I co-presented my 5th Intro with Lore Rosenthal and Natalie Pien on April 7 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Loudoun. About 23 enthusiastic people attended. Natalie Pien hosted the event, so it was super organized! Lore Rosenthal co-ordinated all the tech, which means the presentation went smooth as silk.

The church is housed in this very cool historic building that was built by newly freed enslaved Americans just after the American Civil War. They farmed in the day and built this structure by candlelight at night so they could have a church that was their very own. The original owners have since moved on and sold their building. The Unitarians bought the historic building about a decade ago.

I would like to co-facilitate a 5-session workshop near Arlington, where I live--preferably the soonest available opportunity to do so.

I presented my 10th Intro on March 27 at the UU Church of Arlington. [Have you noticed almost every presentation has been at a UU Church :) ]
This time we had 51 people. @Mary Pike was the host and Will Driscoll was in attendance. 13 people want to continue with the 5-session and 3 people want to invite us to their community. Will Driscoll, from 350Arlington, came forward and offered to potentially lead a 5-session.

It is exciting because I think we now have eight of us willing to facilitate the 5-session action groups: Lore Rosenthal , Galen Tromble , Robin Galbraith , Cindy Speas & John Clewett , Rosemary Hodges & Mike Ohora, and Will Driscoll

I wanted to make sure all of you know about two upcoming opportunities. The Pachamama Alliance in California is hosting two upcoming "Zoom Calls". You participate at home, with your computer or your phone.

The first is on Thursday, April 11, from 12-1 pm. It is an orientation/training for people who want to Host or Lead Intro Meetings. Here is the link to sign up. https://connect.pachamama.org/convener-orientation-call (you may need to "create an account" to get in)

Right now, the Pachamama Alliance does not have zoom chats to teach people how to facilitate 5-session Action Groups. (I have been mentoring some of you).

On Thurs, April 18, 12-1:30 pm there will be a virtual gathering of all the people that are currently leading Intros or 5-Sessions. I join in every month. It is so inspiring to meet people from all over the country who are presenting the same materials as we do here in MD and VA. Here is the link https://connect.pachamama.org/node/1989. In this case, you may need to have previously signed up as a "Convener". (This includes me, Robin, Will, Galen, and Cindy so far)

Even if these do not interest you yet, I hope you will join the call that Galen is (tentatively) hosting on April 28 (see below)

I'd like to have another Zoom call for the DC Metro group. There's been a lot of Drawdown activity in the area since we met last on Feb 17, The call will give us an opportunity to find out what people are involved in or would like to be, and how those of us in the DC region can support each other. The call will be on Sunday, April 28 at 7 pm eastern time.

The call will give us an opportunity to see and hear each other, and find out more about what people connected with Pachamama Alliance and its vision of "an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on this planet" are doing in the greater DC area.

To join the call on the 28th at 7pm by video call from a computer, tablet or smartphone, use this link: https://zoom.us/j/4117056729

Or you can dial in for voice only at: 646 876 9923 Meeting ID: 411 705 6729

If you have any questions please let me know.

All the best,
Galen Tromble

Yeah! The NWEI Drawdown EcoChallenge is coming up April 3-24. Looks like we can have a little friendly competition, between two teams that Galen Tromble (and Rita Zanin ) and Lore Rosenthal are a part of. Please join one of our teams!
https://drawdown.ecochallenge.org/teams/climateyogi
https://drawdown.ecochallenge.org/teams/drawdown-greenbelt

Another well attended Intro to Drawdown Presentation at the River Road Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, Maryland. We had 60 attendees.

Lore Rosenthal co-presented with me and continues to mentor me on the details of creating a successful presentation.

This event was possible because of the fantastic planning from Rosemary Hodges , Trica Tice, Susan Eisendrath and Jack Lebowitz.

Afterwards, this wonderful group invited Marc Elrich, the Montgomery County Executive, and other key government employees to discuss how the county is using Project Drawdown to respond to climate change.

Fellow DC Alliance members Rita Zanin and Chuck Woolery attended. Plus, we were delighted that fellow member Jennye Johnson was able to drive up all the way from outside of Charlottesville, VA to attend, too.

65+ attendees came out for the Introduction to Drawdown at the Ridewood Senior Community in Silver Spring, MD (Beltsville) on March 14th.

Lore Rosenthal and I co-presented. Lore is such a good mentor, sharing a little more of the presentation duties at each event, plus modeling the tremendous amount of coordination work that goes into these presentations before and after the event.

Dear Friends,

Many of you have asked me to inform you the next time there is an "Intro to Drawdown: Reversing Global Warming" workshop in your area.
Below are two upcoming workshops that Robin Galbraith and I will be presenting. One is in Silver Spring (Beltsville) on a weeknight. The other is in Bethesda on a weekend. There is plenty of space in Riderwood (large auditorium) whereas River Road UU is soon reaching capacity.

Hope to see you at one of these upcoming workshops.
Thanks, Lore Rosenthal, Greenbelt, MD

Thurs, March 14, 7:15-9:00 pm - Riderwood Retirement Community
Encore Theatre at Lakeside Commons, 3150 Gracefield Road, Silver Spring, MD
The guard at the gate will direct you. RSVPs not needed.
Anne Riley, shrinkear@gmail.com

Sun, March 17, 2:00-4:30 pm - River Road UU Church
6301 River Rd, Bethesda, MD 20817
Tricia Tice, ptice17@gmail.com
Space is limited. 5-10 seats left. You MUST rsvp through this link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reversing-global-warming-introduction-to-d…
Last 30 minutes will be devoted to a discussion on how the Montgomery County government is using "drawdown" to fashion their Climate Mobilization Plan.
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dgs-OES/Resources/Files/ClimateMobil…

The Montgomery County Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions is hosting a 2-hr Intro to Drawdown, on Sunday, March 17, 2-4:30 pm. I am the presenter, along with Robin Galbraith . The last half hour will be devoted to the Montgomery County government and how they are using Drawdown to write their Climate Mobilization Plan.

Here is the link, all are welcome. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reversing-global-warming-introduction-to-d…

If you are interested but cannot attend, please let me know. Robin and I are making 4 other presentations this spring. You might also want to bring Drawdown to your community. Carl_Benson , Rosemary Hodges , Galen Tromble , Catherine Carver , jeanmjohnson Joan Clement , Kristen Minogue , Jack Waugh and a few others have already attended a similar workshop. Rosemary, Catherine, and Natalie Pien are hosting upcoming workshops.