As the global climate crisis intensifies, urban areas are increasingly becoming the focal points for innovative solutions that address environmental challenges. In the heart of New York City, Earth Celebrations stands out as a beacon of hope, leveraging the power of art to promote sustainability, community engagement, and climate solutions. This organization has been at the forefront of creative initiatives that not only raise awareness about environmental issues but also actively contribute to building a more sustainable and resilient urban environment.
Art as a Catalyst for Change:
Earth Celebrations recognizes the unique ability of art to transcend boundaries and communicate complex issues in a way that resonates with diverse audiences. By harnessing the creative energies of artists, the organization aims to inspire action and foster a sense of shared responsibility for the environment. Through a variety of artistic mediums such as public art installations, performances, and community events, Earth Celebrations seeks to engage the public in a dialogue about the urgent need for climate solutions.
Community Involvement and Collaboration:
One of Earth Celebrations’ key strengths lies in its emphasis on community involvement. The organization works closely with local communities, artists, environmentalists, and policymakers to create projects that are not only visually stunning but also rooted in the specific needs and concerns of the neighborhoods they serve. By fostering collaboration, Earth Celebrations encourages a sense of ownership among community members, empowering them to actively participate in the development and implementation of climate solutions.
Ecological City: Procession for Climate Solutions:
Earth Celebrations has spearheaded numerous projects that showcase the intersection of art and environmental activism. One noteworthy initiative is the “Ecological City: Procession for Climate Solutions” event, an annual procession through the Lower East Side of Manhattan, along the waterfront. This vibrant parade brings together artists, activists, and community members to celebrate the neighborhood’s ecological achievements and advocate for sustainable practices. The event serves as a platform for showcasing local initiatives, such as community gardens, renewable energy projects, and waste reduction programs.
This year the theatrical pageant/procession included 21 sustainability site performance celebrating the initiatives that focused on solutions to mitigate impacts of flooding and sea-level rise, decrease waste, and improve water quality and conservation.
9 months of educational research, design and planning sessions engaged residents, schools and organizations to collaborate with Earth Celebrations’ artists-in-residence and environmental experts to explore neighborhood sites, learn about climate solution initiatives including green infrastructure design to mitigate flooding, pollution run-off and reduce carbon and global warming and develop visual art and performance works.
The artistic works created through the months of creative collaboration and partnership building workshops are presented in the Ecological City Procession for Climate Solutions in May. The theatrical pageant features a procession of spectacular visual art, giant puppets and costumes with 21 site performances of dance, music, theater and poetry, exploring climate challenges and solutions throughout the community gardens, neighborhood and East River Park waterfront.
Green Infrastructure Advocacy:
In addition to its artistic endeavors, Earth Celebrations actively promotes the integration of green infrastructure in urban planning. Recognizing the importance of sustainable urban design, the organization advocates for the implementation of green roofs, rooftop bee farming, vertical farming, solar gazebos, pollinator gardens, community gardens, and other nature-based solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change. By incorporating these elements into the urban fabric, Earth Celebrations aims to enhance resilience, reduce the urban heat island effect, and improve overall environmental quality.
Education and Outreach:
Earth Celebrations recognizes that meaningful change begins with education. The organization conducts workshops, lectures, and educational programs to inform the public about the interconnectedness of art, community, and the environment. By fostering a deeper understanding of environmental issues, Earth Celebrations empowers individuals to make informed choices and actively contribute to sustainable practices in their daily lives.
Volunteering:
I volunteered with teams of volunteers and artists in creating some of the costumes that would be used in the procession in May. Artists using textile as materials and metaphor to explore the relationship between textiles, community, and sustainability.
For these particular volunteer shifts our teams worked with artist Yohanna M Roa, a visual artist, curator and art historian with a feminist-decentralized approach to her art. Our goal was to create a series of nature-inspired outfits from recycled materials and other objects, which would be worn in the parade. We spent the time sewing, gluing and designing. It was exciting to see her vision come to life!
Many of the volunteers traveled far distances to participate in the events and there was continuous lively discussion around textile works as a vehicle for social commentary and memory, and how textile art (sewing, knitting, embroidery, etc.) traditionally has been associated with domesticity and femininity and thus was not as valued or accepted as a production of knowledge. Yet around the world and throughout history, sewing, quilting, and embroidery have been outlets for women to use their creativity and create social/political commentary in a socially-acceptable way. We also discussed the role textile art played in American history.
