Peace Essay Contest

From announcement:

The annual Peace Essay contest sponsored by the Richmond Peace Education Center is now open for entries. The theme for this year?s contest is ?Learning to live in peace.? The writing prompt asks students to think and write about the roles their families or other care-givers play in teaching them about peace. They are further asked to write about how this teaching affects their actions in the community and the world; and to support their ideas with examples from their personal lives and from history and current events.

The contest is open to any elementary, middle, or high school student in Virginia. It offers a top prize of $100 in each of four grade divisions: K-3, 4-5, middle, and high school. Seven additonal cash prizes are also awarded in each division.

The deadline for entries is April 22, 2013. Entry forms, along with contest rules and a conplete description of the writing prompt are available at www.rpec.org, or by emailing rpec at rpec.org.

Paul Fleisher
Asst. to the Director,
Richmond Peace Education Center

Taking Charge of Our Future Talk

I mentioned this before, but here’s is it’s own posting:

From the Flying Brick blog:

On Friday, February 15th, at 6 PM, Alexis Zeigler will conduct host slideshow and discussion titled:

Living free of fossil fuel and corporate dependence. Taking charge of our future. Find out how.

How do peak oil, climate change, and the limits of growth affect abortion rights, income equality, and civil liberty? The presentation will examine the hidden connections between ecology, economics, politics, and social justice, and how to use those connections to effect real, long-lasting change.

Human cultures evolve in responses to changes in ecological and economic circumstance. Thus changes in the supply of soil and oil have impacts on our politics, or social structure, and ultimately on our religion and moral attitudes. These facts are very well documented in the anthropological and historical record, yet these same facts serve to undermine the importance of academic, religious and political leaders as agents of change through history, thus they are largely ignored.

We are capable of understanding our own cultural evolution in a whole new way. We can create a social movement that links changes in ecological sustainability to effective changes in community organization and personal attitudes. The tools are in our hands. All we need do is to close our fingers around them. Alexis Zeigler will conduct a presentation and discussion about practical technologies and political strategies that will allow us to consciously choose our own future.

Alexis is the author of a book, Integrated Activism: Applying the Hidden Connections between Ecology, Economics, Politics, and Social Progress (North Atlantic Books, August, 2013).

Weekend Reminders

RVANews has ‘5 Things’, and while I am glad they included the RVA Environmental Film Festival, there are a few other things to keep in mind this weekend-

Clinton is speaking at the Landmark Friday, and if nothing else, be mindful of traffic craziness.

There are other opportunities to take advantage of this weekend, from more movies to classical strings, from a vicarious trip to Thailand and Cambodia to Peace Beast.

Also, cannon fire.

Lastly, an advance plug for an event happening next week at the Flying Brick–

On Friday, February 15th, at 6 PM, Alexis Zeigler will host a slideshow and discussion titled: Living Without Fossil Fuel: Living free of fossil fuel and corporate dependence. Taking charge of our future. Find out how. The event will be held at The Flying Brick, 506 South Pine Street, Richmond Virginia and is free and open to the public.
How do peak oil, climate change, and the limits of growth affect abortion rights, income equality, and civil liberties? The presentation will examine the hidden connections between ecology, economics, politics, and social justice, and how to use those connections to effect real, long-lasting change.

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

From press release:

In Virginia, 12.1% of high school students have been hit, slapped or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend during the past 12 months (10.7% male and 13.4% female). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey reports “1 in 5 women and nearly 1 in 7 men who ever experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner, first experienced some form of intimate partner violence between 11 and 17 years of age.” Beside physical injury, teen dating violence can lead to adverse health outcomes and increase unhealthy behaviors.

Visit the Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month website to learn what youth and concerned adults can do to address this issue – http://www.teendvmonth.org/

The Virginia Department of Health’s Teen Dating Violence Prevention program provides information, training, and resources on dating violence prevention to professionals working with youth, teens, and college students.

