From officemanager at svionline.org Wed Apr 24 19:46:44 2013 From: officemanager at svionline.org (Sequatchie Valley Institute) Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:46:44 -0400 Subject: [Sviannouncements] Food for Life 2013 Message-ID: <3A8DE355-D237-40CA-9C66-C9A86C6AA8DC@svionline.org> Food for Life 2013 May 31 - June 1, 2013 For nearly two decades the Sequatchie Valley Institute?s annual ?Food for Life? event at Moonshadow has gathered thinkers, practitioners, dreamers, and eaters alike. On the walls of the ancient Cumberland Plateau, Food for Life is an act of community connecting and opening us to the flow of energy we call food. In a space where being is your criteria for expertise, discussion and presentations range from the practical, common, and scientific to the edgy netherworlds of speculation, mythology, and spirit. Topics covered in these manners include, fermentation and the art of cooking, the joy of eating, nutrition, herbal medicine, crop and animal production and building relationships with the origins of our food. Workshop leaders are drawn from a wide background of expertise and experience ? allowing for a variety in the types of teaching, learning, and interaction. Sessions Cover: food preparation and preservation strategies, including canning, drying, and fermentation. The exploration of various fermentation cultures, such as sour kraut and kim chi, mead, wine and beer making, kombucha, kefir, sour dough, miso, yogurt and cheese making. Our keynote speaker on this topic is Sandor Katz, the well loved southeastern author of ?The Art of Fermentation? and ?Wild Fermentation.? This underground fermentation superhero will be sharing his enthusiasm for & wisdom about various aspects of health and vitality through fermentation. permaculture gardening & edible landscaping, with an emphasis on how to create & live within your own abundant environment plant walks, meeting & greeting our local wild edible & medicinal plants here in the forest, harvesting, discussion and preparation of various medicines metabolic, nutritional, biochemical, evolutionary relationships to health and disease theoretical and political explorations of the social and ecological implications of industrial agriculture as well as the pitfalls of the modern diet & an exploration of various methods of creating sustainable community-based food systems instead of global monopolies a comprehensive kids program encouraging adventurous eating & a real connection & relationship with food. We will be sharing yummy snack ideas that kids prepare & share, food based art projects, ways to play with your food, kids fermentation by making herbal sodas & general fun in the garden & fun with our food. We view kids as the future and helping them to fully understand how important it is to make wise choices about where their food comes from, how it is prepared & the ways in which we share it is imperative to a sustainable & abundant future. the art of bread making, culminating in a pizza party in our outdoor wood fired earthen oven tours of our land and hand built homes, permaculture gardens and sustainable lifestyle games, theatre, live music, sharing circles, and of course, delicious food! All events are intentionally affordable and we ask $25 ? $50 per adult, per day and children are $5-$20 per child per day, which includes lovingly prepared nutritious meals and admission to all workshops and lectures. There is a $10 camping fee for the weekend. Sliding scales are available for those who need it. All Sequatchie Valley Institute members receive a 10% discount. We are not for profit (501c3), and all proceeds go to cover the costs of this and future events. Limited work trade is available and needs to be arranged in advance. Food trade is accepted, but only if the food is nutritionally and ethically sound (i.e., produced in manner that makes our world a better place). All food trade must be approved in advance. Our goal is to deepen community through educating and empowering people in one of the most fundamental aspects of being? FOOD. Family Friendly Schedule! Family Friendly Fun Time! The following classes are offered to give folks of all ages an opportunity to grow. Kid?s welcome! Friday, May 31 2:00-3:30 1st Session Join Allison for a relaxing movement session designed to restore & renew you. 4:00-5:30 2nd Session TBA Saturday, April 1 9:30-12:00 1st Session Play with Yer Food! All are welcome to join Michelle Kimmons for this hands on exploration of food based art, featuring kool-aid water colors, spaghetti sculptures, games, stories & more! 12:00-12:20 Afternoon Circle 12:30-1:30 Lunch 1:30-3:30 2nd Session Lisa will guide a meditative exploration of edible food mandalas to be shared at Bentos!. 3:30 Kids Share Bentos! 4:00-5:00 Gallery Preparations! Kids of all ages are encouraged to create & display their food art masterpieces in the gallery for the evening sharing! 5:00-6:30 Sharing! Participants can share their artistic creations with all as we mingle & relax! Catch a bit of theatre, play a game & relax! 6:30-8:30 Pizza Party! Create your own master piece on our sour dough crusts, then enjoy the unique flavor of our earthen wood-fired oven! Sunday, April 2 8:45-10:00 1st Session Mirel & the Art of Snacks. Kids of all ages will learn about artistic presentation & healthy combinations of yummy food. Participants will share their creations with everyone at the 10:15 Dutch Brunch! 