I had a thought-provoking conversation last weekend at a birthday gathering with about 12 friends in Saugerties. After eating we sat around the living room chatting, enjoying our desserts. But the mood changed quickly as we entered a serious discussion. A friend was struggling with feelings of hopelessness and despair, mostly from hearing about the impact of global warming.
She was fine as she went about her day. In fact, she explained how she was usually in a great zen-like place and completely engaged in her work as a child therapist, grateful that she could impact the lives of these children. But when she goes home and watches the tragic events news on television, the global issues seem so vast and beyond anything she could do to change, it triggers these dreadful feelings.
The conversation centered around the role of community, and how necessary it was to turn to each other. And that change is possible. I guess you can say that this is a conversation being held everywhere as we all struggle with an increasingly complex world, our role in it, and how to make sense of it all.
The response to her distress was immediate, kind, comforting, because we reiterated in many ways the same message. It was a diverse group so the conversation took many shapes and turns, from Jungian, spiritual, philosophical, sociological perspectives, but essentially we stressed that, yes, change is possible. But change will happen, or is happening on a very local, grassroots level. This is where you can make an impact.
Another couple was inspirational as they shared their activities instituting Transition Town events in Saugerties. Here’s a link to the national movement:Transition US Newsletter: Rediscovering and Redefining Wealth. Look up their training session in Dobbs Ferry.
I think the most sensible advise to my friend was one of the simpliest. There's no way you can connect to a television or share with a television. So turn the blasted thing off and keep it off! She agreed and we cheered.
More Resources
Holy moly! Talking about not being able to keep up... I’ve been receiving a flood of resources from Chantal Bordes, our Creating Healthy Places Project Manager at the NYS Department of Health, our funding source for Creating Healthy Places. The resources are geared toward sustainable communities, community gardeners, the food movement communities and policy makers in the Hudson Valley and NYC. Here are a few:
Cultivating Community Gardens: The Role of Local Government in Creating Healthy, Livable
Neighborhoods This brochure offers case studies, best management practices, resources and tools for policymakers to develop creative, cost-effective solutions that reduce barriers and facilitate the creation of community garden programs.
Green Gems Grants, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Application Deadline: March 8th, 2013, For additional information, please go to: http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/31226.html Applicants may request funding from $2,500 up to $10,000 for smaller scale projects that involve education, stewardship, or monitoring activities related to parks, open space, community gardens or green infrastructure. Green Gems Grant projects must include a research and educational component that will be used to expand the knowledge or understanding of the affected community. Approximately 10% to 15% of the available funds will be awarded for Green Gems Grants.
Food and Immigrant Life: The Role of Food in Forced Migration, Migrant Labor, and Recreating Home, April 18-19, 2013, The New School, NY, NY. This is the 29th Conference in the Social Research Series, presented by the Center for Public Scholarship at the new School. www.newschool.edu/CPS/FOOD
And...
Check out Healthy Kingston For Kids January Newsletter , The issue includes funding resources for community gardens.
Please email me ar558@cornell.edu if you want to be placed on our Creating Healthy Places of Ulster County mailing list.
.
My social media savvy colleague Fern Suess reminds me that we need folks to “Like us” on Facebook. Please check out our page. Click here and like us on facebook! Thank you!
She was fine as she went about her day. In fact, she explained how she was usually in a great zen-like place and completely engaged in her work as a child therapist, grateful that she could impact the lives of these children. But when she goes home and watches the tragic events news on television, the global issues seem so vast and beyond anything she could do to change, it triggers these dreadful feelings.
The conversation centered around the role of community, and how necessary it was to turn to each other. And that change is possible. I guess you can say that this is a conversation being held everywhere as we all struggle with an increasingly complex world, our role in it, and how to make sense of it all.
The response to her distress was immediate, kind, comforting, because we reiterated in many ways the same message. It was a diverse group so the conversation took many shapes and turns, from Jungian, spiritual, philosophical, sociological perspectives, but essentially we stressed that, yes, change is possible. But change will happen, or is happening on a very local, grassroots level. This is where you can make an impact.
Another couple was inspirational as they shared their activities instituting Transition Town events in Saugerties. Here’s a link to the national movement:Transition US Newsletter: Rediscovering and Redefining Wealth. Look up their training session in Dobbs Ferry.
I think the most sensible advise to my friend was one of the simpliest. There's no way you can connect to a television or share with a television. So turn the blasted thing off and keep it off! She agreed and we cheered.
More Resources
Holy moly! Talking about not being able to keep up... I’ve been receiving a flood of resources from Chantal Bordes, our Creating Healthy Places Project Manager at the NYS Department of Health, our funding source for Creating Healthy Places. The resources are geared toward sustainable communities, community gardeners, the food movement communities and policy makers in the Hudson Valley and NYC. Here are a few:
Cultivating Community Gardens: The Role of Local Government in Creating Healthy, Livable
Neighborhoods This brochure offers case studies, best management practices, resources and tools for policymakers to develop creative, cost-effective solutions that reduce barriers and facilitate the creation of community garden programs.
Green Gems Grants, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Application Deadline: March 8th, 2013, For additional information, please go to: http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/31226.html Applicants may request funding from $2,500 up to $10,000 for smaller scale projects that involve education, stewardship, or monitoring activities related to parks, open space, community gardens or green infrastructure. Green Gems Grant projects must include a research and educational component that will be used to expand the knowledge or understanding of the affected community. Approximately 10% to 15% of the available funds will be awarded for Green Gems Grants.
Food and Immigrant Life: The Role of Food in Forced Migration, Migrant Labor, and Recreating Home, April 18-19, 2013, The New School, NY, NY. This is the 29th Conference in the Social Research Series, presented by the Center for Public Scholarship at the new School. www.newschool.edu/CPS/FOOD
And...
Check out Healthy Kingston For Kids January Newsletter , The issue includes funding resources for community gardens.
Please email me ar558@cornell.edu if you want to be placed on our Creating Healthy Places of Ulster County mailing list.
.
My social media savvy colleague Fern Suess reminds me that we need folks to “Like us” on Facebook. Please check out our page. Click here and like us on facebook! Thank you!
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