Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2000
From: (Eric Sableman)
To: (Sara Corbett)
Subject: possible internships in Unity with Nature
I have been working (slowly) on the idea brought up at Yearly Meeting of
creating internship opportunities for college-age Quakers to work on projects
having an ecological focus.
Each intern would work on some practical aspect of caring for the Earth, but
at the same time would be aware of and witness to the role of spirit as a
motivation underlying social and environmental action. I would expect PYM
Committee on Unity with Nature to raise 1/2 the intern's travel and support
costs, plus materials, and the intern to raise the other half. Hopefully,
everything would come together by next summer so that one to four young
Friends could spend a month or two in the field, then come report to us at
next PYM.
I have identified 3 Quaker-oriented projects, of varying degrees of
difficulty:
1. Greenfire sustainable forestry project - "Greenfire" is the "living
systems design" endeavor of Dick and Mary Hogan, located on 600+ acres of
forest and former farmland in New Marshfield, Ohio (phone 740-664-4028). I
met the Hogans at the Friends Committee on Unity with Nature meeting Oct 7 -8
in Toronto. This is the easiest "official" internship to set up, since they
are already accepting volunteers to help with the project.
2. Center for Development in Central America - This is an intentional
community of 4 adults, one of whom is a Quaker (she visited Palo Alto
Meeting), located in Cuidad Sandino, Nicaragua. In the aftermath of
Hurricane Mitch, they have been rebuilding water supplies and teaching
sustainable agriculture and appropriate technology for cooking (forests that
provide firewood having been either cut or leveled by the storm). The
community is prepared to accept volunteers.
3. Greenhouse for Uganda Yearly Meeting reforestation project - This comes
from the visit of Christopher Wabuula-Kakala, clerk of Uganda YM, to FWCC and
PYM. Among the many needs in Uganda is a greenhouse for raising tree
seedlings to replant forests and orchards; the seedlings are grown by a
women's collective, and given to settlers in deforested regions. This is the
most difficult project: we would have to buy or arrange for donation of a
pre-fabricated greenhouse, ship it to Nairobi, then by truck inland. The
intern(s) - two might be less daunted than one - would shepherd the shipment
and assemble it on site, then determine what else is needed. There is no
precedent for support of volunteers for this project, but hospitality in
Quaker homes will be arranged.
I have asked AFSC about getting help with fund-raising for internships. AFSC
already has student service projects among native Americans in the US and
Mexico. These are typically a week or two long; the contact is Mike Gray
(520-212-4696, email: [email protected]).
There are possible internships available at EarthLight Magazine and the FCUN
office, but these are not field-work, but rather learning how to produce
publications (contact information provided if requested). While looking for
Quaker-oriented opportunities, I came across a number of non-religious
environmental projects, which might benefit by a Quaker presence; for
example, "GreenCorps", which trains and places environmental campaign
worker/organizers with groups engaged in social actions (www.greencorps.org).
There is an interesting community-initiative biodiversity preservation
project underway in a national park near Mexico City
(www.parquesannicolas.com.mx/index.html). I found out about it from a poster
by Laura Calandrella, an Arizona State student
(http://lsvl.la.asu.edu/ubep2000/abstracts/abst63/index.htm). It looks like
they could use more help, but we would have to find out what they need that
our intern could provide.
Sara, I hope you will circulate this among Young Friends, and get some
feedback as to whether any of this is what they are looking for. I have not
added you to the "quakernature" email list as yet; there hasn't been much
discussion circulated since PYM. Most of what there has been, I have started
posting to a web site for PYM-Unity with Nature (members.aol.com/quakern
ature); I encourage you and others to read the postings and offer your
comments.