It was an exciting and inspiring volunteer opportunity!
Conclusion:
Earth Celebrations in NYC exemplifies the transformative power of art in driving climate solutions in urban areas. By blending creativity with community engagement and advocating for green infrastructure, the organization serves as a model for how the arts can inspire positive change. As cities grapple with the challenges of climate change, Earth Celebrations stands as a testament to the potential of art to catalyze meaningful environmental action and create a more sustainable and resilient future.
A park clean-up unveils the values, behaviors, and potential of a community
Volunteering at a local park provides a unique opportunity to see a community from a more intimate point of view. A park’s overall design, the activities offered, the special events that take place, the level of involvement by the public in its design and upkeep… these characteristics point towards the social health of a community and reveals its values and behaviors.
I volunteered to take part in a Saturday clean-up at Tompkins Square Park, a 10.5 acre park in the Alphabet City area of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I was supporting the Friends of Tompkins Square Park – a hyper-local community organization dedicated to enhancing the beauty, health, and safety of the park.
Formed a few decades ago, the group has stepped up their involvement since the COVID pandemic because NYC Parks and Recreation has faced maintenance staff shortages. The residents around the park noticed the park was falling into disrepair and saw an uptick in drug use and homelessness. Friends of Tompkins Square Park increased its involvement and oversight of the park to address these issues and provide a safe, healthy greenspace.
My responsibility for the shift that Saturday was to pick up trash anywhere on the park grounds (such as in the various flower beds and playgrounds). Other groups of volunteers helped plant flowers and mulch around the trees.
The Park as a Reflection of Community:
Examining a park’s design reveals what’s important to a community’s sense of identity – their habits, their community values, and their social structure. It also provides a peek into the future they wish to build together.
If you think about a local park near you – what could its design reveal about your community and its values? For example – How does the design impact who uses the park? Is it designed for diversity of use? Is it inclusive so all people have access to its benefits? How do people gather and interact there? What types of events are held there? How easy is it to get to and use the park?
Tompkins Square Park has a central green lawn area surrounded by winding paths lined with long benches under sun-dappled canopies of a wide variety of trees. The park includes a dog run, 3 children’s playgrounds, chess tables, ping pong tables, a handball court, and a bicycle/skateboard area. Various flower beds provide an oasis of color.
On this Saturday, there was a children’s educational program underway – one of many workshops and events that were scheduled in the park throughout the year, including a weekly greenmarket and live music shows, among many other activities.
Tompkins Square is designed for family and individual use across a wide variety of preferred activities. It is designed as a central hub for community interaction and for use as part of a healthy lifestyle. It reflects these values of the local community and is a vibrant, healthy, well-maintained green space.
Parks Reflect Current Societal Values and Needs:
During my volunteer shift I learned about the rich history of the park and could see how the design of the park evolved based on the needs and values of the surrounding community.
For example:
In the late 1840s, as over 600,000 immigrants and their families came to live in NYC, the wealthy single-family homes around and near Tompkins Square Park were replaced and/or repurposed into multiple subdivided tenement apartments to house an influx of poor immigrants.
Example of tenements Lower East Side (source: licensing purchased from Alamy; image ID CPJ3J3)
The mostly Irish immigrants at that time were typically young, single, second-class citizens with limited education. They met, married and built families in the Lower East Side and typically worked on the nearby shipbuilding docks.
Densely packed into overcrowded apartments (it was not unusual for up to 5 families – about 20 people – to share one room that measured 12 ft x 12 ft) that lacked light, ventilation, plumbing and sanitation, this hard-working community used the park as a way to have some privacy from family and access a bit of open air. It was also an extension of their homes – livestock such as pigs roamed freely.
Churches popped up around and near the park and soup kitchens set up stations in the park to help feed the poor masses.
Drawing of Tompkins Square Park in 1891 (source: Harper’s Weekly)
Only a few decades later the neighborhood would change drastically, and the park would change too. At the end of the 1800’s, there was a huge influx of German immigrants moving into the neighborhood. Coming mostly as families, they tended to have had some schooling and brought with them their culture, including a long history of the master-journeyman trades relationship (guilds). They brought different skill sets from earlier immigrants and had different ideas about how they wanted their neighborhood to function.
