Fall 2014
Actions and Campaigns
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Here at Earth Justice Ministries we consider the work of peacemaking, justice-building, and environmental healing as essential expressions of a spiritual perspective on life. We work with faith communities and secular organizations to try to heal what is broken and to plant seeds for a future of justice, peace, and well-being for all living things. The following events are just some of the work we are doing as an organization and in coalition with other groups.
Donate here to support our work. Feel free to designate contributions to particular projects. Contact us for information about upcoming events or to designate a donation for a particular project. Keep current with Earth Justice Ministries projects and activities by "liking" our Earth Justice Ministries FaceBook Page. For details and analysis of these issues go to Sharon Delgado's blog.
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Celebrations to Honor Mother Earth
October 5: Seed Gathering and Blessing Celebration
November 2: Seed Planting as Amends Celebration
Times and Places to be Determined
This fall, Earth Justice Ministries will be sponsoring two celebrations to honor Mother Earth. The first will be a Seed Gathering event, which will take place on October 5. It will be an indigenous seed gathering and blessing celebration combined with a reading of the Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. The second event will be a Seed Planting event on November 2. The seeds will be planted at a local clear cut during a second celebration and reading of the Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. Members of the local community are invited to participate in both celebrations as amends for complicity in the destruction and harm to Mother Earth caused by man-made systems of exploitation and control over nature and as medicine in hope for the restoration of sanity to the human mind and spirit and to foster right relationship with the whole community of life. Check the Earth Justice Ministries FaceBook page to find details as they emerge.
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Arraignment Date Set for Fifteen Beale Defendants
Federal Courthouse at 5th and I Streets in Sacramento
September 9, 2014
8 a.m.: Demonstration of Support for the Defendants and Opposition to Drone Warfare
9 a.m.: Arraignment of 15 defendants
September 9 is the date set for the arraignment of fifteen Beale defendants who are being charged with misdemeanor trespass for two different civil disobedience actions at Beale Air Force Base last April. Supporters are invited to gather at 8 a.m. on the day of the trial at the Federal Courthouse at 5th and I Streets in Sacramento. The fifteen are charged with misdemeanor trespass, a charge that carries a possible penalty of up to five years in federal prison, $5000 in fines, and five years' probation. Previous trials of nonviolent protestors at Beale have not resulted in these kind of penalties, but in community service. However, many of the fifteen who are being arraigned have been detained by base officials more than once, and it is possible that they will receive harsher sentences.
We are keeping people updated about this case, background information, and actions related to drone warfare through our Earth Justice Ministries website and Earth Justice Ministries FaceBook page. Keep informed by following Sharon Delgado’s blog postings on drone warfare. Check out the Occupy Beale Air Force Base Facebook page or Occupy Beale website for updates on this trial, background information, and announcements about upcoming Beale demonstrations and direct actions.
Public opposition to the U.S. drone warfare program is growing. In addition to the direct action that has been taking place at Beale, a coalition of peace and justice groups around the country have been protesting drone warfare. Find out about the Network to Stop Drone Surveillance and Warfare at the website of the No Drones Network. Faith groups are stepping up to the moral challenges presented by drone warfare. Find out about faith-based anti-drone actions. Also, check out Awake to Drones, Faith Perspectives on the Use of Drones for Warfare and Surveillance.
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Campaign Nonviolence’s Call to Action: September Actions around the Country to End to Poverty, War, and Reverse the Climate Crisis
Local Actions: Beale Air Force Base
September 29, 3 p.m. at Beale’s Wheatland Gate and September 30, 6 a.m. at Beale’s Main Gate
In September, various groups around the country will engage in over 100 coordinated nonviolent actions. Earth Justice Ministries endorses Campaign Nonviolence's Call to Action, and will help organize and participate in the September 29 and 30 demonstrations at Beale Air Force Base.
We will meet at Beale Air Force Base at 3 p.m. on Monday, September 29 at Beale’s Wheatland Gate and at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, September 30 at Beale’s Main (Schneider) Gate. Nonviolent direct action may take place on Tuesday morning.
If you cannot come to Beale, find an action near you or list an action at the list of planned Campaign Nonviolence actions. Campaign Nonviolence is a movement “to build a culture of peace by mainstreaming active nonviolence and by joining the enduring, nonviolent struggle to abolish war, end poverty, reverse climate change, and challenge all violence.” Take the Campaign Nonviolence Pledge here.
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Wisdom to Survive: Climate Change, Capitalism, and Community
Sunday, September 21, 7 p.m.
Nevada City United Methodist Church
433 Broad Street in Nevada City
Earth Justice Ministries will show Wisdom to Survive: Climate Change, Capitalism, and Community and will facilitate a discussion about the film at 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 21, at Nevada City United Methodist Church. The showing of the film will be part of our local organizing around Campaign Nonviolence and will also be a kickoff for the Celebrations to Honor Mother Earth.
