Fall Retreat 2019
“Facing Climate and Nuclear Catastrophes; Acting to Protect Life on Earth” Saturday, November 16, 2019 Update 11/11/19 DAY’S SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED! Scroll down for schedule. Update 10/12/19 REGISTRATION IS OPEN! CLICK FOR REGISTRATION OPTIONS. Update 10/12/19 CLICK HERE TO VIEW FLYER. PLEASE PRINT AND POST! 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., at St. John’s Episcopal Church 114 20th Ave. SE, Olympia, WA. [click here for map or directions via Google maps] [click here to see an annotated map of local area with parking locations] Doors open at 8 am. Morning refreshments, and lunch provided. Cost is $25 per person (or pay what you can) The keynote will be “The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of…
Spring Assembly
“Embracing Conflict -Imagining Equitable Sustainability”Western Washington FOR’s 21st Annual Spring AssemblySaturday, April 6th., 2019, from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Registration begins 9 am, program 10 am – 3:45 pmat Fauntleroy UCC Church, 9104 California Ave SW, West Seattle. Pre-register now! NEWSFLASH 3/29/19 Schedule and Workshop Descriptions now available! Click here We will build on Kazu Haga’s work in determining that conflict itself is neither negative nor positive, but an opportunity to understandothers’ viewpoints and actions — if we take the opportunity to listen with care. Information flyer can be viewed or downloaded here (2-page pdf file) Please pre-register now! Send registration info by March 29, by email, postal mail, or phone, wwfor@wwfor.org, 206-789-5565 or WWFOR, 225 N 70th St,…
September Pacific Call newsletter available
The September 2014 Pacific Call newsletter is available as individual articles and as a pdf: https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/September-2014-Pacific-Call.pdf You can access the September-November calendar at https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/September-2014-WWFOR-calendar.pdf or view the online calendar. You can also choose to read the articles below by clicking on links below in “Notes from the Pacific Call,” clicking on “Read our Blog” in box to the right, or navigating with the News/Media tab to The Pacific Call.
Letter to Editor, “The Chronicle” Lewis County
by Larry Kerschner It seems like there are an awful lot of trains going off the tracks lately. On December 14 of last year, a Burlington Northern and Santa Fe train derailed north of Centralia, spilling three rail cars, including one carrying methanol. On January 13, 2014, a BNSF train derailed two cars just south of Auburn. During a two-week period during early May of this year there were three separate train derailments in Grays Harbor County. On May 22, a Puget Sound and Pacific train derailed north of Centralia. On August 4 three train cars, including a tanker car carrying methanol, derailed on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks north of downtown Centralia. On July 2, a coal train…
The Seattle General Strike of 1919
by Larry Kerschner Protest activity surrounding the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference of 1999, which was to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations, occurred during the week of November 30, 1999 and put Seattle on the world map. However, the first time 65,000 protesting people in the streets of Seattle were known around the world for a radical attitude was during the Seattle General Strike which began at 10 a.m. on February 6, 1919, and paralyzed the city for five days. At that time the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was a collection of unions of skilled craftsmen who saw no need to join in labor struggle with semi-skilled or unskilled workers. AFL unions…
WWFOR Fall Retreat: “Economic Justice for the 99%”
by Glen Anderson Most Americans are suffering from economic injustice in one or more ways. Many millions can’t find decent jobs or work for wages that are too low. The gap between extremely rich people and everyone else has been widening since the 1970s. Many Americans are homeless or are suffering from foreclosure. The Occupy Movement and millions of Americans’ ongoing experiences have convinced more and more people that capitalism is failing to meet most people’s needs, so they are looking for alternatives. Western Washington FOR’s 2014 Fall Retreat – “Economic Justice for the 99%” – will bring us together to better understand the problems and to work together at the grassroots to organize solutions. Everyone is invited to WWFOR’s…
Nuclear Weapons: The Elephant in the Room
by Noreen Koga The drive to Tacoma was cool and clear that Saturday morning in late June 2014. Not knowing what to expect I was drawn immediately to the event announcement listed in the Fellowship newsletter. The mention of the word “nuclear” always catches my attention. With my Mother’s family from Yamaguchi Prefecture (next door to Hiroshima) and the mention of how my Mother’s cousin had perished that fateful morning on August 6, 1946, I’ve always felt a deep connection with anything “nuclear.” Remembering my Grandparents visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in 1974 and viewing the booklet from the museum displaying the human atrocities, I recalled feeling the shock and awe as I saw the photos. Although the…
Our Solar Photovoltaic System
by Larry Kerschner We installed a 4 Kw solar photovoltaic system at our home a little over a year ago. Over the course of the first year we produced about 25% of the total electricity we used. Obviously less in the winter than in the summer. During the period of mid-June through mid-July of this year, we produced 63.5% of the power we were using. Washington State is at a similar latitude as Germany. Germany’s annual solar resources are roughly comparable to those of Alaska. We have a greater solar potential here than in Germany. The German government, unlike ours, has subsidized renewable energy for years. By the end of 2012, Germany had installed about 30 Gw of solar capacity,…
Five Seabeck Poems
by Scott T. Starbuck Listening to Fireworks Near the 2014 FOR Seabeck Conference The real work is daily practice in order to be of greater service. Skies are filled with vibrant explosions, ooohs and ahhhs while the truth like a cedar raven waits and speaks at the in-between silences. Wrecking Ball Dream Without warning half the roof is gone but poker players are drunk on winning. Even when one is hit and drops the game continues until another is gone, and another, and another. Finally, the American, alone in his chair refuses to even look at the raging sea. Clam Bombs In Holmes Harbor gulls dig clams, fly above Douglas fir, and drop them like bombs on tidal rocks to…
Watch 2014 Seabeck Keynotes
If you missed the wonderful 2014 Seabeck conference, “Take Back the 4th: Speak Truth to Power,” you can still hear our keynoters (thanks to Todd Boyle): Rev. Kristin Stoneking Peter Phillips Michael Nagler