March 7 2021 — March 13, 2021

BREAKFAST RESUMES AT

THE INN! COMMUNITY LIFE

MEAT AND CLIMATE CHANGE

In his book ‘How To Prepare for Climate Change – A Practical Guide to Sur-viving the Chaos” David Pogue describes how our passion for meat impacts the climate.

"The typical American eats 222 pounds of meat a year; twice the amount of protein recommended by the USDA. Every 4 pounds eaten releases as much greenhouse gas as one person’s share of a plane flight from New York City to London.

"In the U.S. we raise, kill and eat three hundred million cows a year to satisfy this demand for meat. The digestive systems of cows and sheep contain microorganisms which digest their food, breaking it down into the nutrients their bodies need and ”nasty greenhouse gases they don’t.” The animals each burp 12 gallons of gas an hour and what they don’t burp remains methane in their manure which is many times worse than the CO2 from fossil fuels.”

Thus cutting back our meat intake is a small but important contribution to slowing the changes to our climate from greenhouse gases. Here at Lathrop the Inn kitchen is offering more vegetarian options on the dinner menus.

Each plate of food costs between $8 and $10. Portion sizes are clearly too generous for the resi-dent population and there’s a lot of waste. Vegetarian dishes are less expensive than meat so eating more of them will improve the Kitchen budget balance too. And portions will be smaller.

Chef Jack Curley requests more feedback from residents as to their taste preferences, portion siz-es, and recipe suggestions. A note in his cubby is always welcome.

ADDENDUM TO LAST WEEK’S SMITH

COLLEGE STUDIES ARTICLE:

Lathrop could be the beneficiary of an exciting program of the Smith College Engineering Depart-ment’s Design Clinic. Roger Howe, a member of Lathrop’s Climate Change Responders Committee, suggested the project to his daughter-in-law, Susannah Howe, senior lecturer in the engineering de-partment who directs the Design Clinic, to see if her students would be interested in taking on the Lathrop project. Current Lathrop Townhome residents were contacted to find volunteers willing to collect energy consumption data from their homes for the Design Clinic students to work with.

Keeping this 'all in the family', Susannah Howe is Hilltop resident Dianne Hobbs’ daughter. A team of Smith College faculty, staff and alums recently received first place in an international competi-tion created by Mass General Hospital to design a ventilator for use in treating Covid-19 pa-tients. An economical, easily deployable ventilator could help meet hospitals' urgent need for more ventilators. More details may be found in the 7/17/2020 Daily Hampshire Gazette.

The LCCRC members are grateful to the Design Clinic for agreeing to undertake this research.

COMMUNITY LIFE

Riddle: When can one have something and nothing in one's pocket at the same time?

SMALL ITEMS MAKE A BIG

DIFFERENCE

The Northampton Survival Center

needs toiletry items:

bar soap

deodorant

shampoo

tooth paste

Purchase these items however you shop and place them in the bin in the Meet House by

March 26. Together we can make a difference!

MEETING HOUSE SCHEDULE MARCH 7— MARCH 13 Please continue to make reservations at the desk in Easthampton 413-586-0006 to use the Fitness Room, Art Studio and the library.

Sun. March 7 2:00 Movie with Dave: Coming Home

Mon. March 8 Trash and Recycling pick up 9:30-2:45 Limited Access to the Fitness Center, Art Room and the Library 2:00 Healthy Bones and Balance on ZOOM

Tues. March 9 10:00-2:00 Fitness with Jen Call her at 437-5893 to schedule a session.

Wed. March 10 9:30-2:45 Limited Access to the Fitness Center, Art Room and the Library 1:00 Rob Olmsted Office Hours 2:00 Handicraft group on ZOOM. contact Carol Neubert cpneubert@gmail.com

3:30 Walk Around. Go Left!

Thurs. March 11 10:00-2:00 Fitness with Jen Call her at 437-5893 to schedule a session. 1:00-3:00 Suzie Dickson-Moyer Office Hours 2:00 Healthy Bones and Balance on ZOOM

Fri. March 12 9:30-2:00 Limited Access to the Fitness Center, Art Room and the Library

Sat. March 13 2:00 Walk Around. Go Right

MOVIES WITH DAVE Sunday, March 7, 2:00: The Straight Story A retired farmer and widower in his 70s, Alvin Straight learns one day that his distant brother Lyle has suffered a stroke and may not recover. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. Then he hits on the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

NORTH HAPPENINGS

Riddle Answer: When there is

a hole in it.