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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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Vendor applications available
Mother's Day weekend, May 11-12
Roosevelt Center, Greenbelt, MD
 Interested in connecting close-up with the community?
Reserve a table for selling locally crafted goods or nonprofit!
We invite you to join the village, from music and performances, to arts and crafts, from communications to education, to help provide fun and discovery for both young and old. Add your name to the Green Man's list of friends by updating your information with CHEARS, and start planning for a fun and informative spring. Click to download the VENDOR and NONPROFIT applications
Contact Candy and visit the website for more information and to view our current list of vendors, non-profits and community based organizations.
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Behind the Kitchen Door
by Saru Jayaraman
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Garden Volunteers Welcome!
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 "Three Sisters and More...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 chemical-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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Greetings!
This month, join CHEARS volunteers with concerned citizens around the world in our pledge to Go Dark for Earth Hour. Visit the website and click "on behalf of an organization" to pledge your support!
 | | Earth Hour 2013 Official Video |
March has come in like a lion with brisk winds and frosty mornings! We are looking forward to Spring and all the excitement that comes with longer daylight hours. Below are details of the upcoming ways for you to join us.
- Scholarships Available for 2013 Permaculture Design Course.
- Green Man Festival-Craft Vendors and Non-profits Welcome!
- "A Prosperous Way Down" with Dr. Elliot Campbell and GCAN.
- House Concerts Featuring Songs from "Singing the Chesapeake!"
- FREE Symposium on Stewardship of Remnant Woods!
- And much more...
On note of reflection, CHEARS 2012 Annual Report is ready for viewing and before you go out to eat, check out the featured video, "Behind the Kitchen Door"
Join us...we look forward to meeting you!
Kim Walsh
Executive Director
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Concerts around the Chesapeake
Spring/Summer Concert Series in Maryland
You are invited to join us this spring and summer to share community through song and story, featuring singer/songwriter Mac Walter and the Finding Home Production creative duo Teresa Whitaker and Frank Schwartz.
Teresa, Frank, and Mac will pay tribute to their long-time collaborator Tom Wisner, Bard of the Chesapeake. Tom wrote many songs with his friends, but the ones in this collection are those he sang often with children and groups of educators throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. The songs themselves are celebrations of imagination and wonder, and what it means to be "Chesapeake Born."
SPRING DATES:
Friday, April 5, (6:30 pm)
Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, MD
Saturday, April 6, (7:30-9:00 pm)
Heathcote Community, Freeland, MD
Sunday, April 7, (4:00-6:00 pm)
House Concert in Takoma Park, MD
SUMMER DATES:
Thursday, June 20, (7:00-8:30 pm)
Annapolis Maritime Museum"s 13th Annual Summer Concert Series
723 Second Street, Annapolis, MD
Thursday, June 27
With Frank Schwartz and Teresa Whitaker at the C.V. Starr Center
The Custom House, Washington College
101 South Water St, Chestertown, MD
Call 410-810-7156 for more information
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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.
and share the Chesapeake today!
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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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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GCAN: Greenbelt Climate Action Network
MEETINGS
- The next GCAN Meeting will be on Tuesday, March 19, at 7 pm, in the Community Center, Room 114. The title is "A Prosperous Way Down" presented by Dr. Elliot Campbell, PhD., grandson of Betty Odum. "A Prosperous Way Down," published in 2001 by H.T. and Betty Odum, provides a blue print for transitioning from a society incompatible with a declining energy base to one that can cope with, adapt to, and ultimately make energy descent prosperous. This talk outlines these prescriptions and provides some ideas on how we can work towards the paradigm shift necessary for these ideas to take hold in society. You will receive a separate GCAN email with details.
GCAN "ACTIVISTS"
We continue to have a broad-spectrum focus, including:
- CITY: Congratulations to Jennifer Robinson who recently led a committee of 7, asking Greenbelt City Council to write a letter in support of a Moratorium on Fracking in MD. On Feb 25, 40 Greenbelt Residents attended and the council unanimously accepted our proposal. We got good coverage through the Greenbelt News Review and an article listed on Greenbelt Patch.
- 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 to inquire about the date of the next meeting.
- STATE:
- Offshore Wind Energy: Maryland's bill looks set to pass. Visit the website for more information (see "What's New").
- Moratorium on Fracking: Attend a huge rally in Annapolis on March 13 - RSVP here.
- Solar Energy: Support HB1128 and SB0699, which will allow a three year pilot program to build solar farms. Residents would be able to purchase panels and then deduct the equivalent cost of the electricity produced from their monthly utility bill. Sign up for weekly updates and attend the hearings on March 5 and March 7 at 1 pm.
- FEDERAL: We are continuing to fight the approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. More than 30 Greenbelters attended the Feb 17 Forward on Climate Rally. You can sign a form letter, pleading with Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama, not to approve the pipeline. Also sign up for a Day of Action in May (tbd).
SPECIAL PROJECTS
- The Greenbelt TimeBank continues in beta testing. For a sneak preview, visit our website.
- 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, April 7, 3-5 pm. The Composting Coop Subcommittee will meet on Sun, March 10, 3-5 pm. Contact Lore for details.
- Re-Skilling Workshop Committee needs a few "champions" to help plan another re-skilling workshop. The topic will probably be "weatherizing your windows". Contact Lore if you would like to help with a planning meeting.
DISCUSSION CIRCLES
Two circles are finishing up in January/February:
If you are interested, contact Lore and let her know which nights of the week work for you and which topics.
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