I received this notice, from my apartment complex, warning residents that MDA would be spraying the property for mosquitos.  And while I completely understand the seriousness of mosquito related diseases, I cannot get past the first sentence of this notice.  The property manager wrote as if mosquitos are large enough, and rare enough, for people to notice a mosquito trying to work its way onto the property.  Although this notice was quite amusing, it reminded me of the threats pesticides pose to our health.  There is obviously a reason that mosquito spraying took place between 12am and 5am and there is certainly a reason they warned residents to close all windows and doors and remain inside.  These substances are meant to kill.  It may be intended for insects, but these pesticides and insecticides are still toxic.

It is one thing to know about the impending mosquito treatment, but it is quite another to know exactly what the complex was treated with.  Who knows what else is applied to the lawns, gardens, and farm fields in our neighborhood?  Pesticide use transparency is imperative.  These pesticides are not being sprayed in enclosed facilities in a structure where only the applicator is exposed.  The public has a right to know what they are being exposed to and the potential risks associated with exposure.

The Maryland Pesticide Network, supported by the environmental community, worked vehemently throughout the 2013 Legislative Session to pass a pesticide reporting bill.  The bill was moved to summer study where the appointed workgroup will provide recommendations on the need for a pesticide use database.

Pesticide exposure has been linked to chronic diseases such as asthma, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease.  With these health impacts do we really want industry representatives to win the argument that pesticide regulations are just fine?  I don’t know about you, but I am pretty sure I do not want to put my health in the hands of an industry representative who is focused on their company’s bottom line.

Ruth Berlin, Director of the Maryland Pesticide Network (MPN), wrote a great blog on the pesticide workgroup, which was posted on MomsRising.  If you are interested in learning more, MPN’s website is packed with incredibly useful information!

I was recently interviewed by Jesse Schaeffer ’12, Alumni Relations and Annual Giving Associate at Washington College and fellow WAC ’12 alum, about my position at Town Creek and my experience at Washington College.  Below is the great story she put together!  Click here to learn more about Washington College.

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Granting environmental progress

At Washington College, Megan Milliken ’12 developed a comprehensive view of environmental issues. Now in her role at the Town Creek Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation based in Easton, Megan uses this perspective to make grants to nonprofit organizations and support initiatives across the State in an effort to achieve Maryland’s loftiest environmental goals.

Drum roll please … badadadadadadadadadadadadadada … After an almost 2 1/2 month hiatus we have returned to blogging!  I know what everyone is thinking – “Thank goodness!  We have been waiting with bated breath for your next post!”  Well lets not keep you waiting any longer.

We are keeping ourselves pretty busy at the Town Creek Foundation.  I cannot believe we are already halfway through July!

A few weeks ago I attended the Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders‘ 11th Annual Forum: Rethinking Risk and Resilience in Providence, Rhode Island.  It was an incredible experience and well worth putting on my big girl pants and getting over my fear of flying (which I had not done since 5th grade, let alone, by myself).  I now consider myself a world traveler…or more like a state traveler…and navigated BWI like a champ.  I’m pretty sure I annoyed the TSA agent with all my questions, but in my defense, I just wanted to make sure I did everything properly.

Okay back to the conference …

The conference was packed with three days of thought provoking plenaries and informative workshops focused on various aspects of food system work.  It was a valuable opportunity to learn what other funders, from across the country, support on food (e.g. healthy food in schools; market based approaches; farmer education and organizing; policy reform).

Though no two funders’ goals were identical, they were built on the common recognition of the need for a transformed food system that breaks from the industrial and creates a space for local, sustainable food economies to thrive.

I left the conference with a long list of thoughts and valuable insights.  I thought one in particular, on re-industrialization, was especially valuable to be mindful of as we continue down the path of food system reform.  We want to break away from our unsustainable industrial food system, but how do we do that without re-industrializing?  With 313 million people in this country, I can imagine that it would be very easy to fall into a path of re-industrialization.  The speaker, who highlighted this point, characterized our current food system as depersonalized and distant and looked to relationships and networks as the key to avoid re-industrializing the system.  

The concept of unintentional re-industrialization was one of many light-bulb moments for me at the conference. I had not thought re-industrialization was a possible outcome of our focus on food system reform, but it makes complete sense.  Duh, Megan.  Maryland food system reform work is still in the early stages, but I think the issue of re-industrialization has real potential for us today.  If we are not mindful of the potential for re-industrializing, as we develop a collective strategy, our work could fall short of really moving away from our present day food system.  Just a thought.

… Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

The Lorax was my first introduction to environmentalism.  On the 43rd year of Earth Day, I thought it would be fun to post the original Lorax as reminder of the wise words of Dr. Seuss. (because although it was just a children’s book, Dr. Seuss made some incredibly good points that should not be forgotten.)

It is tremendously overwhelming to think of the work that needs to be done, but in the words of Paul Hawken,“If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand the data.  But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse.”

http://towncreekfdn.org//www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKHar6X3Nnw

Today is the last day of the 2013 legislative session.  I have followed the advocates on twitter, sat in on committee hearings, attended rallies, and monitored the news outlets.  Maryland’s environmental community, advocating on issues like offshore wind, pesticide reporting, and fracking, has continued to do effective work this session.