10:-10:15 Brunch Circle 10:15-11:30 Dutch Brunch! Dutch ovens, sprouted breads & more! 11:30-1:30 2nd Session TBA 1:45 Closing Circle Download a flyer to print and post in your community: Sequatchie Valley Institute 1233 Cartwright Loop Whitwell, TN 37397 423-949-5922 patrick at svionline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Screen-Shot-2013-04-16-at-5.07.15-PM.png Type: image/png Size: 48082 bytes Desc: not available URL: From officemanager at svionline.org Thu Apr 25 07:29:31 2013 From: officemanager at svionline.org (Sequatchie Valley Institute) Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:29:31 -0400 Subject: [Sviannouncements] Food for Life Schedule (corrections) Message-ID: <5B5C13B2-6F60-430A-98A4-F81E23BB9BC3@svionline.org> Food for Life 2013 Sequatchie Valley Institute The following classes are offered to give folks of all ages an opportunity to grow. Kid?s welcome! Friday, May 31 2:00-3:30 1st Session Join Allison for a relaxing movement session designed to restore & renew you. 4:00-5:30 2nd Session TBA Saturday, June 1 9:30-12:00 1st Session Play with Yer Food! All are welcome to join Michelle Kimmons for this hands on exploration of food based art, featuring kool-aid water colors, spaghetti sculptures, games, stories & more! 12:00-12:20 Afternoon Circle 12:30-1:30 Lunch 1:30-3:30 2nd Session Lisa will guide a meditative exploration of edible food mandalas to be shared at Bentos!. 3:30 Kids Share Bentos! 4:00-5:00 Gallery Preparations! Kids of all ages are encouraged to create & display their food art masterpieces in the gallery for the evening sharing! 5:00-6:30 Sharing! Participants can share their artistic creations with all as we mingle & relax! Catch a bit of theatre, play a game & relax! 6:30-8:30 Pizza Party! Create your own master piece on our sour dough crusts, then enjoy the unique flavor of our earthen wood-fired oven! Sunday, June 2 8:45-10:00 1st Session Mirel & the Art of Snacks. Kids of all ages will learn about artistic presentation & healthy combinations of yummy food. Participants will share their creations with everyone at the 10:15 Dutch Brunch! 10:-10:15 Brunch Circle 10:15-11:30 Dutch Brunch! Dutch ovens, sprouted breads & more! 11:30-1:30 2nd Session TBA 1:45 Closing Circle Sequatchie Valley Institute 1233 Cartwright Loop Whitwell, TN 37397 423-949-5922 officemanager at svionline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From officemanager at svionline.org Mon Apr 29 22:52:37 2013 From: officemanager at svionline.org (Sequatchie Valley Institute) Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:52:37 -0400 Subject: [Sviannouncements] Help by May 3/Sequoyah Nuclear permits are out of date!!! References: Message-ID: Forwarded from a favored friend, Chuck: Please consider joining the fight for a nuclear-free Tennessee Valley. Remember, it's tornado time, and we very nearly had a disaster during a previous season in which a Cat-5 twister narrowly missed Sequoyah's sister plant in Athens, AL. Begin forwarded feelings: > From: Charles White > Subject: Help by May 3/Sequoyah Nuclear permits are out of date!!! > Date: April 29, 2013 2:53:44 PM EDT > To: Sequatchie Valley Institute > > Hey MOOnshadow Family! > > Help us contest the reliscensing of the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant located in Soddy-Daisy, TN. > > -Chuck > SEND YOUR COMMENTS BY MAY 3, 2013 > We need to retire this old, dangerous nuclear plant and invest in energy efficiency and renewables. YOU CAN HELP!!! > > ? ONLINE: http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC?2013?0037. Click "Comment Now" to enter your comments. > > ? MAIL comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWB?05?B01M, > > U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555 0001. > > ? FAX comments:RADB at 301?492?3446 > > > > Nuclear Regulatory Commission: > > > It is important that TVA retire the permits on Sequoyah 1 & 2. The permits are already 10 years past their original (recommended) termination dates. We require that all nuclear material be interred in casks and left on site. Monies must be used to develop safer means of energy harvesting. > > These Ice Condenser Reactors are out of date and dangerous. By no means will MOX fuel be made at these Tennessee Plants that are so close to Chattanooga. We look forward to a decline in Leukemia rates after all the spent fuel is in casks. > > Thank you for retiring the permits, > > > Sign here: > > Print Name: > > Address: > > Contact: > > > Thanks to a Mr. Stewart Horn for some more info for use during comments: > Issues to be Raised Re Sequoyah License Extension > > 1. A major issue concerning the license extension for the Sequoyah facility is TVA?s recent citing by the NRC concerning the use of thousands of ?Non-Compliant? replacement parts in TVA nuclear reactors during their lifetimes. ?Non-compliant? replacement parts means that the parts don?t meet the rigorous operational, environmental, and safety requirements and regulations established by the NRC and it?s predecessors as necessary for use in nuclear reactors. > > 2. A related issue of grave concern for these