April 15, 2011
Hello everyone.*
A week or so ago I finished reading a novel by Wendell Berry entitled “Hannah Coulter.” It was a delightful story, told by the title character, an 80 year old woman who is looking back on her life, reflecting on the place that she calls home, Port Williams, Kentucky. I recommend it highly to everyone. It is a story that offers ongoing criticism of the way in which we as a society have decided to live our lives, divorced from place, ensconced in technological sophistication and the unremitting demand for “progress.” However one finally rests in relation to Wendell Berry’s trenchant critique of our modern fascination with technology and its apparent ability to liberate us from the restraints of time and space, it is a worthwhile opportunity to ask ourselves some simple questions. How much does it matter to me where I am? How deeply do I know the place in which I dwell daily? How much of a member am I with the people, places and things that make up my place?
I have been spending some time, and the beginning of Spring is a particularly appropriate time, to think about my place. I mean, the place where I live, where I wake up each day, serenaded by the birds whose song chases away the silence of night around 4:30AM. It is a gentle interruption, a calling to life of this place where I have chosen to breathe most of my breaths on any given day. I think about the membership I have with my partner, Cathy, with my neighbors, with those who walk by each day, in the regularity of exercise. I think about my membership with the daffodils who shout to all those around them of the coming warmth of Spring. The hostas push themselves up out of the ground, and then slowly unfurl their flags, identifying themselves as residents of this place and time. I cannot forget the groundhog who has begun his investigations of our gardens, looking for something to satisfy a winter’s worth of hunger. The deer make their way through our yard, enjoying the delicacies that are a tulip’s fresh green. All of this is my place. I think about the many human beings and other beings who have made this space their own. Our house is only about 35 years old, and before that this was either farmland, woods or both. There was violence done to this land when the contractors came with their bulldozers, and architects’ plans, and hopes for an American dream (a house, picket fence, and a two car garage!) It is not the hope for such a dream that is unsettling, but what we have had to destroy, or more importantly, forgotten in order to pursue that dream. We have forgotten that we are, as human beings, people rooted in a place, or better, that we are most human when we are rooted somewhere. We have forgotten that we are not alone in the places where we root ourselves.
Cathy and I have tried to make this place more friendly to those who live here also, the flowers, the grass, the chipmunks, rabbits, one groundhog and the birds. We’ve done that by not using petroleum-based products on our lawns or garden beds. We have accepted that our notions of a “perfect” lawn are not in harmony with this place. We try to create habitats for the birds, the rabbits, and even the groundhog! We have a large pile of brush on the back line of our property. It certainly doesn’t look “neat and clean,” but it supplies shelter for small animals, a place for birds to gather in the rain, and a renewable source of small twigs and branches for the ubiquitous birds’ nest that find their way into the most unlikely of places.
A few weeks back two wrens began working feverishly on a nest. They chose a precarious place. They built the nest under the wrapping of our retractable awning on the back of our house! It was a clear message from our Creator, not only that Spring is the most life-centric time of the year, but also that we are not the Masters and Mistresses of our castles. We are members of the community that lives in this place. So, our awning won’t come out til the fledglings find their wings!
All of this sparked by the musings of an old woman, captured in fiction, yet powerfully reflective of the most real thing there is: the place where we are. If you haven’t read “Hannah Coulter,” then I suggest you do. It will make a wonderful Passover and Easter present to yourself, a reminder that life must always be rooted in a place so that it can reach its fullest bloom.
Help us in the blooming of Waterfront South and Camden City! A place most in need of the blessing of new life! Indeed!
Sincerely,
Mark Doorley
President,
Board of Trustees
The Center for Environmental Transformation
NEWS AND NOTES
1. A wonderful announcement! Andrea Ferich, our Director of Sustainability Initiatives, will be honored on April 29th in New York City by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. She was nominated by Senator Robert Menendez (D) of New Jersey to receive the 2011 Environmental Quality Award. This award is given to citizens who exemplify a commitment to the environment. Andrea will receive the award at the EPA’s Region Two office in Manhattan. She is the only person from South Jersey who will receive this award. Congratulations, Andrea! If you’d like to flood her inbox, her email is aferich@gmail.com.
2. We had an amazing event at Sacred Heart Church, facilitated by the Center, on Saturday, April 9th. Members of M’Kor Shalom, a synagogue in Cherry Hill, NJ and members of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Camden gathered for a morning of work in the gardens and an afternoon of faith sharing and visioning. As Eileen Borland, a board member of the Center and a parishioner at Sacred Heart, said, we spent the day “falling in love” with each other. We finished putting mushroom soil into the garden beds at Eve’s Garden. Many of us transplanted broccoli and collard green seedlings into the park community garden, and many others transplanted little tomato seedlings into larger containers so that they will be strong and healthy when they are made available to people. After a wonderful lunch, we heard from Nancy Axelrod, Stew Abrams and Mark Doorley who shared insights on justice from the Jewish and Roman Catholic traditions. In small groups we shared with each other how justice first dawned on our consciousness. Andrea then offered us her vision of the healing of the earth and hearts in Waterfront South, inviting us to imagine what the partnership of these two communities might look like. A group of people from both faith communities have committed to plan ongoing collaborations in the work for justice. Thanks to all who participated!
