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NWEI’s New Hampshire based partner organization, Global Awareness Local Action, will be hosting Hungry for Change: Food, Ethics and Sustainability January 26th through February 9th, 2012. Hungry For Change explores the true meaning of the phrase “you are what you eat.” This discussion course challenges participants to examine their roles, not only as consumers of food, but also as creators — of food, of systems, and of the world we all share. Each session addresses the impact of individual food choices on a range of issues, including ecosystem health, the treatment of factory and farm workers, and the global economy.
G.A.L.A Study Circles are a great way to come together with other community members in an informal, yet inquisitive, atmosphere to deeply explore issues of social and environmental concern. The discussion courses provide an enjoyable, supportive setting in which to examine personal values and habits, engage in stimulating conversation, create meaningful community, and consider ways to take action towards creating a more sustainable future.
As a partner organization to NWEI, and the New Hampshire point of contact, G.A.L.A. can help your group get a Study Circle up and running by providing guidance, advice, assistance with press releases and promotional materials etc. If you are in New Hampshire, contact G.A.L.A at 603-539-6460 or email contact@galacommunity.org
Congrats also to G.A.L.A for their recent grant to expand their Sustainable Home Makeover Program! More information to follow on this program that will be available nationwide.
Sierra Dall with Sustainable Cities Exchange is offering a free webinar on February 22, at 9:00 am Pacific time. The webinar is called “Improve Your Local Economy with a Sustainable Energy Plan,” and is aimed at helping municipalities create a sustainable energy plan. The webinar will also feature two case studies. You can find out more or register for the event at sustainablecitiesexchange.com/infowebinar or call Sierra at 303.554.1833.
The Northwest Earth Institute is excited to be a part of 21 Acres non-profit school‘s offerings on sustainability and stewardship in 2012!
21 Acres, located in Woodinville, Washington, is dedicated to teaching people how to grow, eat and live sustainably. Its new series of core courses is beginning in February, with continuing education classes focusing on principles of sustainable agriculture, including those related to not only food and food systems, but also home energy and water conservation, tools for local economic development and quality of life improvement. Future courses feature NWEI’s Choices for Sustainable Living, Sustainable Systems at Work, as well as health and climate change issues.
If you are in Washington in the Sammamish Valley area, first courses are on Backyard Farming and Food Processing. For more information, call 425-481-1500 or email deb@21acres.org. You can also visit the 21 Acres website.
This week we are delighted to feature the photography and writing of Kallia Milillo, a 21 year old student photographer who will be transferring to the independent study program at Evergreen State College this Fall. She will be a seasonal guest blogger for NWEI in 2012, as one of her goals is to bring her art and perspective to the environmental community. To learn more about Kallia’s work, visit her website here. Thank you Kallia!
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I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits, beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show. ~Andrew Wyeth
Every year the earth enters a transitional time where the leaves slowly change from greens to oranges, yellows, reds, and browns. Gradually week by week all the leaves begin to find themselves down on the terrain underneath the branches they once called home. The days start to show that they are becoming shorter. The squirrels start collecting as many nuts as they can find laying about on the ground. Hibernation has clearly shown it’s face with winter right around the corner. The final leaves make their way to the ground. Autumn turns into winter. The landscape has become bare, dull, quiet, and cold. The stillness is almost haunting. Mother nature looks as if she has laid down and decided to die. The days don’t seem as bright as normal, as if high noon turned into dinner time. Time seems to being going slower and everyone feels as if life has been sucked out of the air. Weeks pass and there is not much sign of movement. Mother nature seems beyond the point of no return. She looks, feels, smells, and sounds dead. Suddenly as if out of no where, life shows itself in the tiny bud of a blue flower that has slightly opened it’s petals.
We face this transitional storyline in our everyday lives with the current situation on Earth. Our choices and decisions have been impacting the state of our planet and will continue to do so. Economic, environmental, and social reasons are all huge contributing toward our current affairs. How we use land, general human consumption, energy choices, eating habits, our lifestyles, and wastes all add to the condition to the environment. Our behaviors are having a negative impact on where we all call home. It has shown through in numerous ways like climate change, pesticide drift, land degradation, air pollution, and habitat destruction. Sometimes this can be discouraging and people can become overwhelmed: the flooding feelings of continual mess that has gotten out of control. The massive amount of damage can make things seem like they’re past the point of no return. People even start to believe that we have done so much damage that it wouldn’t matter even if we tried. Sometimes we loose hope, just like after weeks of the quiet dead winter days. We start to question if renewal will ever come again.
