OVEC Offers Trainings and Group Presentations

 Tips  No Responses »
Apr 252012
 

Picture these scenarios: you want to speak out — about important issues in your community — but feel you need more information before you do. There is a gathering in your church or community that necessitates a speaker. You and your community want to learn how to organize around critical issues. You want to show a documentary in your home, or community setting. Where do you turn for the help you need? Think of OVEC: Our staff can provide the resources you need. We provide trainings and presentations for groups of any size. Let us know how we can help you prepare for the important work you do. Click here to learn more, or e-mail robin@ohvec.org.

 Posted by at 5:18 am

Maria Gunnoe to Receive the Wallenberg Medal

 Mountaintop Removal, News  1 Response »
Apr 172012
 

Photo by Antrim Caskey

OVEC organizer Maria Gunnoe will be awarded the twenty-second University of Michigan Wallenberg Medal on Tuesday, October 23.  After the medal presentation, Gunnoe will give the Wallenberg Lecture at the university.

The award is named for Raoul Wallenberg, and this year marks the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth.

In announcing this honor, the University of Michigan publicity said, “Through her extraordinary work and personal engagement, she exemplifies the courage and commitment to the humanitarian values of Raoul Wallenberg.”

A 1935 graduate of the University of Michigan College of Architecture, Swedish diplomat Wallenberg saved the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews near the end of World War II.  Working in Budapest in the late 1930s, Wallenberg came into contact with many Jewish refugees from Europe.  In 1944, at the request of Jewish organizations and the American War Refugee Board, the Swedish Foreign Ministry sent Wallenberg on a rescue mission to Budapest. Over the course of six months, Wallenberg issued thousands of protective passports. He confronted Hungarian and German guards to secure the release of Jews whom he claimed were under Swedish protection, placing some 15,000 Jews into thirty-one Safe Houses.

After reporting to Soviet headquarters in Budapest on January 17, 1945, Wallenberg vanished into the Soviet Gulag.  Although the Russians claim that Wallenberg died in 1947, the results of numerous investigations into his whereabouts remain inconclusive.

Other recipients of the Wallenberg Medal include Aung San Suu Kyi,  Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet.

Congratulations Maria!

In 2009, Maria won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her work.

Updated “Burning the Future” airing on PBS in April and May

 Climate Change, Films on Mountaintop Removal, Mountaintop Removal, News  1 Response »
Apr 132012
 

AWARD-WINNING DOC BURNING THE FUTURE TO AIR ON PUBLIC TELEVISION AND FREE ONLINE DURING EARTH MONTH, APRIL 2012

To help raise greater awareness about the ongoing health and environmental impacts of coal, an updated version of the award-winning film Burning the Future: Coal in America will be broadcast on select PBS stations in April and May, and will be available to view free online for Earth Day weekend, April 21-22 for individuals who sign up at BurningtheFuture.com

America’s 416 remaining coal-fired power plants are a primary focus for Earth Day and Earth Month, as coal is one of the main contributors to climate change and to public health problems like asthma and mercury pollution.

Burning the Future dramatically documents the devastating ecological, social and health impact our addiction to coal has on West Virginia, where mountaintop removal mining has destroyed over 1.4 million acres of mountains and polluted the groundwater. The film profiles courageous local residents who organized to challenge the powerful coal industry and arouse the nation to coals devastating local and global costs.

Burning the futureAmong those featured in the film is Maria Gunnoe, who won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her organizing. The new, shorter 56 minute broadcast version of the film includes an updated ending highlighting some of the recent successes in the fight to move beyond coal.

Burning the Future won critical praise from the New York Times, Variety and New York Magazine, as well as over 15 awards including the prestigious Pare Lorentz Award from the International Documentary Association and the top honor from the Society of Environmental Journalists.

“We encourage people to watch the film, then go to BurningTheFuture.com to find out how to take action to stop coal plants and mountain-top removal, to connect with groups working to transition from coal to renewable energy, and to order a copy of the film to screen in your community to help mobilize greater opposition to coal,” said David Novack, the film’s producer.

For the public television schedule, to signup for free online Earth Day screenings, and for more information about the film, visit www.BurningTheFuture.com or call 1-800-475-2638.

———————————————————————————-
Trailers and clips available for promotional purposes. Please share and embed:

Film Trailer (:30)

Film Excerpt Featuring Goldman Prize Winner Maria Gunnoe (1:23)

Coal is a Public Health Issue - Short Film (6:43)

—-

For Press information – Steve Michelson
steve@specialtystudios.com

For Outreach/Engagement Information – Margaret Poindexter mpoindexter5300@gmail.com

Let’s Talk Energy Ethics

 Faith, Mountaintop Removal  No Responses »
Apr 032012
 

Topping my list of things to be thankful for these days is the National Council of Churches’ (NCC) strong support for ending the ravages of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. The National Council of Churches, with an office located in DC, recently hosted an event called “Ecumenical Advocacy Days.” Of the more than 800 participants in this annual national conference, 60-70 chose to spend part of their Saturday afternoon listening to information – presented by myself and Lorelei Scarbro, on the problems of MTR. Others were exposed to issues related to MTR and other eco-justice problems during “eco-justice track” events throughout the weekend. Still more people have participated in webinars and received information about MTR problems via the NCC eco-justice website. Here are some examples of what you will find on this site:

A petition calling for an end to MTR injustices.

NCC Eco-justice office is conducting a series of webinars on environmental ethics issues; the next one will focus on problems associated with gas fracking; for more information, click here.

The National Council of Churches is also endorsing and supporting an Interfaith Action on Climate Change during “Earth Day Week” – April 21 – 27. For more information, please click here.

Here’s something I actually cheered about: A media letter, authored by one of the biggest of the big-wigs in the Presbyterian Church (USA), which states clear questions about the ethics of MTR coal mining.   The NCC eco-justice office helped make this happen and would welcome similar letters from faith community leaders in our area.

If you would be willing to write such a letter, or simply want to know more about how to involve your community in discussions about the ethics of energy and/or MTR and gas fracking, please contact Robin at robin@ohvec.org