Climate Impacts Day – Event Review

Our event for Climate Impacts Day on Saturday (5/5/12) was small, but successful. Cindy Haynes of C. C. Blooms, who so generously allowed us to gather at her shop, was home sick, and we were bummed not to have her with us.  But we were joined by Coyote (2nd from right) who is backpacking along the east coast, and walked to Lunenburg from Groton, MA specifically to attend the event.  And later in the afternoon Jay Weiner (far right) stopped by to make some connections with our programs and share some local opportunities that we hope to be involved with in the future .  The lovely Claudette isn’t pictured (because she took the picture, and was adamant about not having her photo taken), but was instrumental in the success of our little gathering in many ways.

Our focus on Saturday was the effect several severe storms have had in central Massachusetts over the past 4 years. Locally, we still talk about the ’08 ice storm that left many residents without power for nearly 2 weeks. And Hurricane Irene and the October Snowstorm of 2011 left widespread damage that will remain noticeable for some time to come.  We chatted with a few folks who stopped by the store, and shared stories of how our lives have been impacted by the increasingly erratic weather.

If you’d like more information about how climate change will continue to affect the weather (and the world), visit 350.org,  the ClimateDots.org website and download this Severe Storm fact sheet to help inform others.  And please take some time to visit ClimateDots.org, and view some of the amazing – and heart-wrenching – photos that were taken around the world on 5/5/12.  This is real. This is now. Severe weather threatens everyone. No one will be exempt from the damages of climate change caused by humans.

Although this doesn’t fall into my traditional Nature Notes activities, I’m including it for this week  seeing as I was spending time outdoors, educating folks about the connections between human actions and the effects on our natural world.  Rachel Carson said something to the effect of never being able to be at peace in nature if she didn’t speak up against the atrocities committed against our Earth. I couldn’t agree more.

New Addition to my Sign Collection from an Environmental Literacy Plan Meeting

I found this new addition to my sign collection yesterday, at a trendy little coffee shop in downtown Portland, Maine (hi Jennifer!!). Forewarned is forearmed, I suppose.

Why was I in Maine?  A bunch of folks from the New England Environmental Education Alliance and the Maine Environmental Education alliance had gathered there for a meeting regarding our upcoming work on Environmental Literacy Plans across the region.

Oh yeah, and I updated the website design again – it’ll take some time to get it fully functional but I’m liking it so far. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Wordless Wednesday: 2012 Earth Day Gig with the Contra Banditos

5 Minutes for Mom

The Journey Ahead

photo: bjornmeansbear

“No”, I reminded myself, “You’re dismantling the shackles of someone else’s needs, of duties than often never really belonged to you at all.  Ahead is freedom … to work more closely on bettering the world, and on the things that have deeper meaning than being someone else’s task-master.”

It’s always hard to say goodbye, even when we look forward to the journey ahead with our whole hearts.  In honor of Poem in Your Pocket Day today, I will share a poem by my favorite poet, Mary Oliver. I stumbled on this without really looking for it…

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Lunenburg ‘Connect the Dots’ for Climate Impact Awarness Rally

It’s official: the Lunenburg ‘Connect the Dots’ for Climate Impact Awareness Rally is happening on May 5th, 2012 from 1 – 3 PM, at C.C. Bloom’s  - 493 Massachusetts Ave./Rt. 2A in Lunenburg, MA!!  You can visit our event’s listing on 350.org at: https://act.350.org/event/impacts_en/2873/host/ or use the ‘Contact Us’ link here at Withywindle Nature for more info.