Slaughterhouses, factories, beer gardens, and markets opened. Instead of working at the docks, the community was full of tailors, bakers, cabinet makers and other trades, changing the experience of daily life. These families wanted the park to reflect their values and desired experiences. They formed a community association and petitioned the City. The newly established Department of Parks (1873) revamped the entire park, adding over 450 trees, 2 fountains, benches, a variety of plants and walking paths and 160 gas lamps. The NY Public Library opened a branch along the park in 1887. In 1894 the park became the first NYC park to house a children’s playground. The park had evolved to reflect the values of the community.
Active Stewardship:
Friends of Tompkins Square Park is an example of active stewardship by the community. The group actively engages with various local schools, community groups, and non-profit organizations in their outreach, to encourage active stewardship of the park within the community. They hold regular clean-up days, including most Saturdays, and involve the community in planning local events and activities.
The group is mentored by the City Parks Foundation and works closely with the NY Department of Parks and Recreation, who is ultimately responsible for the park (and over 1,700 other parks throughout NYC).
That Saturday we picked up several bags of trash from the park.
The best part of the day was speaking with the park visitors!
One elderly patron of the park, who was feeding the pigeons when I stopped to chat, spoke about the evolution of the park. She described the park back in the 1980s when it was very different.
Dark Days for the Neighborhood Meant Dark Days for the Park
Going into the 1980s the park was in trouble. The neighborhood’s social structure had changed since the 1960s. Industries and businesses closed or moved out of the area and the neighborhood deteriorated. By the 1980s most buildings in the area were damaged. Landlords lost money as buildings went vacant and so they abandoned them, sometimes setting them on fire to collect insurance money. The homes and buildings on Avenues A and B (which face Tompkins Square Park) were burned out, boarded up and full of junkies. Graffiti was everywhere. Juvenile crime, gang violence and drug use kept people from using the park and it became a haven for homeless squatters, tent cities, gang activity, and drug use/sale.
The community was unhealthy and so was the park.
On the outskirts of the neighborhood, however, a transition was happening. Gentrification was slowly making its way around the edges of the Lower East Side.
The City wanted to step in and take the Park over, instituting a curfew and removing all the homeless and cleaning up the park. They hoped to redevelop the area and encourage a revival. Local resident groups were concerned about encroaching gentrification, and the skyrocketing housing/rent prices it would bring. They were also worried about the poor treatment of the homeless (they wanted them relocated not just removed).
There were protests and rallies in and around the park. But in August 1988, riot police moved in and cleared the homeless camps entirely. By force. Innocent bystanders were clubbed with police riot sticks. Journalists were kicked and arrested. The homeless were beaten and arrested. The next day bulldozers came in and razed everything in the park.
Photos, left to right: John Fensten, Angle Franco (NY Times) and Unknown
It was an important moment for the neighborhood. The entire event was caught on camera and video and was reported on the news, leading to further protests and rallies against the police. In the end, the City did take over the park. Soon after, it closed the park for two years while it was improved and revitalized. During that time gentrification did come to the neighborhood, changing the community as predicted.
What parks can tell us about the future of a community:
Today, Alphabet City and Tompkins Square Park are in the midst of change again. Lower crime rates and higher rents continue to take root. Some buildings have been revamped and others have been torn down and new condo and apartment buildings have been built in their place. Over the past decades immigrants were replaced by artists, poets and musicians, who in turn are now being replaced by today’s young professionals and their families. The park is once again changing to reflect the needs of the community.
Tompkins Square Park and surrounding neighborhood today – a thriving community
Friends of Tompkins Square Park drives active community involvement in the care and future design of the park (active stewardship). It focuses on a shared responsibility for the health of the park. The group is looking to attract a larger, more diverse, membership to ensure both the group, and the park, are resilient and adaptable for the long-term. They are working to bring in artists, writers, students, skaters and musicians from around the world to expand the unique offerings of the park.
They are also working to promote conservation and a love of nature through publishing tree and foliage guides and holding a variety of workshops and events (bird-watching, insect-observing, etc.) for people of all ages. They are working with the park to host a variety of educational programs for students and children in an effort to strengthen next-generation passion for a healthy park.
These actions reflect the power of the future potential of the community and their values of conservation, shared responsibility and a desire for a permanent healthy greenspace.
