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Featured Video
 | | Tom Wisner: The Art of Teaching |
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Meet Kristen:
Volunteer Maryland Coordinator
 | | Kristen teaching students in Nepal |
CHEARS and the City of Greenbelt Public Works was awarded a full-time, 11-month term, Volunteer Maryland Coordinator sponsored by the Chesapeake Conservation Corps for 2012-2013, who will be starting with us in October. We are pleased to welcome her to our staff for the 2012-2013 year.
"Hello everyone! I am a Florida native, a recent graduate of Florida State University, and an excited new addition to the CHEARS crew! Over the next 11 months I will be working through Volunteer Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay Trust as the Volunteer Coordinator for CHEARS and the City of Greenbelt's Department of Public Works. I am thrilled to start this position and to become a part of the strong Greenbelt community. I believe that service, connection to the environment, and a shared, wholesome meal are all simple ways to strengthen bonds within our communities."
Please welcome Kristen Wharton to Greenbelt, Maryland as she starts her training with the Volunteer Maryland Program.
Volunteer Maryland, an AmeriCorps program, builds stronger, healthier communities by developing volunteer programs with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and schools. The program's vision is that all Marylanders will participate in and value service as a way of life to enrich and empower community, society, and self.
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RESCHEDULED:
Intro to Permaculture
Design Workshop
Wednesday, September 15, 7:00-9:00pm
Springhill Lake Recreation Center
6101 Cherrywood Lane, Clubhouse
Permaculture is an integrative design science for human habitat, applicable across scales to homes, farms, towns, and larger landscapes. Permaculture designers mimic the patterns, processes, and principles of natural systems to go "beyond sustainability"
and regenerate ecosystems while meeting human economic needs.
In this workshop, we will... - Introduce the ethics and principles of permaculture
- Introduce the concept of forest gardening and its connection to water quality
- Discuss further opportunities to implement our learnings on a local public site
- Take part in interactive group exercises to practice what we learn
Social Permaculture, which is examining our social patterns, processes, and behaviors, will also be integrated with a facilitated discussion on transitioning to a more connected and resilient bioregion. Join us for an invigorating, informative evening to kick-start your permaculture studies.
Instructor: Kim Walsh ~ Veggie-grower, activist/educator, community organizer, cook and homesteader who loves to learn.
For more information, call Kim at 612-804-6230 or email Kristen.
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Home-Scale Permaculture Design Course
Starting Saturday, Sept. 15 through Sunday, Sept. 16
(first of six weekends) Cromwell Valley Park, Towson, MD
Learn ethical principles and
practical skills for producing
your own needs from local
natural resources by mimicking natural ecosystems.
Topics include energy efficient
site planning for house, gardens, orchard, woodlot and wildlife
habitat; farm animal forage
systems; beneficial microclimate; urban strategies for food and
energy production; sustainable community economics and
food security.
Earn your Permaculture
Design Apprentice Certificate.
Six Weekends.
Sliding scale $1,000 - $1,200.
Register by August 15 to get the $100 early bird discount!
Group discount available.
Click here for details and to
register online.
For more information call
410-357-9523 or email education@heathcote.org.
Co-sponsored by Heathcote Community, School of Living, and Chesapeake Education, Arts and Research Society (CHEARS).
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Greetings!
 Fall is a busy time for all of us as we go back to school, initiate a new program, begin a changed work schedule or plant fall crops before the winter slumber. It's also a physical transition of our external landscape thus affects our internal workings, and opens us to various perspectives of both learning and doing.
As CHEARS embarks on new partnerships and initiatives on education in schools and communities, we are excited to welcome more community volunteers and new staff into our organizing circle. In working together, we have nourished the seed of learning in hopes of gaining wisdom that engages environmental education, science, arts, and whole systems thinking as a way for our communities to move forward in regenerating our communities.
We'd also like to give gratitude to our volunteer Board and Project Coordinators who organize, host, and facilitate the events that take place throughout the Chesapeake Bioregion.
For the Earth,
Kim Walsh
Executive Director
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Crafting Local Curriculum in the Chesapeake using the Chestory Virtual Archive
CHEARS and partners to receive environmental literacy grant
 CHEARS partnered with the Calvert Marine Museum and the University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory to apply for a grant to Dominion's K-12 Education Partnership Grant to implement an environmental literacy project, "Crafting Local Curriculum: Interdisciplinary Chesapeake." This grant, awarded this month, will support teacher training workshops and lesson development for students in Southern Maryland to experience hands-on environmental literacy curriculum. Concetta Laskey, Project Coordinator and CHEARS Communications and Outreach Coordinator, will be leading a group of eight teachers to develop interdisciplinary lessons that include ecological concepts into daily student learning. Teachers will have a chance to work with the materials available on the Chesapeake Environmental Literacy website, which include the methods developed by Tom Wisner. These lessons will be available through CHEARS and Dominion during this academic school year.
Bay Babies, a delightful children's book about the Bay written by Cathy Green and illustrated by the late Mary Beth Harry, is still available. Proceeds from the sale will go toward the Mary Beth Harry Student Scholarship through the Arts Council of Calvert County.
Keep an eye out for Singing the Chesapeake children's song book and accompanying CD with songs by Tom, his son Mark Wisner, and Teresa Whitaker, scheduled to be completed this year. We are planning events this fall in various schools to celebrate this long awaited publication.
