Chas Jansen

I am meeting the Challenge in ways not specifically listed on the website --SEE BELOW.  These are activities I have carefully described in the space for comments the challenge pages provide.  These are extensive activities I have planned, done with the help of many others working with me, & all I can do at this time.  Although I guess this doesn't fit into the framework you have set up, please do not diminish my efforts by saying that I must have forgotten or am neglecting the challenge.

PROJECT #1

A DRAWDOWN DISCUSSION GROUP (Sponsored by the Creation Care Alliance, a program of MountainTrue.com)
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
TUESDAYS, APRIL 12 – MAY 24, 2018, Jubilee! Community, 101 Patton Ave., (downtown), 6-7:15pm
CONTACT INFO: Chas Jansen, [email protected], text or call (828) 768-1449

DRAWDOWN SYLLABUS

4/12/2018
Assignments:
Introductory sections (ix-xiv): Foreward, Origins (_optional_: Language, Numbers)
Solution (pp. 38-40): Plant-Rich Diet (#4)
Coming attraction (pp. 203): Perennial Crops
The Big Picture (pp. 52-53): “Why Bother?” by Michael Pollan
Discussion questions:
* Is "reducitarianism" something this section inspires you to do?
* What are some of the advantages of perennial crops?
* How does Michael Pollan answer the question of “Why bother”?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
Other content: Introductions, orientation to our discussion

4/19/2018
Assignments: MATERIALS SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 164-5, 168-9): Refrigerant Management (#1), Bioplastic (#47)
Coming attraction (pp. 202): Industrial Hemp
The Big Picture (pp. 212-15): “Reciprocity” by Janine Benyus
Discussion questions:
* So what’s your ‘elevator speech’ describing the most effective solution to reverse global warming of the 80 offered in this book?
* How will bioplastics compete against fossil fuel-based plastics?
* Why is hemp perceived by some to be an “agricultural panacea”?
* What is the “communism” of nature?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
Other content: SPECIAL GUEST:  RANDALL SYNDER, Co-Owner, Carolina Hemp Company

NOTE:  4/26/2018 (NO DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING)

5/3/2018                                                                                                 
Assignments: FOOD SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 50-51, 58-59): Silvo-Pasture (#9), Tree Intercropping (#17)
Coming attraction (p. 178-80): Marine Permacuture
The big picture (pp. 118-20): The Man Who Stopped the Desert
Discussion questions:
* What are 5 benefits of silvo-pasture as an agricultural technique?
* In what ways is tree intercropping different from industrial agriculture systems?
* What is the promise of marine permaculture as a “coming attraction”?
* How did Yacouba Sawadogo “stop the desert”?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
OTHER CONTENT:  SPECIAL GUEST: [TBD]                                                                                                           

5/10/2018
Assignments: WOMEN & GIRLS SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 78-79, 44-45): Family Planning (#7), Clean Cookstoves (#21)
Coming attraction (pp. 204-05): A Cow Walks onto a Beach
The big picture (pp. 128-29): The Hidden Life of Trees
Discussion questions:
* How can family planning “have ripple effects” to draw down greenhouse gas emissions?
* What are some of the positive impacts clean cookstoves have for women & the planet?
* In what ways might seaweed production help reduce both methane & CO2 pollution?
* Why do trees in forests cultivate communications among individuals? How is this done?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
OTHER CONTENT:  SPECIAL GUEST: [TBD]

5/17/2018
Assignments: ENERGY SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 2-4, 18-21): Wind Turbines (#2 & #22), Nuclear (#20)
Coming attraction (pp. 188-89): Living Buildings
The big picture (pp. 24-25): Alexander von Humboldt
Discussion questions:
* What are the prospects & advantages to wind energy in the USA? How could it expand?
* What are some of the ways nuclear energy differs from wind, solar or geothermal energy?
* How can a building “reanimate & renew” & “contribute to the greater good”?
* How did von Humboldt’s observations anticipate current understands of climate change?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
Other content: SPECIAL GUEST: MARY OLSEN, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Southeast Office Director

5/24/2018
Assignments: LAND USE SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 114-16, 124-27): Tropical Forests (#5), Indigenous People’s Ways (#39)
Coming attraction (pp. 171-74): Repopulating the Mammoth Steppe
The big picture (pp. 216-17): “An Opening” by editor Paul Hawken
Discussion questions:
* As remote from tropical forests as we in NC, why should we care about them?
* What are indigenous people doing to manage land that we might learn from them?
* Why bother with huge stretches of desolate & frozen lands of the steppes?
* Creating “more evolved social norms,” like what? “What was suppressed becomes recognized as a principle,” such as?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
OTHER CONTENT:  SPECIAL GUEST: [TBD]

PROJECT #2

BEYOND PLASTIC Campaign 
(This is the beginning of a larger effort within the Jubilee! faith community to pursue a Zero Waste effort to last for several years.)
Sundays, April 8-29, during services 9:45am & 11:15am
Jubilee! Community, 46 Wall Street, Asheville, NC 28801

BEYOND PLASTIC Campaign initiated by the Jubilee! Earth Team targets plastic items for which there are sustainable alternatives readily available: shopping bags, water bottles, drink straws, and eating utensils.  Brief presentations will be made in every Sunday Celebration after Easter about the environmental harm and degradation plastics cause.  To encourage congregants to make changes, a display of reusable alternatives will be set up, offering both a handout on local places where replacements for disposables can be purchased and offering Chico Bags for sale at cost. 

Jubilants will also be asked to sign this BEYOND PLASTIC Pledge:

To reduce plastics use as an act of Creation care
… for the health of planet Earth, for the health of all living on Earth, for the inheritance of our children, & for my own conscience … I AGREE TO DO MY PART.

