Judy Antoine displayed the \u201cGreen Rule\u201d poster, created by the same person who had designed the \u201cGolden Rule\u201d multifaith poster that we have used in the past. The \u201cGreen Rule\u201d poster lists many faith traditions, along with quotations from their scripture honoring the earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the information on that poster, Judy had made 15 paper \u201cleaves,\u201d each representing one of the following faith traditions: Bah\u00e1’\u00ed, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Native Spirituality, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, and Zoroastrianism. She handed the leaves to various women in the audience. Each woman read the words on the front of her leaf\u2014the name of the faith tradition and the quotation from its scripture\u2014then handed her leaf to a woman next to her, who read the words on the back\u2014the name of the tree associated with that faith tradition and the religious significance of that tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our first speaker was Catherine\nLandis<\/strong>,<\/strong> a doctoral student in forest\necology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science\nand Forestry (SUNY\u2013ESF). She recently completed a master\u2019s degree at SUNY\u2013ESF,\nstudying streamside plant restoration along an urban stream: Onondaga\nCreek. Her interests lie in ecological and cultural connections for land\nand water restoration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Catherine began by telling of her youth, growing up in Central New York. She lived in Westvale and remembers that when she was a child, her family would drive past Onondaga Lake, and she would hear about it being the most polluted lake in the world.\u00a0Local industries, such as Solvay Process, General Motors, and Crucible Steel, dumped industrial chemicals directly into the lake, and the city of Syracuse allowed excess raw sewage to empty into the lake and its tributaries. As a child, Catherine also spent her summers at a church camp on Vanderkamp Lake in Cleveland, New York, where 5000 acres of lake, forest, streams, and wetlands provided the perfect area for fishing, swimming, canoeing, sailing, hiking, building forts, learning the names of trees and ferns, and picking wild blueberries.\u00a0The lake was clear and pure and treated with reverence and respect.\u00a0As she grew older, she wondered at the different treatment that these two bodies of water received.\u00a0This disparity was important to her and led her to the work she does today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Catherine did biological field work in southeastern Utah,\nshe studied three types of birds; she amazed us with a haunting owl cry that, she\nassured us, the nocturnal creatures would invariably answer with their own cries. As\nCatherine worked in the rich, undisturbed ecosystem, she found herself in a night\nworld alive with beings whose eyes would shine with reflections from her work\nlight. She realized that we impoverish ourselves when we do not share the\nland in a way that lets other creatures thrive. Her work today is to find\nways to live with the creatures that really support us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Catherine returned to Syracuse to care for her mother; then she\nbecame ill herself. She was taking continuing education courses at SUNY\u2013ESF\nbut was not well enough to travel. When she turned to the Zen Center for\nmeditation, she discovered Onondaga Creek. As Catherine continued to take\ncourses, she met professors who were interested in the creek, and she decided\nto work on a master\u2019s thesis, doing research on the natural resources along the\ncreek and the possibility of bringing back some of the creek\u2019s natural\nfeatures, including the flow and the plant life. Beginning in the 19th<\/sup>\nand 20th<\/sup> centuries and continuing today, the creek has been\nstraightened, with many sections encased in rock or concrete, and with many\ntributaries covered over. Catherine showed slides picturing how we treat the\ncreek: tributaries of quite pure water now full of trash; sewer overflows\nduring heavy rains; stream burial to prevent flooding (as exemplified in a\npicture of a neighboring stream, Meadow Brook, during construction of a culvert\nproject that would benight that portion of the stream). Catherine\nacknowledged that flood control is important, but she feels there are better\nways to address the problem. Then she showed us a split-screen slide: on\nthe left was the channelized Onondaga Creek, with a concrete bed and sides, and\non the right was the creek restored to its natural beauty, with riparian plants\nadorning and supporting the banks and moderating the water flow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to a question, Catherine told us that a\ncitizen\u2019s committee has prepared a booklet addressing Onondaga Creek\u2019s problems\nand proposing a revitalization plan. In the past, there were several widely\npublicized drownings, and the creek was deemed to be unsafe. To solve this\nproblem, the creek was made inaccessible: fences and other barriers were\ninstalled, and the water flow was restricted to tunnels. These measures\ntook a meandering creek and channelized it, making it faster and therefore more\ndangerous. Today\u2019s planners are attempting to undo unwise decisions of the\npast and reestablish Onondaga Creek as an attractive, accessible, natural\nstream. Catherine\u2019s work at the portion of the creek abutting the Zen\nCenter\u2014helping to create and maintain a rain garden to reduce runoff into the\ncreek and adding water plants to slow the water flow\u2014are models for the future.