Muusja Mailing List: E-EVENT UPDATE FOR APRIL 18, 2007

[Lauren Culbert (lculbert]

MUUSJA E-EVENT UPDATE FOR APRIL 18, 2007
 
Minnesota UU Social  Justice Alliance--Bringing  together UUs to work
collectively for social change.
 
****
This  update includes announcements about: 

A. Local Social Justice News
B. National UU Advocacy
C. Social Justice Links

1.
THURS, APRIL 19
NOON
Minnesota Capitol Lawn, St. Paul
 
UU's Out 4 Marriage (UUO4M) invite everyone to join us at the Minnesota
State Capitol on Thursday, April 19th, 12 noon.  This year the Legislature
is considering restoring access to healthcare insurance equality for the
partners of GLBT government employees.  Opponents are calling it "too
similar to marriage"  We need to turn out lots of people to let our
legislators know that it's not just when a 'Marriage Ban' is threatened that
we show up and get counted!  Last year over 300 UUs attended the rally -
lets do it again!  
Wear your blue "Standing on the Side of Love" T-shirt of you got one last
year.  We'll have a UU banner as a meeting place.  Info at:
http://www.outfront.org/action/lobbyday.html and after signing up with
OutFront, visit: 
http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/eureka123 [at] earthlink.net/lobbyday07 to 
let
UUO4M know you'll be there!

****
2. 
EARTH/PEACE DAY  Sunday, April 22
FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, MINNEPOLIS
9:00 AM AND 11:00 AM

"ONE: one person, one action, one EARTH!"

A day to celebrate; contemplate; extrapolate; rejuvenate; participate.  Take
the Minnesota Energy Challenge and you will see how your actions can make a
difference. The sermon at the first service will be given by Jack
Nelson-Pallmeyer, Author and Associate Professor of Justice and Peace
Studies at St.Thomas. Jack will also lead a Forum after the service in the
Cummins Room.

"A Network of Mutuality: Ecology, Peace & Justice" is Reverand Ted
Tollefson's sermon at the second service, followed by a Forum led by Martha
Roberts from World Citizen, Inc. Activites and exhibits fill the Social
Hall, including a live animal presentation by Dan Newbauer, an animal
rehabilitator.

Participating in Earth Day is a way to honor and act upon our community
history as a green church and as a peace site. By practicing sustainable
earth stewardship, environmental justice, and peace, we honor our Seventh
Principle:  Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we
are a part. This 4th Annual Earth Day is brought to you by First
Universalist EcoMinds, a working group of MUUSJA.

****
3.
WED, MAY 16
THUR, MAY 17
THE DEPOT, MINNEAPOLIS

KEYNOTE SPEAKER ROBERT F. KENNEDY at the 2nd Annual Statewide Conference
Presented by Minnesota Green Communities
Please join Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, Family Housing Fund and
Enterprise for the 2nd annual statewide Green by Design conference and
training aimed at providing housing developers, contractors, architects,
city planners, environmentalists, funders, and others the tools needed to
build energy efficient, healthy, and sustainable housing. 
Multiple tracks will be offered, including both technical and policy
sessions that focus on various elements of the Minnesota Green Communities
Criteria and other related topics.
http://www.greencommunitiesonline.org/minnesota/default.asp
 
****
4. 
TRIP TO ISRAEL AND PALESTINE. Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the
Middle East (UUJME) is sponsoring a trip to Israel and the Palestinian
territories for October, 2007. UUJME is an Independent Affiliate of the
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. The purpose of the trip
is to increase our knowledge of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and to
provide moral support for those seeking a just peace. Tentatively, the trip
will be of 12 days duration, October 14-25, inclusive. The itinerary will
include Jerusalem, the West Bank, northern Israel, and the Gaza Strip.
Meetings with civic, religious, political, government, and UN
representatives will be arranged. Estimated per person cost, approx. $3,500,
including round trip airfare from U.S. East Coast. Leading the trip will be
Don McInnes, from Cambridge, MA, co-chair of UUJME. This will be Don's fifth
trip to the area. For an informative website of the trip he organized and
led in 2002, see uujme [at] uujme.org, and click on "Israel/Palestine trip
report." For further information and to reserve a place on the trip, contact
Don (don [at] 3mlaw.com, 617-661-9000). The group size will be limited, and
places are being filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you are
interested you should contact Don reasonably promptly.  Don's daughter,
Pamela McInnes, lives in St. Paul and may also be contacted for information
about the trip at 651-645-1785.

****
B. NATIONAL UU ADVOCACY

****
1.
SINKFORD'S EARTH DAY MESSAGE
Friends, 
In this season of rebirth and renewal, I find my gratitude more intense and
my anxiety more pervasive than in previous years. My spirit, perhaps like
yours, was much in need of spring. But climate change and global warming
seem to call into question even the predictability of the seasons. We know
that changes are taking place in our environment with astonishing speed:
glaciers receding, ice sheets thinning, species in trouble. Another "active"
hurricane season is predicted to start soon in the warming Atlantic. What we
cannot know is what these changes will ultimately mean for us, nor do we
know yet whether we can gather the will to make a difference. See the
complete text at http://www.uua.org/news/newssubmissions/22429.shtml. 

