For many years I have been practicing metta, or loving kindness, meditation, sending positive energy and kindness to myself and to others. The words and feelings include people close to me, people or groups I don’t know, and even people I find difficult to love. 

There are many forms of this meditation, and over the years I have used different versions.
But recently I decided to write my own version, reflecting what I most deeply desire for all to experience and what might lead people collectively to a loving world.

Here is the meditation I wrote and the blessings I send... (Read the full blog)

A Little Good News

• The proposal for a Rochester Food Policy Council has been approved by Rochester City Council! Look for an update to appear soon on the ROC Food Policy Council webpage (currently hosted on the Rochester Healthy Kids website) - including an application to serve on the new FPC. You can also support this project and find ways to contribute your knowledge, skills, and ideas by emailing rocfoodpolicy@commongroundhealth.org.
   
• A bad day for Big Oil: ExxonMobil, Chevron lose key shareholder votes and Dutch court orders Shell to cut emissions faster.
   
• Another food systems approach in NYS: The Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA) aims to ensure the long-term viability of the region’s agricultural sector while increasing access to healthy food and reducing the prevalence of food insecurity within the county. In the video “Onondaga Nation & Food Sovereignty,” Angela Ferguson speaks to SOFSA members about the comprehensive and culturally informed work of the Onondaga Nation Farm.

• Foodlink Community Café: Foodlink has opened its Community Cafe inside the Central Library (115 South Ave.): “It’s a training café, but it’s also a café where anyone can come in, no matter what amount of money they have and leave with a good meal prepared by our culinary apprentices and community kitchen." 

• Black Lives Matter: A Peaceful, Silent, Witness. Saturdays, 12:00-1:00 PM.
   
• Webinar for Voters: Why bother? Activists share their thoughts. Sponsored by League of Women Voters of Rochester Metropolitan Area. June 2, 2021, 6:00-7:30 PM EDT.
   
• E-Recycling event Greece Arcadia High School. June 12, 2021, 8:30 AM-12:00 PM. Sponsored by Sunnking and Assembly Member Josh Jensen.
   
• Citizens Climate Lobby Virtual National Conference: "The Push For a Price on Carbon" June 12, 2021, 1:00-5:00 PM and June 13, 2021, 1:00-3:30 PM EDT. Topics include A Lens Into Race & Climate; Energy Innovation Act: Messaging and Policy Details; Understanding the Conservative Perspective; Climate Advocate Training Workshop.
   
• Team Empowerment: "Step into Virtual Reali-TE!" A Digital Mini-Fest Uniting Community and Youth. Thursday, June 17, 2021. Tune in to learn more about Team Empowerment's current citywide initiatives and support local youth as they continue to create strong, healthy communities embedded in equity, justice, and peace. Register here.

Every spring and summer, plants draw huge amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and sequester it in their own cells or relay it to the microbes in the soil below. This has helped stabilize our climate for eons. But modern farming has resulted in the loss of ⅓ of the topsoil of our country’s corn belt and has severely depleted most of what’s left. Further, heavy use of pesticides and herbicides have killed the vital microbes in the soil and decimated the pollinators on which most plants depend. As the soil goes, so goes our planet’s ability to sustain life. 

The event is free and open to all, so feel free to invite others. 

Each participant needs to register in advance here.

Please have paper and pencil handy to take notes and to write down questions for our presenters to answer at the end. And come prepared to learn how you can be a better lover of the land and steward of our soil.

Reflecting on the Drawdown Experience in Rochester, 2017-2021

by Sue Staropoli

Now and then it is valuable to stop, reflect, and celebrate what we have accomplished in our work. This is such a time, as Pachamama Alliance transitions to new opportunities and efforts related to climate change.

In September 2017, when the Rochester Pachamama Alliance started offering Drawdown programs – first with two-hour intro sessions and then with four-part courses – our intention was to invite people into a positive relationship with global warming: to see that it is reversible and that people have an important role to play in the future. And we wanted to empower people to become engaged at the local level in the many climate solutions being offered through the Project Drawdown research.

What impact have we had on our local community? (Read the full post here)