This summer, we are featuring reflections from recent Eco Practicum alumni about the most moving things they experienced in the program. Angelica Radke is one of our first participants to do both our Spring Break NYC and Summer Catskills programs. In this post, she talks about the new values we'll need to really make progress on major environmental issues. Describe an "ah-ha!" moment you had during the Practicum.
I want to help transform our culture. I want to help change what we put the most value on. Because today what drives us to want souped up cars, large homes, acres of weed-free lawn, beach front property and all the latest trends is completely unsustainable. What drives us is largely the pursuit of happiness. Therefore, I want help create a society where the individual’s level of happiness is not so relative to material, but relative to their own relationship with the Earth and community. What was the trigger? We went to the Delaware County of Public Works, where they sort the county’s single-streamed trash. Seeing the tons of trash made me realize that we need to redefine what waste means and what it looks like. There at the DCPW I thought about how it’s taken a lot of effort to get people to reuse and recycle, but it’s going to take so much more effort to get people, wealthier people in particular, to reduce their consumption. This is largely because of the satisfaction from shopping (but it doesn’t last long, right?). Later in the week, waste came up in a discussion on a video about trashing the planet with plastics and non-biodegradable things. At the Catskill Arts Society, I thought about the role education and art would have in a transformation like this. The venues and space they had was perfect for sparking some discussion and providing people with a new attitude or way of thinking. What did you learn? I learned that one of our greatest problems is that of overconsumption, causing us to “require” irrecoverable amounts of Earth’s precious finite resources. Our fate depends on the change of this trend, not solely in our ability to increase energy efficiency or use renewables. I also learned from my own experience there that putting your hands in the dirt and interacting with nature, as well as investing in communities, will help create a paradigm shift. Strong communities can help guide people to make wiser decisions and sacrifices, and sensing that we’re part of something larger will make us feel safer and happier. How did it change what you had previously thought to be true? I didn’t quite realize how critical a cultural transformation was in order to live sustainably until a culmination of events during the program. I also didn’t see how important a role community, education, and art would have in this transformation. Kids need to see the value in community and Earth’s resources, and see that there is no need for NEW and the most UP TO DATE version to be happy. I want people, especially future generations, to be happy knowing that they are living consciously, considerately, and allowing the environment to regenerate itself. I want to help work in that direction. With that I have an optimistic view of our future 100 and even 1,000 years from now. - Angelica Radke This summer, we are featuring reflections from recent Eco Practicum alumni about the most moving things they experienced in the program. Billy Dimas finished Session 1 of Eco Practicum Catskills deeply impacted by what he saw and learned about meat production. Describe an "ah-ha!" moment you had during the Practicum. What was the trigger, what did you learn, and how did it change what you had previously thought to be true?
My “ah-ha” moment occurred right when we began looking into large and small-scale meat production. Specifically, when we visited the large-scale slaughterhouse at Cargill Meat Solutions in Pennsylvannia and when we witnessed the lamb slaughter at Snowdance Farm in New York. Experiencing these things made me realize how our system truly works and how much there actually is in the world. When I got back to camp after visiting Cargill, I was conflicted by the fact that these are living creatures and we shouldn’t be eating them at all and the fact that we are part of nature and we are predators and this is what predators do. In either scenario, I in no way agreed with the way that we are killing these animals for mass production and I really began to see that we can never have a sustainable system if we do it this way; shipping animals extreme distances from all over the United States and Canada. Marc Jaffe, who owns Snowdance Farm, gave us a tour of the farm and showed us the conditions that the animals lived in. He also explained why the lamb was kept in a cage for an hour or two before the slaughter. He explained it as a gradual separation of the lamb from the other lambs makes it easier on the animals compared to having to chase it around for a little when it is time to slaughter it. While at the lamb slaughter, I thought that this was the way it needs to be done. He gave this animal life, cared for it, and comforted the animal as he took its life away. Then I realized, based on the things we built and the systems we created, that there is no way we can go back to the whole “you raise what you eat system,” or even a system where everyone has a farmer-to-consumer connection. There has to be a middle ground. All along the way, I kept going back to the thought that even though we have the most influence among all creatures on the planet, we do not run it. We have to learn to coexist with the rest. - William Dimas Eco Practicum Catskills just ended and we had a fantastic, and deeply moving experience. For the next few weeks, our blog will feature stories from alumni about the experiences that impacted them most. First up, Karina Almonte explains why the program moved her to pursue a career as a social worker in Sullivan County. Describe an "ah-ha!" moment you had during the Practicum.
My “ah –ha” moment was when I began seriously considering working in Sullivan County and the Catskills area as an option after graduation. I am hoping to return to the area to work as a caseworker, helping individuals and families to find and access services related to food, nutrition, health-care, housing, and energy needs. What was the trigger? The trigger for my realization came during the week we spent focusing on food, and issues of food access and food justice. That week we visited Sullivan County Federation for the Homeless, a not-for-profit that provides prepared meals and emergency food assistance. We visited the Office for Women, Infants & Children [WIC] at the Liberty Public Health Office, a federally funded program that helps low-income families with young children, through supplemental food assistance, nutrition counseling, and breastfeeding support. They are two very different organizations that share a common mission: to provide a food safety net to individuals and families. When it came time to start final projects we were prompted to think about how we would address certain issues in this region. I kept thinking, “how would we address food access in this area?” As I thought about my question one of our facilitators prompted us with the question; “how will we…” She was right, how will we…? And so my question became: How will we provide access to healthy food to those who have limited means? That was my trigger to want to return to the area to work. What did you learn? I learned just how much work goes into providing a safety net service to a vulnerable population. Reading about the work of human service organizations is one thing, but being able to meet with staff and talk about successes and failures, that is priceless. Meeting with the staff at these organizations was motivating. They are working hard, even in the face of setbacks, to serve the people in Sullivan County. I learned that I want to be a part of what they are doing. How did it change what you had previously thought to be true? This experience strengthened my support for those who work hard to provide assistance and advocacy to people in crisis. Our visits with staff proved what I knew to be true that their work is not easy but it is necessary, and it is work that I want to do. "I figured out what I really want to do with my life."
"In two weeks here I've learned more than in one full year of grad school." That's just a tiny bit of the incredibly positive feedback we got from participants in Eco Practicum Catskills 2015. It may hard to explain just how meaningful and intense this experience can be, so we made this photo album to take you along for the ride. Our goal is to build the environmental movement by investing in young leaders. And boy, did we succeed! We are so proud of all 16 participants and we're thrilled they're now Eco Practicum alumni. Over the next few weeks, we'll be featuring some of them on our blog, the Practical Idealist, so stay tuned! Here's a link to the full album on Facebook. |
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