It will be interesting to see how this park, and other public parks across the Nation, evolve in the years to come. What is “standard” for a park today may be completely different tomorrow as communities evolve. What does that reveal about us? Our beliefs? Our values? Our dreams?
When I registered to participate in their Saturday clean-up, I was excited to get to know a park I had not seen before. I was also looking forward to spending time in an urban green space. I did not realize how much I would learn about the building of a community and the expression of their values and passions.
I don’t think I’ll ever experience a park in quite the same way again. I’ll always be looking at the design, upkeep, and use of the park to see what they uncover about the values, behaviors and dreams of the community that supports it.
How to Get Involved in Your Favorite Park:
Have a favorite park near you? Do a Google search to see if there is an active community organization and get involved. It’s easy to join a park clean-up or to set one up yourself. Here is a great article by Kathryn Kellogg from her “Going Zero Waste” website (Homepage – Going Zero Waste) with step-by-step instructions on organizing your own community park clean-up: How to Host a Community Clean Up! – Going Zero Waste
Interested in getting to know the flora and fauna of your local park better? The Seek App by iNaturalist (by National Geographic and California Academy of Sciences) lets you snap a photo of any plant,animal, or insect on you phone, and it identifies it for you. You can earn badges and points and there’s no registration required to use the app. Check out: Seek by iNaturalist · iNaturalist
Cleaning, Gardening and Sangha at Empty Cloud Monastery
It was time to slow down.
I had registered for a volunteer morning at the Empty Cloud Buddhist Monastery in West Orange, New Jersey.
Self-described as a “haven of peace and wisdom” open to the public, this non-sectarian Monastery hosted a variety of volunteer opportunities and public/community events, teachings, discussions, and prayer sessions.
Arriving by 8 a.m., I had brought two vegetarian desserts I’d made the night before, to offer to the Sangha (the Buddhist community) for the community meal at 11.
My liaison, Linda, was from Oregon. She was a long-time practitioner looking to move deeper into her practice (a lay person) and was part-way through a 6 month stay at the retreat where her role was the primary household support person (cooking, laundry, cleaning, coordination of volunteers and visitors, etc.).
The day I was there was during a weekend of retreat and there were 4 monks on site, as well as 3 novitiates.
The Monastery offers online and in person meditation and teaching sessions throughout the week, as well as community events on weekends.
The schedule for the monks the day I was there included:
The monks and novitiates waking by 5:30 a.m. for morning Puja (offering/gift) where light, incense, flowers, self-reflection, and chant mantras are offered to the Buddha.
Breakfast was at 7 and meditation at 8, followed by lunch at 11, then more meditation.
Later in the afternoon there would be a Dharma Talk – where the monks would give educational lessons to the community who had come to the Monastery for lunch.
More meditation and a tea in the very late afternoon brought the end of the day for the public.
The monks had one more set of prayers – evening prayers, before retreating to their rooms for rest.
The Monastery is a place to immerse yourself in the Dhamma (the cosmic law and order shared in the teachings of Buddha) for a period of time. I had not studied Buddhism but over the past few years I had been attending semi-regular educational sessions at the Kadampa Buddhist Learning Center in New York City. So I was very interested in learning about the practices of this non-sectarian, gender-inclusive Monastery.
After starting my day with a brief personal meditation, my volunteer activities that morning included assisting Linda in cleaning the kitchen and serving rooms and then doing some spring gardening cleaning around one of the giant outdoor statues that lined the meditation pathways.
For some of the morning I worked alongside Linda, who was happy to answer all my questions.
While working outside I was alone and so focused mindfully on the work and in quiet contemplation.
The Monastery has many books in their library to read, and many free books and literature to take home.
These lines from one of the booklets on the dining room table stuck with me that morning as I worked:
“A stone on the road that happens to meet our glance will have a claim in our attention only if it obstructs our progress or is of interest to us for some reason. Yet if we neglect these casual impressions too often, we may stumble over many stones lying on our road and also overlook many gems.”(1)
I was there for service and so focused on helping make the kitchen and serving rooms spotless. I learned the monks are not allowed to garden, to pull up weeds or dead plants, or to dig in the dirt, so the Monastery relied on volunteers to handle all of that.
The Monastery is 100% free-will donation-funded, including the land and the building, all the food, furniture, electricity… everything. There are no fees to participate in anything offered by the Monastery, including the classes (online and in person), retreats, overnight stays, and longer residences (which you can apply for as they can only take in a limited number of residences at a time).
