Once inside the unassuming entrance of Roberta’s, if you can cast your gaze past the wood fired stove and pizza gurus, let your olfactory senses take in something beyond the sweet aroma of ricotta pancakes sopping up maple syrup, and put down your mason jar of local beer, you will see, hear and experience the backyard urban oasis – a farming oasis that is. But don’t look out, look up. There is where you will find the first of the rooftop greenhouses.
The hoop greenhouse is built on top of a shipping container that is fitted out as a radio station (more on that later). Another captures waste heat from the condenser unit for the walk-in refrigerator.
Today we welcome guest blogger Kacy O’Brien of Passage Theatre with an inspiring look at nonprofit collaboration between arts and environmental groups here in New Jersey.
My interests have always been varied, but fallen mostly into two camps: arts and nature. I could spend equal hours reading plays, watching and producing theatre as I could hiking, watching and caring for wild animals. I count myself extraordinarily lucky, then, to be on the ridge where these two camps overlap; where I can begin to see both the congruencies and unique traits of the arts and environmental fields.
Passage Theatre, where I am the producer, is now in its third year of an unprecedented partnership with New Jersey environmental organizations including D&R Greenway, Green Faith, Isles, NJ Conservation Foundation, Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, Sustainable Lawrence, and Sustainable Princeton. Together, we have created a series of events designed to educate, inspire and promote conservation of our natural treasures, placing live theatre at the center of this four-month series ranging from Pine Barrens tracking, to poetry readings, to watershed reclamation. There are myriad ways in which Greening: Common Connections, Growing Community (as our partnership is named) has proved fruitful and engaging to all of us and our respective audiences on both sides of the “ridge,” including: workshops and talk backs that connect audience members with our artists; joint efforts on new initiatives; and changes to “green” basic operations. What started as a seed of an idea from my Artistic Director has blossomed, with the collaboration of our partners, into a sizeable brain trust spanning the state of New Jersey.
The importance of what our initiative is doing was reinforced at a session on sustainability and theatre at the 2009 Theatre Communications Group national conference in Baltimore last June. Of the five audience members (mostly LEED-certified designers and architects) at this session, I was – alarmingly – the only representative of an artistic viewpoint. The crossover between sustainable practices and environmentally-themed art wasn’t on the table for discussion, but I (admittedly) hijacked the conversation and was able to pull ideas from the presenters to bring back to our initiative, while sharing information on artists with whom we had worked. It was an invigorating conversation! The wonderful presenters included Ian Garrett of the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, Marda Kirn of EcoArts, Lisa Phillips of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Gideon Banner of Green Theater Initiative.
It became apparent at that conference that Greening: Common Connections, Growing Community is one of the first of its kind, and though I could continue to detail the day-to-day operations of our initiative, I really just want to talk about why I find it so cool.
Kaiulani Lee. Photo courtesy Haskell Wexler.
First, I have met three incredible teams of artists working on this project: Kaiulani Lee brought A Sense of Wonder, a brilliantly performed bio-play about Rachael Carson, to Passage in our inaugural year. Peter Donaldson followed in year two with Salmonpeople, a play enlightening viewers on the importance of watershed stewardship. On March 25th and 26th of this year, we are thrilled to present Brooklyn-based Climbing PoeTree’s Hurricane Season, a tapestry of poetry, theatre, dance, and multi-media, woven with a breathtaking musical score performed with live instrumentation. Rhythmic and uplifting, raw and moving, Hurricane Season takes the view that environmental justice and social justice are one and the same.
Second, these artists live and breathe their work, foregoing more lucrative jobs in order to carry their messages to audiences: that it is up to us to save our ridges and valleys, no matter what camp we fall into. In the process we will be saving a core part of our humanity – our connection to each other and the world we live in. This will become the mission of my generation over the next 50 years. I have watched these artists bring tears of shame and joy and hope to the eyes of audience members, elicit laughter and stoke imaginations. There is an emotional and interactive aspect to live performance that can make information a reality in ways paper cannot.
