Shop in a Sustainable Way – The Better World Shopping Guide

April 27, 2014

Our guest, Sister Janet Weyker, shared her favorite tool for shopping in a sustainable way.  Here is information about the book The Better World Shopping Guide.

http://www.betterworldshopper.org/book.html 

Bringing Balance To Africa’s Children with Louise Omdahl – 4-19-14

April 20, 2014

We’ll wrap up our exploration of places of balance and imbalance in our world with a look at  the significant education and healthcare needs of children in developing countries.  The C.H.I.L.D. organization was started on October 5, 2008 with a commitment to providing educational, financial and healthcare resources to underserved populations in postwar Liberia.  Through their onsite presence with medical volunteers, they are making a difference in the lives of children in the Liberian community of Monrovia.

 Our guest is Louise Omdahl, President of the C.H.I.L.D. organization, and a Family Nurse Practitioner at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare.  Louise received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, her Master of Science in Nursing, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her Graduate Education in the Family Nurse Practitioner program at Concordia University.

Louise states that her interest in helping in developing countries goes back as far as she can remember.  Louise states:   “I have always felt God gave me the ability I have for more than the comfortable life I generally lead. In the past I’ve been involved with a nursing exchange to Russia at the time of the fall of the Soviet Union, working with nurses there and lecturing at their nursing schools. I have also been to Zambia and helped at a mission there that provided healthcare into the bush. My interest in Liberia began through my long friendship with Dr. Veronica Carver, who would share about her homeland during the long civil war, and then sought to find a way to help.”

We welcome Louise to share more about her work in providing help and assistance to these places that need it the most.

For more about Louise, and the C.H.I.L.D. organization, go to www.liberianchild.org.

Integrating Sustainability Into School Curriculum and Culture with Dr. Jean Weaver – 4-12-14

April 14, 2014

As we continue to explore places of balance and imbalance in our world, we look closer at environmental sustainability.  Understanding all the ways that we can support environmental sustainability is important, but it’s especially helpful to teach children these principles so that they can begin creating good habits early in their life.  What better place to learn about and model sustainability than in a school, and we’ll be speaking this week about how one school has studied this topic, and determined how they can create change by integrating sustainability into their curriculum and culture.

Our guest in this discussion will be Dr. Jean Weaver who is the Sustainability Coordinator at The Prairie School, an independent school in Wind Point, WI.   Dr. Weaver attended many conferences on sustainability to help identify the key ways that the school could bring these habits and principles into the daily life of the school, and involve faculty, children and their families in this important education.

Dr. Weaver earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at the University of Michigan, and her PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Ohio State University. She is currently the Chair of the Science Department and we are grateful to have her sharing her experience of integrating sustainability with us on our show.

For more about The Prairie School, please go to www.prairieschool.com.

Opening Music – “Funky Buddha” by Soulfood

April 13, 2014

Have you heard the opening song to our show and wondered what the rest of the song sounded like?  We LOVE our opening song and we’d love to have you hear more!  The song is “Funky Buddha” by Soufood on the album Zen Lounge.  Take a listen!

Walking the Talk for Eco Justice with Sister Janet – 4-5-14

April 8, 2014

We continue our discussion about places of balance and imbalance in our world with the very big topic of issues surrounding our environment.  Specifically we’ll be speaking about the challenges and hope of awareness of environmental issues such as climate change, and using our earth to grow healthy food for our bodies.

A living example of hope in education on these issues exists at the Eco-Justice Center located in Racine, WI, a suburb of Milwaukee.  This Center was founded in October, 2004 and is run by Dominican sisters who every day live their mission of environmental education and care of Earth in the context of community, contemplation, creativity, and cultivation.

The Center opened in 2004, with the help and inspiration of many people, and has met their goals related to green, sustainable living. Housing for those living on the property was created through a green addition to the 1912 farmhouse already existing there.  Renewable energy features on the property include solar hot water, solar electric, geo-thermal heating and cooling, and wind electric from their 10Kw wind turbine. On the grounds is also an Education Center available to the community  the Hermitage retreat center, and a pig barn was remodeled into a honey house.

Our guest will be Sister Janet Weyker, director of “Rooted in Hope”, the Racine Dominican Eco-Justice Center.   Janet grew up on a farm in Belgium, WI, where she became rooted in the values of caring for Earth, tending vegetable and flower gardens and caring for farm animals.  Having had Racine Dominicans as teachers at St. Mary’s School, Janet was inspired to leave home after 8th grade to start her journey of becoming a Racine Dominican Sister and educator.  

Sister Janet graduated from Dominican College with a degree in education, and later earned a Masters Degree in Art Education from UW-Madison, and a  Master of Science in Counselor Education from UW-Platteville.  She has served as teachter and Princpal at various schools in Racine, and as an exchange teacher in Watford, England through the Fulbright program.

Her volunteer efforts in the community are extensive, working with, for example,  the River Bend Nature Cener, and the Sierra Club, and in recognition of this, was awarded the Woman of Distinction Award by the YWCA in 2010.

We are inspired by the efforts of the Eco-Justice Center to provide a living example of hope in the area of Eco Justice and we are honored to have Sister Janet at our guest.

To learn more about the efforts of the Eco-Justice Center, and to see photos of their unique property and videos detailing their work, go to http://www.racinedominicans.org/eco-j.cfm.