However, like Spring, the Earth’s vitality will be replenished through the growth of caring individuals. The development will come with perseverance, commitment, sharing knowledge, and through maintaining our goals. The earth is in need of more attention, care, and overall consideration. Instead of living in a world where we live our lives only based upon economic and social factors, we can add the environment as a equal factor. We could start to have consideration for our environment as the one big home we all live on. It can be as simple as planting a tree to help replenish the world’s forests, considering windmills for an alternative energy for your farm, sustainable food systems, supporting and protecting farmers, local food, not using chemical fertilizers for your lawn, recycling, even reusing a yogurt container, standing up for peace, or understanding the dimension of sustainability and poverty. Integrating the value for our planet into every aspect of our lives can help reduce our human footprint. The road towards renewal is a long path similar to the prolonged days of winter, but together we can make a difference.
The difference we all can make together will take commitment and time for this new system to finally show itself in it’s entirety. From time to time, choosing to undertake the sustainable lifestyle can seem more expensive. Many of us feel the money pressures in our lives, especially in the state of the current economy. There are actually tons of ways though in which your investments will actually put money back in your pocket and give back to the environment. Reducing your waste can help with saving on disposal costs, or investing in energy efficiency options can reduce your energy bills. Choosing sustainability is about our future, our earth, benefiting local business, being aware of social issues that need attention, growing our economy and society in a new dynamic way, and to replenish our environment. Much the same as winter, our planet may look damaged, but nature can defy all odds.
Precisely when you think there’s no hope – the bright side shines through. If we work towards making sustainability a reality in it’s totality we can give the world a chance to be resilient and restore itself…
Barbara Duncan of the Catamount Earth Institute in Vermont, a partner organization of the Northwest Earth Institute, recently announced their winter initiative: a series of Healthy People, Healthy Planet discussion groups based on the World of Health discussion course created by NWEI. Courses will be happening at multiple local libraries, food co-ops, a nature center, the Upper Valley Land Trust, local bookstores and the Women’s Health Resource Center. Thanks Barbara for sharing this update!
Catamount’s winter project is offering Healthy People, Healthy Planet discussion groups. Winter in the Upper Valley is long, dark, and cold; one way to cope is to gather with friends and neighbors for good conversation, on a lively topic … such as shedding light on the connections between our health and the health of the planet.
Healthy People, Healthy Planet conversations are being hosted at 15 venues around the Upper Valley this winter. The 6-session series topics include preventive medicine, food issues, our chemical legacy, simplicity and consumption, and healthy natural systems.
This free discussion series is based on a discussion guide/anthology, A World of Health, by the Northwest Earth Institute of Portland, Oregon. Guides are available at the Hanover Co-op service desk for $15. (Participating libraries have discussion guides available on loan to their Healthy People, Healthy Planet group participants.) This series of community conversations began with a group at the Grantham Town Hall. Upcoming groups are hosted by the Baldwin Library, Wells River on Sunday, January 8; Shiretown Books, Woodstock, January 11; and Quechee Library on January 12…Sponsoring organizations for the 2012 discussion groups are the Catamount Earth Institute, Co-op Food Stores, the League of Women Voters of the Upper Valley, Sierra Club, Sustainable Hanover, the Upper Valley Land Trust, Upper Valley Localvores, and the Upper Valley Household Hazardous Waste Committee.
We’re grateful to the Jack and Dorothy Bryne Foundation, the Mascoma Saving Bank Foundation, the Upper Valley Sierra Club, the Stettenheim Foundation, the Frank and Brinna Sands Foundation, and King Arthur Flour for subsidizing the discussion guides and providing sets of books for loan by participating libraries. Thanks also to the Co-op Food Stores, the Upper Valley Food Co-op and Health Connections of the Upper Valley for purchasing sets of books to share with discussion groups.
Catamount Earth Institute will soon be on Facebook so that discussion group members can share their thoughts, concerns and information. See you there!
