Initiatives to reduce the use of fossil fuels and preserve the planet are plentiful and are being accomplished in homes, places of worship and through various community endeavors. Enjoy your conversations and ideas for individual and/or mutual actions over a meal that includes a solar cooked dish or dishes.

This Dinner Theme reflects Earth Charter Principle 7b: Act with restraint and efficiency when using energy, and rely increasingly on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. (Earth Charter principle 7b)

Guests

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Family, Friends, Green Energy knowledgeable folks from the local utility or community

Setting

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At-Home setting; Picnic in Backyard or the Park; Faith Community Dining Area

Tablescape

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Arrange Toy pinwheels and scatter among a string Coleman Green Lantern LED Lights in center of table ($17 at Amazon.com.

Art/Music

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• Rap about Renewable Energy with Lyrics by Kathy Baum http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NY1vuNJKQs
• Big Yellow Taxi Joni Mitchell – Lyrics at http://www.grinningplanet.com/review-lyrics/joni-mitchell-big-yellow-taxi-lyrics.htm

Menu

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• This menu was served by village women in Zambia Africa to members of the Earth Charter US Board of Directors who were visiting Project COPE funded by ECUS to improve health in the village through improved sanitation, water purification and solar cooking. (www.earthcharterus.org).
• Isabi Lya Mutununu) Roast Mutununu Fish
• Sampu–Bean Leaves in Groundnut Sauce
• Solar Cooked English Cabbage with Tomatoes and Onions
• Umusweswe Wa Kanyense with Musunso (Onion Sauce and cowpeas)
• Nshima ( a staple of Zambians Meals made from Maize)

Modified recipes of the above dishes for USA at end of page following “Toast”

• For more recipes go to http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Recipes

Solar Cooker Info: A lightweight, panel style solar cooker made of cardboard and foil that folds to 13”x13”x2” for convenient storage. $25. http://www.solarcookers.org/catalog/ OR make your own solar cooker—it’s easy: http://solarcooking.org/plans/cookit.htm

Conversation Opener

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Have you thought about or used your bike or public transportation to go to work, doctor’s office, school or some other destination not recreation oriented? Please share with your dinner-mates your experiences or ingenious ways that might entice you to do so such as having Angelina Jolie or Johnny Depp riding with you; hot fudge sundae breaks; or having the music of Yo Yo Ma, Jay Z, or Neil Diamond piped into your ears. Or on another topic perhaps closer to home, have you ever used condoms for a cause? Designed to hold up under deep drilling, 20% of the condoms’ proceeds go to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund. http://oilspillcondoms.com/ Why or why not?

Questions to be Asked after a Glass of Wine

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According to the U.S. Department of Energy, as of 2010 fossil fuels accounted for approximately 85% of the energy consumed in the United States. A 2008 report by the Stanford Graduate School of Business noted that, barring the discovery of new oil reserves, the world will exhaust its current supply of oil within 40 years.

• What is the highest price you paid at the gas pump in the past couple of years and how did it affect you or your budget? It appears that American auto makers are getting the energy efficient message. For example, Ford’s hybrids are getting about 40 mpg and General Motors Chevy Volt getting about 35 miles on its battery. Share yours (or friend or co-worker’s) experience of owning/driving an energy efficient car.

Actions

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Personal Initiatives to Reduce Use of Fossil Fuels:

• Have you ever thought of turning your funky old sneakers into a solar lamp? Or how about a Do It Yourself Epic Pedal-Powered Snow Plow? (You can check these and other ideas out at http://green.thefuntimesguide.com)
• Share whatever measures you have taken in your home to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
• Contact local utility company for free Energy Audit on your home. Share any knowledge or experiences you know about from folks who have done this.
• Cook with solar cooker when you can. It’s like using a slow cooker and saves energy. Discuss your experiences if you solar cooked a dish for this dinner.
• Consider biking to work or organizing a carpool.
• Find out about energy efficient home mortgages and other tips for energy efficient home. 3 min. video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onEiaK94Kr0&feature=relatedt

Places of Worship Initiatives:

• California Interfaith Power & Light, a faith based organization founded by Reverend Sally Bingham in San Francisco, minister of Grace Cathedral, concerned with places of worship being faithful stewards through the promotion of energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy. Their Regeneration Project includes educating congregations and helping them buy energy efficient lights and appliances, providing energy audits and implementing the recommendations, encouraging people to buy more fuel efficient vehicles and to drive less, supporting renewable energy development through “greentags,” working on large-scale renewable energy installation projects such as rooftop solar and advocating for sensible energy and global warming policies.
• Share any green practices your place of worship may be doing.
• Consider how your faith community might expand their practices in the areas described in the Regeneration Project.
• Each year California Interfaith Power & Light awards Energy Oscars to congregations that are engaged in alternative energy. For 2011 winners and examples go to: http://interfaithpower.org/2011/08/5th-annual-energy-oscars-save-the-date-november-15th-2011/

Big Energy Initiative Examples

• Benedictine Sisters at the Sacred Heart Monastery have been pioneers of wind energy and installed two wind turbines on their property in North Dakota. http://www.sacredheartmonastery.com/our_community/wind-energy.php
• Green Sanctuary Manual http://www.uua.org/documents/congservices/greensanctuary/gs_manual.pdf

This is a guide from the Unitarian Universalist Church of how it is greening its places of worship.

Community Endeavors To Spark Ideas for Action:


• California, Florida and George have adopted building codes that encourage white-roof installations for commercial buildings. Folks are also doing this on their own homes. Permanently increasing the solar reflectance of urban roofs and pavements worldwide would offset 11 billion car-years of emission. This is equivalent to taking the world’s approximately 600 million cars off the road for 18 years. You might even consider having a block party in your neighborhood to help your neighbors paint one another’s roofs—a modern barn raising happening. http://coolcolors.lbl.gov/assets/docs/fact-sheets/Global-cooling-2pp.pdf
• MinWind Turbine Farms’ Cooperative is composed of farmers and community members that own and manage rural wind generation facilities. Community members earned more from those wind resources than if they had rented the land to absentee-owned power generation companies. http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/filter_detail.asp?itemid=2151
• Gainesville, Florida was successful in its efforts in 2009 to establish a Feed-in Tariff’s (FITs) policy that guarantee that producers of renewable energy, from a family home to a large business, can sell their power to a utility for an established price over a specific period of time. Presently, 65 countries promote renewable energy, with FITs established in 45 countries and regions. FITs bring financial security, remove price risk, and guarantee return on investment – exactly the support that investors and community power projects need.” http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/02/gainesville-solar-feed-in-tariff-a-done-deal; http://www.earthaction.org/feedin_tariff/
• A Step By Step Guide for Community Energy Initiatives for North America has been developed by Ontario Sustainable Association and covers Community Wind & Solar, and Residential Solar and provides a model business plan for obtaining funding. http://www.cec.org/Storage/88/8461_Guide_to_a_Developing_a_RE_Project_en.pdf

Closing Toast

“We are smarter than a dinosaur, but we will end up in a museum if we don’t prove it.” -Madeline Albright Former Secretary of State & Ambassador to the UN

MODIFIED RECIPES FOR ZAMBIAN DISHES

Solar Cooked Cabbage with tomatoes and onions

Order solar cooker or construct own

1 large head of cabbage chopped

1 pint of cherry tomatoes chopped

1 large onion chopped

Salt to taste

Allow 6 hours (between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. is best) for ingredients to cook.

Roast Grouper

Recipes serve 8

3 1/2lb fresh grouper or any dense white fish

Rub with olive oil, cajun spice,

Sprinkle with minced garlic, salt

Bake in 400 degree oven for 40 minutes or until it flakes

Sprinkle with juice of one lemon and chopped parsley before serving

Spinach with peanut sauce

2 bags fresh spinach

Oil

Ground peanuts (about 1 cup) Groundnuts are same as peanuts.

Salt

½ cup vegetable broth

Heat oil in large pan, brown grounded nuts, add broth and steam spinach until wilted—sprinkle with salt

Black eye peas in tomato, ginger sauce

This recipe takes from the Cowpeas Sauce and the Onion Sauce Zambian recipes to resemble dish author had in Mansa village in Zambia. Black eye peas are same in appearance as cow peas.