At 11:00 it was time to clean up from my gardening and help get ready for the community meal. By this time approximately15 people from the community had arrived, each bringing with them prepared vegetarian food to share with everyone at the meal. It seemed most of the attendees regularly participated.
The food was divided into sections for organic and non-organic items and desserts were stationed together.
The monks are not allowed to take food – they can only receive what food is given to them. That meant that at the start of the meal, each visitor/participant was given a large bowl with a bit of white rice in it.
We lined up around the walls of the dining room and, as the 4 monks walked along the entire line, each of us put a scoop of rice into their bowls.
The monks then went into the serving room to be served the rest of the offered/donated foods and drinks while we made our way to the prayer room and waited for prayer.
When their bowls were full of the foods brought for the meal, the monks came to sit at the front of the prayer room on their floor mats and shared blessing and prayer chants with us.
Everyone in the room then participated in a prayer to bless the meal. Then it was time to eat!
My coconut pistachio oat cookies
The monks remained in the prayer room enjoying their meals from their floor mats in silence.
The rest of us moved to the dining room and could choose what we wanted to eat from the buffet of food brought to share.
(I’m including my recipes below for Vegan Coconut Pistachio Oat Cookies and Vegan Almond Butter Cookies in case you’d like to try them. Both seemed a big hit at the meal! You can click on the photos to enlarge them…)
Community (Sangha) is a very important aspect of life at the Monastery and throughout the day I could easily feel the strong sense of bonding between everyone. Everyone was very, very nice and open to conversation – especially during the meal.
There was much talking and sharing of ideas and questions around practice and study of Buddhist wisdom during lunch. At one point in conversation at the table, one of the lay-person participants said Buddhism is not only a religion, it is a philosophy and a psychology. It represents a variety of techniques and teachings on how to live a meaningful, happy life. After all – that’s what we all want, all of humanity – no matter where you are in the world, right? To be happy. Thus, studying the teachings of Buddha can work in tandem with your religious beliefs. I thought that was an interesting idea and it tied back to teachings I’d experienced at the Kadampa Center.
The monks are forbidden from eating anything after 12:00 noon each day. Lunch is their primary meal of the day. While they may have a small early breakfast some days, other days they may only have lunch.
Everything at every meal is donated by the community so they must eat what has been shared with them.
Each day the monks walk fully around the Monastery clockwise in silence at least once. A sacred path. I learned this is an important ritual and aspect of spiritual life because it is a way to attain spiritual and mental enlightenment.
Meditation sessions happen throughout the day.
I was able to take a few photos before the day began, as phones must be turned off for the day.
When inside, you cannot wear shoes and the monks did not wear shoes outside that day either. You also greet the monks a certain way (giving a short bow as they enter or pass with your hands together as if in prayer, held up to your chin with thumbs tucked in towards your palms).
The day was busy and slow at the same time. While I did have responsibilities such as cleaning and gardening, it was also a time for reflection.
That passage from the booklet I mentioned earlier in this blog post – the one about the stone on the road that we don’t truly notice unless it’s an obstruction and how we may stumble over many stones in our path without realizing we are overlooking gems….
Another view of part of the Monastery
I think those words spoke to me because I identify with a mind that jumps around from idea to idea looking for the next fun/enticing/exciting thing, not stopping to focus until something becomes an obstacle. And I have missed important gems (moments/feelings) when my mind is scattered and unfocused.
I don’t know if that’s what the passage was supposed to mean, but that’s what I felt when I read it.
How often do we jump from thought to thought like fireflies dancing over the grasses, without landing on something long enough to really know if it is something important? Something that could lead to a closer connection with happiness or with a purposeful life?
Instead, we look around for quick fixes and things that peak our curiosity – we are easily diverted. There is a lack of concentration. Confusion. Turbulence. But then there are those special moments of clarity that break through and speak to our hearts, our souls. Fleeting moments that surprise us with emotion. Ones we take photos of and want to remember.
But we forget that those moments are always there, always available to us everywhere. We just have to tame our mind’s wanderlust and focus on not overlooking gems. Be aware, calm your mind.
I thought about that on my walk home after the event. It was such a beautifully sunny and warm spring day that I opted not to Uber back, but to walk the 2 ½ miles and enjoy the sun on my face, the cherry trees in blossom, the first bumble bees of the season…. and think about all the gems in my life.
