You asked for it...

Young adult friends, welcome to the March edition of You asked for it..., your monthly email from the New Community Project. I did some spring cleaning this afternoon. No silly-not my house! I just got back from my first post-winter bike ride (I've been biking all winter, but always in two or more layers of everything-and never hardly just for fun), and en route stopped a couple times to gather aluminum cans revealed by the melted snow. Came home with 66-including some that go for extra points. (One-a 24 oz. Heineken-came in at about 1¼ ounces-or about three regular cans.) In part I was doing penance (this is Lent, you know) for driving a rental car all the way to Indy yesterday to do a Jewish jr. hi. retreat (at about a can for every two miles in terms of gasoline equivalent energy savings for the compact car I was driving, I'd need about 200 cans-so I'm on my way). But it's also part of the normal routine.

I tell you this little tale to give you hope. While it's really the big things we need to change-particularly with regard to diet, transportation and household e consumption-we can all find small ways every day to have a good impact.

In this edition of You asked for it ...:

• March 16 Peace Witness in Washington
• March is Women's History Month
• DantheMan
• Billion Tree Campaign
• Sudan stories and pics
• Jumpstart your summer
• Justice Fact, Enviro Fact, Faith Fact in honor of Women's History Month

Alrighty then-let's get on with it. Keep in touch. Keep the faith. Keep rockin' this boat till things get right.

David

• March 16 Christian Peace Witness for Iraq Check it out! Great time, great cause, great date! (hey, it's my birthday!)
• Women's History Month (March) is a good time to put women in their place-as equal to men in every respect. In the U.S. , they still only earn 70 cents for every dollar a man earns for similar work. Around the world it gets worse fast. Check out this audio interview with the director of China Blue, a documentary about a young female worker in a Chinese sweatshop-earning 6 cents an hour to make your jeans. Then go to our Justice for Women page to get more facts and find out what you can do!
• DantheMan is back with an even funnier and more insightful (possible?!) edition of NCPNews on YouTube.
• Billion Tree Campaign Our Sudan Learning Tour group actually heard Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai speak at the World Social Forum in Nairobi in January (don't you wish you'd been with us!??). Her Greenbelt Movement has put out a challenge of planting a billion trees during 2007. Great Earth Day (April 22) activity. Get your campus club, church or friends involved. By the way, in the US we cut a billion trees a year for our paper consumption.
• Sudan Report Speaking of Sudan , here's a brief summary of our trip, with some pics. See Every Picture Tells a Story
• Jumpstart your summer! We still have a couple spots on our May 18-29 Amazon Learning Tour. Guarantee monkeys, pink dolphins, caiman, toucans, parrots, and maybe an anaconda-not to mention spending time with Siona shaman Delio, a master of the rainforest. We'll also get an up-close-and-disturbing look at oil drilling and cattle ranching-both threats to the rainforest. A bunch of young adults are already signed up-join them! Some scholarship aid available.
• Justice Fact 43% of all girls attend secondary school in the Developing World ( State of the World's Children 2007 -UNICEF). Not attending brings earlier marriage, more children, greater likelihood of AIDS. Want to Give a Girl a Chance?
• Enviro Fact "Climate change affects every facet of Inuit life. We have a right to life, health, security, land use, subsistence and culture. These issues are the real politics of climate change. We are the early warning system for the entire planet. The work we are doing is like another level of the hunt. We are the elder who scouts the land for conditions before making a move. Until the hunter's return, the family waits with great anticipation." -Sheila Watts-Cloutier, Inuit leader, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Visit the Arctic and get a look at cclimate change for yourself on our August Arctic Village Learning Tour. Want to learn more about global warming and what you and your community can do?
• Faith Fact St. Patrick (5 th Century) is said to have been the first church leader since Jesus to speak well of women ( How the Irish Saved Civilization , Thomas Cahill). Give ole' St. Paddy a tip 'o ye hat on March 17th !