According to his parents, Rev. Glenn and Marsha Grayson - and to news reports - Jeron Grayson was a star athlete, a wonderful son and brother, a loyal friend, an excited college student, an inspiring community member, and an aspiring activist. On October 17, 2010, Jeron was tragically and randomly killed, while home from Hampton College, by a young man with a gun.

Rev. Glenn and Marsha have lived and worked for years in Pittsburgh - and have been particularly devoted to improving the lives of young people in their Hill District community. They have founded the Center that CARES  in their neighborhood. The Center that CARES provides tutoring, mentoring, advising, and travel experiences that support and broaden the lives of young people from kindergarten through young adulthood.

How did this extraordinary couple respond to their devastating loss? In typical fashion, they have recently launched a public campaign that urges young people to stay away from guns. The campaign is called "G" Stands for Never Touch a Gun - named after Jeron who was fondly called G. Look for billboards across Pittsburgh with pictures of Jeron. And take some time to view the WQED documentary about Jeron and his parents' work.

Sustainable health and well-being often involves conservation and protection of the natural world - and it also very much involves conservation and protection of the social environment. A healthy community provides safety for its residents, love and education of its young people, and caring among neighbors in hard times, in addition to food and shelter. It provides these supports in ways that can be sustained over the long term, across generations. Marsha, an attorney and a student in Chatham's MS in Counseling Psychology program, and Rev. Glenn, pastor of the Wesley Center AME Zion Church in the Hill District, make significant contributions to the sustainable health and well-being of their neighborhood, Pittsburgh, and beyond. 

The work of Marsha and Rev. Glenn is very important - and it is work that each of us can do in our own way, in our own corner of the world. Think about how you might add to the sustainable health and well-being of your community. Look around for other individuals or groups that you might connect with to do great things. And let us know what you do.

How cool is it to be at Chatham right now! Of course, the campus is at its most beautiful - and spring is finally here.

What is extra special cool about being here is that you get to meet amazing people with lots of smarts and good ideas. Today I listened to Patricia Allen from USC-Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. Dr. Allen is a candidate for a position in Chatham's new School of Sustainability and the Environment - her presentation today demonstrated that understanding how food systems work can tell us how sustainability in general works. In her words, food provides countless opportunities for reflection and action. Just as we are attempting to understand and promote sustainable living - sustainable health and well-being - with regard to water, air, time, animals and plants, the whole ecosystem, we are also doing so with regard food systems specifically. Here are a few points to consider:

• It is important to know public policy - what exists now with regard to regulations and subsidies related to agriculture, what is beginning to change, what else needs to happen, and how to make it happen. For example, we need to understand why food produced in large agri-businesses is often cheaper in the short-run than local and organic food - in part related to public policy - and also to think about the larger costs to health and the ecosystem in the long-run when we rely so much on agri-business for our food.
• It is exciting to hear that the US Department of Agriculture is looking at public policy and is beginning to talk more about local and organic foods - and about the use of regional food sources for school food programs.
• It is thought-provoking (and anger-inducing) to realize how deeply social justice issues are embedded into food systems. For one, the individuals who work on the farms, process the food in factories, and prepare and serve the food are often among the lowest paid laborers in our country. Many of them are undocumented workers (Dr. Allen estimates about 80% of farm-workers are undocumented) and thus have no recourse for addressing pay and work conditions - and yet large companies (and we, by purchasing cheap food that does not reflect its "true cost") benefit from their labor. In addition, the poorest people - usually divided along race and gender lines, in addition to income - are the ones who have the least affordable access to healthy foods. 

All of these issues related to food systems are also part of our discussions about sustainable health and well-being in general. Public policy often provides advantages to large industries that significantly contribute to environmental problems that result in poor health for humans and the ecosystem. And, thankfully, public policy is slowly changing in a positive direction with two steps forward and one step back. Still, the people who are hurt the most are those in less-privileged racial, SES, and gender groups.

