March 27th: No Forum. Happy Easter!

Next forum will be held on April 3rd.

March 20th Panel presentation by International Students from Whatcom Community College

A group of Whatcom Community College students from Yemen, Pakistan, Ghana, Egypt, and Indonesia will present information about their culture and their countries followed by a Q & A session. The students are here for one year on a scholarship from the US Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. This will be an enlightening presentation! These students are highly motivated to change the world. Hosted by Shasta Pettijohn.

Check out Northwest Community College Initiative for more information about this unique program.

Contact Shasta Pettijohn if you have questions. 

March 13th End of Life Options: Washington’s Death with Dignity Law

End of Life Options: Washington’s Death with Dignity Law

Washington State, along with Oregon, leads our nation in End-of-Life choices for the terminally ill.  In 2008 Initiative 1000, better known as the “Death With Dignity Act,” passed with nearly 60% of the popular vote. Since then, End of Life Washington (formerly Compassion & Choices of Washington) has stewarded the law, providing a well-trained bank of Client Support Volunteers to counsel Washington residents interested in exploring their end-of-life options. This forum will highlight the many services provided by End of Life Washington, with particular emphasis on our state’s Death With Dignity Law.

Sally McLaughlin  MA, is the Interim Executive Director (formerly the Community Education Director) for End of Life Washington and travels the state giving presentations on the many services provided by the non-profit organization: the Advance Directive for Health Care, the Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia Mental Health Advance Directive, Washington State’s Death With Dignity Law, as well as a wide array of end-of-life choices.

March 6th "The Management of Water" Presentation by Marian Beddill

After air, water is the second most critical requirement for life and it is measured both by quantity and quality. Humans and most animals need water every day and few can survive more than three or four days without it. Plants also need a regular supply to their roots.

The purity of the water we drink also is essential. Toxic chemicals can easily slip into our bodies when carried by water. So humanity and all ecosystems need a steady, dependable, clean supply of water. As long as they get it, hardly anybody pays attention. But when water systems fail, as they have in Flint, Michigan recently, the people affected are understandably enraged.

What is the regular management and pre-planning work that needs to be done to ensure that our water supplies are safe and accessible? Who does it? We the people must play a larger role in this, and we need to be informed.

Marian Beddill’s full-time career was substantially about the management of water. As a volunteer spokesperson and advocate in Bellingham, Marian has been instrumental through the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship in caring for the earth to enable a safe, stable, sustainable life for future generations, in being just and fair in her dealings with other people, in guarding the integrity of our election systems, in being involved in political action, and in communication as it pertains to the ways folks exchange information and work to get things done

February 28th: Cultural Ecology with WWU professor Gigi Berardi

Walking in 6 worlds: Research and writing about the "other" and about yourself....

Berardi speaks as a journalist,  the author of over 300 nonfiction articles and reviews. Such training and experience goes hand in hand with her research experience in remote areas (Alaska, coastal Kenya,  central America, rural New York and Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and with the Anabaptist "plain people"), and now, teaching in the Highlands of Mexico. A reference point for her is her seven years of work in a tribal natural resources program at Northwest Indian College. Berardi is currently chair of the Department of Environmental Studies at Huxley College. Twelve years ago, she received Western Washington University's diversity award.

Gigi Berardi received her BA in biology with high honors from John Muir College, University of California San Diego and her MS and PhD in Resources, Policy, and Planning from Cornell University. She holds a MA in dance (now, World Arts and Cultures) from UCLA. She taught at The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, from 1994-1995, and is now professor and project director (after seven years as chair of the Department of Environmental Studies, a position she again holds) at Huxley College, Western Washington University, where she focuses on community vulnerabilities and cultural ecology. Her research and writing includes study and review of Food and Farm Systems, Native American Studies and Tribal Education, and Performing Arts.