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Nevada County Climate Change Coalition Upcoming Meetings
“Divestment from Fossil Fuels: Creative Resistance to Climate Change”
A Presentation by Rondal Snodgrass and Sharon Delgado, with discussion to follow
September 16, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains
246 S. Church Street, Grass Valley
General Meeting of the NC-Climate Change Coalition
October 21, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains
246 S. Church Street, Grass Valley
The purpose of the Nevada County Climate Change Coalition is to 1) Stay informed, educate, and update their members about issues and actions related to climate change; 2) Stay connected and coordinate actions with national and global organizations working for climate justice; 3) Plan local actions that will help raise awareness, defeat denial, spread truth, and limit greenhouse gas emissions locally and on a larger scale.
We have formed several small groups to focus on different aspects of the work to educate, lobby, and otherwise engage in the work of preventing runaway climate change and ensuring a livable future. These include groups that focus on: lobbying, education, nonviolent direct action, resiliency and local self-reliance, interfaith cooperation on issues related to climate change, radical art, communication, working with 350.org, etc. Like the NC-CCC FaceBook Page to get updated information about these groups and about the coalition itself.
Earth Justice Ministries' Executive Director Sharon Delgado continues to offer programs on climate change, and is now working on the Fossil Free UMC campaign to divest the United Methodist Church from fossil fuels. Sharon has been speaking and writing about climate change for 25 years. She is a trained presenter for the Climate Reality Project. Find her blog postings on climate change, or schedule a presentation for your group.
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Women (and Men) in Black
Thursdays, 5:15 to 6 p.m
Nevada City, Brunswick Overpass
Women (and Men) in Black demonstrations for peace in Palestine and an end to the Israeli Occupation take place every Thursday, 5:15 to 6 p.m., on the Broad Street Bridge in Nevada City. Earth Justice Ministries is also helping pay travel expenses for a local participant in the 13th annual conference of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, to be held September 19-23 in San Diego.
Women (and Men) in Black
Beale Air Force Base
3 p.m. on Monday, August 25 at Beale’s Wheatland Gate and/or at
6 a.m. Tuesday, August 26 at Beale’s Main Gate
At the Beale Air Force Base protests this month we will focus on the Israeli drones and other high-tech weapons that have killed so many civilians, U.S. military aid to Israel, and the U.S. drone warfare program. We will wear black in honor of the "Women in Black" movement that began in Palestine, and has spread around the world. The main gate of Beale on Tuesday morning would be a great place for a nonviolent direct action, for anyone who feels ready to step across the line as a public witness against US military support for Israel.
Meet at 3 p.m. on Monday, August 25 at Beale’s Wheatland Gate and/or at 6 a.m. Tuesday, August 26 at Beale’s Main Gate.
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“Courage”
A Poem by Guarionex Delgado
In light of the Israeli slaughter of civilians and destruction of infrastructure in the open-air prison of occupied Gaza, the following poem is just as relevant today as when it was written. Guari wrote “Courage” on October 9, 2001, two days after the United States started bombing Afghanistan in “Operation Enduring Freedom” following the attacks of September 11. Read it here.
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Presentations by Sharon Delgado- Free Videos on Youtube
"The Role of Nonviolent Direct Action in Christian Peacemaking."
If you want to be inspired, here is a video uploaded from Sharon Delgado's January 29th presentation at Parkside Community Church in Sacramento, titled "The Role of Nonviolent Direct Action in Christian Peacemaking." In this video, Rev. Delgado shares some of the experiences and insights that have shaped her 35-year peacemaking journey, including the recently-concluded trial in which she was found guilty of trespassing onto Beale Air Force Base during a nonviolent protest against drone warfare. She also shows how Jesus' life, teachings, actions, death, and resurrection can inspire us to follow him directly into the heart of the struggle for a transformed world.
This Youtube video is from a December 3, 2013 presentation featuring Sharon Delgado and Emanuel Sferios on "Toxic Trade Agreements, Corporate Globalization, and the Movement for Global Justice." This introductory presentation is geared toward people who want to better understand toxic trade agreements such as the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the larger project of global corporate rule, and peoples' movements to transform the global system through participatory democracy. Sharon Delgado and Emanuel Sferios have been involved with issues of corporate globalization and with the movement for global justice for many years. In this video, they explain how the TPP constitutes a "corporate coup" by extending corporate authority over every area of life, and about the growing movement to oppose fast track and to "flush the TPP."
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Free Downloadable MP3 or Educational CD by Sharon Delgado
"Climate Change: What do we know? What can we do?"
Recorded by Sun Sound Studios, Grass Valley, California.
In this educational CD, Sharon Delgado explains in simple terms what scientists are telling us about climate change, explores the scientific consensus and controversy, and suggest effective ways to respond to the challenges of climate change in personal, communal, and systemic ways. Topics include: the greenhouse effect, the link between rising levels of atmospheric CO2 and global warming, extreme weather as a feature of our changing climate, scientific agreement and debate, the effects of industry lobbyists on climate policy, reducing fossil fuel emissions and stabilizing the climate, and changing the system that produces climate change. Download the MP3 version here or order a CD here.
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