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A full listing of our events can always be found by visiting our virtual calendar.
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Did you know...you can update your contact information or CHEARS eNews preferences?
Click here to continue with your new or updated information, or text "CHEARS" to 22828.
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You're Invited!
7th Annual Winter Solstice Party
You are cordially invited to celebrate the darkness and entice the light with a mindful walk around Greenbelt Lake, potluck shared meal, music, a warm fire, and good CHEAR among friends!
We will be gathering at Eugenia Kalnay's house at 5:00 PM for a silent walk around Greenbelt Lake followed by festivities.
When: Saturday December 22, 2012
5:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Where: The Home of Eugenia Kalnay
56 Lakeside Drive
Greenbelt, MD 20770
RSVP only. Room for 25 participants.
There is no charge for this event.
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Support CHEARS as you search and shop this holiday season!
Looking for a way to support CHEARS, without leaving your own chair?
GoodSearch, a Yahoo! powered search engine, donates money to your favorite cause when you search the Internet, shop online, or dine out at local restaurants! We have already raised over $25.00 just by searching the internet and using GoodShop to buy online.
Here are some ways you can help:
- Become a CHEARS supporter!
GoodSearch donates a penny to CHEARS for each search you make on the Internet.
With more than than 2,500 stores, from Amazon to Zazzle!, GoodSearch donates a percentage of every purchase and offers over 100,000 coupons to help you save money too!
- Add the CHEARS GoodApp to your IE or Firefox and never forget to contribute!
The GoodApp has a search box and other buttons built in so you never forget to donate to CHEARS - all for free!
It's really easy; it's free and turns simple everyday actions into a way to make the world a better place.
- Sign up for the GoodDining program
and they'll donate a percentage of your restaurant bill when you eat at any one of thousands of participating restaurants.
Please sign up today to help support CHEARS so that we can continue the work we do for our community!
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Amy S. Hansen: Science Writer for Kids "
Every fall, bugs disappear. And every spring, they return. Where do they go? Bugs and Bugsicles answers this mystery.
To see more books by Amy S. Hansen, local Greenbelt author, click here!
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Greetings!
As the year comes to a close and we reflect on personal and global events, let's sing in the Chesapeake and promote Climate Justice! Chestory in collaboration with Finding Home Productions presents a children's songbook "Singing the Chesapeake". This item is featured in the Alternative Gifts Fair with the purpose of providing music teachers throughout Maryland a songbook to use in their classrooms. Using the arts to enhance environmental literacy is a key part of the CHEARS mission. And you can avoid the stress of traditional holiday shopping and give gifts of peace and healing to help small, local and international non-profits better serve those in need and the environment on Wednesday Dec 12, (12-2pm) 5th Annual National Education Assoc Alternative Gifts Fair
National Education Association
1201 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005
(3 blocks from Faragut North, 4.5 from Faragut West)
For those who would like to meet the dedicated volunteers and know more about CHEARS mission, future projects and open collaborations, Come celebrate with us at CHEARS 7th Annual Winter Solstice Party!
To Climate Justice!
Kim Walsh
Executive Director
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Celebrate the Chesapeake this holiday with your favorite Bay companion
A fun, educational resource for teachers, parents, and kids!
 | | Now available - click here! |
Tom Wisner, a native of the Chesapeake Watershed, was a singer, songwriter, environmentalist and educator devoted to raising consciousness of the spirit and beauty of the Chesapeake. He is the recipient of the Maryland Governor's Citation as well as an Excellence Award from the University of Maryland. He also received recognition from the World Folk Music Association by being awarded its prestigious John Denver Award.
Wisner was co-founder of the non-profit Chestory (The Center for the Chesapeake Story) which continues as a force devoted to lifting up the story of the Chesapeake Bay by using the arts to help us all connect deeply to the great story of the life of the Chesapeake Region. The songs in this book are a part of that on-going work:
Sunshine over a deep blue sea ...
A turtle called Susquehanna ...
