Atlanta springs are nothing to sneeze at. Well, there’s plenty for you allergy sufferers! The weather is pleasant, the canopy overhead is brimming with new growth, and the critters are active. So are the members of the Climate Action Team. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite spots around the state.
Bert Pearce: One of my favorites is Blood Mountain, the highest point on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail. You get great views in all directions on a clear day. Close by is beautiful Lake Winfield Scott. My son Michael and I (right) hiked to the top of Blood Mountain for a pandemic outing in March 2021. We met several backpackers who had just started their south-to-north journey on the AT with hopes of going all the way to Maine.
Kathy Judy: We love Sidney Marcus Park in our neighborhood, which was created by the city when a proposed highway did not go through back in the early 70s. We like to walk there and watch the children playing on the playground.
Susan Perz: One of my favorite places is Gibbs Gardens. My first time there I was invited by a photo buddy friend, and the date happened to fall on the five-year anniversary of my Mother’s passing away. The weather was perfect, and one of my photos from that day (left) ended up being shown at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens juried show a few months later! It was very meaningful to me and special – a spiritual blessing and the blessing of a renewed sense of my Mom’s love.
Laura Rose: My go-to weekday walk in the woods is at Stone Mountain Park. I like to start at the nature garden trail and wind my way to Venable Lake, sometimes making it to the covered bridge and then returning around the opposite side of the lake. I often see the resident great blue heron, ducks, and always lots of turtles sunning themselves on logs. It’s my way to get my forest-bathing fix without having to drive too far from home.
Amber Duque (right): I love how vast Stone Mountain Park is, too, and that I keep discovering trails that are new to me even after 20 years of visits. On a lot of those lesser-travelled trails, I do not feel like I am in the suburbs anymore. I feel like I am surrounded by beautiful nature, and that is rejuvenating for me.
Pat Russell: The outdoor spaces that I have loved these past few years have been at Noble Park and Sidney Marcus Park, both in the Morningside neighborhood. The Pandemic Players and the ukulele song circle have played music in both parks during the Covid years. The music brought joy not only to us players and singers, but to the passerbys, too.
Brian Baker: When I peddled my bicycle loaded with camping gear down this stretch of Keencheefoonee Road near Newborn on my way to BRAG Spring Tune up in April 2021, I knew I had to stop for this picture (left). It’s the ideal roadway for cycling. I look at it now and then when I need to be reminded of why I ride.
Nancy Wylie: The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area is my favorite place to walk in the woods in Atlanta. While this “string of pearls” has many wonderful spots, because of location I most frequently go to either Cochran Shoals or East Palisades. Cochran Shoals is a wide, flat walk along the river where I walk with friends, and it is easy to talk. There are hills if you want to explore, but the trails tend to be “single track.” East Palisades is mostly hills, and there is an observation deck looking over the “devil’s racecourse” section of the river. I personally am so attached to these because I worked in the late 1970s and early 80s to help establish the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. The East Palisades unit was formerly a state park, and I used to go there to enjoy what I was working to protect.
Nicole Haines (right): I am inspired with every visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The human-nature experience that has been cultivated in the urban space is magical. I come away from each visit with renewed creativity and hope.
Jean Woodall: Bull Sluice is a special rapid on the Chattooga River! Whether I am taking a guided trip with a rafting company or simply taking the short walk in to climb on the rocks or swim in the water, I love to step into this wild and scenic spot on the Georgia – South Carolina border near the US 76 bridge, not too far from Clayton. When I got married in 1981, my husband had a summer job cooking for Southeastern Expeditions Outdoor Rafting Company, just a mile from Bull Sluice. We lived in a 10′ x 10′ platform cabin and shared an outdoor shower and other rustic amenities with the rest of the raft guides. The guides showed us many wonderful hiking and water adventures, both in Georgia and just over the line in South and North Carolina. Bull Sluice was the “go to” getaway close by. We could check on the water level measured daily on the bridge to see what kind of an adventure we were up for. At really low water, we could climb out to the middle of the rapid and drop down into a hole that time and water had eroded into the boulders. From this vantage, we could look out a “window” and see kayakers paddle in a stream of water we could touch. At high water (3′ at the bridge), we could only stand or sit way up the bank and watch daring whitewater boaters challenge the waters featured in the film “Deliverance.” It is a Class IV+ rapid during normal flow and an exciting end to the gentler, beautiful rafting or kayaking on Section 2 of the Chattooga. Walk just below the rapid to the sandy beach with calm water or climb on the rocks and jump in the bottom of the rapid, a great playground on a hot summer day. It’s a short hike in from the US 76 bridge parking pavilion.