If you are local to Vermont and want to see a listing of where groups will be taking place, click here.
We are excited to announce that two of our classic discussion courses are now offered at a reduced rate.
Published in 2008, NWEI’s first course on climate change, Global Warming: Changing CO2urse is now available for $15. This four session course contains useful information about our current state of affairs based upon human-caused climate change, how we got here and what we can do to change course. Place your order online, or call us at 503-227-2807 to purchase this informative and useful discussion course. Also, stay tuned for info about an upcoming supplement to this course, available in spring 2012!
Healthy Children, Healthy Planet is now available for $12. As relevant today as it was when first published, Healthy Children, Healthy Planet examines the impact of media culture on our children, explores alternatives to the material focus of celebrations, considers the importance of nutrition and healthful eating, and addresses the importance of a child’s connection to nature. Healthy Children, Healthy Planet shows that to care for Earth is to care for your family.
We encourage to you to promote sustainability in your community by organizing an NWEI course this winter! Remember, the right conversations can changes lives. Happy New Year!
Today’s post is a guest blog post by Kaitlyn Nakagoshi of the University Alliance, who submitted this article on behalf of The University of San Francisco’s online program. The University of San Francisco provides all the tools and resources necessary to gain a sustainable supply chain management certification online. Read on for tips on how to make your new year’s resolutions last beyond the month of January!
Make Your New Year’s Resolution Last – Make it Sustainable!
New Year’s resolutions are notorious for being broken – some after a few weeks, others after just a couple of days. How can you make resolutions that are both meaningful and easy to keep? By thinking sustainably and taking small steps towards positive change for the earth, you can make a resolution that you’ll be proud to carry with you throughout 2012 and beyond.
The resolution success rate will be much higher when helping others becomes a factor. It’s not just about the “new you” of the “new year”. Consider creating a healthier planet for future generations. Here are some suggestions to help get you started.
- Start with baby steps and write reminders to yourself, placing them around the house. In the laundry room, post a note to use cold water for all your wash loads. Most of today’s detergents are so effective that clothing which once required warm or hot water will get just as clean in cold water. Post another note by the back door as a reminder to take reusable bags with you to the grocery store, and by the mirror in your bathroom, tack on another note telling yourself to turn off the water while brushing your teeth. These small, simple steps should become habits in no time.
- Remember: You are what you eat and drink! Farmers markets are an excellent way to support local agriculture and stock up on produce. Many offer CSA options (Community Supported Agriculture) where individuals pay in advance for a portion of the farmer’s total seasonal crop. Seek out restaurants that are locally owned and prepare dishes with local ingredients. Have fun with meal planning and try some vegetarian and vegan recipes several times a week. Other food and drink related ideas include using reusable tumblers and travel mugs for drinks and containers for keeping your lunches hot.
- Paper towels are more wasteful than most people realize. Purchase stashes of kitchen towels (or better yet, recycle your old and worn towels) that can be washed as often as necessary. Use them for drying hands, wiping down counters and cleaning up spills.
- Get off the couch and help both your heart and the environment! Start walking and/or riding your bike to nearby locations. Many communities are making strides to become more walkable, and others have added bike paths that include stops at local shopping plazas. Start exploring your hometown from more perspectives than the driver’s seat of your car.
- What kind of recycling services does your community have? If you don’t know, call to find out the guidelines for trash and recycling. Some towns allow all recyclables to be combined in one receptacle, while others require residents to separate glass, plastic, newspapers, etc. You might even have to drive your recyclables to a transfer station in some cases. If you’re used to tossing everything in the trash, dump this old habit and resolve to be an informed recycler this year.
Many of us get caught up in the exciting potential of New Year’s resolutions, but isn’t it time we found something we can really stick to? Start small and tackle changes that are manageable and instantly gratifying. Gradually build good habits and by the end of 2012 you’ll be able to finally say you’ve stuck to your sustainable resolutions!
Assessments that Produce Learning for a Sustainable Future
We are delighted to share information on an upcoming webinar hosted by one of NWEI’s partners, The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education.
Are you educating for sustainability? How do you know? In this 2-hour interactive webinar, participants will learn about the attributes of assessments that produce learning for a sustainable future. We will then explore and discuss exemplary EfS assessment instruments , and engage in the process of analyzing student work for evidence of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that characterize Education for Sustainability. Finally, we will celebrate what the research is telling us about the impact EfS is having on students, teachers, and communities.