I am talking about this because, as Dr. Allen pointed out, food is something we all need - and think about and enjoy. Every single day, we make choices about food - what to eat, where to get it, how to prepare it.  These choices have implications beyond our meals. These choices affect the health and well-being of ourselves and our families in the moment, and they also support by dollar power one or the other types of food production-processing-distribution systems - which has very real effects on the the long-term health and well-being of our environmental, social, and economic systems.

One excellent book about this topic is Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. I am also going to check out Dr. Allen's Together at the Table: Sustainability and Sustenance in the American Agrifood System.

Let me know what you think!

The British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred one year ago. Or I should say - began one year ago. The spill stretched over weeks, and the devastation to animals, plants, water, and human well-being continues to this day. And the spill tragically affected a region that was barely recovering from Hurricane Katrina - a region with "a history of health disparities, environmental-justice concerns, recurrent impacts of natural disasters, and poor health metrics" (NEJM, 2011). 

I was at the Hibiscus Bed and Breakfast in Grayton Beach, Florida just a few weeks after the spill, and witnessed first hand how this event hurt the communities. I saw sadness, fear, and anger, and heard worries about how the region could economically survive the assault on its primary sources of income - tourism and recreation. Each day, citizens walked the beach to monitor the status of the water and shore, and reported back to community leaders who were making difficult decisions about how to respond.

What is the situation today? Research cited recently in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that, while the long-term effects of the oil spill on physical health of the human residents of the Gulf Coast are uncertain, there is clear evidence of negative effects on the residents' economic, mental, and social well-being. There is also clear evidence from a variety of sources that the damage to the region's ecosystems is vast. 

Also in the last year - floods, droughts, AND wildfires in Australia, the earthquake-tsunami-nuclear plant disaster in Japan, and floods and landslides following a cyclone in New Zealand - all related to natural disasters and extreme weather. Topic for another day - how has climate change and global warming affected the frequency and severity of extreme weather events? There is a connection. More directly related to human choice - ongoing mountain-top removal and related air and water contamination - and negative health outcomes - in West Virginia. These are just a few of thousands of environmental situations and events that put health and well-being at risk.

What rays of hope have we seen in the last year? I look for rays of hope each day when I read the news, and I do find them, midst the darkness. What shines most brightly for me are reports of the voices and actions of ordinary citizens and a few government agencies in protest against destruction to the environment and in support of healing and protection of the earth. There are many many examples of this - here are just a few:

• Possible contamination of water by drilling for natural gas is a BIG issue in western PA -- and just last Tuesday in Pittsburgh, over 700 citizens turned out for a public forum to discuss the Marcellus Shale project - both to educate themselves and to speak their concerns. That is 700!
• In related news, the PA Department of Environmental Protection asked the state's natural gas drillers to stop delivering contaminated water to water treatment plants, setting a May 19 deadline - don't know yet what will happen if the drillers don't comply, but it is a start.
• Activists in Chicago occupied a local coal plant, protesting its pollution of nearby residences, restaurants, shops, and schools.
• In West Virginia, a march on Blair Mountain is planned for June 5-11, 2011, to demand an end to coal-mining via mountain-top removal, a strengthening of labor rights, and a transition to a sustainable economy.

I could cite many, many more rays of hope. Scan your local paper and another paper like the NY Times each day - buried under the heavy news about corporate influence of government, extreme weather events, and the spread of radioactive substances from the earthquake-tsunami area to places thousands of miles away, you will see glimmers of courage and strength. And when you read or hear about something that makes you angry - that threatens the well-being of your children, go right to the Resources page and let someone who has power in the government know how you feel and what you want. Teach your children to do the same.

We ordinary citizens are beginning to really understand that everything is connected, that damage to the earth affects human health and well-being in addition to the ecosystem, and that humans can make better choices in the interests of our grandchildren's futures. 

 

I have had some reactions to the "angry mother letter" that I posted last week - if you haven't read it, a brief scan of it now will help you understand what follows. Basically, the letter is from mother earth to her human children, in which she chastises her children for their destruction of their home.

Some people reacted with - I am a mother; I so get that level of frustration. Others said - Seriously? Will this anger really help? 

