This Week: Spills are Inevitable, Unless...

PCU E-Newsletter

May 28, 2015

Spills are Inevitable, Unless...

Those who know me well know that I am a clumsy person. I drop things. I bump into things. When picking out a new cellphone after my old one died, I told the salesperson, "I need a phone sturdy enough that I can step on it and it will be okay." While I haven't stepped on it yet, it's been dropped plenty of times already. Likewise, I've come to accept that if I don't want my papers on my desk ruined, I need to keep my cup of water removed from everything else.

Spills are inevitable, especially when you are clumsy. But even when you are careful, they always have a chance of occurring. When it's things as simple as water or a cell phone, you can easily move on from an accident. Yet when materials are dangerous or toxic, the costs are far higher.

The oil spill last week in Santa Barbara was as predictable as my own personal spills. As careful as oil companies may be (with spills being shockingly frequent), they are only a matter of time. But the costs are far higher: to life, to communities, and to general health.

As residents of industrialized countries, we demand lifestyles that fossil fuel companies say they are simply making possible. We are all caught up in the web of sin that sees oil extraction and ensuring accidents as a necessary sacrifice. Some of us, especially in the Los Angeles area, have contributed more to this situation than others. Yet we are all called to respond in ways that give healthier alternatives a better chance.

Some may seek to reduce their demand in their homes or church communities, all the while educating their neighbors. Others are going so far as to sign a pledge of resistance to end fracking, which accounts for half of all new oil extraction in California today. Nonviolent direct action forces those who see spills as a necessary cost to doing business to listen, however begrudgingly, to those who know there is a better way. As people seeking to participate in God's work for the Divine Commonwealth, we should know this better than others.

While oil extraction endures, it threatens life. Spills are inevitable, unless we put a stop to extraction itself. It would make things so much easier for our planet, too, when the inevitable happens. I think even I could clean up water, wind, and sunlight.

Spilling hope,

Timothy Murphy

Executive Director

This Week From PCU

Action & Events

Quote of the Week

Action & Events

Petition: Strong Civilian Oversight of Los Angeles County Sheriffs

We have had a number of recent victories with our allies to strengthen civilian oversight, but the Board of Supervisors needs to hear from you! Sign the petition, demanding the BOS put up a change to the county charter to provide subpoena power to help retrieve information about patterns of sheriff violence that are often withheld from the public. The petition and other crucial demands can be found here!

Saturday, May 30: We Who Believe in Freedom Facilitator Training

The Justice Not Jails curriculum will have its next facilitator's training workshop this Saturday. The location is Ward AME Church, 1177 W. 25th Street, Los Angeles, 90007 from 10 AM - 12 PM. Contact the PCU office to RSVP. See the study guide here. Download a copy of the flyer here.

Wednesday, June 3: An Evening with Philip Clayton & 350.org

Join activists and persons of faith in an evening discussion with Dr. Philip Clayton and 350.org on the roles that local communities can play in ushering in a new ecological civilization. You can register via Facebook or email. Hosted by Urban Mission in Pomona, starting at 6 PM. A flyer is available here.

June 4-7: Seizing an Alternative:

Toward an Ecological Civilization Conference

Conference for the Planet

Join us in Claremont on June 4-7

Free Lecture Series by some of the world's most renowned environmentalists, including:

Bill McKibben, June 4 - 7pm

John Cobb, June 5 - 9am

Vandana Shiva, June 5 - 7pm

Herman Daly, June 6 - 9am

Sheri Liao, June 6 - 7pm

Wes Jackson, June 7 - 9am

Bridges Auditorium, Pomona College

450 N. College Way, Claremont, CA 91711

You can also attend the Pando Populus Saturday-only sampling of the eco-conference's cutting-edge artists, activists, academics, documentarians, theologians, and sustainability experts for $29 by registering here.

For more information: PandoPopulus.com

Saturday, June 6: From the Wilderness Prophetic Tradition

to Watershed Discipleship

PCU is co-sponsoring a talk by the biblical scholar and radical theologian Ched Myers on at Claremont United Church of Christ (233 Harrison Ave, Claremont) from 11 AM-12:30 PM as part of the larger conference "Seizing an Alternative" conference. In era of cascading drought, we need to pay attending to local discipleship of our water more than ever!

Saturday, June 13: Freedom Songs, Reading the Bible With and

For the Oppressed

The Justice Not Jails project is organizing an event on how the Bible speaks from the voice of the oppressed and how it relates to their struggles today. Come check out this interactive workshop that includes the following speakers: Rev. James M. Lawson, Jr., Rev. Janet Wolf, Mark Ridley-Thomas, and Tiffany Johnson. Lunch is provided at a cost of $10; free for formerly incarcerated persons. Located at: Ward AME, from 10 AM - 2:30 PM. Register here!

Quote of the Week

When we drill, we spill.

~Greenpeace USA