Through her work and personal example, WP board member Jennifer Boyd integrates environmental concerns into her approach to money and spirituality.

 

For 21 years, Jennifer has been producing, directing and writing award-winning documentaries for television and non-profit organizations. In 2003 she completed an Emmy-winning five-part television series, Connecticut’s Energy Future. Produced for Connecticut Public Television and narrated by actor Ed Asner, the series focused on energy issues facing the state and the nation and examined renewable energy options for the future.

As a result of her research for this documentary, Jennifer has altered her own consumption of resources. Jennifer's family downsized their lifestyle dramatically, moving from a 3,900 sq.ft. home to 2200 sq. ft. of space in a walkable community near groceries, libraries and schools in the center of West Hartford, Connecticut. They added a small solar panel, purchased the highest efficiency boiler for home heating, used low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints when remodeling, and changed the light bulbs to compact fluorescents. "If every household in the United States replaced one standard light bulb with a compact fluorescent, enough pollution would be prevented to equal removing one million cars from the road," says Jennifer.

Jennifer needed to build a home office for her production work. In doing so, they used recycled flooring, and insulated at a level well beyond code requirements. The result was a cozy, comfortable space that stays cool without air conditioning and warm with minimal heating.

Jennifer is also taking advantage of a new clean energy option that may be available in your community. In April 2005, Connecticut’s major utility companies began offering residential customers the option to choose all or part of their electricity to come from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, landfill gas and low-impact hydro (water) power. Customers still receive electricity as usual from the power grid, but the power company buys the power from the designated green sources.

(left) Widows display baskets made to support themselves.

As you receive this newsletter, a delegation from Women's Perspective will be traveling to Kenya to capture on film the life and work of women leaders in Africa.

The documentary,The Other Side of Tragedy, will highlight extraordinary women, such as Bernadette Otieno's Mothers of St. Rita in Kisumu, Kenya and Margaret Auma of Springs Ministries, who works to empower widows, and Achola Pala Okeyo of ICIPE, among others. WP board member Jennifer Boyd will film the the documentary with the assistance of board member Kate Emery.

We are seeking financial support to complete the film, which will be shown on public television. A generous benefactor has pledged a matching grant of $5,000, which we will receive if we can raise $5,000 in other contributions for the film. To help, please contact us for more information.

Woman-to-Woman, Child-to-Child
In response to previous newsletters, ten readers have begun a personal correspondence with five village women who are taking care of HIV/AIDS orphans in Kisumu, Kenya. Please contact us if you would like to participate.

Six school children at Fairfield Wood Middle School in Fairfield, CT, under the direction of teacher Eve Sher, are sending letters and photos to six village children. The Women's Perspective delegation will deliver the children's messages along with books and school supplies. We will bring back to the U.S. letters and photos of the African children.

The goal of these initiatives is to foster personal relationships in which participants will share their personal lives and hopes for a better world.

It's not too early to plan to join Women's Perspective when we will travel to Kenya in November 2006 to attend the International HIV/AIDS Widows Conference. For information, contact us at 203-336-2238 or email us.

 

"Gather the women, save the world" is a message from Mother Earth, Mother Goddess, Mother archetype. The words evoke an intuitive recognition, a wisdom whose time has come.

Jean Bolen's new book is an urgent message from Mother to her daughters, a call for women to end conflict and violence in the world. Bolen's poetic polemic explores the psychological, spiritual and scientific aspects of women as collaborators for change. Urgent Message from Mother offers a unique combination of visionary thinking and practical action. Written in lyrical language that inspires, this book seeks to galvanize the still untapped power of women coming together to change the world.

Listen to your Mother; she is calling.

A basic membership of $30 per year will help us develop workshops and create bold new ways of educating women to become financially confident while maintaining their integrity. We need you to support this effort. Whether or not you become a member, you will still receive our email newsletter.

We are deeply grateful to readers who have responded so generously to our Wish List of items needed to further the work of Women's Perspective! We have traveled this summer and fall on airline frequent flyer miles, and donors have given us graphic design services, lateral file cabinets, a full size copier with collating capability, and funds to buy a new computer and printer.

We have experienced the truth of the phrase, "Ask and you shall receive," and we are most grateful. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

We continue to need airline frequent flyer miles for travel to workshop sites around the country and for our travel to Africa. If you can donate airline miles, please email us.