3. The Center for Environmental Transformation is one of several collaborators who are working to create rain gardens in the city of Camden. Our collaborators are the Camden County Municipal Authority and Rutgers’ University. This collaborative is part of the SMART campaign in Camden (Stormwater Management and Resource Training). As some of you may know, Camden has a combined sewer/storm water system. When there are hard rains, it is not uncommon for the sewers to back up into streets and people’s homes, with storm water AND sewage. This initiative to create rain gardens aims to build 40 of these systems throughout the city. A rain garden traps rain water before it goes into the sewer. Through a combination of landscaping and vegetation, these rain gardens capture the storm water and gently reintroduce it into the water table, rather than allow it to go in to the already strained sewer system. The combined water trapped by these rain gardens may reach as many as 1,000,000 gallons! The Center will be the provider of all the seedlings that will be planted in these rain gardens. Very exciting!
4. There are several Earth Day celebrations coming up that we want to alert you to. The first is in our neighborhood, on Wednesday, April 20th. We will be cleaning the neighborhood from 8AM to 3PM. At 10AM at the Camden County Municipal Authority building, near the corner of 4th and Ferry Ave. in Waterfront South. Camden Mayor Dana Redd will hold a press conference to kick off the 2011 Camden Clean Campaign and the SMART initiative. Join us! Other Earth Day celebrations are scheduled for April 30th. There is a celebration in Haddon Heights, right on Haddon Ave., from 10AM – 2PM. Also on the 30th, from 10AM – 4PM Sustainable Cherry Hill is hosting its annual Earth Day celebration at Croft Farm, 100 Borton Mill Rd, in Cherry Hill. There will be lots of activities for the whole family, and the Center will have a table at each with seedlings of various heirloom vegetables available for a modest contribution to our work.
5. The Annual Fair Earth Day, sponsored by the Center for Environmental Transformation, will take place on Sunday, May 15, 2011. Once again, we will have lots of information on how you can do your “bit” in reducing your carbon footprint. There will be Palestinian fair trade olive oil available, as well as fair trade clothing, chocolate and coffee. There will be compost making lessons as well as heirloom seedlings available for all comers. Please plan to join us. The fair begins at 10:30AM and goes til 1PM if not later. We will be in the basement of Sacred Heart Church, on the corner of S. Broadway & Ferry.
6. We will have a First Saturday workday on Saturday, May 7th. Please join us at 9AM, behind Sacred Heart Church. We will be working in the gardens. We have work gloves, but you may want to bring you own, as well as water. See you there!
7. The Center’s retreats: We have had two groups on service experiences/retreats with us. We invite all groups to consider spending a weekend or a week with us. The programming is built around working in the various projects sponsored by the Center, in collaboration with neighborhood children and adults. Sprinkled throughout the work are sessions of reflection on environmental justice, our lifestyles, and ways in which we can begin to effect change, personally, in our communities and in the arena of public policy. We are opened to tailoring the experience to each group, but we are also in a position to facilitate the entire experience. If you have any questions, particularly those responsible for fall and spring break trips, please contact us at info@camdencenterfortransformation.org
8. Become a seller of the Poet of Poverty and the green book, “It’s a Terrible Day: Thanks be to God!” We have plenty of copies of both, and all the proceeds of their sale goes to the Center. We could use your assistance.
9. Mark Doorley represented the Center at Villanova University, a guest of its Center for Peace & Justice Education. The Poet of Poverty was screened followed by the discussion of the film and what’s happening in Waterfront South. Several of the participants in this discussion came to the April First Saturday work day. Volunteers from the Center are available to come to your organization, school and/or faith community to show the film and lead a discussion of what’s going on in Camden. Please contact Mark Doorley at president@camdencenterfortransformation.org
10. Save your printer cartridges and your old cell phones. Get them to us and we’ll have them recycled, therefore supporting the work of the Center. Also, you can purchase recycled ink cartridges, and the Center will receive 15% of the proceeds. Go to this website to learn more: https://planetgreenrecycle.com/participants/message.php Enter the Center’s website at the prompt.
11. We have three major construction jobs to accomplish before the Center is complete. We must rebuild the porch on the side of the building which will serve as the main entrance. We must redesign the front entrance, with a new door and a redesigned brick entryway. Finally, we still have about 20 windows to replace. Please consider supporting us in pursuing these goals. There will be more in the future on this fundraising project; keep us in mind as you make choices of support for causes you believe in. Checks payable to the Center for Transformation can be sent to 1729 Ferry Ave., Camden, NJ 08104. Please write “capital projects” in the memo line.