\nCatherine said the plan also includes a shelf-like system of low banks that\nserve as a floodplain to accommodate and absorb flood waters after snow melt or\nheavy rains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The week before our meeting, Catherine had attended graduation\nceremonies and received her master\u2019s degree; now she is gearing up for a\ndoctoral project. She showed a handwritten historical map of Central New York\nfilled with Haudenosaunee place names that record the ecological history of the\narea. For example, Caughdenoy<\/em>, the\nname of a community in Oswego County, means \u201cplace where the eels lie down.\u201d In\n1900, about 50,000 eels were caught in the Oneida Lake drainage area; today\nthere are almost none, in part due to dams. The Haudenosaunee place names on\nCatherine\u2019s map show how the native people lived here in harmony with, and were\nsustained by, the wildlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Catherine is currently helping to teach a SUNY\u2013ESF course on \u201cthe global environment and sustaining Mother Earth\u201d to students at Corcoran High School. One major issue being addressed in the course is oil depletion. Catherine showed us slides explaining the history of oil discoveries and illustrating how those discoveries are declining.\u00a0She expects there to be a large gap between future supply and future demand and therefore anticipates rising energy costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A second major issue in her course is climate change.\u00a0According to the best predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, by 2090 New York State will have climate conditions considerably warmer than today. If heat-trapping emissions from fossil fuels continue to rise during this century, our climate may become similar to that currently found in Georgia and South Carolina. If, on the other hand, there is a shift in favor of clean energy technologies, with a commensurate decline in emissions, temperatures will rise less, leaving us with a climate similar to that of Virginia.\u00a0Thus we can expect longer spring and summer seasons (up to six weeks longer in the former scenario, two to three weeks longer in the latter scenario) and milder winters.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Catherine explained that with rising energy costs, we will\nneed to provide for our needs locally, without importing goods like food,\nenergy, or clothing from great distances. We will need to work with<\/em> nature\u2014because it takes energy to work against<\/em> nature. Utilizing the services of an intact\necosystem (such as in the production of food and energy) makes sense; and letting\nnatural processes determine the form of our neighborhoods is more aesthetically\npleasing and beneficial. Our neighborhoods can make use of local water\nsources, filter pollutants, produce food, provide recreation and education, and\nrestore biological richness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0Catherine expects the 21st century to be an era of restoration in ecology.\u00a0She quoted the wisdom of the Haudenosaunee peacemaker: He urged a relationship between sustainability and gratitude toward water, air, plants and animals, and he rejected the concept of mind\u2013body dualism in favor of a concept of the oneness of humankind with the environment.\u00a0This gives Catherine a sense of hope. The fact that the Haudenosaunee were able to live sustainably in this place proves that we can too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Catherine recommended steps we can take to achieve this sustainability: drive less, use less, become energy efficient, practice habitat landscaping, grow some of our own food, and support local farms. We must urge our communities, governments and legal systems to incorporate ecological wisdom into the decision-making process. Catherine cited the problems created by the federal government\u2019s fire-suppression policy that allowed fuel buildup and resulted in hotter, more destructive fires. Policymakers need to recognize the interdependence of systems and the contributions these systems make to the cycles of life. Catherine quoted from \u201cGreetings to the Natural World,\u201d a prayer that the Haudenosaunee recite at the beginning of every gathering to greet, acknowledge, and thank the Creator and all aspects of creation. Catherine feels that if Americans were to recite this before every important gathering, such as a graduation or a zoning board meeting, it would instill an appreciation for the relatedness and interdependence of humankind and our environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our second speaker was Jonnell Allen<\/strong>. Jonnell has a master of public health (MPH) degree from <\/strong>the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in geography. She has a position at Syracuse University serving as Syracuse community geographer; in this capacity she assists socially minded, community-oriented organizations in using mapping to better understand and address local concerns such as hunger, teen pregnancy, access to child care, neighborhood safety, youth programming, literacy, economic development, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonnell explained that she does not choose the projects\nshe works on; rather, they are proposed by community groups in Syracuse,\nOnondaga County, and other parts of Central New York. Her first project as\nSyracuse community geographer was to assist the Syracuse Hunger Project in its\nefforts to identify the local emergency food supply: what was available, and\nwhere. Onondaga County has 89 food pantries, most run by faith-based\norganizations, as well as soup kitchens and WIC program (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) sites. Jonnell created maps\nshowing the areas where supplementary food needs were greatest and the sites where\nfood services were located. Her maps also revealed that most supplemental food\nis available during weekday, daytime hours, when many people are attending\nschool or working. By using these maps, planners could determine which\nareas were underserved, and they could begin to coordinate what is offered at\nthe different sites. Similarly, Jonnell mapped senior dining services to\ndetermine which ones were on bus routes or within walking distance of those in greatest\nneed. Jonnell invited us to see these and other maps at\nwww.mapsonline.net\/Syracuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Concerned about the lack of fresh food in many people\u2019s diets,\nJonnell helped co-found Syracuse Grows, a group that promotes self-sufficiency\nthrough community gardening. Jonnell praised the founder of Lots to\nGardens, a youth and community organization in Maine that has created a number\nof urban gardens and has an informational website. When the Syracuse program was\nstruggling to get off the ground, the Lots to Gardens founder came here to help\nthem get started. Jonnell also praised Mable Wilson, a South Side woman who has\nbeen a community gardener for almost a decade. Mable uses her garden as a\nsource of spiritual cleansing, a place to rest and do something positive for\nher community. By raising awareness and getting more people involved, Mable\nhas helped nurture and expand Syracuse\u2019s fledgling community-garden movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonnell said that although the primary purpose of community\ngardens is to provide fresh organic produce, they also beautify blighted\nneighborhoods. Syracuse has 3400 vacant lots (notably, this number does\nnot include lots with boarded-up houses) that can be congregation sites for\nundesirable behavior. Gardens afford an opportunity for healthy exercise\nand provide environmental services (such as food for bees). They bring\nneighbors together and connect people across generations and cultures. Research\nacross the country indicates that crime decreases near community gardens\nbecause people are out of their houses and aware of their surroundings. People\ncan connect with nature, and being in a green space can bring tranquility as\nwell as spiritual and emotional healing. Syracuse currently has nine community\ngardens, with more being added, although Jonnell pointed out that she keeps\nhearing about other gardens, so the exact number might be higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonnell showed a slide of a group of city residents canning\nhomemade apple sauce. They were making the sauce with apples picked (with\nlandowners\u2019 permission) from neglected trees\u2014apples that would have otherwise\ngone to waste. The project connected the people with each other and their\nneighborhood, and it provided them with healthy food to take home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonnell discussed Syracuse\u2019s community gardens. SUNY\u2013ESF\ntested the soil in each garden, and all but one were within the US\nEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) limit for lead levels. Lead gets\ninto the soil primarily from leaded gasoline and lead paint. Even rain falling\non lead paint will cause lead to leach into the soil. Uninformed practices in\nthe past have left Syracuse and other cities across the country with a legacy\nof contaminated soil. WTB\u2019s Tapestry Garden on Isabella Street is the one with\nvery high lead levels. In order to eliminate contact with this soil, Beth\nKillian\u2019s family laid heavy sheets of barrier fabric on top of the soil. Planting\nboxes were constructed on top of this fabric and filled with eighteen inches of\nfresh new soil; the paths between the boxes were covered with wood mulch. When\nasked about the topsoil or potting soil we buy, Jonnell said that very little\nof it is tested; we do not even know the heavy-metal content of produce we buy in\ngrocery stores. Jonnell recommended that city residents have their soil\ntested for heavy metals. She also mentioned that Greenscapes, a local\ncompany, does test its soil for contaminants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sharing<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tanya Atwood-Adams thanked our speakers and explained that we\nwould close our meeting with a tree planting. Among the first peoples of\nthe world, as well as in many religions, each species of tree has a spiritual\nsignificance. In Islam the olive is the central tree, the world axis, a\nsymbol of Universal Man and of the Prophet; both Judaism and Christianity\nrecognize the Tree of Life; the Asvattha tree has its roots in Brahma. The\nyoung blue spruce that WTB has chosen to beautify the grounds of Jowonio School\nrepresents new realizations, healing, and intuition. Tanya invited each\nwoman to take a short length of yarn, variegated in color to represent our\ndiversity and our sisterhood in WTB, and to hang it on the tree to provide material\nfor the springtime nest-builders. Gathered around the tree in silence, we offered\nthanks, each of us in our own tradition, for the beauty and bounty of the earth\nand for the passion and strength to nurture it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Haudenosaunee people lived sustainably in this area, and the hope is that we also can learn to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7508"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8468,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7508\/revisions\/8468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}