“Ahh…that’s the last one,” Wanda Helpoutt exclaimed as she set the cook pot in the drainer.  “I get a kick out of these community dinners; don’t you?  It just feels good to be doing something for someone else.  I gotta say; that Lodestar Foundation motto is spot on:  ‘Helping someone else less fortunate is a path to a happier, healthier and more meaningful life.’” 

            Ken nodded in agreement as they flipped off the lights, locked up the church hall, and stepped out to the sultry summer evening.  “Whew!  Hasn’t cooled down much yet,” Ken remarked.  “Those poor folks in the south!  Coping with 100+ temperatures day after day!  And, you know, the lowest-income folks are the ones who have the hardest time escaping the heat.  Wouldn’t it be cool if we could offer them a weekly community dinner in our air-conditioned church hall? I’d be on it in a minute,”  Ken I. Dewmorre added.

            Later that evening, Wanda gave Ken a call. “I’ve been thinking about what you said, and there IS something we can do; but it’s not fixing food.  One way to help others (and us all!) is to help tackle the root cause of this heat - climate disruption.  That would help lower the temperature and reduce these kinds of extreme weather events.  And everyone can pitch in; it’s not that hard.

         “For example, the Interfaith Power and Light website** has a handy link where you can see how large your home’s carbon footprint is compared to the folks in your community.  Just click on the Household Calculator button.    

         “I know… If you’re like me, you’re probably reluctant to even take a look because you think you’ll feel guilty about what the calculation shows.  But this isn’t about guilt; it’s about finding out what you’re doing well and how you could do even better.  It might just give you an idea about changing a routine or habit.”

         Later – “Hey Wanda…it’s Ken.  I did the household calculation and found some relatively easy ways we can make a difference at our house.  We’re thinking about it as symbolically ‘fixing dinners’ for folks who need a lift.  Seems like that lodestar is guiding us toward a more meaningful life,” he smiled. “Because after all, this Earth is the only home any of us will ever know; it’s where we’re all forever…Earthbound.”  

*Guiding light  
** interfaithpowerandlight.org/coolcongregations

             Bette was following the reports about the devastating heatwave gripping much of the nation and the forest fire smoke that was forcing folks to cancel summer activities.  Along with all that gloomy news, however, she kept running across stories filled with interesting fractions, percentages and numbers.  So many in fact, that she decided to call up her old pal, Adam Uppe, to see if he could make sense of it all.

            “So great to have you stop by!” Bette smiled as Adam, with abacus, slide rule, pocket calculator, and sharpened #2 pencil, strode in.  He immediately spied the jumble of newspaper articles and clippings spread across Bette’s kitchen table.  And after a brief look exclaimed, “This is simply fractionating...er, I mean fascinating!”

            “Take a look at this for example.  About 8% of Wisconsin’s farmland is used for growing corn for ethanol.  But if just 1% of that farmland were converted into solar farms, it would generate enough electricity to cover 50% of Wisconsin’s needs.  Some kind of silly mis-match going on there!” he declared.

            “And this other report by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission says that 2/3 of the state’s electrical needs could be generated by rooftop solar on homes that are suitable for solar.”  “Wait a minute,” Bette interrupted, “doesn’t 50% and 2/3 add up to more than 100%?” Whipping out his trusty abacus, Adam made a quick calculation. “It sure does!” he blurted out.
“But we wouldn’t need even that much electricity according to this other report from the U.S. Dept. of Energy.  It says that the typical U.S. home could lower its energy use by 25% by utilizing wise energy efficiencies.  Granted, much of that is heating costs, but the electrical savings would still lower our over-all generation needs,” Adam added.

            “I’ve heard some nay-sayers remark that we’d all have to suffer in order to transition to a clean energy economy.  Huh!… these numbers don’t seem to show much suffering has to happen.  Looks to me, we just need to take the resources we have and put them to work,” Bette Urway reasoned.
 
           Then she glanced once more at the headlines about the heat wave and wildfires. “And there’s no time to lose.  After all, this precious, beautiful blue speck in the vast universe is the only home we’ll ever know.  It’s where we’re all forever…Earthbound.”