Click here for a list of available national resources on Teen Dating Violence.

Renegade Market Today

From email announcement:

Byrd Farm and Rurual Virginia Market
Faith Farm Foods
The Old Church Creamery…Just the sound of those words illicites hunger and assurance that you will be fed, and fed well. Don’t you think? So, the market is open, today 3 til 6pm. Come out, Enjoy, Shop, Snack… Bring friends and relations or Shop for friends and relations. See who else might come. Get yourself a treat, or two. Oh, it is so like winter out there…but with a touch of springy anticipation, right?

Upcoming
March 4: ALL vendors applications due for 2013 Byrd House Market season
March 19: 2013 Market Vendor Orientation, 1-2 pm
April 27: Byrd House Bash – William Byrd Community House’s 90th Birthday Party!!

YES! WBCH is 90 This Year!
Stay tuned for stories, activities, celebrations, pledges for the next 90 years, reflections… If you or someone you know attended WBCH programs at any point during its 90 year history, we’d love to hear your story. The first installment of our story is on our website. The big event, of course, is the Byrd House Bash! April 27…details coming soon!

Peace and Good Food to You All.

_____________________

Ana Edwards, Manager
Byrd House Market & Library Programs
Grace Arents Library & Education Center
William Byrd Community House
www.wbch.org / 804.643.2717 ext.306

William “Bill” Berry

For many years Berry was the Director of the Oregon Hill Baptist Center.

A neighbor wrote of Mr. Berry: “He was loved by so many on OH .
He was a cultivator of flowers and friends – he tended to us all . A good apple pie maker. A gentle man that loved the Lord ”

Excerpt from his obituary:

BERRY, Willie “Bill” A. Jr., died peacefully Monday, January 21, 2013 at the age of 94 in his home at Westminster Canterbury. He is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Evelyn Phillips Berry; children, Bill Berry III (Kathy) of Richmond, Va., and Ellen Looper (Marshall) of Aiken, S.C.; grandchildren, Micah (Mary-Catherine) and Amber Berry, Sarah and Matthew Looper; sisters, Lucille Whitt and Gertrude Stanfield; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Bill was born on September 28, 1918 in Person County, N.C., where he grew up with his nine brothers and sisiters, and his parents, Willie A. Berry Sr. and Fannie Hall Berry. He was a WWII veteran and attended Wake Forest University and Southwestern Seminary. His ministry career in Richmond included serving the staffs of Tabernacle and Pine Street Baptist Churches, and as Director of the Oregon Hill Baptist Center.

Scoop that Poop!

Sorry to keep bringing this topic up, but it needs to be heeded. From the James River Association’s blog:

by Amber Ellis, JRA’s Watershed Restoration Associate/Volunteer Coordinator

If you have a dog, then you have a chance every day to take a simple action that will help keep our streams and the James River safe from harmful bacteria. It’s easy…scoop the poop!

Some people think pet waste is natural, so just leave it to fertilize their lawn. Well, it is “natural”, but so is human poop and over the years we have created waste water treatment plants and septic systems to manage it safely.

Over 9,000 miles of our rivers and streams in Virginia are impaired due to bacteria. Pet waste is not the only culprit, but it makes up a big chunk of it and it is something that pet owners can do something about. Other sources of bacteria are agricultural runoff, leaking sanitary and storm sewers, and urban runoff.

Pet waste carries bacteria, such as E. Coli, that is washed into our waterways during rain or snow storms. Even if you cannot see a waterway from your house, that stormwater runoff flows into storm drains where it is then discharged directly into a natural body of water carrying all of that bacteria that it picked up along the way with it. Yuck!

So it’s simple… when you let your dog out to do his or her business, follow these 3 steps. 1) Take a bag with you, 2) use the bag to pick up the waste, and 3) toss it in the trash! This is one of the easiest things that we can all do to help out our waterways.

Keep in mind the City is increasing the fines for not doing this as well.