Attending:  Chuck Gillam (Village Church, moderator), Margaret Thomas (Shawnee Mission UU Church, scribe), Susan Pavlakis (Unity of OP), Osa Moody (Holmeswood Baptist Church), Bill Bergerson (Church of the Resurrection), Barbara Chaplin (Leawood UMC), RoseTherese Hulsman (Guardian Angles Catholic Church), Rick Gasaway (Christ Lutheran Church), Rita Norton (Al Souls UU Church), Al Pugsley (Village Church), Carol Meyer (St. Pius Church), Jerry Rees (Village Church), Jim Walton (St. Andrew Christian Church), Terry Wiggins (Al Souls UU Church), Jackie Palmer (St. Francis Xavier Church), Eileen Horn (Climate and Energy Project), Diane Waddell (Heartland Earthkeepers)

Opening: Chuck Gillam opened the meeting and asked that we join hands while he gave a prayer. Margaret Thomas agreed to take minutes. Minutes of the last meeting were distributed. Visitor Eileen Horn from the Climate Energy Project was introduced.

Restoring Creation 2007 Service Award: Jerry reported that Presbyterians for Restoring Creation announced at its National Eco-Justice Conference in October that Village Presbyterian Church was the recipient of the aforementioned award.  This is a national award given annually to "congregations, governing bodies, ecumenical agencies, and Presbyterian-related entities whose work for the environment is particularly praise-worthy and creative."

Climate and Energy Project: Eileen Horn, Community Outreach Coordinator for the Climate and Energy Project of The Land Institute, discussed this group's mission, which is to support an informed debate on energy policy issues. Eileen wants to work with SSC to encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy development and also to increase knowledge of the ongoing Holcomb power plant issue. To expand informed debate, she needs a list of contacts (names, phone numbers, emails) that she can use to ask for short opinion pieces (suitable for putting in newspapers) and handwritten letters to their senators and reps in Topeka. She needs everyone in SSC to contact 3-4 friends who do not usually write and get their commitment to do so.   She will have talking points, and the link to the Sierra Club fact sheet on Holcomb is:  http://kansas.sierraclub.org/Wind/FactSheet-Myth-vs-Facts.pdf.  Please print out some copies for yourself and put them into the hands of anyone who will write a letter or phone their Topeka representative and senator this month. Chuck Gillam offered to draft a letter on behalf of SSC.

Electing a new treasurer: Barbara Chaplin of Leawood United Methodist Church offered to assume this role and was roundly applauded.

Website update:  Susan Pavlakis reported on the website. The list of videos has been updated. She was not sure if the information email on the website is working. Susan needs people to send Jerry their current events; Jerry is the gatekeeper for the calendar and will forward info to Susan. Rick will send info on MLK day events related to green jobs.  

Miscellaneous: Barbara Chaplin asked if SSC will participate in an energy auditing conference.

Susan passed around a sample of a reusable shopping bag she bought at HyVee for $1.00.

Federal Energy Bill: Jerry reported on the need to stay abreast of the federal energy bill and contact your legislator.

Norborne: Susan Brown sent an email Dec. 2 to SSC in response to a request for info. on the Norborne coal plant status. She wrote: 

Shadowcliff/SSC Workshop Collaboration: A letter from Bob Mann was discussed. Bob requested that SSC sponsor a 2008 Sustainable Sanctuary workshop in Colorado and commit to recruiting at least 10 attendees. The costs would be $800 per individual, which was out of the scope of our current finances. Chuck G offered to respond to Bob. Al Pugsley would consider attending Shadowcliff in 2008, depending on the dates. It was suggested that Bob be asked to provide a list of KC graduates from Shadowcliff. Inviting Russ Rudy: Rick Gassaway reported he had spoken to Russ Rudy about making a 30-minute presentation at the next meeting on Jan 7. This presentation will inform the committee about information Russ is prepared to present at a later time as a workshop for facility managers of congregations, including a discussion of performance contracting. Kim Hanson of True Blue Women would like to work with SSC on this. Rick was asked to ask Russ to send materials in advance. Mission Statement: RoseTherese asked that we each give some thought to the barriers that are preventing our various congregations from moving forward on environmental activities and making the faith-environment moral association. We also need to discuss the best ways to get information back into our congregations. It was suggested that we will never have enough time in our meetings to get to the real issues of our mission unless we start using email more effectively to take care of the 5-minute issues on our typical agenda. Kaw River Situation: Jim Walton reported that Friends of the Kaw is very concerned about a plan by Westar to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the Jefferson Energy plant in St. Mary's by adding discharge scrubbers. The scrubbers themselves would need to be scrubbed and the wastewater from this operation will go into settling basins. FOK wants the Corps of Engineers and the KS Dept of Health and Environment to have public hearings on the project prior to issuing a permit for discharge of the basin water into the Kaw. Jim would like everyone to ask the COE and KDHE to have a public hearing and to define the pollutants that would be in the water. Jim will send around talking points for letters. Greenability Magazine: The Nov/Dec issue features several faith communities including SAGE, Unity, and Village Presbyterian plus an article and photo about SSC (page 26).  Individual churches can ask for copies and make money selling subscriptions. Contact Julie Koppen at julie@greenabilitymagazine.com.  Yahoo: Bill asked what we felt about the Yahoo site. People generally were pleased, but we voted to change the default system so that pressing " reply" will go to just the author and not the group, thereby reducing chatter. Promotion of Educational Programs in Churches: Carol reported that she has made 3 presentations to Leawood United Methodist on "Partnership with Creation". She will prepare a 1 page informational flyer. General Announcements: Terry reported Majora Carter is speaking Dec 6 at the Central Library. Carol suggested we ask the KC Star for a series on the environment. Jim urged us to speak out for more recycling at public events, especially big sports events like the KU/MU football game. And to let your kids see you do it. There may be an opportunity to push for mandatory recycling at the state level in KS. Regarding trash pickup, both KS and MO may start charging by volume in the foreseeable future. Next Meeting:  Monday,  Jan 7,  7-9pm, at Village Presbyterian Church. Terry agreed to be moderator and Rita agreed to take the minutes.  

The meeting adjourned at 9 PM