It is amazing how your perspective changes when you let yourself slow down.
What is a favorite memory moment that brought you awe, joy, happiness? I would love to hear it so please share it with me in the comments below!
I hope you enjoyed the journey this week.
XO XO
Penny
If you’d like to learn more about the Empty Cloud Monastery, including their free on-line and in person programs, check out their website at: https://buddhistinsights.org/#first
Citation:
(1) The Power of Mindfulness (The Buddhist Association of the United States), July 2016
Early each Spring Essex County’s Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ, lights up with millions of cherry blossoms in varied hues of gentle pinks and soft whites, heralding the end of winter.
The park is home to over 5,200 Japanese flowering cherry trees in 18 varieties.
That’s more trees than can be found in the magnificent Washington, DC display (which is about 3,600 trees).
For about 4 weeks in Spring, the trees blossom and paint the landscape with a stunning array of flowers.
How did Branch Brook Park get so many Cherry Blossom Trees?
Many of the original trees planted in Branch Brook Park (just over 2,000) were donated to the Essex County Park System by the Bamberger and Fuld family in 1927.(1)
There were several other donors over the years that donated sets of cherry trees to add to the collection and the Branch Brook Park Alliance continues to purchase and plant trees today.
While some species of cherry trees have long lives (up to 250 years), most varieties are fairly short-lived, averaging 30 – 40 years (2) which means the trees need careful care and occasional replanting for the new generations.
Who cares for the trees?
The Branch Brook Park Alliance is a public/private partnership with the Essex County Department of Parks and Recreation and Cultural Affairs. The Alliance provides ongoing stewardship to the renowned collection as well as cares for the other plants and garden areas within the park. They keep the park clean and beautiful for public use. They help provide volunteers for a variety of events in the park and have ongoing groups of volunteers who help pick up litter and do pruning and maintenance.
The park as it looks today was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1898. He was the famed landscape architect who designed Central Park in NYC. He envisioned Branch Brook as a grand, centralize park of respite for the citizens of the city of Newark.
While Central Park in NYC is known as the first landscaped park in the US, Branch Brook Park is distinguished by being the first county-run/owned park to be opened for public use in the US and it appears in the National Register of Historic Places.(3)
During the brief Cherry Tree Blossom season, which lasts approximately 3-5 weeks, the Alliance plays a key role in both maintenance/upkeep of the park and gardens, and in designing a welcoming and informative visitor experience.
Volunteering
I volunteered with the Branch Brook Park Alliance for a shift as a Cherry Blossom Ambassador.
My role was to welcome visitors as they strolled through the park, sharing details about the trees and the history of the park, and answering any questions they may have.
I also shared maps with them, discussed different blossom viewing areas, and provided directions to key areas such bathroom facilities, nearby restaurants/delis, etc.
And I helped collect donations for the Branch Brook Park Alliance for their educational programs, restoration and maintenance of landscapes, accessibility projects, etc.
Our team-leader and project coordinator was the head of the Branch Brook Park Alliance… Thomas. He started our shift by sharing key details about the park and the trees and getting us ready for what we should expect from the visitors. He continually checked in with the volunteers during the shift to be sure everything was going well and to help answer any visitor questions we could not answer. And people had questions about everything! From the age of some of the trees, to how they could tour the spectacular cathedral that was adjacent to the park, to where they could purchase cherry trees of their own to start a grove in a park in their town, to questions about lanternflies and other pests – Thomas had the answers to all. I learned a ton from him that day!
Most of my day was spent at the Branch Brook Park Alliance table working alongside one of the Alliance staff members. But I also had time to walk around a bit, enjoy the park, and look at the beautiful trees and flowers. Such a wonderful celebration of spring!
Cherry blossoms are an important symbol in Japanese culture. Because they only bloom for a few weeks each year, they represent renewal and the fleeting nature of life.(4)
It was sunny but very windy and chilly the day I volunteered – winter coats and scarves were a must. Winter was reluctant to let go of its grasp.
Even so, there were thousands of visitors to the park that day. Families were picnicking and having parties, groups were walking and taking photos, and children were playing on the lawns.
The blossoms were at the very beginning of opening their blooms, just peeking out, but it was still spectacular!
What does the park look like when all the trees are blooming?