Third, I have been privileged to work with leaders and practitioners in the fields of urban reclamation, land conservation, sustainability and watershed restoration (to name but a few) who are as passionate about their life’s work as the artists on our stage. It has been incredibly gratifying and humbling to watch these women and men in action in the state of New Jersey, fighting the hard fight of science, numbers, money and politics to move us toward a sustainable future. It has been equally gratifying to participate in and witness events our partners host as part of this initiative, which entertain and educate in physical, visceral ways.
What I have learned, from both artists and environmental practitioners, is that the common connections exist all around us. Where there is just enough overlap in mission and passion we can find ways to pool resources, get the word out, and support each other. It is always better to ask, “Where can we collaborate? Where can we help each other? Who do I know that you should know and vice versa?” than to ask, “Can we collaborate at all?”
I don’t know if I’m giddy because the air is thin up on this ridge, or the heights are dizzying, or if it is simple elation at seeing the cross-pollination of our industries and strategies working to change people’s minds and behaviors. I do know that I’m having a blast up here, where the air is clear enough for me to see a future that I am not afraid of, because our partnership is only one of the first to find common connections between us and our audiences, which have strengthened our community and our solidarity as citizens of this world. My hope – my belief – is that there are many more partnerships to come.
The Dodge Foundation has been instrumental in making Greening: Common Connections, Growing Community possible with its generous support. We give our deepest, heartfelt thanks to the staff for their continued encouragement and enthusiasm for our initiative.
To read more about Greening: Common Connections, Growing Community, visit Passage Theatre’s website or click here. You can also see a sneak peek of Hurricane Season by watching the video below:
* * * The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10!
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From innovative instructional partnerships to curriculum design, NJ Learns is building capacity among educators, parents, community members, and, ultimately, our youth, to “live responsibly and well within the means of nature.”
Far Hills Country Day School students making natural bird feeders
By Caitlin Wargo, Director of Sustainability and Energy Management
Far Hills Country Day School
The Far Hills Country Day School team (who are Jen Berry, parent; Jen Wagar, fifth grade teacher; Ben Yu, Pre-K teaching assistant and I) almost didn’t make it to NJ Learns. A freak power outage shut down the school on the day everything was due. FHCDS parent and Energy Committee member Jen Berry had power at her house, so we went there to finalize our application, along with an apology for not including any of the attachments, which were stuck on my computer at school.
That was about a year ago, and I know I can speak for our team when I say that we have gotten so much more out of this program than we could have imagined.
I thought I might walk away from the workshop with some helpful tips for the school’s new Energy and Sustainability Initiatives. Far Hills had been recycling and composting long before I was hired, so our students already had a stewardship in their “think.” The new Energy Initiative, on the other hand, charged us with achieving energy independence in ten years, a lofty goal offering us a significant opportunity to impact our students’ mindset regarding energy. From the outset, we saw this first and foremost as an opportunity to educate, so we have involved our students in all of our plans, enabling them to be the decision makers charting the course of the initiative: from researching renewable options to speaking on behalf of the school in front of the Planning Board.
Post-workshop, I met with our Head of School, Jayne Geiger, and told her I wanted to change up my whole approach. I think the words I used were, “Put my money where my mouth is.”
The information on systems thinking and brain science presented by Jaimie Cloud made so much sense, and helped me understand what we as a school needed to do if we were to really let the kids be leaders in this initiative.
The timing couldn’t have been better for Far Hills. We had just launched a new strategic plan emphasizing 21st century and project-based learning, as well as fostering global perspectives and building community. The EfS standards dovetail seamlessly with these, setting the stage for a collaboration that will have meaning at FHCDS and our community for years to come.
Here are some great things that have come about since our team took part in the NJ Learns workshop last year:
We played the fish game with the entire school faculty at the start of the school year. Feedback was unanimously positive and our faculty engaged in lively discussions about preserving the “commons.”
