Author: owenm349

hi guys! this is already so much fun. i wanted to kick things off for myself by sharing a little information about a resource i grew up around.

I grew up across the lake from a sort of hippie institute known as omega. In 2006, Omega decided to build an environmental education center and a natural water reclamation facility. In my presentation, i mentioned that i grew up around a lot of meditation based in nature; my first group guided meditation experience was a women’s circle that took place in the OCSL.

Skip Backus, chief executive officer at Omega, sums the goal of the OCSL as such: “The OCSL is a dynamic, living and breathing demonstration of how interconnected we all are with the world around us. Our goal is to help people reexamine how they relate to the world by showing them what’s possible in terms of environmental sustainability, green energy, and regenerative design. At the OCSL, we wanted the public to be able to learn about the process of natural water reclamation, witness the latest developments in green building, and take courses that highlight their connection to the natural world and inspire greater sustainability in their own lives and communities.”

The idea to build it came about in 2005 when Omega realized that they needed to replace their aging wastewater septic system. They wanted to build a different kind of water treatment system, one that recognized and respected water as a precious natural resource. They identified three major criteria that they wanted this project to be founded on: 1) water reclamation using zero chemicals, 2) water reclamation using low energy, 3) educational opportunities for individuals and groups. The motto of Omega is “Service is compassion in action” and this structure is such a strong example for me of the necessity of education and community tied into respecting and preserving nature

When they began building the ocsl they discovered an endangered species, the northern cricket frogs. In order to preserve the frog’s habitat before moving on to the creation of the building, they built a three foot “frog proof” fence around the building site and trained crew members to monitor the area. Another threatened species, blandings turtles (Emydoidea blandingii), were found on the land and safely re-routed. These creatures served as a reminder for omega as to their “responsibility as stewards of our natural resources.”  how important it is to consider all beings when planning and building a new enviroment!

Hi all,

I wanted to share this poem by Mary Oliver that has been rolling around my brain throughout the course because I feel that it so speaks to the thread of connection to nature as a force that is grounding/nurturing and a way to orient oneself in the world.  I was shown this poem by my rabbi when my family first moved upstate from manhattan and started going to his synagogue in Woodstock, which was in the middle of the woods. I’d told him that my brother and I were having trouble sleeping at night because in the city, we lived on a very loud and busy street, and it had served as a sort of noise machine we’d grown accustomed to. Upstate, we were both weirded out by the silence in which you could hear the rustles and chirps of so many living things, particularly the slow, drawn out chirp of the crickets, a sound we are both now deeply attached to.  My Rabbi suggested that the various nature sounds were just a way of our new environment welcoming us home. I brought it up with my brother this week and he described that period of adjustment to the proximity of the natural world outside our window as a sort of “plugging in,” a new awareness and appreciation that has not left either of us since.

http://www.phys.unm.edu/~tw/fas/yits/archive/oliver_wildgeese.html

Also: There’s a great site called learningtogive.org that’s centered around philanthropy based education for kids, and I found a lesson plan on it that I loved based around the Jewish value known as Tikuun Olam – to repair the world. Several elements of this lesson plan were heavily focused on the importance of nature, and one’s obligation to protect and cherish it. I’m including an excerpt below.

The Hebrew word for nature is teva.  It is considered a mitzvah to protect or guard nature–sh’mirat ha-teva.  Judaism tries to instill within humanity the idea that people are partners with G-d in doing the work of creation.  Humanity does not exist in a vacuum, but shares the Earth with other living things.  There is symbiosis in existence with every element dependent in one way or another upon every other element.  We are to be thankful for the bounty of the growing things of this world.  This lesson is taught in the story of creation found in the Book of Genesis, but also reinforced in the writings of the Rabbis.  Incumbent upon this, as well, is the notion of ba’al tashchit–we should not be destructive, but rather work to preserve the good and useful things of this world.  This, too, is our obligation.