Chesapeake Education, Arts and Research Society
Restoring and promoting the health of all life in the Chesapeake Watershed
through education and action projects organized by volunteers
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Greetings To All,
In this sometimes bleak winter period before the spring, I have been in need of more hope, worrying about the many challenges we face -- about broken, unequal, negative systems that are increasing the numbers of those among us who are getting sick from the food we eat and water we drink, alienated from the education system, in mass incarceration, growing up in poverty, have massive education debt, experience war and conflict, and who are refugees. Thankfully, our wise elder Marj Donn sent around an email with links that boosted me with the hope that I'd been needing. Using a metaphor from algebra (from the Arabic, al-jabr, meaning "reunion of broken parts") the message gave positive examples of local efforts to foster reunion of our broken parts, and examples of local change agents for fostering more equal positive dynamic systems.
I was particularly inspired by the TEDx talk video below by Deborah Frieze (link below). This talk shares a radical theory of change that reveals how localism is the the hope of the future, and how you and I have a critical role to play with the inspiring examples of workers co-operatives such as the CERO compost group in Boston http://www.cero.coop/ and other examples put forth in the book "Walk Out Walk On:A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now" by authors Meg Wheatley and Deborah Frieze (http://walkoutwalkon.net/).
   
Thanks for all you do!
Maggie Cahalan, CHEARS Newsletter Editor,
and from the entire CHEARS Volunteer Board of Stewards.
The Chears Board of Stewards ( Convener, Carolyn Lambright-Davis, lambrightdavis@yahoo.com; Vice Convener, Bob Cahalan, Bob@chears.org; Treasurer, Kate Prager, kateprager@earthlink.net; Secretary, Joan Clement, joan@chears.org; Maggie Cahalan, Maggie@chears.org; Bill Davis, williamdavis52@hotmail.com; Mary Ellsworth,Marysellsworth@gmail.com; Marcia Freeman, marciaff@aol.com; Eugenia Kalnay, ekalnay@gmail.com; Bennie Smith, benniejdmba@hotmail.com; Chandra Taylor Smith, drctsmith@aol.com)
If you have questions about CHEARS or would like to volunteer, contact any of our board members!
To make a contribution, click the link http://chears.org/ to go to the CHEARS website and then Click on the Donate button in the lower left corner to make an online donation or send a Check to:
CHEARS
PO Box 1841
Greenbelt, MD 20768
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Visit the calendar for a full listing of our events.
Did you know...you can update your contact information and CHEARS eNews preferences? Click here!
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...or text CHEARS to 22828
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Volunteering Around the Watershed! Thanks for All You Do and Will Do! 
Be Part of Community Tree Protection Events !
The next tree protection workday will take place on Presidents' Day, February 15 from 10:30 am - 1 pm at Buddy Attick Park. Remember to wear weather-appropriate clothing and closed-toe boots that you don't mind getting dirty. Bring a mess kit and mug for free bagels, coffee and hot cocoa. Meet inside of Public Works at 10:30 am.
RSVP by clicking the link below:
WHERE? Buddy Attick Park, 555 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770 REMINDER:
* High school students: Bring a copy of your own service learning form.*
Thanks to over 50 volunteers and three City staff for volunteering to protect our remnant woods in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service on Monday, January 18! An estimated 25 trees were protected with wire caging and 40 trees were liberated from the invasive English ivy. Some of the volunteer groups that participated included Islamic Relief USA, Eleanor Roosevelt High School National Honor Society, Junior Miss Greenbelt, Little Miss Greenbelt and St. Vincent Pallotti High School. Thanks to Bagel Place of College Park for donating three (3) dozen bagels and to Generous Joe's for donating one (1) pizza.
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Community Home Salon
Saturday Evening
March 19
Join us for a Potluck and Home Salon Showing and Discussion
Three short movies on Palestinian-Israeli reconciliation groups
Reunion of Broken Parts---A Circle of Women--- and Co-Existence is No Dream.
When: Saturday March 19 6:30 PM Potluck--7:15 Film showing
Where: Home of Eugenia Kalnay
56 Lakeside Drive, Greenbelt MD, 20770
Reconciliation Films on the power of face to face encounters and the roles that each of us can play in being change agents in promoting peace and equality
Finding equality in A Circle of Women
Or-Nur-Light includes Muslim, Christian, and Jewish women together for 10 years ago in Haifa.
They are one of seventy groups of the Interfaith Encounter Association -- https://interfaithencounter.wordpress.com -- dedicated to promoting peace in the Middle East through face-to-face interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural learning.
Discovering equality by Living Together Wahat al-Salam ~ Neve Shalom -- http://wasns.org -- teens living in this deliberate cooperative village of Jews and Palestinian Arabs near Jerusalem.