I'm made of water, flowing water ... Chesapeake Born
These collected songs of Tom Wisner, the Bard of the Chesapeake, are the living, streaming, echoes of a unique and creative act of service. Knowing, singing and sharing these songs - especially with children - awakens a deeper awareness of our personal responsibility to the common good of all living beings and living systems of our earth.
Click here to visit the Finding Home Productions website and give the gift of the Chesapeake to your favorite Bay companion!
Only a sample of Tom Wisner's work is featured in this songbook and on the Chestory Virtual Archive. For more information about Tom Wisner and his work, please visit the Chesapeake Environmental Literacy website.
You can also view a slideshow featuring images from the Chestory Virtual Archive - click here to view!
Brought to you by Finding Home Productions LLC and the Center for the Chesapeake Story (Chestory), a project of CHEARS.
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Phase II is complete, thanks to the University of Maryland ILS students!
 Thanks to our student group from the University of Maryland's Integrated Life Sciences program, the Greenbelt Food Forest is beginning to grow!
Students were asked to reflect on the most critical issue of their generation, and how they were able to address this in their experience with CHEARS:
"When we try to solve problems without education, ignorance prevents us from understanding one other, which in turn creates conflict. This will not only delay the creation of a solution but cause even more problems if the conflict becomes fierce enough." - Patrick
"Our generation, like every other generation before us, has theresponsibility of stewardship to Earth. In order to sustain the planet for future generations, people need to take their resources into their own hands..." - Luke
"The most critical issue of our generation, therefore, is to restore the health of our community, and our environment. With CHEARS, we've already taken the first steps. By working on local projects, CHEARS is targeting the health of both nature and community..." - Meghna
"By reducing pollution and providing a nicer place for the citizen's of Greenbelt to live we helped make a positive impact on the community. We made the city of Greenbelt more environmentally friendly and provided a beautiful place for the citizens of Greenbelt to spend free time." - Matthew
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GCAN: Greenbelt Climate Action Network
MEETINGS
- The next GCAN Meeting will be on Tuesday, Dec 18, at 7 pm, back in the Community Center, Room 114 The topic is TBA. You will receive a separate GCAN email in about a week with details. Please save the date.
GCAN "ACTIVISTS"
We will have several opportunities to get involved this fall, including:
- CITY: Asking Greenbelt City Council to write a letter against Fracking in MD. Jennifer Robinson is coordinating a meeting in a private home, to plan out a presentation in front of the Greenbelt City Council in early January. We are all invited to attend a statewide conference on Fracking, Sat, Dec 8, 10am-4pm in Baltimore. Click here for more information.
- COUNTY: Join an ad-hoc group that meets in College Park, to support a new county Draft Solid Waste Plan, that moves us in the direction of "Zero Waste". Email Lore for contact info.
- STATE: Working with CCAN in support of the Offshore Wind Energy Bill in Annapolis. First up is a Prince Georges County Town Hall Meeting, Wed, Dec 12, 6:30 pm at the Hillcrest Heights Community Center in Temple Hills. Click here for information.
- FEDERAL: Bill McKibben has just announced a new campaign to Divest from the Fossil Fuel Industry. Please write to Lore with your ideas how we can best support this campaign. Click here to see if your Alma Mater has signed on, and visit www.350.org, a Global Movement to Solve the Climate Crisis.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
- An ad-hoc group continues to meet to investigate a green, worker-owned cooperative. Two of the most popular ideas are a daycare center in Franklin Park and a Composting Facility to make organic soil for gardening. The next meeting will be on Sun, Dec 9, 3-5 pm, at "The Clubhouse" at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center on Cherrywood Lane. Jim Johnson from the Democracy at Work Network (DAWN) continues to consult with us. Contact Lore for minutes of meetings and details.
- Re-Skilling Workshop Committee will most likely convene in January to plan another re-skilling workshop. The topic will probably be "weatherizing your windows". Contact Lore if you would like to attend the planning meeting.
DISCUSSION CIRCLES
Two Circles are continuing to meet...
*NEW* A new circle is starting in College Park on Wed, Jan 16th *NEW*
We are still trying to start a third circle:
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