At the end of the session, participants will be given a “take home” tool to self assess their own assessment practices so that they can identify the next steps they want to take to improve their practice.
Wednesday, January 4th | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST OR Saturday, January 7th | 10 AM – 12 PM EST. Click here for more info.
As we dive into Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we are delighted to share a guest blog post by professional writer Isabella Woods, who offers a few tips on a green Christmas. Tuck these away for next holiday season as well! Happy Holidays to all from us at NWEI…
We’re Dreaming of a Green Christmas
It’s that time of year again: when the festive sweaters see the light of day again and when we all come together to celebrate this most wonderful time of the year. And just like the rest of the year, when you should be switching off lights and sleeping on organic latex mattresses, it’s a time when we can focus on sustainable solutions. In fact, there are potentially more things you can do around the holidays to save energy and help the environment than any other time of the year. You just need to know where to look. There are lots of tips you can follow to make sure that this year’s Christmas is the greenest one yet. So while we may all be dreaming of a white Christmas (or so the carol goes), here are just a few tips to make sure you have a green one too.
Go easy on the Christmas lights
They may be one of the hallmarks of the holiday season, but Christmas lights are one of the most energy-hungry forms of lighting, period – at least the traditional filament bulb versions, anyway. So to keep your environmental impact down without sacrificing the lights altogether, you can simply use fewer lights than you normally would (perhaps limit them to just the tree), or use LED lights instead. LED, or light emitting diode, lights use up to 97% less energy than their traditional counterparts, so they’re a great choice for the energy conscious Christmas lover.
Wrap your gifts in recycled paper
Each and every Christmas, four million tons of wrapping paper will be thrown into the trash. That’s a lot of trees, and a lot of waste. You can do your part to lower this figure in a couple of ways: either make doubly sure that all of your Christmas wrapping paper makes its way into the recycling bin, or buy paper from a recycled and sustainable source. This latter method has twice the benefits because the person you’re giving the gift to will surely be thrilled that their present is helping to protect the environment. Once the festivities are over, make sure you give your home a quick once-over to check for any stray paper, then get all of it into your recycling bin.
Look for ‘battery free’ gifts
We’ve all been there: surrounded by kids playing with toys that buzz and beep and whir – it’s all part and parcel of the Christmas experience. But not every toy needs to be battery operated, and in fact those that aren’t are much better for the environment. Batteries are one of those items that are near impossible to dispose of. Once they’re empty they usually end up on the rubbish dump, never to be used again. It doesn’t need to be said that this is terrible for our environment. So, to avoid adding to the number of batteries we throw away each year, why not go for battery free gifts? Stuffed toys, musical instruments, toy cars, dolls – there are plenty of options. You could even go one better and make the gifts yourself from sustainable materials.
Go for a ‘live’ Christmas tree
It may seem logical to go for a plastic Christmas tree and hence lower the number of trees that are chopped down for use at the end of the year, but this can actually be the worse option. The reason is that plastic Christmas trees, especially the cheaper ones, are often made of non-biodegradable plastics that cannot be recycled. This means that if the kids get bored of the same tree each year, it’ll end up on the rubbish dump and damage the environment. By choosing a ‘live’ Christmas tree, you’ll get a more authentic festive experience and it’ll be simple, easy, and environmentally friendly to dispose of.
Make your own Christmas cards
This one ties in quite nicely with the wrapping paper point, and the same logic applies: by making your own Christmas cards from recycled paper, you can help the environment and reduce the damage done by mass produced cards. A phenomenal amount of energy goes into powering the factories that make these cards, and that’s something you could help reduce. Plus, home-made cards are so much nicer to receive!
These are just five quick tips for a green Christmas: there are plenty more – so don’t forget to experiment and find your own sustainable festive tips!
Happy Holidays!
Thanks to the Center for a New American Dream for sharing this inspiring video!
In this short animation, psychologist Tim Kasser discusses how America’s culture of consumerism undermines our well-being. When people buy into the ever-present marketing messages that “the good life” is “the goods life,” they not only use up Earth’s limited resources, but they are less happy and less inclined toward helping others.