Martial Artists Experiencing Equality In contrast with news reports of Middle East tension, today Budos for Peace -- http://www.budoforpeace.org -- continues to unite with person-to-person martial arts that reject violence in favor of human engagement that diffuses resistance and harm.
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Earth Squad and University of Maryland Students Celebrate the Art at Springhill Lake Dedication November 14 2015
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Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens and Food Forest Especially Needs Your Help in 2016!
You Are Invited
Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens and Food Forest Annual Planning Meeting:
Saturday February 27, 2016
3-5PM-- New Deal Cafe-
Now that we have such beautiful Public Art in the Three Sisters Gardens Volunteers are especially needed in 2016 for each of the gardens and the food forest. We need help in:
- Volunteer recruitment and co-ordinating workdays with existing groups such as University of Maryland students
- Serving as adult and older youth mentors for Earth Squad elementary school age volunteers
- Selecting a demonstration theme for 2016 and researching its implementation,
- Planning and implementing educational workshops on organic land care and permaculture
- Mapping the 2016 garden planting design for each of the 3 gardens and the food forests,
- Co-ordinating with Greenbelt Public Works on Design
- Seed ordering and seed starting
- Fruit Tree pruning and care,
- Planting annual veggies and flowers,
- Mulching, and summer weeding and watering,
- Raised Bed Building and Maintenance
- Building protections from the deer and wood chucks
- Compost bin care, education, and maintenance,
- Harvesting and Food Preservation
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MEETINGS
DISCUSSION CIRCLES Marj Donn is organizing a book discussion around Joanna Macy's book, Active Hope: How to Deal with the Mess We're in without Going Crazy, The group will discuss ways for us to move past our despair and fear over the climate crisis and stay hopeful and active. It will run for 8-9 sessions, dates and frequency of meetings to be decided by participants. To register, email marjory.donn@verizon.net or leave a message at 301-474-1353. Look for the rescheduling of the The talk on "Climate Change and the Future of Food," planned for February 11, at Mishkan Torah. The talk will be rescheduled at a date to be announced. Lewis H. Ziska, PhD, a plant physiologist with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Beltsville, Maryland, and a contributor to the 2014 International Panel on Climate Change report, will present an overview of the impact of documented and projected changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide on food security. He will also discuss adaptation strategies as a possible means of maintaining agricultural production in the future. The synagogue is located at 10 Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD. Hosted by Mishkan Torah's Social Action Committee, the talk is free and open to the public. Light refreshments-including some that are threatened by climate change--will be served. For more information, email socialaction@mishkantorah.org
GCAN "ACTIVISTS"
We continue to have a broad-spectrum focus. CITY: Some of us are lobbying the city council not to use mulched tire or crumb rubber in playgrounds or dog parks since it is toxic and carcinogenic. We also continue to support the city's Green Team Zero Waste Circle, headed up by Susan Barnett. In the near future, we will ask the City Council to discuss county legislation (Ban on Fracking in PG County) and state legislation (see below). If you would like to attend a City Council meeting to petition them, email lore@simplicity-matters.org. COUNTY: This fall/winter, we are working with CCAN and PG-Sierra Club on a Prince George's County Ban on Fracking.
We are very happy to let you know that the bill for a "Ban on Fracking in Prince George's County" was introduced to the County Council and assigned to the Zoning Committee (called "PZED"). There will be a public hearing on Wed, Feb 17 at 10 am in Upper Marlboro.
It will be at the county administration building (where the October briefing was held, for folks who attended that) - 14741 Governor Oden Bowie Drive, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772 - in room 2027 on the 2nd floor.
We are looking for folks to attend the hearing. (Don't worry, you do not need to speak! CCAN, Sierra Club, and Food & Water Watch have arranged for an excellent line up of presenters). Michael Hartman and Marj Donn have already told me that they plan to attend. a) you want to attend? b) you want to carpool from Greenbelt? Also please email lore@simplicity-matters.org, if you would like to join our Advocacy Team (and perhaps attend a hearing). SPECIAL PROJECTS The Greenbelt Cooperative "Incubator" Group continues to meet. Current coop ideas are an Early Learning Center in Franklin Park, a Composting Co-op to make organic soil, A Worker Co-op for the Old Greenbelt Theater, A Kids Co-op to do printing and copying, and an Edible Landscaping Co-op. We are considering opening up the group to NEW ideas in March! Contact greenbeltcoopincubator@gmail.com for more info.
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Friendly Turtle Resident of the Greenbelt Forest Preserve-- Picture taken on road to Northway Fields at fall 2015 Cleanup
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Chesapeake Education, Arts and Research Society
P.O. Box 1841 | Greenbelt, MD 20768
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