We taught the Jaimie Cloud’s one-day seminar over the course of two evening sessions to a group of ten co-workers and school parents, who were so enthusiastic that we had a hard time wrapping up each session. Some of those same teachers are now planning to attend the Curriculum Design Studio at the Cloud Institute this summer.
Jen Wagar is using the EfS standards as her team revises the third grade curriculum.
Jen Berry is organizing parents to host a film series/discussion group on sustainable themes for the school and community.
Ben Yu is working to put in a school garden. This garden will provide endless opportunities for learning about sustainable practices on a level that can be understood by our youngest learners. He is working with a group of interested students to decide what we should grow. One of the first suggestions was “puppies,” which may take a little work!
After taking part in NJ Learns, I revamped my environmental club to use a project-based learning approach. Within this new framework, the students generated several ideas. They decided to fix our defunct composting system and to rehab an underused courtyard at the school with outdoor seating and to create art installations and bird feeding stations. They also want to put in a small pond – I am not bursting their bubble yet. Who knows? It just might fly. As part of their research, are interviewing several community members who have offered to lend their expertise.
This spring, I will be working with eighth graders who want to help me determine the school’s most effective renewable energy options as part of their research project requirement.
The Science Department is working with the Upper Raritan Watershed Association to revise our existing Pond Project so that it includes data on the effectiveness of our retention basins in filtering runoff from our parking lots and drives.
FHCDS joined Sustainable Jersey in Bernardsville and will have students participating in their community information session in March, alongside students from the local public high school.
FHCDS students hanging their bird feeders
Where do we go from here? We’ve built a strong, committed team, and as Jaimie Cloud says, “This isn’t instant orange juice.” As a result of Far Hills Country Day School’s participation in the NJ Learns program, however, I think our students will be even better prepared to take their place as the leaders of the future.
* * *
New Jersey Learns introduces teachers and community leaders to Education for Sustainability. Education for Sustainability (EfS) is a whole system approach to schools and communities learning together for a sustainable future and includes the Cloud Institute’s EfS Core Content Standards. The program brings community-based teams to participate in one year of introductory training, implementation, coaching and assessment activities.
* * * The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10!
Follow the Dodge Poetry Festival on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Poetry Festival on Facebook
Follow the Dodge Foundation on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Foundation on Facebook
If you are a regular reader of the Dodge blog, you know that we’re constantly encouraging you to join us on Facebook and on Twitter too. And not just because we want to share Dodge Foundation & Poetry Festival information with you. We see these social media tools as a learning opportunity for us – we love to hear about the work our grantees and partners are doing across the state. Moreover, we want to share your ideas, information and success stories as broadly as possible. We welcome your comments, conversation and links on our Facebook page, and we look forward to following you and hearing from you on Twitter.
So consider this is an open invitation – particularly to all current Dodge grantees – to email us at blog@grdodge.org if your organization has a Facebook fan page and/or you are on Twitter. We want to connect with you. In the coming weeks, we will share who is using these tools so that you can connect with them too.
I’m going to get you started. Here are environment groups – recent or current Dodge grantees and all members of the New Jersey Keep It Green Coalition – who are on Facebook:
From innovative instructional partnerships to curriculum design, NJ Learns is building capacity among educators, parents, community members, and, ultimately, our youth, to “live responsibly and well within the means of nature.” Join us for this February journey – and join Cloud for the learning journey to understand the “core content, competencies and habits of mind” to educate for sustainability (applications for the next NJ Learns training are due on Feb. 19 – see the Dodge homepage for details).
Kicking off this series is Stacey Kennealy, the Director of Sustainability for GreenFaith, New Jersey’s interfaith coalition for the environment. Stacey also directs the GreenFaith Certification Program.
GreenFaith’s mission is to inspire, educate and mobilize people of diverse religious backgrounds for environmental leadership.
