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A full listing of our events can always be found by visiting our virtual calendar.
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Click here to continue with your new or updated information, or text "CHEARS" to 22828.
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Walking the Woods! Community Symposium
Understanding our natural areas
and their value
Join us for a day-long symposium on the care and stewardship of remnant woodlands. Download the flyer
When: 10AM-2PM
Sat, March 9th
Where: Greenbelt Community Center, Room 201
Program led by: Lesley Riddle, Assistant Director of Greenbelt Public Works
Distinguished Guest Speakers Include:
Craig Highfield, Forestry for the Bay Coordinator, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
Dr. Maile Neel, University of Maryland, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Lincoln Smith, Landscape Designer and Forest Gardener, Forested
Dr. Joe H. Sullivan, University of Maryland, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
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Celebrate the Chesapeake with your favorite Bay companion
A fun, educational resource for teachers, parents, and kids!
 | | Now available! |
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!
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!
Brought to you by Finding Home Productions LLC and the Center for the Chesapeake Story (Chestory),
a project of CHEARS.
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Garden Volunteer Opportunities with CHEARS
Are you interested in sharing your passion about Bay-friendly gardening?
CHEARS invites new community members to volunteer at our Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens and participate in our "Edible Watersheds" Workshop Series!
Benefits Include:
- An opportunity to practice and share your skills with neighbors
- Make a direct impact on the health of the Chesapeake Bay by educating others about the benefits of pesticide-free gardening
- Working along side community members to discuss & improve access to more fruits & veggies.
- Meeting people with similar interests
Come spend some time with us!
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A new opportunity to do some good at the Nine Lives Yard Sale
Each December we find our homes inviting in new things; holiday presents or personal choices for something different. And with each new arrival there may be some things that are being replaced, put aside, and stored in the back of the closet.
The Stone Soup Project is planning to hold the Spring 9 Lives Yard Sale on April 14th. This is an opportunity to raise some funds for the CHEARS family of projects and find new, good homes for some good things. If you have some items that have drifted out of use at your home or business that still have more useful days ahead, please consider donating them for adoption. We will begin to pick up donations in February.
Contact Richard to arrange for a pick-up.
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Greetings!
On Sunday, February 17, thousands of Americans will head to Washington, D.C. to make Forward on Climate the largest climate rally in history. Tens of thousands of Americans are making plans to converge in the capitol to demand President Obama move forward on climate action and reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Join this historic event to make your voice heard and help the president start his second term with strong climate action!
 | | Forward on Climate Rally: Feb. 17th |
Forward on Climate!
Onward to Climate Justice,
Kim Walsh
Executive Director
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Chesapeake Forest Gardens
A Permaculture Design Certificate Course
Gain knowledge of local ecology & confidence in ecological design
Experience a design process from start to finish of a site of your choosing
Empower yourself as a steward of land regeneration & ecosystem health
Enhance your knowledge of forest gardening, trees, plants, and care
In this twelve-day course over the span of eight months (April through November), you will dive deeply into the vision and practice of creating wholesome, dynamic, and resilient edible ecosystems using temperate deciduous forests as models.
The teaching team will offer lectures, site walks and experiential exercises to help you understand how the architecture, social structure, underground economics, and successional processes of natural forests apply in the design of edible ecosystems of all kinds.
Curriculum Includes:
Permaculture Ethics & Vision, Reading the Landscape, Soil Health,
Impacts of Climate Change, Plant Care, Nature Connection,
Patterns of Natural Systems, Design Principles & Drafting Skills,
Water Harvesting & Storage, Local Permaculture Examples and Visits
Become inspired and empowered to design food forests and edible landscapes at home for yourself and your community!
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Forest Stewardship Program
Providing care and stewardship to our remnant woods
"Trees outstrip most people in the extent and depth of their work for the public good." ~Sara Ebenreck, American Forests
What: Friends of Greenbelt Park Forest Stewardship Program
Interest Meeting
When: Wed, February 20th, 7 PM-9 PM
Where: City of Greenbelt Public Works Department
555 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770
If you are interested in the following ideas, come join us! 
- Understand the benefits of the urban ecosystem
- Learn about the threats to Greenbelt's forests
- Increase your ability to identify surrounding trees
- Contribute to a city-wide tree inventory
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GCAN: Greenbelt Climate Action Network
MEETINGS
- The next GCAN Meeting will be on Tuesday, February 19, at 7 pm, in the Community Center, Room 103 (*note change in room, this month only*) The topic is "Varying Leadership Roles" presented by Susan Stewart. You will receive a separate GCAN email with details.
GCAN "ACTIVISTS"
We continue to have a broad-spectrum focus, 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. Save the date of Mon, Feb 25, when we will all gather in the City Council chambers.
- 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". Next meeting is Feb 4th. Click to RSVP.
- STATE: Work with CCAN in support of the Offshore Wind Energy Bill in Annapolis, Moratorium on Fracking, and with the Sierra Club on a new bill on Solar Energy. Click here to check bill progress.
- FEDERAL: Carpool to DC on Sun, Feb 17, (time TBA) for the Rally against Keystone XL Pipeline, "Obama Climate Legacy" Action. Click here to sign the Open Letter to President Obama and sign up here.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
- The Greenbelt Barter Network has become the "Greenbelt TimeBank". We will be beta-testing the software (from TimeBanks USA) this month. Contact Lore for details.
- An ad-hoc group continues to meet to investigate a green, worker-owned cooperative. Three of the most popular ideas are a daycare center in Franklin Park, a Composting Facility to make organic soil, and an Edible Landscaping Business. Next meeting is Sun, Feb 24. Contact Lore for details.
- Re-Skilling Workshop Committee will most likely convene in Feb/March 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 finishing up in January/February:
We can start either topic again this spring, as soon as we identify 8 interested people. Contact Lore.
*NEW* A new circle is starting in College Park on Wed, Jan 16th *NEW*
We are still trying to start a fourth circle:
There is also now interest in
If you are interested, contact Lore and let her know which nights of the week work for you.
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Volunteer at the 9th Annual Festival
Mother's Day weekend, May 11-12, 2013
Roosevelt Center, Greenbelt, MD
The teams (Green Man Villages) have been working on planning since last September for this locally grown event. As we approach the middle of winter, the efforts to get the word out and energize the Green Community will begin in earnest. We are opening up our bi-monthly meetings to individuals in the community who wish to participate and collaborate.
We invite you to find a village to join, from music and performances, to arts and crafts, from communications to education, and the villages of volunteers to help provide fun and discovery for both young and old. Add your name to the Green Mans list of friends by updating your information with CHEARS, and start planning for a fun and informative spring. The next meeting will be at the New Deal Café on February 9th at 4pm. Let us know your thoughts by dropping a line to Richard of the the Green Man Villages.
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Interested in joining us as a vendor this year?
Is your community group interested in having an informational table?
Contact Candy of the Green Man Villages for more information.
Greenbelt Green Man Festival website
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