Parjit Kaur (left): I really enjoy spending a few minutes now and then in my neighborhood “pocket park” right outside my condo building. In the early morning hours, there’s a mistiness to this park, which is very beautiful. There’s one particular sweet gum tree there that I like to hug every time I walk by it. It’s like having a friend in the park! But every time I look at this tree and admire its thick trunk rising straight up into the sky, I wonder when the axe of a developer or DeKalb County might fall on it? It’s a morose thought, but it is based on reality: many 50+ year old trees along this pocket park were cut down recently to widen Cliff Valley Way so that the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta traffic can flow smoothly. I was broken-hearted when it happened. My hope is that this never happens to my special tree!
Sue Certain (right): I love Blue Heron Nature Preserve, which is about two miles from where I live. It is 30 acres of natural woods in the heart of Buckhead, including three miles of hiking trails. I was a community gardener there for nine years. My husband Gordon played an important role in the acquisition of land that became Blue Heron, including a major zoning fight. Blue Heron started out with 15 acres and has gradually grown. It features art and art installations, which is unusual in a park like that.
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YOU’RE INVITED: The Climate Action Team extends a radical welcome to activists, contemplatives, readers, meditators, questioners, tree hugging hippies, scientists, policy wonks, radicals, pacifists, nature enthusiasts, and all who seek community as we navigate our changing times together. Learn all about the group here, and check out our lending library of over 100 titles and Carbon Offset Fund grant opportunity. Contact Nicole Haines to connect to the CAT and join us for our next monthly meeting on June 19!
CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR A FULLER VIEW OF REGENERATION.
At our most recent Climate Action Team meeting, one of our members started the group off with an inspirational reading from Paul Hawken’s Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation. The crux of this initiative? “Our concern is simple: most people in the world remain disengaged, and we need a way forward that engages the majority of humanity,” states the movement’s website. “Regeneration is an inclusive and effective strategy compared to combating, fighting, or mitigating climate change. Regeneration creates, builds, and heals. Regeneration is what life has always done. We are life, and that is our focus.”
Those who read this book and learn about its proven “cascade of solutions” generally find themselves hopeful about how we can use our technical ingenuity and emotional courage to reverse course on climate change. That was certainly the testimonial of our team member, who borrowed the book and later decided he needed to own his own copy. And, yes, this book is available in the CAT lending library for you to borrow and read!
Later in the meeting, as we discussed proposed mining in the Okefenokee and efforts to turn South Atlanta’s Weelaunee Forest into a police training facility, one of our newest members grew emotional. Another responded to him in the Zoom chat: “We share your frustration!” His reaction to the ecologically indefensible decisions being advanced reinforced for me that our work is grounded in a love for the planet, not a passion for politics and capitalism. Here he was, a young man and an expert in stormwater management, sharing his heartfelt pain and later thanking the group for providing the space for his expression.
Yes, many of us are struggling to manage our ecoanxiety, to grasp the complexities of the entrenched status quo, and to embrace ambitious solutions that may seem dead on arrival in the current political climate.
Gaia Vince wrote last month in the The Guardian: “There are radical, yet pragmatic, solutions to our crises. But fear of what will happen if we don’t act is imprisoning people in a mindset that makes alternatives seem unthinkable. … Today, looking at the state of, well, everything, it can seem as if we are stuck in a socioeconomic status quo, condemned to a scary future.”
She continues, “Eco-anxiety stems from a sense of hopelessness and the realization that there are limits to how much agency we have as individuals to affect global change. But we are not hopeless, far from it. The future is still unwritten; we cannot know what it holds, but we will make it first in our minds, in our imaginations.”
What does she suggest we do to keep our imaginations charged as well as our optimism? “First, we have to notice,” she writes. “We have to raise our heads from the all-consuming business of daily life and pay attention to what is wrong with today’s ‘normal’: notice who in our society is being failed and which of our human activities are damaging our communities and natural spaces. See the opportunities in what needs to be fixed. Understand not just intellectually, but emotionally what we face as our world heats. And then actively choose to imagine an alternative, a future that is livable. Be pragmatic: how do we get to this future from our current reality?”
She encourages us: “Choose to conjure that vision of a livable future.” The pragmatic solutions offered by Hawken’s Regeneration and the Project Drawdown efforts that arose from his previous book make conjuring that vision a bit easier. There’s more, she suggests, and this is where the Climate Action Team comes in.