Here are some photos of the park in full bloom:
As you can see from all the photos in this blog post, the flowers are amazing any time during their bloom cycle!
You can celebrate Cherry Blossom Season from wherever you are!
You don’t have to visit Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ to celebrate the season (although if you live anywhere nearby I would highly encourage you to do so). You can celebrate spring and enjoy the blooms from wherever you are with these activities:
You can also donate to support their educational programs, to maintain sustainable landscapes, and to support complex renewal projects at: https://branchbrookpark.org/donate.html
Second – You can experience the amazing Cherry Blossoms of Branch Brook Park from anywhere in the world through the Alliance’s Live Web Cam. They have two cameras set up – one on the north end of the park and one on the south, so you get great views: http://ecpo2.packetalk.net:5350/IVC/views.htm#
Third – You can have your own Cherry Blossom Party, celebrating the arrival of spring! Here’s how:
Try a fun cherry-blossom-inspired mocktail recipe the whole family will love:
Pour pink lemonade into a glass about 2/3 full. Add a large scoop of pineapple sherbet into the cup. Add a few fresh cherries on the top and enjoy! If you’re super-creative, add a few spots of canned whipped cream to mimic the petals of the flowers.
Try writing a Haiku about Spring. A Haiku is a Japanese poetic form that consists of 3 lines, with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second and 5 in the third. Here’s one I wrote to get your creative juices flowing:
Learn a few beautiful Japanese vocabulary words about the season:
Finally – download the coloring page below and let your imagination go wild with the colors of spring!
I hope you’ve enjoyed journeying with me and the Branch Brook Park Alliance to experience the beautiful cherry blossom trees at Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ. If you create a Haiku or color the page, share them – I’d love to see your creations!
When you think of oysters, what comes to mind? Fresh oysters on the half shell served with horseradish or lemon or sriracha sauce? Broiled Rockefeller style oysters, topped with herbs, butter and breadcrumbs? YUM!
What about as a keystone species that plays both an essential role in the ecosystems of shorelines, and can help solve the challenges of the impact of climate change?
The Billion Oyster Project (BOP) is focused on this unassuming, yet very powerful, resource, by pledging to restore 1 billion oysters to the NY harbor by 2035.
Since 2014 BOP has worked with various NYC communities, schools, scientists, and volunteers, to restore oysters at 18 active restoration sites across the 5 NYC boroughs.
They have developed a K-12 STEM curriculum and work with over 100 schools across NYC with hands-on activities to help students become citizen-scientists working to solve local environmental challenges.
They work with the Urban Assembly NY Harbor School, helping prepare students of the HS on Governors Island for maritime careers. And they also have involved almost 15,000 volunteers at various projects to help be part of the restoration process. Building a community focused on helping the community!
Why Oysters?
Top 3 key environmental roles the oyster plays:
One single adult oyster filters up to 50 gallons of water a day! They absorb nitrates, ammonia, phosphates, plankton, and bacteria, and reduce excess algae and sediment. Oysters help keep the water clean and full of oxygen.
The reefs oysters create together are natural barriers that protect shorelines from erosion, tides, and storm surge (reducing flooding, softening the blow of large waves, and preventing erosion).
Like coral reefs, oyster reefs foster biodiversity by providing a 3-D living. clean, oxygen-filled habitat for hundreds of species of marine wildlife.
Back before Henry Hudson traveled up the New York river that was to eventually be given his name, oysters were everywhere and had long been a staple food of the local Lenape peoples. Archeological evidence of mounds of shells (called middens) up to 4 feet high date back to 6950 BCE (1) and reveal that oysters were not only plentiful, but were much larger than the kind we see today – up to a foot long on average and many much longer! (2)
Oysters, Oysters Everywhere!
In the early 1600’s, with the arrival of Henry Hudson and the Europeans, the New York harbor was home to over 350 sq. miles(3) of oyster beds.
It is said, from writings at that time, it was easy to reach into the water and pluck out large oysters like fruit from a tree.
Through the late 1700s, nearly half the world’s oysters were produced in the NY Harbor.(2)
In fact, Oysters were the original street vendor food. In the mid to late 1700s and early 1800s (long before the hot dog), street cart vendors selling oysters along with hot corn, peanuts and buns, were ubiquitous throughout the streets of New York.
