Sierra Club (Cherokee Chapter) Strategy Meeting is instead:

Event: Coal Country DVD Sneak Peak

Start Time: Wednesday, November 11 at 6:05pm
End Time: Wednesday, November 11 at 9:05pm
Where: 63 E. Main St. at green spaces

Elizabeth Tallman, host writes: This is a national initiative to get this movie seen. We want all your excited activist selves there (and your friends!) THE FILM 100% FREE! we are trying to get free food from Neidlove's as a sponsor as well.

COAL COUNTRY is a dramatic look at modern coal mining. We get to know working miners along with activists who are battling coal companies in Appalachia. We hear from miners and coal company officials, who are concerned about jobs and the economy and believe they are acting responsibly in bringing power to the American people. Both sides in this conflict claim that history is on their side. Families have lived in the region for generations, and most have ancestors who worked in the mines. Everyone shares a deep love for the land, but MTR (Mountain Top Removal mining which has leveled over 500 Appalachian mountains) is tearing them apart. We need to understand the meaning behind promises of “cheap energy” and “clean coal.” Are they achievable? At what cost? Are there alternatives to our energy future?

Celebrities comments:

I saw some reclamation that looked good… I saw some reclamation that they said was good, but I didn’t agree with. I said, "well... that looks like a golf course, but that’s the ugliest golf course I’ve ever seen." A bunch of trees do not a forest make. Not these kinds of forests. It’s a question of the biodiversity that’s being lost. If you are person who lives next to one of these mines... if you have a mine within a half a mile of your house… this thing’s gonna be mined for decades. If these are the decades that are the prime of your life, it doesn’t matter if they reclaim. You’re life has turned into hell. If it’s the prime of your life, and the entire contour of the land, the makeup of the forest, and life as you know it get’s completely altered, what you’ve lost is not quantifiable, but profound. You know, I met a coal mining operator that bends over backwards to try to stay within the environmental parameters that have been laid out. And in fact his employees were proud... really proud of their work because they said we’ll go further than we’ll have to. I can really see their frustration for not being seen for what they are trying to do. By the same token, all of that discussion takes place with the premise that mountain top removal is ok to begin with. And that’s the discussion we need to have. It’s really hard.
- Kathy Mattea

"My hope is this superb documentary will shock Americans and create a surge of urgency that stops the atrocity of mountain top removal coal mining immediately."
- Ashley Judd

"Coal Country is incredibly moving, and an important film to see to be a truly informed citizen."
- Daryl Hannah

"A balanced, sober look at the reality of coal; both the good news and the bad, and the staggering phenomenon that is mountain top mining. It not only reminds you what it takes to turn your lights on, it'll make sure you remember to turn them off when you leave the room."
- Peter Horton, Director

“Mountaintop removal is the most devastating peacetime activity in human history — in fact, if the destruction to our nation’s natural and cultural heritage were being perpetrated by a foreign power, it would be considered an act of war — because in a very real sense, it is — it is a war against the Earth. Every week, mountaintop removal coal-mining detonates more explosive force on the land and the communities of Appalachia than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, to extract the coal that is warming the planet and poisoning the water, air and land. We should all be dedicated to ending this unsustainable, and ultimately suicidal practice. And to promoting renewable energy alternatives and the
green jobs they will create."- Woody Harrelson

For more info about this event, contact host Elizabeth Tallman:
elizabethjamestallman@hotmail.com

SIERRA CLUB CONSERVATION DISCUSSIONS:
This focuses on conservation of land practices - not energy conservation.

1st Wednesday each month, Nov. 4, 6:00 pm, join our Sierra Club Group Conservation Committee to discuss conservation issues of the day. Green|Spaces, 63 E. Main Street, Chattanooga.

For more info:
Mike Bascom
MikeB_40205@yahoo.com

Lee University together with the Center for Health and Global Environment at Harvard Medical School present "CREATION: A CALL TO CARE: A Symposium Intersecting Faith, Science and Practice Concerning God's Creation." This will be free symposium and will feature both nationally-recognized and local speakers.