“Find a tribe of like-minded people or make your own, and focus on achievable tasks: litter-picking to improve your local environment immediately; campaign for safer cycle routes; increase the plant-based meal options in your workplace or school; welcome migrants into your group,” Vince writes. “One person can generate an idea, but it takes a community to create a reality, to come together and shift policy. Take heart, as I do, from the many groups already striving around the world. Think more broadly, think longer-term. Refuse to limit your mind to the narrow realm of today’s political circus.”
This is about sensing possibility and claiming agency, something Paul Hawken discusses in the opening pages of Regeneration. “Thinking you are an individual is self-identity. Being an individual is an ongoing, functional, and intimate connection to the human and living world. When we look at our networks, each of us is multitudes.”
Our last meeting showcased just how much head, heart, and hope are alive within our team, and that feels really important right now. For those who find themselves choosing denial and diversion as a way of coping with increasingly frightening environmental news, our team is holding a space for you – to learn, to engage, and to feel “all the feels” with the rest of us.
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YOU’RE INVITED: The Climate Action Team extends a radical welcome to activists, contemplatives, readers, meditators, questioners, tree hugging hippies, scientists, policy wonks, radicals, pacifists, nature enthusiasts, and all who seek community as we navigate our changing times together. Learn all about the group here, and check out our lending library of over 100 titles and Carbon Offset Fund grant opportunity. Contact Nicole Haines to connect to the CAT and join us for our next monthly meeting!
I would like to share with you my environmental journey, one that is just beginning. It started for me a year and a half ago, when I was challenged by one of my spiritual teachers to become an “Earth Buddy” over Zoom along with millions of other participants. I thought about it and realized that the environment has always been important to me, and even though I was super afraid of saying yes – because I knew that would be a commitment that I would want to fulfill – I said yes… in my head.
The tricky part after that was that I did not want to deal with the environment or even hear about it because it was painful and overwhelming for me, but I carved out a little time and at least read what the request was to become an Earth Buddy. One of the main requests was to spread a cause (like “Save Soil”) by posting on social media, for example. I thought to myself, nothing that I post or say would have any impact on any of my current social circles, so how would I actually make an impact in a way that would affect people?
I started thinking: how do I get involved in an organization that could hear me, a group that is already working on this, because I need a foot in the door? I’ve got me, myself, and no one listening to me at the moment, and I’m not even listening very well myself.
I started by searching Facebook for a friend from my past that I remembered was active with helping the environment. Amazingly, I saw this workshop that she (Beth Remmes) would be leading called “The Work that Reconnects: A Workshop of Sacred Activism,” based on teachings of Joanna Macy. This workshop was designed to actually deal with our feelings about the environment and process grief, which seemed like a necessary next step because the topic is so painful to me and because I resist starting new things anyway.
So I went to that workshop, which is where I met Jon Reese, who co-leads the UUCA Climate Action Team. After that and a similar retreat, it helped me face my pain enough that I could take the next baby steps. That included attending CAT meetings.
So fast forward a year… Now I am attending the CAT meetings. I even helped start a sub-group called Easy and Fun Activism, where – to help overcome some of my resistance – we get together as a small group, knock out some items on an activism to-do list for 45 minutes, and then do something fun for 15 minutes. With Bert Pearce’s guidance at our last session, I was able to write and send a letter to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to demand they stop mining efforts that will harm the Okefenokee Swamp.
The more I learn about the environment, the more important it becomes to play my part. Now I am ready to take those continued resistance-fraught next steps. This is my first blog post. Maybe I will show up at UUCA after a service to help people choose what goes into the recycle bins.
Like I said, I am on the journey now, and even though (as my husband likes to tell me) my efforts in this area may be futile, get overturned or overshadowed, it is important to me. I feel that when I am on my deathbed looking back, I will be so happy that I did what I could.
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JOURNEY WITH US: The Climate Action Team extends a radical welcome to activists, contemplatives, readers, meditators, questioners, tree hugging hippies, scientists, policy wonks, radicals, pacifists, nature enthusiasts, and all who seek community as we navigate our changing times together. Learn all about the group here, and check out our lending library and Carbon Offset Fund grant opportunity. Contact Jon Reese to connect to the CAT and join us on Zoom for our next monthly meting on Monday, May 15.
We need you. We need to hear your thoughts and feelings about how we can help our congregation to be better stewards of the earth. We are coming away from all of the festivities and learning opportunities offered by Earth Month, including an inspiring sermon from Rev. Taryn on rewilding – our world and ourselves. Our question, though, is this: How do we help each other move forward?
We know the task ahead of us seems daunting, but it is also exciting. We have so much opportunity for what Joanna Macy calls the great turning. We have been challenged by the sermon several weeks ago to wonder, “What if it turns out okay?” That leads me to consider what needs to be done by all of us now for that to happen.
