February 15, 2010

While in California

My dear friend Rob Weinberg and one of our benefactors of Olympia Zen Center is in the process of being received into hospice in Oakland/Berkeley, California. In this choice, he felt deeply empowered and looked forward to some days of joyful living with his wife Linda from their new home in the Berkeley hills. The lookout from their deck to the west across the Bay to San Francisco and the coastal range is awesome.

I want to let everyone know about the portal website on climate change that Rob worked on and made truly useful with his friend Jim Callahan. The website is used by about 70,000 people every month. Millions have accessed it since it has been available. The address is:

www.climatechangeeducation.org.

The site was created by Jim and with the collaboration of Rob's masterful insight, range of imagination, technical knowhow, was developed into a teaching tool for primary and secondary teachers as a resource on global warming and climate change. The site is also important for a lay person too, for parents, children, scientists, anyone who wants to know anything and everything with up to date and reliable information and sources. It has become THE single source for information on global warming and climate change with information on countries around the world.

Rob's master's thesis at Berkeley was in the area of ecology and education. He joined the department of ecology in technical support after graduation and has been an important part of the team in the UCB department.

I spent most of the week in the hospital with Rob and Linda. The Kaiser Oakland facility is a beehive of activity. It's unimaginable how they track the number of patients and their treatments. At the same time with all the tension, the people, the staff, are most caring and considerate. They work under tremendous stress and yet they truly focus on the moment. Great nurses, docs, caregivers, support staff.

Rob was post surgery and quite weak. He did get up for short walks as the week went on and his humor returned as he took his life in hand and made preparations for hospice. He'll go home in a few days with full support of the hospice team and his family and friends. Please email me if you want to send a card and I'll give you his address. Even if you haven't met Rob personally, if you access the website he worked on you have to be grateful for what he provided in education. People from Olympia Zen Center can send a word of gratitude for his support at our founding and then his loyal support over the years. He loves to get cards. Please keep him in good thought and in your prayer. My email: eidosan@olympiazencenter.org