Center to Host Presentation by Lester Brown of Earth Policy Institute
 The Center for the Environment at Catawba College will host a special presentation Nov. 10 by the founder of Worldwatch Institute and current founder and president of Earth Policy Institute.
Lester Brown, called “one of the world’s most influential thinkers” by the Washington Post, will speak at 7 p.m. in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel on the Catawba campus. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
The presentation, “Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization,” is based on Brown’s latest book by the same name. He notes that civilization is in trouble and “business-as-usual is no longer a viable option.” (more)
Why the Center is Important to You
The economy is very much on people’s minds today. Our thoughts turn negative when news of an erratic stock market tops the headlines day after day. But these economic hard times may actually help us. We may find ourselves rethinking and retooling the way we live – especially as it relates to our ecological footprint.
Simplifying our lives has many benefits: 1) Spiritually, it impacts the way we affect others on our planet through our patterns of consumption; 2) environmentally, it relates to how we steward the earth’s resources; 3) economically, it helps us reflect on how we satisfy our needs and how we can adjust our behavior to address the economic realities we face. (more)
From the Director...
Center is Catalyst for Change
Like everyone, I have been shaped by my experiences. My childhood days spent on my family’s farm in Rowan County helped direct me to a life devoted to educating others about our environment. That experience laid the foundation for my beliefs and for the creation of the Center for the Environment.
The technological world we now live in has separated us from the quiet rural life that allowed our internal voice to speak to us and tell us to care for creation. The complexity, the sights and sounds, the distractions of the world drown out that simple message. Yet we need to hear that voice now more than ever.
With the compounding issues related to economic well being, food, energy, water, and increasing levels of pollutants in the environment, the next 25 years will be exceedingly challenging. Change in the way we live on this earth will be necessary, and that change will need to take place at a rate that exceeds that which we are degrading our planet. (more)
Ugly Bug Ball: A Fun & Festive Celebration
Ugly Bug Ball - 2008 Photos
More than 250 people celebrated the Center for the Environment’s past and upcoming initiatives Oct. 3 at the Third Annual Ugly Bug Ball.
Participants combined a good time with a great cause. “The Ugly Bug Ball is always a fun and festive occasion,” says Margaret Lipe, Center Advisory Board member. “It’s one of the best balls that Salisbury has. Knowing that is supports the work of the Center makes it even better.”
The event celebrated the Center’s past air quality efforts, which were sponsored by F&M Bank, SunTrust Bank, Wachovia, Community One Bank, Bank of North Carolina, Power Curbers Inc., Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Robertson Foundation, County of Rowan, City of Salisbury, Fred and Alice Stanback and Catawba College. (more)
Simple Living’s Wanda Urbanska & Green Building Consultant Jennifer Pippin to Speak on Green Restoration at Center for Environment at Catawba College Oct. 22
Simple Living television host Wanda Urbanska and green building consultant Jennifer Pippin discussed the trials and tribulations of creating their green homes on Oct. 22 at the Center for the Environment.
Urbanska’s home, a 1950s ranch house in Mount Airy, was featured in Natural Home magazine’s July/August issue. The eco-makeover addressed everything from improving energy efficiency and indoor air quality to revamping a Pepto-Bismol-pink bathroom and renovating a dated kitchen.
Urbanska has co-written a number of books, including Simple Living and Nothing’s TooSmall to Make a Difference. She hosted the PBS primetime special Escape from Affluenza: Living Better on Less and has appeared on programs like the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today show and CBS This Morning.
Her PBS program, “Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska,” examines what people can do to make their lives easier and more stress-free. The show focuses on four themes: environmental stewardship, thoughtful consumption, community involvement and financial responsibility. (more)
Veteran Fund Raiser Joins Center for Environment Staff
 A veteran fund raiser has joined the staff at the Center for the Environment at Catawba College.
Jay Laurens, former executive director of the non-profit multi-agency Ada Jenkins Center in Davidson, has accepted the position of assistant director for development at the Center. He has had 18 years of non-profit management experience. (more)
Center Plays a Role in New Environmental Course at Hood Seminary
The Center for the Environment has lent its support to nearby Hood Theological Seminary as the school moves to include environmental studies in its curriculum.
Dr. Samuel Dansokho, associate professor of religion, society and culture at Hood, invited Center Director John Wear to teach classes during the pilot phase of his newly adopted course, Globalization and the Environment. In fact, nearly half the classes were held at the Center. He also encouraged his students to attend the Center’s Faith, Spirituality & Environmental Stewardship Conference in May. (more)
Care of Creation
…People of Diverse Faiths Gather at Center for the Environment at Catawba
An evangelical Christian quoted a Hindu. A rabbi came to the table with an Episcopal priest.
The cause that brought them together with 300 others from diverse faith traditions was a commitment to care for the environment. They gathered May 29-31 at the Center for the Environment at Catawba College in Salisbury to participate in an interfaith conference on Faith, Spirituality and Environmental Stewardship.