****
2.
RAISE THE DRUMBEAT FOR DARFUR AT GA 2007. The UUSC (Unitarian Universalist
Service Committee) is holding a full-day training to increase awareness and
organize action to address the genocide in Darfur. Small group workshops
will be facilitated by experienced activists to help participants build the
skills necessary to organize the Drumbeat for Darfur within their own
communities. The full-day workshop runs from 9am-5pm on Wednesday, June 20,
2007. Participants are urged to organize a team of three from their
congregation to attend together. Registration is free but space is limited.
For more information, visit the UUSC website, www.uusc.org. 

****
3.
FAITH BASED ADVOCACY. The Unitarian Universalist Association, UU Ministry
for Earth, and the Earth Day Network are partnering in promoting the Earth
Day 2007 Call for Action on Climate Change. This movement is gaining
momentum from the recent U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on global warming, to Al
Gore's reception in Congress, and a growing awareness among the public and
faith communities that we must take action. See
http://www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/leaderslibrary/22455.shtml for
information about this campaign. To sign up for the Virtual Earth Day on the
Hill with our partners at Earth Day Network go to
http://action.earthday.net/dia/organizationsORG/EDN/signUp.jsp?key=1955&Coun
try=US%20to%20register. Our legislators need to hear from us and UUs need to
be counted! 

****
4.
OUR CLIMATE, OURSELVES. For those of you looking for more tools for action
and education on climate change, we've recently become aware of the work of
Sustainability Institute's Our Climate Ourselves Program. Focused on
empowering people from all walks of life to take effective action on climate
change, the program offers writings, trainings, and slide-sets that are
always scientifically rigorous but also provide ways to work with the
feelings we all have around climate change and focus on developing a
positive vision of a post-fossil fuel world. You can explore their website
at http://www.sustainer.org/oco/index.html and subscribe to receive
electronic versions of articles in their Our Climate Ourselves Essay Series
at http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/oco-news

****
5.
TAKE ACTION: SUPPORT ANTI-HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION. Local Law Enforcement
Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 
This legislation addressing hate crimes has now been introduced both in the
House and Senate. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act would
help law enforcement investigate and prosecute hate crimes, and expands the
definition of hate crimes to include violent crimes based on gender
identity, gender, sexual orientation, and/or disability. Support for the
bill is strong: the UUA Washington Office has been contacting legislators
about the bill, many of whom are enthusiastic and ready to help it move
forward. On April 17th, several Unitarian Universalist ministers will join
UUA president Rev. William Sinkford and religious leaders from across the
country in Washington DC to lobby for the bill's passage. You can make their
efforts more powerful by contacting your Members of Congress as well. With
your help, this important legislation can pass this year. 

To learn more about the bill, please visit www.unitedagainsthate.net. 

****
C. SOCIAL JUSTICE LINKS
****
To find out about other local and national social justice events, check out
these websites.  

UU SOCIAL JUSTICE AND OTHER UU LINKS:
Unitarian Universalist Association:  http://www.uua.org/

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee:  http://www.uusc.org/

UUA Washington Office for Advocacy http://www.uua.org/uuawo/new/

UUA Congregational Advocacy and Witness:
http://www.uua.org/programs/justice/

Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance (MUUSJA):  http://www.muusja.org/

Prairie Star  District: http://www.psduua.org/

FOR UU SOCIAL ACTON CHAIRS, sign up for regular e-news from the UUA, called
Sac-news www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo
 
UU Ministry for Earth http://uuministryforearth.org/index.shtml

UUs for a Just Economic Community http://www.uujec.net/

UU Committee for Socially Responsible Investing
http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/ 

UU Gulf Coast Advocacy http://www.uua.org/news/gulfcoastrelief/advocacy.html

OTHER SOCIAL JUSTICE LINKS: 
*note: if you are  member of a group who would like us to list your web
site, send it to muusja-editor [at] muusja.org

Alliance for Sustainability www.afors.org
 
Minnesota  Alliance of Peacemakers  http://www.mapm.org/
 
Women Against Military Madness at  www.worldwidewamm.org
 
Progressive Calendar subscribe by emailing  shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu.
  
Planned Parenthood of Minnesota:   www.ppmns.org
 
NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota:   www.prochoiceminnesota.org

Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH):
http://www.micah.org/
 
Code Pink: www.codepink4peace.org

Center for Victims of Torture: http://www.cvt.org/main.php

Network of Spiritual Progressives: http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/

Network of Spiritual Progressives, local chapter http://www.nspmn.org/

Congregations Caring for Creation http://www.c3mn.net/