Thanks! Successful Inter-Seminary eCO Party

Thank you all for coming to our Inter-Seminary eCO Potluck party on Friday, Feb 6th! We enjoyed different eCO foods and presentations on what kind of environmental activities are going on in different seminaries. As was said, the Green Drop is also explained in another article in this blog site. Plus, you can watch the video letter from Eboo Patel in another article. Please check them out, too. Again, thanks for your presence! I look forward to reading your stories and ideas about the Green Drop.

eCOlogically,
Kyohei

Potluck Update

again, per our beloved Scott...

Eco-lovers,

Friday's eco-progressive dinner has been shifted to a more classic sustainable food potluck. In an ideal world, we would all have enough time to go shopping with our eco-buddies at our school and then go home together and cook the wonderful food together. But we are in seminary, and at times, it can be hard enough to just get people's attention. There are a few folks gathering at Fleck at 5:00pm to carry out the idea of cooking together and all are welcome, but feel free to cook something or grab something and just show up at 7:00 pm in the Curtis Room.

Scott

Inter-Seminary Pot Luck THIS FRIDAY!

Hi, Friends--

Want to hear about this whole "Green Drop" thing in person? Learn more about Oikos?
PLUS eat delicious food with our ECOmmunity?

Come to our inter-seminary potluck this Friday!

To clarify, per Scott's recent e-mail...

Oikos - The Religion and Environment Initiative

inter-seminary / community

ecologically sustainable

stationary-progressive dinner / potluck

Friday, February 6

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Meadville Lombard Theological School - Curtis Room

The Hyde Park seminaries have organized a potluck to begin the new semester. If you attend a local seminary, get in touch with the contact listed below for your school to RSVP and make plans. (An RSVP to here would be good, too as we are trying to create a total tally of people coming.) If you are not affiliated with a seminary, just make a dish and come and join us! (again, please RSVP)

We are having a stationary-progressive dinner with each seminary hosting a course. (We decided it is too cold to walk to each seminary right now. Perhaps another time.)

There will be a time for each group or person to briefly talk about their dish and the ways in which its ingredients and production support sustainable eating practices. Also, there will be a time to briefly report on any eco activities happening at the seminaries and a little about the direction of Oikos and a new program called Green Drop. It will be a great opportunity to gather in the new year in fellowship and community.

[in the interest of privacy, I've not listed each seminary's representative and e-mail here, but if you're interested in attending, please e-mail rei@meadville.edu.

Be in touch with any questions. We hope you can join us!

Message from Eboo Patel

Today, one of our best frinds Jan Taddeo invited Eboo Patel and Hannah McConnaughay from Interfaith Youth Core (http://www.ifyc.org/) over to Meadville/Lombard Theological School. We had a great discussion about interfaith leadership.

This is our greatest pleasure to receive his encouraging words for Oikos. Let's keep enjoying the Green Drop and spread the word to our friends more!

Thanks again, Eboo and Hannah for coming over to Meadville/Lombard and had creative and inspiring time together! And thanks Jan for your so generous work for putting us together today!

We are Oikos.

eCOvenant,

eCOllaborate,

eCOmmunicate

What is the Green Drop?

Dear Friends of Oikos--

Welcome to the brand new Green Drop blog! In this space, we hope to create a space in which Oikos members (and eventually a larger community) participate in this new initiative and share their stories with each other. Read on below to find out about the new Green Drop project!

Blessings,
the Green Drop team


What is the Green Drop?

• The Green Drop is a new Oikos initiative that encourages a practice of mindfulness, environmental action, intentional generosity, and collective collaboration. Although each individual act and financial contribution may be just a "drop in the bucket," the strength of community-wide sustained participation will generate larger ecological changes and monetary gains.
  

Objectives:

• Foster ecological transformations for both the earth and the individual
• Increase awareness for environmental issues by emphasizing the collective impact of individual actions
• Create a sustainable source of funding for Oikos

Before You Start:

• Learn about Oikos at our website.
• Get an Oikos sticker by coming to a meeting or by e-mailing us at rei@meadville.edu.
  
• Find a container (a recycled box, jar, or bottle) and paste the Oikos sticker on it. This is your Green Drop.
• Create a "starter list" of small things you can do to reduce your impact (e.g., walking to the drug store, buying locally grown produce, washing clothes in cold water).
  
• Decide how much you will donate per action--for example, $0.10 per action, a dollar a day, five dollars per week that you participate.
  

The Green Drop:

• Every morning, spend a few moments in reflection about how you can reduce your impact on the earth today. To yourself, pledge something like, "I am grateful to be part of the Oikos community. I will try to be a better global citizen by participating in the Green Drop today."
• Throughout the day, make an effort to do extra things to reduce your ecological impact. Keep track of how many actions you take.
• Every evening, reflect on your actions that day. To yourself, pledge something like, "I am grateful to be a part of the Oikos community. Today, I took four actions. Let me continue my actions tomorrow as a part of Oikos and as a global citizen."

Contributing your funds:

• Keep track of your daily actions, and put your pledged funds in your Green Drop regularly.
• Bring the box to Oikos meetings or social events, and watch how our collective actions fund group activities!
• Share your story by posting to this blog! Become an authorized contributor by e-mailing ashley at ahoran@meadville.edu, or just send your tips, stories, and ideas to rei@meadville.edu and we'll add them to the blog for you!