By Stacey Kennealy
I live, eat, and breathe sustainability. As sustainability guru at GreenFaith, it’s my daily work, and what I believe to be my life’s work. I can talk ad nauseam about environmental problems, and I know every “green” solution under the sun. And those two areas—problems and solutions—used to be the central focus of every workshop and class that I led.
After enough of these workshops, I began to sense that I was missing something. The reactions from the audience consistently suggested this—and were completely different reactions from those experienced when GreenFaith’s Executive Director, an Episcopal priest, was at the helm. With me, the audience would walk away informed, mildly satisfied and quickly forgetting what they heard; after an environmental sermon, they’d walk away deeply affected, and with energy and motivation.
This left me seriously questioning my teaching style. Was being ordained a prerequisite for changing people’s hearts and minds? Then the NJ Learns opportunity came across my desk. As I filled out the application, where I was asked to describe my perceptions of “Educating for Sustainability,” I sensed the same uneasy feeling I did after my workshops. I realized that I wasn’t quite sure what “Educating for Sustainability” meant. Did I really know how to educate for this issue that I cared so deeply about?
A New York Times article last week, “Is There an Ecological Unconscious?” discusses the idea that each of us is experiencing “solastalgia”—a subconscious homesickness as our home, earth, is being degraded—and other experts report that “nature deficit disorder” is rampant in our society, particularly among children. These ideas capture my uneasy feeling: environmental problems are just an indicator of larger, much more deeply rooted issues. No amount of “greening” advice will cure us of these maladies. Educating for Sustainability must dive as deep as these maladies run.
Artwork by Kate MacDowell; photograph by Dan Kvitka for The New York Times
This concept was my NJ Learns “aha” moment. I realized that it takes a complete reworking of our mindset to change our wildly destructive consumption habits. “The significant problems we face cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that we used when we created them”—wise words of Albert Einstein, and the driving mission of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education. NJ Learns not only awakened me to this idea, but provided me with the tools and community support to help make these powerful theories a reality.
Do I use the Cloud Institute material in my presentations now? Yes. But the training gave me so much more. It shifted my own thinking to such an extent that everything I do is reflective of the ideas we learned. Every time I craft a document, build a curriculum, give a talk, or guide a congregation or school through the greening process, I educate for sustainability and not just about problems and solutions.
The most significant result was the way in which the training influenced the design of GreenFaith’s Certification Program—the first interfaith environmental certification program for houses of worship in the country. Similar to other certification programs like Sustainable Jersey or LEED, our Program provides a process and set of requirements that houses of worship must fulfill to be designated as leaders. Many of the concepts learned in the NJ Learns training—backwards design, systems thinking, and viewing sustainability as an opportunity to tell a different, more powerful story—laid the foundation for the overall process that GreenFaith asks institutions to follow. As Jaimie Cloud (founder of the Cloud Institute says, “It’s not sustain guaranteed, but sustainable.” The GreenFaith Certification Program embodies this vision, by teaching institutions how to create the conditions for sustainability that will guide them well into the future.
The first progress reports from these institutions arrived a few months ago. We are on target for our goal: environmental stewardship is becoming a living, breathing program at these institutions, with congregations taking on sustainability as a way of life, similar to alleviating poverty. This is what Educating for Sustainability is all about; if we can shift people’s underlying thinking about environmental issues, they will walk away empowered, more easily making the choices that will help to redeem this planet.
* * *
New Jersey Learns introduces teachers and community leaders to Education for Sustainability. Education for Sustainability (EfS) is a whole system approach to schools and communities learning together for a sustainable future and includes the Cloud Institute’s EfS Core Content Standards. The program brings community-based teams to participate in one year of introductory training, implementation, coaching and assessment activities. Want to participate? 2010-2011 NJ Learns applications are due on February 19th. Apply now.
* * * The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10!
Follow the Dodge Poetry Festival on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Poetry Festival on Facebook