That’s where you come in. In celebration of Climate Action Week, the Climate Action Team offered several congregation events, including a screening of a short documentary produced by one of our own members, a gardening day, and an in-person film screening about alternative electricity production. The quality of discussions and energy of those who participated was fantastic, and we are so grateful to have shared that time with them. The downside is that we had far less participants than we would have hoped. Perhaps these were not the offerings that are relevant to you. Maybe you have ideas for programs you would like to see.
In essence, the CAT would love to hear from you about what we can do to help you take your passion for the earth – which we know that you feel – and take your next step. Would you like book clubs? Are you more into film screenings? And what types of films interest you? Do you want to get your hands dirty? If so, how would you like to start digging in? Are you interested in participatory learning or are you more comfortable in a classroom type of setting?
We want to be a resource to you, a support for your environmental journey. We would love to hear your thoughts about how to accomplish that goal. If you see any of us at Sunday service or in another congregational activity, reach out. Ask us a question in Realm or check in with us when our team tables in the social hall after service.
We want to hear from you. For that matter, let us know how you like the blog and what else we can offer here that would benefit you. Email me at hip2bveg@gmail.com. We all look forward to partnering with you on this adventure!
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JOURNEY WITH US: The Climate Action Team extends a radical welcome to activists, contemplatives, readers, meditators, questioners, tree hugging hippies, scientists, policy wonks, radicals, pacifists, nature enthusiasts, and all who seek community as we navigate our changing times together. Learn all about the group here, and check out our lending library and Carbon Offset Fund grant opportunity. Contact Jon Reese to connect to the CAT and join us on Zoom for our next monthly meting on Monday, May 15.
Climate Action Team co-founder Pat Russell shared this dispatch from her home garden, and we’re looking forward to seeing photos soon! Have you tried something new in your yard or food garden? Want to share compost tips or rain barrel advice? We would love to hear about your efforts and even your failures since many of us are experimenting with new ways to save and savor the Earth. Send me an email at reeseindecatur@gmail.com, and let’s tell your story! Alright, here’s the latest from Pat.
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You have heard that “April showers bring May flowers.” It is April, but I’m instead focusing on flowers, not showers. One reason is I want my plants to establish a good root system before our Georgia hot weather arrives. I have been a gardener for many years but only recently became aware of the importance of planting native plants after hearing Doug Tallamy’s lecture on his book Nature’s Best Hope. He proposes that we could slow the rate of extinction we are seeing in the insect and bird population by planting natives in our yards.
So I joined the Georgia Native Plant Society and attended a webinar on the best native plants to plant. I also paid a native plant expert, Kathryn Kolb, to tour my garden and provide advice. She is the founder of a nonprofit company called Eco-Addendum. She first identified the natives that I already had in the garden, which include: Native Flaming Azalea, Phlox Diverticulata, Paw Paw trees, Poplars, White Oak trees, Sensitive Ferns, Blueberries, Beautyberry, Joe Pye Weed, Trillium, and Philadelphia Fleabane (a weed I had been pulling up in early spring).
Of course, she also pointed out what I need to eliminate: the endless invasive ivy, the invasive Lentos Roses, and even my Hostas!
So my April native flower-planting has consisted of: Red Buckeye, Fireworks Goldenrod, Georgia Astor, False Indigo, Soapwort, Bee Balm, Butterfly Weed, and Honeysuckle Vine (for the hummingbirds).
I’m excited to see if my April flowers will benefit from May showers!
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JOURNEY WITH US: The Climate Action Team extends a radical welcome to activists, contemplatives, readers, meditators, questioners, tree hugging hippies, scientists, policy wonks, radicals, pacifists, nature enthusiasts, and all who seek community as we navigate our changing times together. Learn all about the group here, and check out our lending library of over 100 titles and Carbon Offset Fund grant opportunity. Contact Nicole Haines to connect to the CAT and join us on Zoom for our next monthly meting on Monday, May 15 at this Zoom link.
Are you trying to be more intentional about living your values? It’s a noble pursuit, one that relies on introspection, mindfulness, and discernment. At the recent congregational retreat, a group of us discussed our values journeys with the help of beautifully-illustrated cards from Lisa Congdon’s and Andreea Niculescu’s “Live Your Values Deck.”
We identified values that play a major role in our daily lives and how those values became important to us. We considered values that are present but are not central to our daily experience, and we chose values that we consider aspirational. The conversation felt open-hearted and honest with participants sharing their vulnerabilities and their strengths.
As we approach Earth Day on April 22, I’ve selected excerpts from eight values from the deck’s 73 cards to motivate your renewed commitment to protecting and preserving this sacred creation.