I have done some reading and thinking since I posted the letter, and I can empathize with both positions. I am a mother of two amazing children - in spite of their amazing-ness, there have been times when I have felt beyond frustrated with their behaviors and choices, and when I probably did not speak to them in a particularly loving way. And yet - I am the mother of two amazing children - and when I have expressed my frustration to them in a less than loving way, it has almost always gone badly. It has seldom resulted in the desired response - "Oh, yes, mother dear! I goofed! I am so sorry and I will never do it again." The more typical result of an attempt to parent via anger, shame, and guilt has been that the focus shifts from what the child could possibly learn and do differently to dealing with the icky crap that comes with angry outbursts.

I have learned over the years that parenting or teaching by anger, humiliation, shame, or guilt does not work - and that doing so poisons the relationship that is so essential for growth to happen. So I can totally see that the letter from an angry mother earth might result in shut-down by its readers - a closing down to the important seed of truth and wisdom that is buried deep within the diatribe. The result of reading the letter may not be the desired - Wow! I never thought of this! I am going to clean up my act right away and compost, recycle, be thoughtful about consumption, and write my representatives! It may more likely be anger in return, denial, and distance - certainly not thinking it through and considering changes.

Research may shed some light on this. Studies that investigate the effects of having someone complete a carbon footprint assessment (which provides feedback about how "green" the person is in daily living) yield interesting results. Briefly, for participants who already identify themselves as being sensitive to environmental issues, knowing the carbon footprint may reinforce already existing good habits or lead to additional positive changes. For participants who do not identify themselves as environmentalists, the outcome may be the opposite - no positive change and perhaps even a decrease in environmental concern (for further reading, see Vess and Arndt, 2008, and Brook, 2011, under Resources). Why might this be so? It is no doubt complicated - and yet, it may also be as simple as thinking about how any of us feel when we learn that we are not doing something we should be doing, or that we are screwing up - even if this isn't done in an angry way.

We are human - which means that, sometimes, our response to such feedback is resistance and defensiveness - which certainly does not help our cause.

One area of research that might be adapted for the purposes of understanding all of this is the area related to stages of change and motivation. Have you ever tried to make a significant behavioral change in daily living - to lose weight, to stop smoking, to drink less alcohol? Most of us who make these attempts go through steps of increasing readiness prior to actually making and maintaining the change - I will talk more about this later. 

What is important about this line of study is that there is greater success in change when we can meet people where they are in their readiness to change - when we can accept that they are not yet ready to act differently, but that they are at least contemplating doing so. When we can accept them at that pre-change stage, then we can help them take baby steps toward an actual behavioral change. We do this from a place of openness, support, curiosity, and acceptance - not from anger and judgment. I wonder what this might mean in terms of talking with people about environmental issues? What do you think?

There are so many very cool and important things I want to share with you. Each morning I come upon both empowering and distressing news related to the environment and sustainability - I am trying to be patient but there is so much I want to say.

Did you know that Congress is trying to limit the authority of the EPA to regulate air quality, industrial emissions, and other aspects of environmental health? Some call it an effort to cut costs - the EPA budget may be cut, as well as the scope of its authority, in this trying budget season. Others believe that it is an effort to maintain relationships with big corporations who are often responsible for the industrial pollution and who are also, by the way, big contributors to political campaigns. Arrrrgh. This is SO short-sighted. For one, the work of the EPA since its inception has resulted in cleaner air and water, and consequently a reduction in pollution-related illnesses and deaths. For two, the EPA, through its regulatory power, plays an important role in stalling - stopping - reversing the damage to the environment that, if not mitigated, seriously threatens the long-term health and well-being of the natural world, including humans.

The EPA is currently seeking support, in particular, from women, with the belief that women are more likely to be or to feel responsible for family health. I don't know if women are more or less likely to bear the bulk of this responsibility - but I do know that I would do anything to protect Michael and Julie and their loved ones. 

Under Resources, there is a link on the left where you can find the names and contact numbers of elected officials. Let's use our voices.