aged reactors is the fact that TVA was recently cited by the NRC for failure to perform many ?Corrective Actions? that were identified in their corrective action programs. TVA identified the problems, but often failed to follow through and take the corrective actions necessary to solve the problems. TVA was cited by the NRC for having an insufficient ?Safety Culture? pervasive throughout their management. These issues pose very serious safety concerns for extending the life of these aging nuclear reactors that are coming to the end of their design-to-lifetimes. Last year, there was a fire in the control room of a Brown?s Ferry reactor. The part that caught fire, was supposed to be replaced after 8 years. The part had been in place for something like 32 years, and should have been replaced four times before the fire occurred. This is a flaming example of why extending the life of these reactors 50% beyond their design-to-lifetime poses serious threats to the many people living dangerously close to the Sequoyah nuclear facility. This includes the city of Chattanooga whose downtown is only 12 miles downstream of Sequoyah. > > 3. Another serious issue related to extending the life of these aging reactors is TVA?s poor operational track record over the life of TVA reactors. Brown?s Ferry Nuclear Facility had a very poor operational track record at all three of it?s boiling water reactors during the first 10 to 15 years of operation. There were a high number of Reportable Occurrences and what was considered at the time to be a very high number of SCRAMS (automatic shutdowns) of all three reactors. A noted nuclear expert recently stated that Brown?s Ferry Unit 1 had the worst operational track record of any nuclear reactor in the United States. The negative impact of SCRAMS is that the process cools the reactor far more quickly than occurs in a normal shutdown. This thermally shocks the reactor containment structure imposing much more severe internal stresses on it?s structure than result from a normal planned reactor shutdown. These thermally induced severe stresses reportedly weaken the containment structure and cause ?Premature Aging? of the structure. Thus, all three reactor containment structures at Browns Ferry may have been prematurely aged during their early use and may now be in a weakened state. We aren?t familiar with Sequoyah?s operational track record, but it is likely to be similar to Brown?s Ferry, because they both operate under the same management previously noted for it?s insufficient safety culture. If they have poor performance records, their containment structure has experienced many SCRAMS and has potentially been prematurely aged and is in a weakened state as a result. Because Sequoyah is an ice-condenser design, it has a much weaker containment structure than do boiling water reactors, and is more likely to be severely impacted by excessive SCRAMS. TVA should reveal the number of SCRAMS that have occurred over the lifetimes of Sequoyah reactors. It is reported that each reactor was given a maximum number of SCRAMS that it could not operate beyond. The public deserves to know what the SCRAM limits are and how many SCRAMS have occurred at each Sequoyah reactor. > > 4. A related issue is the fact that TVA has recently cut a giant hole in the containment structure to replace the steam generators and as a result may have weakened the already fragile containment structure of these ice-condenser reactors . It is unknown how severe the stresses were that traveled through-out the uncut part of the structure when the giant hole was cut. These could have greatly reduced the structure?s ability to maintain containment. Prior to extending the life by 50%, thorough detailed non-destructive testing should be completed on the whole containment structure to determine it?s ability to adequately contain the very dangerous radioactivity from humanity and the environment and operate safely for an extra 20 years. > > > P.S. TVA will be required by the citizens of Tennessee to redirect the funds being taken from our electric bills into developing cleaner technology: sun come up solar, passive solar, insulation, smart grid, small wind, slow rivers. There are better ways to turn the wheel of energy generation. This generation will have it their way! > > P.S.S. If anyone is interested in gaining standing TO FORMALLY PROTEST as a citizen within a 50 mile radius of the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant aka Chattanooga, please see attachment entitled "50-mile map Sequoyah" for more info. WE NEED YOU!!! > > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Nuclear_TN_Valley.png Type: image/png Size: 592745 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Sequoyah fact sheet 130403.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 419068 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 50-mile map Sequoyah.