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Sometimes the climate crisis can feel overwhelming. A number of community members have aligned with MNIPL to work on environmental concerns. Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light “works to grow the climate movement in Minnesota by empowering individuals and communities across the state to take action that is authentic, effective, and energizing in their context.”
After meeting this summer and then a couple of weeks ago (attended by around 25 local folks) we are moving toward action in a couple ways.
First, we’ll meet again virtually on Tuesday, November 16 at 7:00 p.m. to discuss ideas for projects and events we want to pursue in 2022 with an aim of honing those over the next couple of months to a few key goals in 2022 that everyone can get behind. All are welcome!
Second, we are launching a campaign to encourage everyone in Cook County to buy local over the next two months. Buying gifts, decorations, and food from local stores not only supports our local economy and business owners, celebrating Cook County, but it also reduces carbon emissions associated with shipping lots of individual goods hundreds of miles and the extra packaging that it requires. We can couple this with invitations to make gifts, to reuse and recycle. In this spirit, a group of youth are already working on a clothing exchange.
Not only does this campaign support local businesses, but as Annaliese Griffin puts it in a recent New York Times column: “This is not about being a Grinch…but about breaking out of a consumer mind-set that demands we constantly buy things — things that we then must care for and eventually dispose of.” She goes on, “Every new purchase puts into motion a global chain of events, usually beginning with extracting oil to make the plastic that is in everything from stretchy jeans to the packaging they come in. Those materials travel from processing plant to factory to container ship, to eventually land on my front porch, and then become mine for a time. Sooner or later, they will most likely end up in a landfill.” Our new MNIPL chapter hopes to help us respond in thoughtful, meaningful ways this season.
Introducing ourselves at our October meeting, we were asked to name a favorite place in Cook County: many of us realized how fortunate we are to live in this lovely place. Our chapter of MNIPL will help us care for it and our world.
To join us for our Nov. 16th meeting, or help get the word out on this Campaign, please contact one of us: maryellenvicar@gmail.com; pastorgmucc@boreal.org or buff@mnipl.org. All are welcome.
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