“SERVICE: Remember that honoring your need for service will give you a stronger sense of purpose and meaning, which leads to better mental and physical well-being.”
Initiating and participating in service strengthens our sense of agency and provides a physical outlet for heartfelt aspirations. Saturday morning’s pollinator garden prep (April 22, 9:30 AM, UUCA) is one opportunity, but metro Atlanta organizations offer dozens of other service events each month. A quick search on Hands On Atlanta yielded 25 opportunities through the end of this month!
“SIMPLICITY: Consider simplicity as the mind-set of being satisfied with what you have. … Recognize that your individual behavior can inspire others and collectively add up to a significant change.”
Needless consumption, overloaded schedules, and mindless activity don’t help us feel grounded and clear-headed. This set of meditations from The Simplicity Collective may help you identify changes to support you in “downshifting.” And this fun comic from Sarah Lazarovic poses the question: “What are you willing to give up?”
“NON-CONFORMITY: Work to find and honor what brings you joy, even if it seems to go against the grain of mainstream culture or your own family or cultural norms. … Take responsibility for your choices and embrace them as an expression of your own uniqueness.”
Sofo Archon encourages us to doubt beliefs we’ve been given and to stay away from what is keeping us down. For many of us, conforming to the damaging traditions of our extractive capitalist economy has us examining ways to “get off at the next station” so we can reduce the harm caused by our lifestyles. What parts of your mainstream may you be itching to change?
“BEAUTY: Keep your eyes and ears open, honing your senses to pick up on beautiful things that you might otherwise miss. … Consider making small changes in your living environment so that everywhere you look, your eye will fall on something you consider beautiful.”
What is it for you: houseplants, art, music? Springtime in Atlanta presents an array of gorgeous new life, but our need for beauty continues year round. Recall the recent feel of crisp winter air, the leaf showers last fall, and the late sunsets of summer. Look up and bask in the gentle flow of clouds and the moon’s nightly beauty. Gently remind yourself to stop once in a while to look, listen, and feel.
“CURIOSITY: Be vigilant in your attempt to make discoveries. Curious people continuously find things that spark their interest. Don’t be afraid to show that you don’t know the answer to something: wonder aloud by asking questions.”
Christy Geiger describes two curiosity obstacles: thinking we already know everything and having a bit of an unchecked ego. “Not knowing can make us feel vulnerable or small,” she writes. “This is what makes curiosity hard. Our ego is not curious. To become more curious, we must become aware of our ego and how it shuts down curiosity.”
“RESPONSIBILITY: Accept the consequences of your actions and decisions. … Think clearly about what you have control over and what you don’t.”
This one is hard for many environmentalists because not only do we strive to educate about good choices but we also try to compel others to change their ways. We are infamous for using fear and guilt to manipulate the masses into modifying harmful habits. Our positive actions can speak volumes, though, and if performed with humility and compassion, they can have a powerful domino effect.
“OPTIMISM: Aim to have positive expectations, even if it means being proven wrong, rather than having negative expectations and sometimes being proven right. … Acknowledge what you can and can’t control. Focus on what you have control over.”
I am well acquainted with cynicism, and reading dire reporting on climate change fuels my pessimism. Unfortunately, hell-in-a-handbasket thinking suppresses creativity and limits cognitive flexibility. We don’t have to be Pollyannas to benefit from the rewards of positive thinking. It’s an orientation we get to choose.
“RESILIENCE: Understand that becoming more resilient empowers you to handle future difficulties more adeptly. … Build connections with understanding and empathetic people or groups so you’re able to accept support when you need it.”
Friends of the Earth defines resilience as “our ability to deal with change safely and effectively, even when it can be distressing or uncomfortable,” and the group suggests five tips for taking care of ourselves: communicate how you’re feeling, know your triggers, practice mindfulness and meditation, exercise and monitor your lifestyle, and learn new things. We need to take our feelings seriously since eco anxiety can lead to anxiety disorders and depression. The Climate Action Team provides some of us a supportive community of like-hearted companions, and we would welcome your participation if it could help you build your resilience – and help fortify ours.
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JOURNEY WITH US: The Climate Action Team extends a radical welcome to activists, contemplatives, readers, meditators, questioners, tree hugging hippies, scientists, policy wonks, radicals, pacifists, nature enthusiasts, and all who seek community as we navigate our changing times together. Learn all about the group here, and check out our lending library of over 100 titles and Carbon Offset Fund grant opportunity. Contact Nicole Haines to connect to the CAT and join us on Zoom for our next monthly meting on Monday, May 15 at this Zoom link.