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Soil Research in Greenbelt
CHEARS and TapRoots team up for research opportunities
With the help of Chesapeake Education Arts Research Society, TapRoots was recently awarded a grant from the Greenbelt Community Foundation to support STEM education in Greenbelt, Maryland. In an effort to incorporate technology and mathematics into the outdoor classroom, funds will be used to purchase Decagon Devices soil and environmental monitoring equipment for students to conduct observation studies and field experiments. These include a 20 watt solar panel, anemometer, rain gauge, and wireless data logger.
With support from CHEARS, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Prince Georges County 4-H and The University of Maryland Honors College of Integrated Life Sciences, TapRoots will facilitate a six week soil science program for Greenbelt students starting this month. Programming will consist of soil science related lessons and then transition into calibration and installation procedures of the soil monitor. Since the readings can be viewed anywhere with an internet connection, TapRoots welcomes other institutions and agencies to utilize this equipment as a learning tool. Please contact Tony DiMeglio to inquire more on how to take advantage of the Outdoor Classroom at Springhill Lake Recreational Center.
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Community Partners in Green Energy
Clean Currents, Green ACES, and CHEARS help Greenbelt to become more sustainable
Each year, Clean Currents proposes its Green Neighborhood Energy Challenge for communities whose individuals are making efforts towards sustainable energy practices. Last year, Green ACES donated its award to CHEARS for its Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens project.
In this fourth year, the funds were donated to the Greenbelt Food Forest project to support the collaborative Springhill Lake Outdoor Classroom at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center, which consists of demonstration gardens, rain gardens, and the beginnings of forest gardening in Greenbelt. Over 300 households are participating, and Greenbelt will soon qualify as an EPA Green Power Community.
For more information on how you can support this effort, please contact Lore Rosenthal.
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Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens
Schrom Hills Fall Festival in Greenbelt
 The Schrom Hills Fall Festival is approaching quickly, and we need your help! Come out to Schrom Hills Park Garden to ready the garden for the fall and discuss our plans for the Fall Fest.
 Visit our website for more information about us. Come out this month to meet Lucy, Maggie, and other Greenbelt friends for relaxing, fun activities outside. There are also a variety of special events and workshops planned each month, so keep up with the Gardens Calendar for updates.
Cleaning out your garage? Do you have extra garden tools?
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GCAN: Greenbelt Climate Action Network
IT'S A GREAT TIME TO SIGN UP FOR
WIND ENERGY
- Greenbelt now has enough households who have signed up for wind energy to qualify as an EPA Green Power Community! Rates are now less than or equal to Pepco's rate on coal energy. You can choose 1 or 2 years, local or national wind. Visit the Clean Currents wind power website.
- Clean Currents also has two solar power options:
- Solar PV/Photo Voltaic as a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) - they install a system for free and you just pay for the electricity produced
- Solar Hot Water
- Our municipal government is already a 100% wind customer, as is GHI, Inc.
- If you were previously a Clean Currents customer, remember to check your Pepco bill. You may find that your old contract has expired and that you are now a customer of WGES with 5% wind. Email Lore if you have questions.
EVENTS
- Sun, Sept 9, 4-6 pm, Meeting of exploratory group to investigate an 8th, "green", worker-owned coop in Greenbelt. Guest speaker: Jim Johnson from Democracy at Work Network. LOCATION: Springhill Lake Recreation Center, the Clubhouse, 6101 Cherrywood Lane.
- Sun, Sept 9, 5-7 p.m. FREE Screening, A Chemical Reaction, Busboys & Poets in the Arts District Hyattsville, 5331 Baltimore Ave, Hyattsville, MD 20781. 301.779. 2787 (ARTS). The award-winning documentary film, A Chemical Reaction, tells the inspirational story of one of the most successful community action initiatives in North American history - led by one woman whose tenacity and persuasive arguments championed the effort to ban synthetic lawn & garden chemicals for an entire Canadian province! RSVP by clicking here
- Mon, Sept 17, FREE Screening, Reel & Meal at the New Deal, Cry of the Mountain - documentary play about mountaintop removal in Appalachia, written and performed by Adelind Horan. Discussion will also include Chris Hill of the Sierra Club.
New Deal Cafe, 6:30 vegan buffet dinner ($13), 7:00 film (free)
- Thurs, Sept 27, 7 pm, screening of Unwasted: The Future of Business on Earth, College Park City Hall. City Council Chambers, Upper Floor, City of College Park Municipal Building, 4500 Knox Road. Unwasted is a documentary that describes the steps taken by Seattle towards Zero Waste. Co-sponsored by Community Research, Committee for a Better Environment, and Reel & Meal. For info contact Susan Barnett, or Suchitra Balachandran.
GCAN "ACTIVISTS: What the Frack!?
Wednesday, September 12, 2012, 7:00-9:15 pm
Springhill Lake Recreation Center, Clubhouse
6101 Cherrywood Lane, Greenbelt, MD
- What is fracking?
- Is fracking in Maryland?
- Can we prevent fracking in Maryland
- What is a ban versus a moratorium?
Get answers to these questions and share your knowledge of hydraulic fracturing or fracking in Maryland. Guests from the Food & Water Watch and Chesapeake Climate Action Network will be a part of our conversation.
DISCUSSION CIRCLES
If you are interested in either, contact Lore with the nights of the week that would work best for you.
We are currently assessing interest in starting three discussion circles. If any of these topics interest you, write to Lore with your: a) name b) email c) phone d) nights of the week you prefer (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sun afternoon, Sun eve) e) which topics interest you
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