So, I did not do the Amizade Water Walk last Saturday as I had intended to. The walk, set at Duquesne University, was advertised as an opportunity to experience just a tiny bit of what women and children across the world do each day in order to get enough water just to survive. Participants in the event were to have carried a bucket of water for about 4 miles up and down hills and stairs but, as noted here, they actually walked for about 6.4 miles (the photo here is from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

I did not do the walk for a couple of silly and cowardly reasons. First, I am 57. Often, when I show up for community events like this, I am the oldest person by 20-30 years (GO Pittsburgh young people!). I imagine the other participants thinking wtf is this old lady doing here. And yes, I could have invited a friend. My second reason is not unrelated to my first - I was a little afraid that I would not be able to complete the walk and that I would thus end up feeling embarrassed - an ego-driven excuse if I ever heard one!

What I did instead, the following day, was to do a car-less Sunday. This meant that I walked to the grocery, the East-End Co-op, and carried my groceries home - about 3 miles round trip. I realize that this exercise was probably trivial, and had no impact beyond my momentary thinking about convenience, privilege, inequities and injustice, and cars (which, by the way, were abundant along my walk, blasting a glorious melange of jazz, gospel, hip-hop, and pop music out their windows) - but I did it anyway and don't regret having done it.

Sometimes it just seems like the local and global problems related to social injustice, pollution, climate change, overconsumption, and poverty are just so very big and overwhelming. Sometimes I feel so angry that I could explode when I read about the new Pennsylvania rule that coal company and other corporate executives (who clearly have vested interests) have to/get to review and sign off on regulations related to natural gas drilling (fox in the hen house???) when safe water and human health are at stake. Sometimes I wonder why the heck I think about this stuff and write about it when my efforts will be just a teeny-tiny blip on the screen. Sometimes I wish I could not be aware and interested, and could stick my head back in the sand. Most of the time, I realize that, in spite of my small efforts, I am still not walking the talk as much as I could.

What does this mean? Do these realities mean that we give up? Or that we give everything away and devote ourselves exclusively to work that tries to right wrongs? Have you ever wondered about these things?

Last Wednesday night, Juliette Jones, one of the founders of the Hazelwood Food Forest, came to speak to my class on Psychologists in Organizations and Communities. Juliette is young, creative, energetic, and hard-working. I listened to her and wondered about how it must feel to be undertaking such meaningful work at her young age and about what childhood experiences had given her the wisdom to take this path. Then she mentioned that she had not come to her interest in gardening and sustainability until after college, a mere few years ago.

We are who we are, learning and growing and teaching from our unique place in the universe. How can we go wrong with wanting to move forward from where we are, even if we take small steps? What is the alternative? What would happen if lots of people who felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of the tasks before us still determined to take those small steps, together? Again, what is the alternative?

In coming posts, we will look at what we know about how people change, about the roots of altruism, about the costs of denial. I welcome your thoughts.

I will be writing more soon about the Amizade Water Walk from this past weekend. I also just read an interesting NPR posting about our global thirst and challenge for clean drinking water - more to come about this as well. 

I just found out where my water comes from - The Allegheny River. And yours? And why is it important to know this?

So many sounds, smells, and sights late in the day in the Nine Mile Run Watershed area of Frick Park...

The most delightful to me - the spring peepers' chorus in the wetlands area. It was such a surprise! It reminded me of spring nights in the south. I couldn't see them, but man could I hear them! I don't know if this will work, but see if you can hear them peep.... This is the sound of the males enticing the females. Magic.

And the birds were out and about - saw a few and heard many more - listen to the robins, cardinals, sparrows - open all three and you will hear them singing together. 

Not much green yet, as you can see in the photos below, but I can see it and smell it coming. Look for similar shots coming up next week - we will see what has changed!

I am very grateful to all of the laborers and planners, paid and volunteer, who work to restore the Nine Mile Run to a healthy environment for all the critters, including us. 

"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction." Rachel Carson

What is a rain barrel anyway? I remember hearing when I was a child that washing your hair with rain water from a rain barrel made your hair extra soft! And also that rain water was especially good for plants.