The animation both lays out the problems of excess materialism and points toward solutions that promise a healthier, more just, and more sustainable life.
We are happy to share an invite to an upcoming webinar hosted by one of NWEI’s partners, The Cloud Institute for Sustainability. The topic will be on Educating for Sustainability. The Cloud Institute prepares K-12 school systems and their communities to educate for a sustainable future by inspiring educators and engaging students through meaningful content and learner-centered instruction. For more info on this webinar opportunity, please click here. Here is a description of what will be addressed:
In this 2-hour interactive webinar, we will begin by exploring the whole system of EfS and the rationale for our approach. Then, we will zoom in to discuss what it takes for a school to educate for sustainability, and what it looks like (and what it doesn’t look like) in curriculum. Finally, we will walk through the practice of “sustainablizing” units of study so that students are prepared with the “different way of thinking” required to lead with us the shift toward a sustainable future.
At the end of the session, participants will be invited to beta test our “EfS Reality Check,” a new tool designed for educators to determine the extent to which their school is already educating for sustainability, and to provide insight on strategic next steps.
Wednesday, December 7th | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST OR Saturday, December 10th | 10 AM – 12 PM EST
For more info: click here.
While searching for some ideas on how to have a more eco-friendly Thanksgiving this year, I came across this post just published this week on tips for a locally sourced holiday meal from Chef Bryant Terry, cookbook author and food justice activist. He’s written Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine and Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, and is passionate about food, particularly the availability of food for all. Read on for a few tips:
Focus on locally-grown, seasonable produce
Eating locally and seasonally could mean your usual Thanksgiving recipes needs an update. Chef Bryant says, “Plan your Thanksgiving menu around local, seasonal and sustainable produce growing in your area, and create new family traditions — incorporating into your meal original recipes that celebrate your cultural foodways and use local produce and value-added food products.”
Visit the farmers market
Chef Bryant emphasizes that as consumers, we play a vital role in ensuring the survival of small farmers. “If you can’t harvest food from your home or community garden, buy fresh produce from a local farmers market or food co-op,” the sustainable chef suggests. “Check localharvest.org to find farmers markets, family farms and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area.”
Use the foods you have
Before you run to the grocery store for Thanksgiving ingredients, consider using what you have on-hand. “Even if it is hard to grow food where you live in November, it is typically easy to grow herbs in a kitchen windowsill,” recommends Chef Bryant. “Also, incorporate fruits and vegetables preserved from the summer and fall.”
Drink locally
“If you plan to serve alcoholic drinks, buy local (preferably organic) wine and beer,” encourages Chef Bryant. “In addition to supporting a healthier environment by minimizing fossil fuel use associated with shipping, supporting small businesses helps ensure communities thrive economically.” The chef also recommends serving homemade kombucha for teetotalers.
Go a’picking
Whether you do it before Thanksgiving or as part of the post-feast activities, Chef Bryant recommends planning an apple-picking trip with family and friends. If there are orchards nearby, then use your harvest to make locally-sourced holiday dishes. “Make homemade Apple-Cranberry Sauce using fresh cranberries and locally grown apples,” the chef adds. “You can even make hard apple cider or Cinnamon-Apple Jack Toddies from your bounty.”
Minimize food waste
Plan your Thanksgiving meal before rampantly buying ingredients to avoid throwing unused food away. In addition, Chef Bryant suggests getting the most out of the food you buy. “For example, if cooking pumpkins or other winter squash for your meal, roast the seeds — they can be eaten as a snack or used as a garnish for soups or stews,” he explains.
Ditch the disposable dinnerware
Though paper napkins and plastic dinnerware are convenient and require little clean-up, they also contribute to waste. “Instead, buy cloth napkins from a local flea market or even make your own,” says Chef Bryant. “Also, buy your plates, bowls and serving platters from local artisans. Besides adding unique dinnerware with unusual designs to your collection, you are putting money in the pockets of independent craftspeople.”
Share your Thanksgiving
Give thanks by giving others a reason for Thanksgiving. “In the spirit of Thanksgiving, share your bounty (both ingredients and finished dishes) with friends, family and community,” concludes Chef Bryant…
For the whole post, click here.
And, HAPPY THANKSGIVING from all of us at NWEI!