The 2 ½-day conference, which featured 45 presenters, was a combination of inspiration and practicality – the soaring spiritual “why” and the down-to-earth “how” of caring for creation. (more)
Related Conference Articles:
The Conference Lives on in Area Churches
The conference on “Faith, Spirituality & Environmental Stewardship” may have ended May 31, but the spirit of the forum lives on in many of the churches that were represented at the event. In fact, the conference spawned a host of environmental programs and practices.
The Rev. Kristen Freeman of Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church in Greensboro is working with the Rev. Jan Brittain of Christ United Methodist Church to organize a task force on environmental stewardship in their district. At Mount Pisgah, congregants are examining ways they can be better stewards, focusing particularly on recycling. (more)
Something awakened in me at this conference
 Kathy Chaffin knew the minute she looked at the program on faith and the environment and at Matthew Sleeth’s book that the conference at the Center for the Environment would be a pivotal experience.
The forum last May on “Faith, Spirituality & Environmental Stewardship” and Sleeth’s book Serve God, Save the Planet propelled Chaffin headlong down a path where reverence for the land and the responsible use of creation are imperatives. Chaffin, a reporter at the Salisbury Post, grew up on afarm in Davie County. At one time in her life, she wrote children’s stories about the environment. (more)
What a difference a day makes
Marilyn Shuping could only attend one day of the conference on faith and the environment. But what a difference that day made.
“I could have sat there and listened for days,” Shuping says. “And I bought Matthew Sleeth’s book and read it immediately.”
She has always been what she calls “a green person.” She was president of the Audubon Society in Winston-Salem so she clearly understood the value of preserving habitat for birds and other animals. “But it was a whole new world for me to hear the faith community taking up the cause,” she says. “It was like it had been in front of my face all these years, and I never quite realized it.” (more)
Creating a Green, Healthy Home: Shelter for Mind, Body & Soul
You don’t have to sacrifice to live green, says Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor of “Natural Home & Garden” magazine. In fact, you don’t have to give up anything.
“When we started the magazine almost 10 years ago, there was a misconception among a lot of people that in order to live green you had to go live in a yurt in the woods or build a straw-bale home – that it was for hippies really,” Lawrence says.
Not so.
“You don’t have to give up anything to live green,” she says. “In fact, you’re going to live better. We started the magazine to show that living green is a beautiful and healthier and better way to live. There’s no sacrifice involved. In fact, there’s a ton of benefits.” (more)
Center for Environment Seeks Matching Funds
For Air Quality Initiative
The Center for the Environment is seeking $272,000 in matching funds from interested sponsors for its regional Clean Air Initiative.
This amount represents over 20 percent of the entire $1,224,000 million budget for the initiative. If the required matching dollars are secured, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, through a four-year grant, will reimburse the Center for the remaining 80 percent of the cost for this effort.
“Securing commitment for these matching funds is essential to the success of our air quality efforts,” says Dr. John Wear, Center executive director. “We have a rare opportunity to dramatically increase our impact by leveraging over $1 million in public funding.”
(more)
Catawba Senior’s Internship to Contribute
To LEED Rating for Piedmont Players Theatre
 Catawba College senior Rachel Roberts is going to be up to her ears in construction waste this semester.
Through her internship, she will document the recycling and reuse of materials as Piedmont Players renovates a downtown Salisbury building and constructs a 250-seat theater. She landed the internship with the help of John Wear, director of the Center for the Environment. (more)
Doctor Determined to ‘Serve God, Save the Planet’
Spoke at Faith & Environment Conference in May
He was a successful doctor -- the hospital’s chief of staff, head of ER, big house, affluent lifestyle, the works.
And then something happened.
Actually three things happened. First, Dr. Matthew Sleeth became increasingly aware of the change in the diseases he was seeing over the short period of his medical career. The most startling example was the incidence of breast cancer. “When I began medicine 20 years ago, 1 in 19 women got breast cancer,” he says. When I stopped in 2004, it was 1 in 9. Now it’s 1 in 7.” (more)
Teenage Author Emma Sleeth Speaker at Faith & Environment Conference
When Emma Sleeth was 15, she received an English class assignment: Write a 10-page research paper.
Nothing unusual about that. Tens of thousands of American high school students have written 10-, 11-, maybe 12-page papers with footnotes over the years.
But for Sleeth this assignment was not business as usual. First of all, she asked her teacher – who also happened to be her mom – if she could write about how to write a book proposal. Then, if she could write the book proposal. Then, if she could write the book. (more)
Non-profit Pursues Environmental Quality Standard
With the Help of Catawba Student
Jessica Kitzmiller’s internship gave her an opportunity to serve as a consultant and learn about an internationally recognized environmental management system.
This senior environmental science major from Sandy Ridge, N.C., recently helped a non-profit organization called Students-in-Training begin work toward this international certification. She worked with environmental engineer Worth Murdoch on the project that is designed to define and reduce the enterprise’s impact on the environment. (more)
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