But why the big rain barrel movement in the last couple of decades? How does collecting rain water actually benefit a community?

Much of the information that follows is from the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association web-site. From what I understand, collecting rain water from the roof into rain barrels prevents our waterway systems from becoming over-flooded with storm water. Heavy rains can lead to erosion in particular areas, and can also lead to pollution of land and waters - running storm waters can pick up debri, litter, junk, and can also merge with sewage. When heavy rains come and flow through our down spouts and on our streets, the systems that we have to manage water get all backed up and mixed up together, and polluted waters result. Collecting rain water in barrels or in rain gardens on your property allows a "capture" of the water so that it can either be used for other purposes or can seep back into your own land to feed plants.

When he was instructing us about rain barrel installation, Luke Stamper from the NMRWA described how the health of community water systems can be significantly improved when many residents use rain barrels. For example, if one rain barrel holds up to 100 gallons (low estimate), and each house has two rain barrels (that would be 200 gallons per residence), and 400 homes have two rain barrels -- that is 80,000 gallons of water that can be kept out of the waterways and used for better purposes - and that is just a one-time computation. That's a lot of water!

As I mentioned earlier, I have two rain barrels that are not yet connected. Luke offered to help me connect them. I might also paint them - like the one pictured above!

I don't have a water faucet on one side of my house, but do have a need for water on that side for plants and the bird bath. Luke mentioned connecting the two together for use on that one side of the house. Double-duty!

It feels good to work on this and to think about doing a small part for my playmates, both known and unknown, who live with me in my neighborhood. It feels good to play a part in keeping Frick Park and the Nine Mile Run a little cleaner. And this might even lower my water bill!

The car trips to visit our grandparents were long. There were no highways between Lexington, KY and Harlan County. There were just winding twist-backy narrow roads. Making these trips with five children must have been challenging for our parents. My mother used to sing to us on these long trips - "I'm gonna buy myself a paper doll to call my own - a doll that other fellas cannot steal" and "On top of Old Smoky all covered with snow" and "She'll be comin' around the mountain when she comes" - and one of my favorites...

Oh PLAYMATE, come out and play with me 
And bring your dollies three. 
Climb up my apple tree, 
Look down my rain barrel 
Slide down my cellar door 
And we'll be jolly friends forever more. (by Saxie Dowell, 1940)

I had no idea what a cellar door was, much less a rain barrel! But now I know. My little house came with two rain barrels which have yet to be hooked up. Yesterday, I went to the first work day for the Hazelwood Food Forest to start spring clean-up and to see a demonstration of installation of a rain barrel. What fun!

The picture above shows Luke and Matt celebrating the successful hook-up (following a not-so-successful one). The project definitely required ideas and labor from the small community of workers - many of whom did not know each other before yesterday.

The Hazelwood Food Forest is a project that was developed by some graduates of Slippery Rock University's programs for sustainability and environmental education. It is located in Hazelwood, a community that is almost a food desert with no easily accessible full-service grocery stores. Michelle C. and Juliette are leasing an urban lot (or four contiguous lots, I think) from the URA. The project depends upon volunteers from within and outside of the Hazelwood community. There are work days on alternate Saturdays (next one is April 16).

I have volunteered there a couple of times. I know very little about this kind of gardening, but I love the idea of working with a group of people on an outdoor project like this that has the potential of benefiting an entire community. I love the learning that happens - yesterday, for example, I learned what "flange" means and saw it in action! I love showing up, not expecting to see anyone I know, and joining with these strangers toward a common purpose. 

Yesterday, I met Michelle and her father - Michelle is a high school senior who plans to study environmental engineering when she goes off to college next year. Michelle's dad (John, I think) built the platform for the rain barrel from old bricks left over from demolition of the condemned row houses that once stood on the lot - I wonder what stories are embedded in those bricks. 

