OMNI Blog

Helping the Hurt in Washington County

 in Covid

Here we are in our second week of being a major covid hotspot. How does it feel for you, friends? It’s not all that fun, is it? Several of my Hispanic friends are dealing with covid in their families and today I’m just feeling huge sadness for the anxiety creeping into our lives as this becomes our reality.The NWA New Sanctuary Network has set up a fund to help immigrant families in our area. Especially some who aren’t eligible for the kind of government assistance that most of us receive. My friend Irma Chavez of Arkansas United is orchestrating food […]

Path to a World of Love and Justice

 in Justice

Map to a different world from Tikkun Community… If we want a loving and caring society that truly values the lives of Black and Brown peoples, and all people of color, we need to recognize and come to terms with how our country was founded and the impact of the past policies on the present. We also need to acknowledge and transform present day policies and practices that are discriminatory.The issues addressed in our Path to a World of Love and Justice are all relevant to the issues of institutional and individual racism in our society. Without a fundamental challenge to the […]

Climate Change Forum News

 in Climate / Climate Forum / Current Events

Upcoming Virtual Climate Change Forum July 5 – 1:30 pmRegenerating Earth and Human Life Geoff Olesner will present. A link will follow for a virtual program on Go to MeetingGeoff has worked with the Findhorn Community in Scotland, the Nuclear Information and Resource Center, OMNI, Arkansas Public Policy Panel, Citizen’s Climate Lobby, Wild Foundation, The Institute for Noetic Sciences, and members of the British Commonwealth’s initiative to reverse climate change. He also generates collaborations between climate scientists and individuals with profound intuitive gifts, as part of an unorthodox effort to address the climate crisis with greater insight and innovation.Geoff will focus […]

Native Plants, Green Roofs, and LID

 in Ecology / Environment

Save the Earth From Your Front YardStarting SaturdayVirtual Webinar Native Plants, Green Roofs, and LID Saturday June 13 – 3:00-5:00 pm – link belowOmni Center partners with Arkansas Native Plant Society, Washington County Extension Service, and Ozark Green Roofs to give you ways to create an environmentally friendly place for wildlife, improve soil and water quality, rain gardens, green roofs, lots of other low-impact development inspiration (that’s what LID means), and phytoremediation. To find out what that is, you must attend the webinar.To get the zoom link for this talk, you must register through emailing Jane at jmaginot@uaex.edu. If you […]

Growing New Racial Muscles When We Need Them Most

 in Justice

I think most Omni folks will recognize that US history has a long bloody substream that re-erupted into light this past week. A new public string of deaths at the hands of police that exploded Wednesday with the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  My editorial comment on this fresh tragedy is that policing in America needs a rehaul immediately. Enabling murderers to hide behind a police badge is in no way good for anybody, including good police officers. Minneapolis has a long dirty history of racism and red-lining, but clearly they aren’t the only American city with a problem. It is a horrible […]

Virtual Climate Change Book Forum Climate Impacts of Covid 19

 in Climate / Covid

Sunday June 7 – 1:30 pmon GoToMeeting link below!Welcome, All, to Climate Change Book Forum’s first virtual meeting!We will be looking at the impact of Covid 19:Alberto Torres will review general aspects of the virus that causes Covid-19, what policies different countries have implemented to control the spread of the disease and how those different strategies have worked. Setting the discussion for Shelley to address the social inequality aspects of this pandemic.  Shelley Buonaiuto will present on the disproportionate impact of Covid 19 on low income and People of Color.Richard Tiffany will talk about the impact of Covid 19 specifically on […]

WearOrange Weekend

 in Current Events

Save the date: #WearOrange Wear Orange #WearOrange Weekendstarts June 5Save the date: Friday, June 5, 2020 is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. And we’ll all be wearing orange.In 2013, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed in Chicago. After her death, her friends and family wore orange to honor Hadiya and the hundreds of Americans killed and wounded by gun violence every day. Every year since then, to coincide with Hadiya’s birthday on June 2, we’ve worked to continue their efforts by wearing orange on the first Friday of June and the entirety of that weekend.So, on June 5th we’ll #WearOrange to […]

Come Join Me For A Virtual Hike at Devil’s Eyebrow Natural Area!

 in Native Plants

A super-cool invitation from Eric Fuselier, Environmental Project Manager from Crafton Tull EngineeringAfter the Arkansas Native Plant Society had to cancel our Spring 2020 Meeting (which was to be held in NWA this year), some of us have been working to create some virtual content to share with our members.I created a video (linked below) that gives an introduction to the native plant communities at Devil’s Eyebrow Natural Area in Benton and Carroll Counties. This is the first of what I intend to be a series on the native plant communities in our natural areas.Here’s the link in case anyone […]