Although the work does not end when the session is over (and the advocates are working hard as we speak) I just wanted to say a quick thank you to the advocates and their supporters for their work this session.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise” – Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

If Aldo Leopold were around today I feel like we would be best friends.  Mostly because he would not have a choice if he wanted to be my friend.  I would just pester him until he told me something insightful and profound that I could apply to my work.  I am a professional pesterer, you should ask my parents.  But since being friends with Aldo Leopold is not really possible, unless I went to a medium, I will just have to rely on his writing.  (But seriously we would be like best friends forever. Friendship bracelets and all).

Today in trying to think of what I wanted to write about for this week’s blog I decided to see if Leopold had anything to contribute.  So like any intelligent, well-read person, I googled “Aldo Leopold Quotes.”  I know what you all are thinking. “Wow. I never would have thought to google that.”  I came across the above quote, which I could not have found at a better time.

I graduated from college knowing about various environmental issues within my state, across the county, and across the globe.  What I did not graduate with was a realistic understanding of these issues.  I knew of the general problems, but I did not realize how challenging it would be to fix these problems.  I never expected to have to learn the lesson that just because we may be right on a particular issue, does not mean we will win.  Or that sometimes we have to concede and compromise to the political game at hand.

Now that I am a year out of school and a year into learning about, and working in, the realm of Maryland’s environmental issues, I am constantly gaining perspective of the reality in which we work.  I have observed effective coalitions form within the environmental community to take on an issue.  These coalitions and collaborations have made progress, but they are certainly not enough to create the real systemic change we seek to achieve in Maryland.  We need to begin forming partnerships outside of the environmental community.

Think of how influential we could be if we began investing in relationships outside of the environmental community, if we got involved in issues like the Dream Act or Marriage Equality.  These issues are obviously not environmental ones, but their activists are likely to be supportive.  Most environmental groups tend to have their own rational for not being able to form these alliances, but someone answer me this.  If we cannot support issues outside of our own priorities how can we expect others to support our own causes?

I do not want to write this as if the entire environmental community is at fault, because that is definitely not the case, but they are most certainly not in the majority.

The Stanford Social Innovation Review published the article, “The Permanent Disruption of Social Media,” which explores the impact of social media on the relationship between nonprofits and their supporters/donors.  Nonprofits incorporated social media into their traditional donor engagement model with the mindset of what the donor could provide for the nonprofit.  The problem with this is that the traditional model of donor engagement is not applicable today.  It is not so black and white.  The article illustrated the need to develop a new model of donor engagement, which focuses on what the nonprofit can provide for the donor, strengthening the relationship between the two and increasing the influence of the nonprofit.  This article was obviously written about donor cultivation in the age of the internet and social media, but I think the basic lessons learned can be applied to building relationships outside our environmental community.

If we approach relationship building from the mindset of what I or my organization can do for another cause we can build trust, we can reach a potentially new constituency, and we can provide strength to help achieve a social win.  The time you spent helping this cause developed trust and strengthened your alliance with another organization(s), who in turn, will be available to help achieve your initiative.

We can only achieve so much working within our own community.  Diversifying our collaborative base strengthens our influence and cultivates the power to achieve the real systemic wins and really tackle “the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.”

To say I like the website BuzzFeed would be an understatement.  With everything from the deeply unsolvable mysteries of ’90s Hanson to 60 fabulous moments of Seattle’s first day of marriage equality, it is an extremely informative and entertaining website.

This morning during my usual perusing of the site I came across, “11 Horrifying Facts About Your Fresh Groceries.”  Which, by the way, is a GREAT read while you are eating lunch.

The industrial food system we are dependent upon is in need of a serious overhaul.  Our food system comes with a significant carbon and ecological footprint, as well as public health implications as identified by the BuzzFeed post.  Shifting to a more locally focused food system, where farmers can subsist in the market on their own, beyond industrial contracts, and where the destructive “footprints” of the current system can be minimized is essential.

There is a lot of great energy building around food system transformation in the Chesapeake Bay Region.  Below is a list of some of the food work we have supported over the last year.

Real Food Media‘s Food Mythbusters Project:  a collaborative project that uses online videos, grassroots events and workshops, and a web-based action and resource center to inspire, educate, and grow the movement for sustainable food and farming.

Real Food Challenge‘s Real Food Chesapeake project: to build a sustainable food movement in Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay region through university and college campus advocacy.  They work with student activists to secure commitments from their college and university administrations, shifting 20% of their institutional purchases to local, sustainable sources by 2020.

Center for Emerging Media‘s Sound Bites on Delmarva (“Sound Bites”) series, a weekly radio series that investigates the current food system on the Delmarva Peninsula and Chesapeake Watershed, to educate and engage the public in discussions around transforming this food system to one that is more sustainable, healthy for the environment, and allows for accessible nutritious food to all persons regardless of income or location.

Future Harvest – CASA: sustainable farming education and advocacy work and project support for its Food Shed Initative, involving a feasibility study for conducting regional food system vision.

Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment’s Chesapeake Food Leadership Council to begin shifting health care facility food purchase to local, sustainable sources.

 CONGRATULATIONS

to all those involved in the passing of the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013!!!

I do not believe there is anything I could say about this bill, that has not already been said.  I started following the campaign as an intern for the Maryland League of Conservation Voter‘s 3 years ago.  This time last week I was glued to the Foundation’s twitter feed, monitoring the updates activists were providing as the bill was being debated on the Senate floor.

This is a significant win for the state of Maryland and a step forward in meeting our greenhouse gas reduction goals.

THANK YOU to all those who worked throughout this campaign and CONGRATULATIONS on your win!!!

Now it is time for the implementation of this bill and for the achievement of another renewable energy win.

***Check out Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s blog for a summary of the campaign for offshore wind in Maryland.

A few months ago I blogged about Bill Nye the Science Guy and his argument that media outlets are giving climate change believers and deniers equal weight and air time.  The problem? The two sides are not equal.

There is a new social media website called “Reality Drop” that is tackling this very issue: spreading the truth on climate change and combating the lies and confusion spread by climate deniers.  Reality drop uses game dynamics to fight, and win, the conversation on climate change.  This website aggregates climate change related news and data and turns the dialogue of climate change into a game.  You can spread the truth on climate change on your social media and fight the myths and confusion of climate deniers on comment threads.  The more active you are in changing the dialogue on climate change, the more points you earn.

Our society is dominated by online content and social media, so this type of project only makes sense.  People gravitate to liking a post or spreading an alert online; it’s easy, it’s simple, and it’s something you can do in the comfort of your house, behind your computer, with little to no effort.

On paper this idea seems great.  It’s fresh, it’s new, and it’s not a report sitting on a shelf collecting dust.  That being said, I have so many questions about the impact of this project.  Is it enough to win the dialogue on climate change?  Will this make a difference and reach the audiences that matter?  Will this mobilize people into more active roles on climate related issues?

In thinking of all these questions, I immediately think back to the explosion I observed on my own social media sites around KONY 2012.  Will this reach the level of attention that KONY 2012 received?  Only time will tell.

http://towncreekfdn.org//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz3Z0zuCczs

I started following the campaign for offshore wind in Maryland when it was first introduced to the Maryland General Assembly three years ago.  On Tuesday, February 26th, the bill was successfully voted out of the Senate Finance Committee.  This achievement had been unaccomplished in the campaign’s previous three years.

I was able to attend both the House and Senate committee hearings on the legislation this year and heard the arguments, first hand, from the opposition in the retail and grocery industries.  Their arguments were surprising as they used short-term rationale to fight long-term progress, arguing that offshore wind would increase commercial utility costs, which hardworking Marylanders would have to pay for in increased product prices.

And while I do not doubt their threats of increased costs to consumers, I do believe this issue needs to be addressed in a larger context.  I would like to take this one step further, beyond grocery and retail store utilities, and broaden this discussion to address what it could mean for our wellbeing if we continue to allow short-term arguments to justify inaction to the long-term problems of climate change.

Climate change is a reality and reacting to its adverse effects comes with a significant economic cost.  Crop yields are being affected due to weather events like droughts, flooding, and fires.  Sea-level rise impacts those who are living in inundation areas who will be forced to pay higher insurance costs (if they can get coverage) or move to a new location.  Natural disasters, strengthened by the effects of climate change, come with a very expensive price tag.  And those same weather events impacting our crops yields and the areas we live in are also effecting our health, with an increase in heat related illnesses, a rise in respiratory diseases, as well as an increase in vector-, food-, and water-borne diseases.  Climate change is not just a scientific term, a temporary weather occurrence, or something often equated with Al Gore, this is something that has a direct impact on our health and wellbeing.  Can we really allow short-term arguments to justify derailment of our attempts at mitigating the impact of climate change and the adverse effects it has, and will continue to have, on our society?

What was so interesting to me about the testimony provided by the opposition in the grocery and retail industries was that their industries are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.  The industrial food system we are dependent upon, that retail and grocery industries play a part of, comes with a significant carbon and ecological footprint.  The adverse impacts of climate change are leading to droughts and fires, and other extreme weather that is directly impacting agricultural crop yields and therefore affecting the prices we see in retail/grocery stores.  This point was conveniently left out of their testimony to legislators at the committee hearings.

Their short-term arguments make it appear as if offshore wind would really impact the wallets of Maryland residents, but in reality it is the impact of climate change if we remain inactive.  If the retail and grocery industry really cared about the income of hardworking Marylanders, which they claimed to be concerned for in their testimony, they would help play a part in a solution to a problem they are accelerating.

I could go on about the issues with our industrial food system and the need to localize or the implications of climate change on our society, but I will save that for another time.  Instead I will quit while I am ahead simply say that as the 2013 Legislative Session progresses we cannot allow short-term arguments to derail long-term progress.  We cannot progress as a state and improve our overall wellbeing if we allow shortsighted arguments to skew the impact of what we are trying to accomplish.  The offshore wind legislation has been able to progress despite concerns from opponents, but you never know when the next bill could be derailed by shortsighted opposition.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead