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Chesapeake Education, Arts, and Research Society
Promoting the health of all life in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed through
action projects organized by volunteers.
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Greetings!
This month of May is filled with lots of great opportunities to get outside, enjoy, and learn, with the 8th annual Green Man Festival, Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens, and more. CHEARS is continuing the focus on our community by sponsoring a wealth of service opportunities. Be sure to let us know when you would like to participate.
As spring brings widespread rejuvenation to our home, so does it renew our activities and projects. Keep an eye out for more refreshing renovations!
Concetta Laskey ~ Communications, Outreach, & Education |
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Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens &
Greenbelt Food Forest
Master Gardeners of Prince George's County are holding planting workshops this month! CHEARS garden sites has been approved by the Master Gardeners Program to fulfill service hours. The workshops are offered at the Greenbelt Library:
Saturday, May 5th 11:00AM
Spring and Summer Plants
Saturday, May 12th 11:00AM
Plants That Work Best in Shade
Saturday, May 26th 11:00AM
Identifying Common Weeds in Your Garden
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Community Center Garden ~ 15 Crescent Road
Thursday, May 3 (2:30-3:30 PM) Inter-generational Workshop with Greenbelt Nursery School & Adult Daycare Center members, staff, and family.
Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13- Come see us at the Green Man Festival! See the Green Man Festival website for details.
Schrom Hills Park Garden ~ 6915 Hanover Parkway
Saturday, May 5 (10-12 PM) ~ Monthly workday at the park. Volunteers of all ages are welcome to prepare beds, plant warm weather-loving vegetables and flowers, and finish placing mulch. Look for our garden's bamboo trellises and now mostly wood-mulched pathways, downhill from the playground.
Springhill Lake Community Center ~6101 Cherrywood Lane
Saturday, May 19 (9-11 AM) ~ Water Quality Monitoring Workshop at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center. Featuring Maria Sgambati. Registration is required and limited to 20 participants. Contact Kim@chears.org for more info & to register.
Saturday, May 19 (11-1:00 PM) ~ Monthly Work Day Special invitation to any students or Master Gardeners who would like to fulfill service hours. Contact Maggie Cahalan for more details on how you can receive approved credit at maggie@chears.org.
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MONTHLY MEETING
The May 9 GCAN meeting will feature a talk by NASA Scientist Robert Cahalan, entitled "Climate Change Challenge - Reason For Hope"
GCAN plans to participate by teaching visitors how to properly inflate their tires for maximum gas mileage. Info will also be available about Greenbelt's Anti-Idling Campaign and Clean Currents wind energy. Looking for volunteers to work 1-2 hour shifts.
Click here to sign up
GCAN "ACTIVISTS NETWORK"
Carpool with Greenbelt Activists to the following
events outside of Greenbelt:
(carpool to events in College Park and Dickerson, MD)
* May 7, 7 pm - presentation by Gar Alperovitz, co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative. Learn more about new models of "cooperatives". Investigate bringing Mr. Alperovitz to Greenbelt, to explore the potential of starting an 8th (worker-owned) cooperative here in Greenbelt. Visit Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse events and Occupy Baltimore websites.
* May 11, 9:30 am - iMatter - Flood the Court Room. Support a group of high school students who are suing the Federal Government. They say our atmosphere is part of the National Trust and the government should protect future generations against climate change.
* As a follow up to the 99% Spring training in April, visit this website and participate in hundreds of "direct actions" throughout the region:
Our local Greenbelt/College Park team is working on a foreclosure action project to help a foreclosed family in Mt. Rainier.
DISCUSSION CIRCLES
* We will start a new discussion circle (Hungry for Change, Power a Bright Future, Common Security Club, or World on the Edge) as soon as 8 people express interest. Email Lore and let her know what topic would of most interest to you.
* The 2011 fall discussion circles hope to embark on two projects. All are welcome to join. - Re-Skilling Workshops
especially winterizing windows and homes
- Barter Network of goods and services
Contact Lore Rosenthal, Greenbelt Climate Action Network lore@simplicity-matters.org ~ 301-345-2234
for more info about any of the above. |
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Chestory: Center for the Chesapeake Story
The Chestory Legacy Group meets twice yearly to continue Tom Wisner's legacy. The Chestory Archive, located at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, MD, has much of Tom's writings, art work and educational materials. These materials are now also available on-line.
Chesapeake Conservation Corp volunteer, Concetta Laskey has done an incredible job of cataloging Tom's work and creating the website for the archive. This resource will assist teachers in meeting Maryland's new environmental literacy standards. We are working now on plans to raise funds to continue developing and maintaining the website and to offer workshops for teachers. A sample presentation using Tom's educational materials will be given at the Greenbelt Green Man Festival on May 12-13.
The new children's song book and accompanying CD, "Singing the Chesapeake", with songs by Tom, his son Mark Wisner, and Teresa Whitaker, is scheduled to be completed in June. We are planning events this fall in various schools to celebrate this long awaited publication. We will soon be adding a new item for sale on the Chestory website - "Bay Babies" - a delightful children's book about the Bay written by Cathy Green and illustrated by the late Mary Beth Harry. Proceeds from the sale will go toward the Mary Beth Harry Student Scholarship through the Arts Council of Calvert County.
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TapRoots: Greenbelt Middle School
Over the last month TapRoots roots have grown. TapRoots is half-way into its curriculum with the seventh-graders at Greenbelt Middle and has finished planting transplants. Please come by to the Greenbelt Middle on May 5th from 10:30am til 1:30pm to learn more about our science exploration garden and how we can retrofit the historic middle school to support garden program in its future uses.
TapRoots and CHEARS worked diligently to secure funding from the Whole Kids Foundation. We received word a few weeks ago that Greenbelt Middle School's garden will be supported by their foundation. A special thank you goes out to everyone involved in the grant application.
The TapRoots marketing team is finalizing our new website this week. Please check us out at www.taprootseducation.org. A BIG thank you for all their hard work and collaboration! They volunteered their nights and weekend to get it all done.
As TapRoots program comes to a close this coming month we seek help in summer programming.The best way to reach out is to connect with us on our website. If you have any further questions or insights please contact Anthony DiMeglio at anthony@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter @Tap_Roots for an insider's look at the program.
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PAID ONE YEAR ENVIRONMENTAL INTERNSHIP
CHEARS in Greenbelt, MD and Calvert Marine Museum (CMM) located in Solomons, MD submitted a joint application to Chesapeake Bay Trust for a full time, one year, paid, Chesapeake Conservation Corp Volunteer. Applications are due by May 14, 2012 5:00 PM. To see application details, click on the link below.
Chesapeake Conservation Corps (CCC)program provides service-learning opportunities and green job training for young people, ages 18-25, through environmental and energy conservation projects. This initiative, supported by Constellation Energy, the Trust, and the state of Maryland, pairs young adults with organizations that provide hands-on environmental, leadership, and technical training opportunities for a one-year term of service to begin late August 2012.
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECTS
Calvert Marine Museum
The CCC volunteer would review audio-visual materials, primarily consisting of oral interviews with "bay folk" and film documentation. From among these materials, the volunteer would identify key items to be converted to a digital format, which will be done by a professional film studio. After conversion, the CCC volunteer will be primarily responsible for selecting excerpts to be edited and will work with a professional videographer in the studio to create suitable film and audio clips for inclusion on the Chestory Archive website. The project aims to enhance the virtual archive website as a resource to promote the cultural aspects of environmental literacy in Maryland. Contact Richard Dodds at doddsrj@co.cal.md.us for more information.
CHEARS
Educational programs and practices that strengthen intergenerational relationships and competencies in children, youth, older adults, and families are critical in changing behaviors towards environmental awareness and stewardship. The CCC volunteer will assist in developing an intergenerational education program focused on community environmental documentation. The CCC volunteer will be facilitating the intergenerational volunteer group in learning to use digital media to document environmental solutions. They will assist with camera work, framing interview questions, post-production, editing, and uploading of short clips to feature on local TV, YouTube and other social media outlets. The expected outcomes from this project are short videos, primarily shot by community volunteers and final edited by the CCC Volunteer. Contact Kim Walsh at kim@chears.org for more information.
This multiple site placement
provides a specific set of technical skills to the CCC Volunteer interested in community film documentation, facilitation of group learning processes, project management, communication skills, and leadership development. The CCC Volunteer will begin their year with CMM from September-February and spend the remaining half of the year in Greenbelt, MD.
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Ayurveda & Yoga Retreat @ Wild Meadows Farm
June 8-10, 2012 Ayurveda, the sister science of Yoga, was developed in India and has been continuously practiced for more than 5,000 years. The word itself means "knowledge of life." Its healing methods are basic, simple and natural: they rely enormously on your own wisdom. Ayurveda views each human being as unique and recommends diet and lifestyle changes that lead towards health and away from disease. Its enduring appeal rests on the premise that the natural state of the body/ mind is one of well-being and balance.
The workshop will focus on:
- Identification of your unique constitution
- The Ayurvedic approach to food for creating health
- The Ayurvedic approach to food for creating health
- The benefits of following the rhythms of nature
- The role of gentle yoga in fostering health and well-being
- The relaxing and rejuvenating effects of Ayurvedic bodywork
Click here for more info!
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CHEARS
Chesapeake Education, Arts, and Research SocietyPO Box 1841 � Greenbelt, MD � 20768 www.chears.org
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