This year EarthCare is suspending our usual Fall Retreat and will participate instead in the symposium at Lee University on Friday & Saturday, October 30-31, 2009. We hope you will be able to join us! John Rossing, president of EarthCare, and Jerry Faulkner, board member, will be speaking at one of the Saturday morning breakout sessions.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2009

7:00pm PLENARY SESSION :
Session Moderator: Cheryl Johns (Pentecostal Theological Seminary)
Greeting: Paul Conn (Lee University)

"Climate Change and Human Health"
Paul Epstein (Harvard Medical School)

"A Pastoral Call to Care for Creation"
Joel Hunter (Northland Church, Orlando, FL)

"In the Same Net: Ocean Life and the Human Spirit"
Carl Safina (Blue Ocean Institute)

* Coffee reception and book signing following the presentation

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2009

9:00 - 9:30am CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST / EXHIBITS

9:30 - 10:30am BREAKOUT SESSIONS :

"The Ministry of EarthCare"
Jerry Faulkner (EarthCare / Cleveland State Community College)
John Rossing (EarthCare / Christ the King Lutheran Church, Dalton, GA)

"Growing Switch Grass for Cellulose Ethanol Production"
Ken Goddard (UT Extension Service)

"Demand: A Consumer's Glance at Sustainable Agriculture"
Jennifer Norton Driving (The Greenway Table)

Topic To Be Announced
Nancy Sleeth (Blessed Earth)

"Connecting People and Nature"
Ken Voorhis (Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont)

11:00am - 12:00pm PLENARY SESSION :

"All Creation Groans: A Call to Care"
Cheryl Johns (Pentecostal Theological Seminary)

"Healthy Solutions for the Low Carbon Economy"
Paul Epstein (Harvard Medical School)

"Good Stewards of God’s Resources"
Nancy Sleeth (Blessed Earth)

Contact: Laurel Eldridge, AEC Program Director
423-267-1218, LEldridge@ArtsEdCouncil.org
A BRAVE WOMAN WITH A VERY BRAVE BOOK
“A Sense of Wonder” Tells the Story of Environmental Pioneer Rachel Carson

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Chattanooga, TN -- The Arts & Education Council (AEC) will present A Sense of Wonder on Thursday, October 29, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. at the UT-Chattanooga Fine Arts Center. The two-act play tells the story of pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring warned the public about the long-term effects of misusing pesticides and launched the modern environmental movement. Tickets are $15, $10 for AEC members and $8 for students.

About the Play -- When pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, the backlash from her critics thrust her into the center of a political maelstrom. Despite her love of privacy, Carsonʼs convictions and her foresight regarding the risks posed by chemical pesticides forced her into a very public and controversial role.

Using many of Miss Carson's own words, playwright and actor Kaiulani Lee embodies this extraordinary woman and depicts Carson in the final year of her life. Struggling with cancer, she recounts with both humor and anger the attacks by the chemical industry, the government, and the press as she focuses her limited energy to get her message to Congress and the American people.

The play – which as been touring the United States for over 10 years - is an intimate and poignant reflection of Carson's life as she emerges as one of America's most successful advocates for the natural world. It has been the centerpiece of regional and national conferences on conservation, education, journalism and the environment, and performed at over 100 universities and high schools, the Smithsonian Institute, the Albert Schweitzer Conference at the United Nations, the Sierra Club's Centennial, and at the Department of the Interior's 150th anniversary celebration. In addition, it opened the 2005 World Expo in Japan and in May 2007 was performed on Capitol Hill, bringing Miss Carson’s voice once again to the halls of Congress.

About Kaiulani Lee -- Kaiulani Lee brings to the writing and acting of A Sense of Wonder more than 35 years of experience in theatre, film and television. Ms. Lee has starred in over a dozen plays on and off-Broadway. She has been nominated for the Drama Desk Award on Broadway and has won the OBIE Award for outstanding achievement off-Broadway.
Ms. Lee has guest-starred in numerous television series including Law & Order, The Equalizer, Tales from the Dark Side, and The Waltons. Her film credits include The Seduction of Joe Tynan, The Fan, Garp, Cujo, and Compromising Positions. She starred as Martha Ballard in the critically acclaimed PBS film A Midwife's Tale.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call 423-267-1218 or visit www.ArtsEdCouncil.org.
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Green Drinks this month is October 28th from 6pm till 9 pm at Taco Mamacita on 109 North Market Street.
$4 Durty Sanchez. Happy Hour until 7pm ($0.50 off draft beer, $1 off all specialty drinks and $5 house margarita).