AfterWords

The ODET (Organizational Development and Employee Training) department on campus had their annual Building Community Day on the non-instructional day on Friday (5/8). This year the ODET department also partnered with Sustainability Counsel to bring Awakening the Dreamer Symposium to campus. As explained on their website, the symposium “through dynamic group interactions, leading edge information, and inspiring multimedia, participants of this half-day event are inspired to reconnect with their deep concern for our world, and are empowered to make a difference”.

During the symposium, there was a non-verbal physical interaction. One of the partners I end up with during the second exercise became teary eyes as she stood there in silence staring back at me as the host spoke. Although the exercise did not have the same affect on me, I felted humbled by her tears and felt bad that I was not experiencing this in the same level as she was. In that moment, she felt safe to expose her vulnerability and to share it with me.

Towards the end of the symposium, one of the video showed a portion of a list of not-for-profit organizations in the world also trying to save the world. The list is apparently in counts of billions. Although I can list a few local community partners we work with on campus, I was reassured that we are not the only ones working towards change and that this is a common global goal.

Web links:
ODET Department
Sustainability Counsel
Awakening the Dreamer

This news from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources — It’s Native Plant Appreciation Week, celebrating 500 rare species and more than 300 ecosystems native to Washington State. The Natural Heritage Program’s Reference Desk maintains comprehensive data on native plant communities and a rare plant list for each county. The Department of Natural Resources is on Twitter @waDNR, with some recent tweets about new job openings, on YouTube, with a video about native plants at the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve, and on Flickr with some beautiful photos of native plants such as the Pink-fawn lily (Erythronium revolutum).

Students, staff and community came together this weekend for this annual event planned by the First Nation Club. Many thanks to volunteers for dedicating their time to make this event successful. We welcome any feedback, reflection of your experience and any comments. Pictures of the event and my personal volunteer coordinator reflection will be posted shortly.

Updated on May 10th, 2009:
Similar to most of the volunteers, this was my first year attending EdCC Pow Wow and also my first time coordinating volunteers for an event. Since I have not participated in other pow wows, I am not sure how this event compares to the past years. In my perspective, the event went smoothly as the volunteers were wonderful in being adaptive with tasks I gave them. On Sunday tear down, with assistance from the lovely volunteers, we finished an hour earlier then predicted. With 12-hour long days, I realize that I fuel on others’ experiences and their excitement is what I strive towards. In the end, I was tired of fried bread and pop corn; however, I’ve gain a new understanding of interpersonal connection and I feel very honor to have helped with this year’s powwow.

Yesterday, I attended most of the Environmental Film Festival. The first film, Garbage, was introduced by Canadian filmmaker, Andrew Nisker. The premise behind the film is to document one family’s experiment with garbage. This 5-person (2 adults, 3 children) family saves their garbage and recycling for 3 months to observe how much they were generating. On the way, questions are asked and issues of recycling, composting, and toxic household materials are explored. The film was informative, funny, and entertaining. The one critique I have is that at the end, someone comes to pick up their garbage, and the couple is so happy to see it go “away,” except of course it did have a destination - a lot of it ends up at the landfill. I question whether or not the experiment moved the family to change their behavioral practices, i.e. generate less garbage. The wife does mention that she is definitely more aware, but I’m left wondering how far she will take that awareness.

Edward Burtynsky, Dam #6, Three Gorges Dam Project, Yangtze River, 2005

The 2nd film I watched was Manufactured Landscapes, a documentary about the photographic works of Edward Burtynsky. The artist produces absolutely stunning images of the landscapes forever altered by humanity through resource extraction, building, and manufacturing. His work declines to politicize the subject matter, yet I could not walk away from it with any sense that we have done good work on this planet. I was particularly interested in his images of China; he explores Three Gorges Dam, a manufacturing facility as big as anything I’ve ever seen, and the urbanization of Shanghai. Although his images are at times stark and at other times quite dark, they are all compelling.

Web Links:
Garbage
Edward Burtynsky