EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Fourteen, Number One January/February 2005 Earth-Friendly Goings-On In Massuchusetts From the Massachusetts Bay Bioregion by Barbara Darling-Smith 2004 was an exciting year! The Massachusetts Interfaith Environmental Network (MIEN) sponsored activities approximately every two months. In January there was a gathering in Cambridge to check in and hear a talk on "Facilitating Individual and Collective Transformation" by Canon Ed Rodman of Episcopal Divinity School (EDS), Cambridge. In March MIEN co-sponsored a presentation at EDS entitled "Speaking for Ourselves: Native Voices Protecting Land and Culture." Two Navajo women involved in Dine Citizens Against Ruining our Environment spoke movingly about their struggles to protect sacred lands in Navajo Nation from exploitation in the form of uranium mining and oil and gas drilling. In July Sister Willie presented a dramatic rendition of the Universe Story at Old West Church in Boston. On September 21 MIEN co-sponsored with Earthrite a celebration of the Fall Equinox. Approximately 20 people gathered at Webb State Park in North Weymouth to say prayers, recite poems, collect stones on the beach, create pinwheels, and dance the cycle of the seasons — all while watching the sun set behind Boston Harbor. On November 7 MIEN held a retreat at Crystal Spring Earth Education Center in Plainville. We spoke, wrote, and drew our feelings about the just-concluded election and strategized about how to protect the earth. We enjoyed an unseasonably warm late-fall day when we went outside to do a walking meditation of a Universe-Story labyrinth. One other exciting offering was an online course entitled A Ministry of Environmental Justice, taught during January and February at EDS. Chief faculty member was EDS President and Dean Steven Charleston, assisted by Tina Clarke of Clean Water Action and some other MIEN folks. On-line students participated in projects and were given access to a number of resources for faith-based environmental activism. Home     Table of Contents