February President’s Message

Well, we are far enough into the New Year that I am consistently writing 2006 rather than 2005 on my checks. Always a training process; easy to relapse. The apparent major break between one year ending and a brand new one starting is mostly an illusion. In fact all is continuous. We tend to manufacture the supposed transition. It is true that we can renew our commitments and establish what we call New Year’s resolutions. When I read the success rate on such declarations (they are worse than success at dieting!), I resolve not to resolve. However, it is a good time for reflection.
As President of the congregation, one of the privileges of my job is to acknowledge those people who work hard to make sure our Church continues to function well. In the last two issues I have recognized several people fit that description. Our re-constituted Board was described in the January issue of the Newsletter. I want to give thanks to the two outgoing members of that group. Clint Reynolds as VP, and Betty Miller as a Board member, will not be returning in 2006. They have served well in those capacities and deserve our praise. Our sincere thanks to both members for a fine performance. We look forward to working with the new Board members; Marilyn Kluge and Vivian Wood.
For those of you who could not attend the Annual Meeting in December, we recognized Jim Rideout (Housing & Property) with the President’s Award and Millie Haugan (Membership) with a Certificate of Appreciation. Both awards were well deserved by these dedicated members.
A truly devoted group of volunteers, who seldom get any recognition or publicity, are those members who serve in the outer office to answer phones, receive visitors, etc. These volunteers include Betty Abrahamson, Dorrie Conner, Fran Warren, Ginny Deadman, Judith Linden, Judy Biancani, Monty Kyle and Judy Stern. During the year 2005, they logged 568 hours at those tasks. We sincerely thank these dedicated people for their work.
It is again a pleasure to welcome Jan Lundstrom and Sharon Beard as the producers of our Church newsletter. That is a daunting task and we are sure they will do well. Our sincere appreciation goes to George Timmer and Lee Ormsbee for their years of service in producing fine newsletters.
Almost everyone has a cause which they feel is important to support, or is a reason to start a movement, even a revolution. These causes and the passion for such causes vary strongly with the people involved. One cause that has seemed important to me, more so as the years go by, is the planet Earth. (Call it an environmental cause, if you wish.). To put it pointedly, we human beings are raping this lovely planet. The forests are disappearing, the land is eroding and becoming useless, especially in Africa, our waters are being polluted, minerals and fossil fuels are being exhausted, waste products are piling up and, indeed, global warming must be addressed. Increasing population is accelerating these dangerous trends.
It is easy to complain about perceived bad situations, but it is more difficult to offer viable plans for solving them. One way to state the above situation is to say that too many people are pursuing too few environmental resources. As some pundits have expressed it: we live in societies where there is never enough and never too much. So, an obvious answer to the environmental dilemma is for all of us to say “Enough!” Again, far easier to recognize this solution than to practice it. But, there is an emerging consensus that it is time to do something.
Hasty and under evaluated approaches can result in no improvements or what is known as unintended consequences. Efficient consumption of resources, in itself, is a tricky concept. Suppose that everyone drove a car that obtained 90 miles per gallon of fuel. That leaves each of us with more money to buy “stuff,” as George Carlin calls it. All stuff requires energy of produce. So the savings in fuel costs may just result in greater consumption of other resources. Perhaps a trivial example, but it does demonstrate a possible pitfall.
People who tout “greening” of economies as the solution may be simply offering a useless distraction from the more useful strategy of saying “Enough!”
Coming back to that theme, indeed, how much is enough? Each of us has a different idea on how much we need, even deserve. There is no doubt that, as a nation, we over consume. Reducing our living space area and driving smaller vehicles sounds like a good start, keeping in mind possible pitfalls such as the one shown above. How many of us would be willing to voluntarily make those changes?
There are those who feel that humans are resilient enough to cleverly solve the lack of balance in the consumption problem, but even such solutions may only postpone the ultimate exhaustion of the Earth’s resources.
Everyone has a cause. Now you know my cause…

Kess Alley,

President