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<div style="direction:ltr; font-family:Tahoma; color:#000000; font-size:10pt">Dear Susan,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Some thoughts:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>1. Personally, I don't think GREN should officially sponsor this. I recognize the spectacular success of past shows and campaigns that you have organized (pollinators, seeds, dandelion celebrations, pesticides). This one is a bit different, and I note
that it has a for-profit element in building the prototype of a human composter. That said, I think GREN should help in its usual ways to publicize it.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>2. I think you should include a theologian in the panel. A good theologian could elucidate some of the profound questions enmeshed in the complex spiritual and religious issues of life and death,rebirth or renewal, environment and ecology. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> I landed in some of this myself when my cousin in eastern Ontario died. She had fled from Alberta where 95% of our relatives live, because of her violently abusive father. Now she was dead at age 52 and cremated. I was contacted by her Ontario-born
husband to help arrange for a funeral and burial of her ashes at the little country church in Alberta that our grandfather had built. A problem immediately presented itself: the Ukrainian Orthodox church believes that the actual corpse will arise on judgement
day and head off to heaven. So a funeral and burial were out of the question. I persisted and waded through a lot of secular and spiritual politics and managed to get a resolution.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I taught a course in environmental thought and included a week on religion and the environment. Strangely enough, this was the only time in 4 years when students in our department got to think about religion. One year Jim Profit, the Superior from the
Jesuit Centre just north of Guelph, which strongly supports the environment, addressed the class. He emphasized that the strongest link between the environment and religion was through ecofeminism and its revelations about learning to be at peace with the
world and living on earth as if it were home. At that point a subversive bunch of evangelical students (I was wondering why the class was so full that day) staged a walkout condemning "relativism". Profit took this as meaning that we were getting down to
serious talk, which is a good thing. Full disclosure: I'm an agnostic.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A good alternative to a theologian would be Christina Vanin of Conrad Grebel college who teaches a course on environment and religion.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>3. A got a thank you letter from one of the Seed event panelists who said she was very grateful to be on a panel where they had a good chance not just to reply to questions, but respond to each other. I was quite unconscious that I was guiding the discussion
in that way, but it sounds like a good outcome to keep in mind for this prospective event.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>- Greg<br>
<div><br>
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<div id="divRpF193196" style="direction:ltr"><font face="Tahoma" size="2" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Executive [executive-bounces@gren.ca] on behalf of Susan [susankoswan@execulink.com]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, March 23, 2017 10:38 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> 'GREN Executive'<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [GREN-Exec] green burial documentary<br>
</font><br>
</div>
<div></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Hi GREN Exec,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">On my mission to compost the dead, I am making the first public step. Would GREN be interested in being a sponsor for this? I’d like a few community group
logos.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">See below for details I just forwarded to the Unitarians.
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Susan K
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">I just got the final confirmation today from John Tutt at The Princess to show the documentary A Will for the Woods on Thursday May 11 @ 6:30 pm and we’ll
also have panelists for Q & A afterwards. </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Same format as SEED.
</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">It will be open to the public, regular Princess admission fees.
<a href="http://www.awillforthewoods.com/" target="_blank">http://www.awillforthewoods.com/</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">So I need to quickly firm up the panelists and sponsors. I will pay for the theatre rental and will be taking the proceeds of the door to start a fund for
a prototype human composter, starting with a mock-up CAD drawing of it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">I have confirmed either Mark or Ellen or both from the Green Burial Society,
</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">and
</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">John, my composter manufacturer, so far.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">The GBS connected me with Marion Wilms, a departure nurse in Guelph who runs regular death cafes there</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">
who would like to participate.</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> I was hoping to have Bryce, the cemetery manager from the city of Waterloo to talk about the new green burial sites, but he will be out
of town that week. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Bryce connected me with Matthew Bailey-Dyck, but he has never responded to my email. He had a number of coffee in the cemetery events last year and shared
his thoughts with Bryce about green burials. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Would you or Jessica be interested/willing to be on the panel? Would GRUC be interested in being a sponsor? No money needed – just a partner in the event.
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Susan
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> Michele Cadotte [<a href="mailto:mrcadotte@gmail.com" target="_blank">mailto:mrcadotte@gmail.com</a>]
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 23 March 2017 21:42<br>
<b>To:</b> 'Susan'<br>
<b>Subject:</b> FW: green burial?</span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Hi Susan,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">I received the message below from our minister, Jess.
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Have you made a decision about whether or not you would like to put something together if we offer you the space (which we would!).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Unfortunately Susan, I’m now working 5 days a week until May and can’t commit to anything more right now – I’m sorry!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">I hope your course (& composting the dead) and all is going well!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Michele</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> Rev. Jessica Purple Rodela [<a href="mailto:jprodela@uuma.org" target="_blank">mailto:jprodela@uuma.org</a>]
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, March 23, 2017 4:20 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Michele Cadotte<br>
<b>Subject:</b> green burial?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
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<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt; font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"">hiya-- I'm putting together quest material for the newsletter -- any decision on whether or not a GREEN BURIAL forum/discussion/meeting might take place?
If likely but no date yet, even a 'teaser' blurb would be good . Cheers, Jess.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">-- </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> In faith, Rev. Jess<br>
GRAND RIVER UNITARIAN CONGREGATION</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:#181818; background:white">“</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:#181818">Enthusiasm is a form of social
courage” (Gretchen Rubin, <i>The Happiness Project</i>)</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
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