4 14oz cans of black eye peas rinsed and drained

3 tbsp tomato paste

¾ cup brown sugar ( or to taste)

3 tbsp oil

3 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp curry

Onion large chopped

1 pint of cherry tomatoes chopped

Salt

White pepper

Saute onion in oil until soft in large sauce pan, add garlic, curry and ginger and cook one minute; Add sugar, tomato paste and cook two minutes; add beans, tomatoes, white pepper and salt; simmer until sauce thickens—add vegetable broth to thin if needed.

Nshima

Nshima is staple of Zambian diet and is made from maize or cassava root. It is served with other dishes like fish, chicken, or vegetables known as “relishes”. Zambians take big helpings but it is very filling. A small ball of Nshima is taken in one hand and molded into a small scoop with the thumb and then used to scoop up a small serving of one of the relishes. It is used in place of forks and scoops are made for every bite of food.

Nshima ground maize but masa, which can be found in Mexican section of supermarkets, also comes from corn and is very similar to maize when cooked.

Nshima Recipe supplied by George Sherman, Earth Charter US Project COPE Co-Coordinator

“I put a bunch of masa into cold water, then brought it to boiling while stirring vigorously with a whip. I put in more, very slowly, beating it. when it had the thickness of clay like I remember fromZambia, I took it off the stove and started “paddling canoe style” with a wooden spatula. I also put in a bit more masa until it had the consistency of nshima. Then I dumped it out of the pan and onto a plate.”

Recipes from Zambian Cookbook by Sylvia C. Banda and Hector H. Banda published by CARE International in Zambia

Bean Leaves in Groundnut Sauce Serves 6

Ingredients:

1.5g fresh beans leaves

400g pounded groundnuts

150g tomato

50g onion

Salt

Water

Utensils:

1 saucepan/clay pot

1 knife

1 wooden spoon

1 bowl

1 chopping board

Method

1. Wash hands
2. Pluck leaves from the stems and wash in cold water
3. put in sauce pan, bring to boil and cook 15 minutes
4. make groundnut paste and add to the vegetables
5. Add salt and keep stirring for 20 minutes to allow groundnuts to cook
6. Add chopped tomato and onion and immediately remove from fire
7. Stand 5 minutes and stir to blend the mixture together

Onion Sauce Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 Kg onion

200g potatoes

200g carrot

200ml chicken stock

50ml olive oil

10g mixed herb

10 gram ginger

10g brown sugar

10 gr white pepper

5 g garlic

Salt

Water

Method

1. Wash hands
2. Wash all washable ingredients and cut them into dices
3. Heat oil and seat onion, garlic, carrots and potato until sof
4. Add mixed herb, white pepper, garlic, brown sugar and salt
5. Add stock and simmer 20 minutes or until everything blends together well.

Cowpeas Sauce Serves 6

Ingredients:

500g cowpeas

100g onion

100g tomato

150ml cooking oil

200ml chicken stock

10g local curry

20g honey

Salt

Water

Method

1. wash hands
2. Sort and wash cowpeas
3. Put in saucepan and boil 20 minutes until skin swells up
4. Remove from heat, drain the water and remove the skin
5. Put cowpeas back in saucepan and cook until tender
6. Mash the cowpeas, add cooking oil and all ingredients
7. Add stock bit by bit until desired texture.

Roast Mutununu Fish Serves 6

Ingredients

6 pieces of mutununu fish

50g grated onion and garlic

10g fish spice

20ml olive oil

10g parsley

10ml lemon juice

Salt
Water

Solar Cooked English Cabbage is same as in Modified Recipes

Nshima Maize Meal

Serves 6

1 kg maize meal

2 liters water

Method

1. Wash hands
2. Put the water in soup pot and bring to boil
3. Make the maize meal into a paste and add to the boiled water to make a thick porridge
4. Cook the porridge for 20 minutes and add mealie meal bit by bit
5. Stir until it is soft and cooked
6. Simmer for 10 minutes to allow moisture to evaporate and stir again

Serve warm with any relish