’s soils has the potential to rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems, and create abundant food supplies. This film explains why transitioning to regenerative agriculture could be key in rehabilitating the planet, while simultaneously invigorating a new sense of hope and inspiration in viewers.

Watch the trailer and register to view the film here.

Thanks to a special arrangement with Kiss the Ground and Ro*co films, Interfaith Power and Light will offer a free online viewing period for home viewing from April 10 through April 26. All viewers must register with IPL.  Once you register you will receive a link-to-view for three different versions—the full-length film (84 minutes), a grower version (45 minutes), and an educational version for schools (45 minutes.)

Join us this Sunday as Robin shares with us a Moment for Mission on our Giving Gardens initiative.    The Round Pantry has confirmed that they look forward to receiving and sharing any produce that we can provide during Pantry weeks!  We have also registered them to receive from other "grow and giver's" in Boulder County through the Grow and Give CSU Extension project.  Good things are happening!  Reach out to the office if you would like to get involved in this outreach at the congregational giving garden or by starting your own giving garden at home!  If you would like to support the start-up costs for the congregational giving garden, a donation can be made at this link.  Thank you.

In last month's Earth Care CENTRALPost, we challenged ourselves to commit to an Earth Care Lenten practice.  One of the suggestions was to consider trying a carbon fast. A low carbon diet means making lifestyle choices to reduce greenhouse gases.

One way to do that, is to commit to low or no waste grocery shopping.   Some ways to reduce the waste when shopping for groceries are to buy unpackaged fresh fruits and vegetables, bringing your own container to a bulk food store, investing in some produce bags to transport fresh foods, avoid prepared foods, and bring your own grocery bags.

You can also watch where the food you purchase is grown or raised.  Products that must be transported from across the country or world have a much higher carbon footprint than locally raised and harvested options.

This one seems hard, but consider limiting your meat intake.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture's recommended dietary allowance for most adults is 56 grams of protein per day for men (an 8-ounce burger made with 85 percent lean ground beef) and 46 grams for women (a small skinless chicken breast). But Americans typically consume twice that amount. So try buying half as much protein-based foods and opt for pasture-raised meat and dairy. 

An excerpt by Rev. Bill Somplatsky-Jarman:

"High on the mountainside about 10,000 feet above sea-level, we climbed steadily upward. The top of Mt. Wheeler loomed above, a sheer face dropping down toward a glacier and the talus slope of a glacier moraine. Before long, occasional gnarled trees appeared, bleached white or gray because of the wind. We had reached a forest of bristlecone pine, the oldest living things on earth dating back 4,500 years. The oldest grow in the harshest of conditions, forced by wind and water to grow slowly with a density of wood that resists invading disease. Tenacious trees.

We stopped near a tree. A fellow hiker paused as well, staring at the tree. Before long he reached out to touch the weathered wood, and exclaimed, “This tree was living when Jesus lived. Can you imagine that?” I thought about those trees. How old were they before the first human ever touched them? How long were they here converting carbon dioxide back into oxygen before the first human breathed in that oxygen? Here was a living tree whose life spanned centuries. I felt in the presence of something holy, enduring, and precious to God."  Please click here to read this moving essay found in the Second Sunday of Lent Earth Care Devotional.