By 1927, however, oysters in the New York harbor were all but extinct due to:
Over-farming/over-consumption,
The expansion of NY – the dredging of the harbor and extension of the tip of NY was built over oyster beds,
Pollution – The drastic increase in shipping and boat traffic in the harbor along with (up until 1972, with the passage of the Clean Water Act) the dumping of millions of gallons of raw, untreated sewage in the harbor every day, killed oyster beds in droves. Note here – unfortunately NYC’s combined sewer system still ejects sewage with storm water during peak flow – once it hits 1/4 inch high – continuing to damage beds and pollute the waterways).(4) EWWW!
Volunteering
As a volunteer, I was signed up to help a group build oyster reef structures, called gabions, and prepare shells for the hatchery by sifting through them for unwanted debris. It was a 5-hour shift (including a lunch break). There were about 15-20 people volunteering that day.
We started the day with a group meeting where our host-leader, Inca, had us introduce ourselves and explained all about the process of growing oysters and creating a reef. They also gave us some of the history of the Billion Oyster Project. It was very interesting! Throughout the day Inca was there to give guidance and answer the tons of questions we seemed to have. They were wonderful and kept us motivated and the day exciting!
A gabion is a steel mesh cube that fits snugly into a raw bar steel frame. There are hollow columns in the middle of the structure to allow water, air, and nutrients to flow through (as well as marine life). The structure provides a strong, current-resistant, 3-D environment.
It is filled with juvenile oysters that have attached themselves to recycled oyster shells (they are called spat). The juveniles are raised in a safe environment at the Harbor School Hatchery then, once established and strong enough, moved into the gabions.
The gabions are then placed in areas where reefs are being developed. Over time, the mesh degrades, but the steel frame remains, while the newly-planted oysters grow and cement together.
Our job was to construct as many of the mesh gabions as possible during our shift. Staff from the BOP were on hand to provide educational lessons and to answer our ongoing questions.
Since 2014, BOP has restored 100 million juvenile oysters in the harbor. Over the past year or so they have found the oysters are starting to reproduce by themselves in the harbor. An exciting sign the population can become self-sustaining! In addition, BOP is now finding a wider variety of marine life around the oyster reefs, such as crabs, seahorses, pufferfish, herring, striped bass, red bearded sponges and more.
In order to grow the oysters to create the reefs, BOP needs millions and millions of shells.
So… where do all the shells come from?
BOP partners with over 70 restaurants in NYC to collect the discarded shells of oysters consumed by their patrons.
BOP provides special buckets for collection and then partners with a shell collection service to pick them up and dump them onto long, 4-5 foot high piles of shells on Governors Island (middens). These 70+ restaurants can donate up to 7,000 pounds of shells a week!
Since 2014 they have collected over 2+ million pounds of recycled shells, repurposing them to build the oyster reefs and keeping them out of landfills. Yet another way BOP is caring for the environment.
The second part of the volunteer shift was to help look through the middens (the piles of recycled shells donated by restaurants) for objects that don’t belong such as plastic bags and bottles, metal forks and other cutlery, rocks, etc. We also threw away any mussel shells since those would harm the oyster beds.
The middens were 4 to 5 feet tall about 25-30 feet long. They shells deposited there are first picked clean by the birds and critters and cleaned by the sun and rain. The piles are turned intermittently so they can get exposed to all that happens. They rest there about a year. Then there’s a manual cleaning with a tumbler that scrubs them the rest of the way so they are ready to be taken to the hatchery to become part of the project.
The hatchery is a set of semi-open, topless shipping containers where the baby oysters are able to latch onto the cleaned shells and grow to juveniles in a less hostile environment than the open harbor.
Harbor water still flows through the hatchery, but the hatchlings are semi-protected until they are deemed strong enough to be put into the open harbor.
By the end of the day’s volunteer shift, we’d made about 6 or 7 of the gabions and had learned tons from our BOP guide and team member.
It was a fascinating day!
I hope you enjoyed the journey with me. XO XO
How do I Learn More and Get Involved?
To learn more about the Billion Oyster Project and oyster reefs, or donate to this amazing cause, please visit their website at: https://www.billionoysterproject.org/
If you are a teacher and are interested in their resources and educational materials/curriculum, please check out: https://www.billionoysterproject.org/educators (note – they have wonderful materials for every classroom – you do NOT need to be a NYC school to participate or find value in the materials)