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 307630 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From officemanager at svionline.org Tue Apr 30 23:11:53 2013 From: officemanager at svionline.org (Sequatchie Valley Institute) Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2013 23:11:53 -0400 Subject: [Sviannouncements] Fwd: QUICKLY HELP oppose Sequoyah nuke plant license extension References: Message-ID: <75949F44-0689-4A84-880B-31CE4DEEEE50@svionline.org> If you've read the previous email, you may be interested in following through with a formal Declaration of Standing. Please consider doing so if you are within the effected area (see attached map). Begin forwarded progress: > From: Charles White > Subject: Re: QUICKLY HELP oppose Sequoyah nuke plant license extension > Date: April 30, 2013 6:38:39 PM EDT > > It seems I foolishly forgot to attach the needed files. Here they are! The deadline is tommorrow. I hope you can help! > > Best, > > Chuck > > On Fri, Apr 26, 2013 at 2:24 PM, Charles White wrote: > Friends, > > > > I am sending this to you because I know that all you or someone you know have home residences within the 50 mile radius they describe below. Please read further for more info. It would BE GREAT if you could send in the letter for standing and pass this on to others from your home areas who might also do this for us. I am cc'ing Gretel of BEST/MATRR and Sandy with BREDL in case you have any other questions. THANKS! DEADLINE IS MAY FIRST, 2013! > > -Charles White > > We have an urgent action for members who live WITHIN 50 MILES of the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant, which is 18 miles north of Chattanooga. If you (and/or friends) are concerned about a 20 year extension to the operating license, we hope you will sign the enclosed Declaration of Standing, which authorizes our parent organization, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) to represent you (as a member) in contesting this 50% extension of the plant's 40 year design-life-span. Many nuclear engineers consider the ice-condenser design of Sequoyah and Watts Bar to be the most dangerous of all reactors for several reasons, not least of which is the thin containment walls which become brittle with age (to save money, they are only half as thick as other reactor containment walls). > > To add your name as a concerned citizen, please open the enclosed PDF <50-mile map Sequoyah.pdf> file to see if you (or friends) live within the radius. If you do, please make sure your membership is current (see below), print the Declaration of Standing, fill in your name, address, date and signature, then either scan and email, or FAX, or mail it to arrive by May 1, 2013 (MayDay) to: > > BREDL > PO Box 88 > Glendale Springs, NC 28629 > Email: BREDL at skybest.com > Fax: 336-982-2954 > > > We really need your show of support for this action, so now is the time to renew or become a bonafide member of BEST/MATRR, which is our local TN Valley chapter of the 50 chapter Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League ? so you automatically become a member of BREDL, too. Membership fees are on a sliding scale for affordability, beginning at $5, but we send $20 per member to BREDL each year, so if you can afford $20 or more, please pay accordingly and we will certainly put it to good use, as volunteers working to keep our valley energy safe and clean. Please pay your tax deductible membership via PayPal from our Donate page @ http://donatejoinbestbredl.blogspot.com > or mail a check to: > BEST/MATRR > c/o G. Morgan, Treasurer > P.O. Box 241 > Scottsboro, AL 35768 > > We have worked tirelessly this spring: spearheading the Fukushima Fallouts in March, keeping our radiation monitoring project going strong, finding scientists for our advisory board, speaking and presenting evidence at NRC meetings for Browns Ferry safety violations as well as Sequoyah relicensing, speaking at the TVA board meeting, providing an information booth for multiple Earth Day events in the valley, and also questioning misinformation at colleges at presentations by a pro-nuclear lobbying group (NEI) in a propaganda program called Clean Energy America @ http://www.cleanenergy4america.org. Lately, there has been a push by nuclear industry lobbying groups and proponents (including the new TVA CEO) to claim that nuclear fits in the category of 'clean energy and renewables', which it certainly does not. In fact, both Websters and Random House Dictionaries define the word "clean" as "free from pollutants" and "not radioactive", so we are fighting this New Speak propaganda as you can read in our new Letter to the TVA. > > We thank you for your continued interest and support, and for all the good you do. > > BEST wishes, > Gretel > > Gretel Johnston > for BEST/MATRR > best at matrr.org > > Bellefonte Efficiency & Sustainability Team (BEST) > Mothers Against Tennessee River Radiation (MATRR) > > MATRR.org - Because It Matters > > > This e-mail and files transmitted with it may contain PRIVILEGED or CONFIDENTIAL information and should be read or used only by the intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error, please click Reply and purge this email and all attachments. Thank you. > > > Encls: <50-mile map Sequoyah,pdf>, > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Standing declaration_Sequoyah_blank.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 44469 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 50-mile map Sequoyah.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 307630 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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