Utah Interfaith Power & Light rings the bell

Utah Interfaith Power & Light wants church groups in Utah to chime in on climate change -- literally.

On Oct. 24, the environmentally friendly coalition is encouraging churches to ring their bells at 3:50 p.m. A UIP&L news release said that the ringing of church bells has historically been a means of calling attention to danger or crisis. The time for the bell-ringing is significant because 350 parts per million is what many scientists say is the maximum allowable limit of carbon dioxide in the planetary atmosphere.

Additional information about the bell-ringing event and its symbolic significance can be found online at 350Utah.org.

Author Gerald Lund addresses Daughters of Utah Pioneers

The International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers will hold its annual convention on Friday in Salt Lake City. The one-day event, to be held at the Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel at 150 W. 500 South, is open to the public.

The convention will include book sales, an election meeting, a general meeting and a 12:30 p.m. luncheon. (Luncheon tickets must be purchased in advance. Inquiries can be made at (801) 532-6479, ext. 201.)

Popular author Gerald N. Lund will speak at the convention and sign copies of his books. Lund wrote the nine-volume "The Work and the Glory" series of novels about events in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and recently published "The Undaunted," a novel about the LDS pioneers who traveled to southwestern Utah via the famous Hole in the Rock route.

Additional information about the convention and about the Daughters of Utah Pioneers is available online at www.dupinternational.org.

Noted Jewish author visits Salt Lake City

Award-winning Jewish author Zalman Velvel, will be in Salt Lake City on Sunday for a public appearance at Chabad Lubavitch of Utah, 1760 S. 1100 East, at 7 p.m. In a news release announcing the event, Rabbi Benny Zippel of Chabad Lubavitch Utah said that Velvel's stories are both laugh-out-loud funny and can move a reader to tears.

In addition to his collections of stories, Velvel has written plays and novels and two real-estate books about investing in mobile homes. The author's Web site can be found online at zalmanvelvel.com.