Check those that apply to you:
____  I care about the health of the planet, our only home.
____  I believe that caring for the Earth by curbing plastic use is an act of love.
____  I understand that reducing plastic pollution is an important part of our legacy to succeeding generations.
____  I feel that changing my ways is the right thing for me to do.

Check those that you will commit to do:
____  Carry my own shopping bags & refuse plastic bags
____  Avoid water bottled in plastic & carry a reusable bottle
____  Make different purchases when alternative non-plastic packaging is available & feasible
____  Ask for paper straws or forego straws if necessary & avoid using plastic ones
____  Bring sustainable eating utensils for occasions that might only have plastic utensils

This Pledge will be available on separate slips of paper before services and collected in the offering baskets during services

As one of the leaders of the Earth Team in my faith community, I meet this month with the institutional Board to present a Zero Waste Campaign that asks them to make Zero Waste a policy for our community.  If approved, this Campaign will begin in the fall this year.  7 others in team leadership are supporting this effort, including the Community life Director & the Social Justice Team  Coordinator.

So I'm mostly ready to lead a Drawdown discussion group for the Creation Care Alliance, a program of MountainTrue.  I also lead a discussion series last Fall on the book shortly after Senior Writer Katharine Wilkinson delivered her inspiring remarks at The Collider.  The 6-session discussion covers different sections, mostly taking a sectors approach.  Here's the syllabus draft.  Still working on the "special guests," folks from local nonprofits & businesses who in various ways are also doing related work to reduce global warming.  CHAS

CREATION CARE ALLIANCE SPRING BOOK DISCUSSION
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
TUESDAYS, APRIL 12 – MAY 24, 2018, Jubilee! Community, 101 Patton Ave., (downtown)
CONTACT INFO: Chas Jansen, [email protected], text or call (828) 768-1449

DRAWDOWN SYLLABUS

4/12/2018
Assignments:
Introductory sections (ix-xiv): Foreward, Origins (_optional_: Language, Numbers)
Solution (pp. 38-40): Plant-Rich Diet (#4)
Coming attraction (pp. 203): Perennial Crops
The Big Picture (pp. 52-53): “Why Bother?” by Michael Pollan
Discussion questions:
* Is "reducitarianism" something this section inspires you to do?
* What are some of the advantages of perennial crops?
* How does Michael Pollan answer the question of “Why bother”?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
Other content: Introductions, orientation to our discussion

4/19/2018
Assignments: MATERIALS SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 164-5, 168-9): Refrigerant Management (#1), Bioplastic (#47)
Coming attraction (pp. 202): Industrial Hemp
The Big Picture (pp. 212-15): “Reciprocity” by Janine Benyus
Discussion questions:
* So what’s your ‘elevator speech’ describing the most effective solution to reverse global warming of the 80 offered in this book?
* How will bioplastics compete against fossil fuel-based plastics?
* Why is hemp perceived by some to be an “agricultural panacea”?
* What is the “communism” of nature?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
Other content: SPECIAL GUEST:  RANDALL SYNDER, Co-Owner, Carolina Hemp Company

NOTE:  4/26/2018 (NO DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING)

5/3/2018                                                                                                 
Assignments: FOOD SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 50-51, 58-59): Silvo-Pasture (#9), Tree Intercropping (#17)
Coming attraction (p. 178-80): Marine Permacuture
The big picture (pp. 118-20): The Man Who Stopped the Desert
Discussion questions:
* What are 5 benefits of silvo-pasture as an agricultural technique?
* In what ways is tree intercropping different from industrial agriculture systems?
* What is the promise of marine permaculture as a “coming attraction”?
* How did Yacouba Sawadogo “stop the desert”?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
OTHER CONTENT:  SPECIAL GUEST: [TBD]                                                                                                           

5/10/2018
Assignments: WOMEN & GIRLS SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 78-79, 44-45): Family Planning (#7), Clean Cookstoves (#21)
Coming attraction (pp. 204-05): A Cow Walks onto a Beach
The big picture (pp. 128-29): The Hidden Life of Trees
Discussion questions:
* How can family planning “have ripple effects” to draw down greenhouse gas emissions?
* What are some of the positive impacts clean cookstoves have for women & the planet?
* In what ways might seaweed production help reduce both methane & CO2 pollution?
* Why do trees in forests cultivate communications among individuals? How is this done?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
OTHER CONTENT:  SPECIAL GUEST: [TBD]

5/17/2018
Assignments: ENERGY SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 2-4, 18-21): Wind Turbines (#2 & #22), Nuclear (#20)
Coming attraction (pp. 188-89): Living Buildings
The big picture (pp. 24-25): Alexander von Humboldt
Discussion questions:
* What are the prospects & advantages to wind energy in the USA? How could it expand?
* What are some of the ways nuclear energy differs from wind, solar or geothermal energy?
* How can a building “reanimate & renew” & “contribute to the greater good”?
* How did von Humboldt’s observations anticipate current understands of climate change?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
Other content: SPECIAL GUEST: MARY OLSEN, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Southeast Office Director

5/24/2018
Assignments: LAND USE SECTOR
Solutions (pp. 114-16, 124-27): Tropical Forests (#5), Indigenous People’s Ways (#39)
Coming attraction (pp. 171-74): Repopulating the Mammoth Steppe
The big picture (pp. 216-17): “An Opening” by editor Paul Hawken
Discussion questions:
* As remote from tropical forests as we in NC, why should we care about them?
* What are indigenous people doing to manage land that we might learn from them?
* Why bother with huge stretches of desolate & frozen lands of the steppes?
* Creating “more evolved social norms,” like what? “What was suppressed becomes recognized as a principle,” such as?
* (_optional_) Is there another section you’ve read that you want to comment upon?
OTHER CONTENT:  SPECIAL GUEST: [TBD]