I met Jane and Jim, who recently moved to Edgewood. I met Luke who works for the Nine Mile Run Watershed Organization - he supplied the graffiti-ed rain barrel and described how to do the installation. I watched Matt scavenge wire for the rain barrel installation. I talked with Michelle C., one of the creators of the forest, and heard about how her seven-month old son loves being outdoors with her while she is gardening in her Lawrenceville yard. Juliette, the other initiator of the project, is coming to my class on Psychologists in Communities and Organizations next week to talk about her work - and some of Chatham's Food Studies students are working with the project to figure out how to involve community members more actively in the planning and implementation of the work.

I hope to get to know all of these people, and more, as the project moves ahead. This is a community. One of the things that we know from psychological research is that a sense of community is one of the most important predictors of happiness and well-being. 

This calls to mind many of the communities that have been important to me over the years - my book club, the people at the Square Cafe, my friends at Chatham, my fellow youth group leaders at Sunnyhill, the moms and teachers at Julie's preschool Mushroom Family Learning Center, another group of moms - Phase II, all the way back to my graduate school cohort and the marching band in high school. When I am with these people, I can be myself, and know that I am appreciated for who I am. I can receive and give support. I can laugh and cry.

Question of the week - what are your communities? Who are your "playmates"? These could even be "virtual communities" - an on-line support group for parents of children with autism - or they could be very select - feminist birdwatchers who knit, for example. My brother, Ray, has an urban farm in Louisville, KY (more about this later) - when I visit him, I see neighbors stop by with their children and grandchildren to see the rabbits and chickens, to receive a plant from him, and to take home some compost tea for their own gardens. Share with us what your communities are and why you love them...
 

Gotta love Raffi... All I really need is a song in my heart.... And I need some clean air for breathing...

Wednesday night, I attended a symposium about air pollution in western PA. Speakers included the authors of a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette series on Mapping Mortality, Don Hopey and David Templeton, EPA representatives, climate and pollution scientists, and most important, residents of communities who have felt first-hand the negative effects of pollution caused by coal-burning electricity plants. These effects are not small - they include chronic asthma and respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and significant property devaluation. The daily lives and futures of citizens have been damaged.

What did I know going in? I knew that, as Alan Kazdin, former president of the American Psychologist Association, has said - sustainability, climate change, and environmental problems are wicked problems that have multiple causes and no simple solutions. I knew that thinking about these wicked problems is challenging and often disheartening - they feel so big and unwieldy, so out of the control of individuals or communities. I knew that, nevertheless, it is important to keep learning and to keep talking to people who know what is going on and have ideas about what to do.


What did I learn? Many things - my head is still spinning - but here are a few:

• big corporations that pollute will seldom initiate efforts to reduce pollution from their industries without outside regulation
• outside regulation is often not sufficient - enforcement of the regulations is necessary
• some companies would rather pay fines than make necessary changes
• many plants in western PA are becoming compliant with EPA standards.... from 1997.... they are nowhere near compliant with current standards
• the federal government is currently considering reducing the power of the EPA to deal effectively with threats to the environment, including threats to clean air
• this is in spite of the fact the the Clean Air Act and the EPA have had significant positive impacts on citizen health and longevity since their inception a few decades ago
• few electricity generating plants are built next to the homes of CEOs
• speaking up as a citizen is important - it is true that the squeaky wheel can get attention - it does take a lot of time and energy, but it can result in change
• there are lots and lots of good people out there - professionals and ordinary citizens - who are doing this work

In the coming days, I will create a new page with information about how to contact your government officials about issues related to the environment (or other concerns). Stay tuned...

Dedicated to Julie and Michael...

All I Really Need by Raffi

All I Really Need is a Song in my Heart
Food in my belly and love in my Family
All I Really Need is a Song in my Heart
And love in my family

And I need the rain to fall
And I need the sun to shine
To give life to the seeds we sow
To give the food we need to grow, grow

And I need some clean water for drinking (Drinking)
And I need some clean air for breathing (Breathing)
So that I can grow up strong and take my place where I belong

All I Really Need is a Song in my Heart
Food in my belly and love in my Family
All I Really Need is a Song in my Heart
And love in my family