Activism

This is a landing page for various civic activities with which I am involved (and hope that you will be involved, too). It has dates of upcoming events to address some of the attrocities of the current times.

March 29 – Sign making at the studio. We had 14 folks ! Most of these signs are headed into Boston for the big Indivisble rally, but many are staying for the April 5 (10 am to noon in front of town hall) Groton rally which is registered with Indivisible.

March 31 – Scavenger Hunt Meeting – at the studio, 7 pm. This is a planning meeting to lay out the tasks and schedule of the scavenger hunt. My objective is to educate folks about the natural world using a pokeman go strategy on the town trails of Groton. I’m hoping folks will put their phones down and get outside. A couple of you have offered to help – with the weather warming up, we should probably start scheduling time to plan this out. The committee gave me the names of 5 trails that would be good – I think we need 10. Do you have a favorite trail? I also plan to write poems which will have clues about items to scavenge – along with historical importance of the item – if appropriate (like Old Ironsides and white oak). I also will have to make ceramic coins that will be collected to show that the items were found. Folks who complete the “hunt” will be entered into a drawing for mug with the name of the trail…this is assuming more than one person paticipates. The bottom line is, I could use a hand with pretty much every aspect of this idea. Do you have time to help?

April 15 – Historical Room, Groton Library, 7 pm – Groton Environmental Action – Discussion about future actions and plans for the fall. If you would like to be involved, let me know! or just come to the meeting!

What actions can we take over the spring and summer?

Now that spring is approaching, I would like to transition into working groups to develop a local strategy to address some of these issues. My expectation is that we would meet in person once a month, and communicate as needed electronically. 

Please let me know if you would like to help, or any other ideas you might have. 

I plan to schedule time to meet Tuesday, April 15 in the Historical Room to continue the discussion. If you have ideas for actions we can take, please bring them along! I will confirm once scheduled.

Action Ideas for the Summer:

1. Biodiversity:

1. Rodenticide Campaign – (sg) AR

• Write Letters – schedule and review content
• Social Media – develop content, schedule roll out
• Get restaurants to sign on: Dunkins, Gibbet Hill, Forge and Vine, House of Pizza, Brunos, Johnsons
• Owl House Building workshops
• Local bylaws – get on BOS agenda, talk to local boards for support: BOH, Conservation, Sustainability, other?
• Contact local stores selling rodenticide – advocate for safe alternatives.

2. An Appreciation of Groton Biodiversity

• Scavenger Hunt on town trails – Meeting March 31 7 pm at the studio – see above

• Scavenger hunt poem – identify natural items to “find”
• Make Ceramics coins to collect to document find
• Weekly: July and August
• Other ideas that educate and foster an appreciation for our local environment in a fun way?

3. Palm Oil?

• Write Letters – letter to the editor
• Social Media – educational campaign – schedule, create content
• Rally at local grocery store to promote foods that do not use palm oil

B. Prepare for Fall Forums – ways to be better humans

1. Dark Skies: October

• Write Letters – letter to the editor
• Social Media – educational campaign – schedule, create content
• Create a list of houses and commercial buildings with lights on after 9 pm
• Create an educational postcard to send to folks about why they should turn their lights off
• Art exhibit: Glory of the heavens

2. Plastics Forum – September?

• Write Letters -schedule of letters to the editor
• Social Media – educational campaign – schedule, create content
• What movie will be best for this forum?

3. Consumersim Forum – November?
   • Tie into Christmas and spending for spendings sake
   • Social Media – educational campaign – schedule, create content
   • What movie will be best for this forum?
   • Also, there seems to be some limited interest in starting a give and take shop. If this is something you would like to pursue, lmk. A give and take shop is important from an environmental perspective. It keeps a lot of stuff out of the waste stream, and cuts into consumerism – one of the greatest environmental threats.