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In this issue, you’ll have the chance to double the impact of your Giving Tuesday gift! You will also have the chance to tell your stormwater story at Paterson Falls, learn more about sustainable lifestyles, register to celebrate the winter solstice (with special guest musician, Paul Winter!), and see photos from our #OptOutside Gratitude Walk last Friday.
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This week, with gratitude abound, we wish you a healthy, celebratory harvest. We humbly ask for you to help support the important work we do in service of our ancestors. This Friday, skip shopping and #OptOutside ! Join Waterspirit and Monmouth Conservation Foundation for an in-person Gratitude Walk at 2PM; Celebrate the Winter Solstice with us, featuring artists Paul Winter and Sarah Campen; Remember to check out Blair Nelsen’s personal and beautiful Waterway Story; and finally, we offer a tool to help us lend gratitude and justice for Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island.
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This week’s highlights include a MARCH FOR CLEAN AIR 10th November in Newark- Great if you can attend; otherwise please amplify across social media; 15th November faith groups sharing water protection in action, a reminder about joining Waterspirit’s book club on 22nd November; sharing Blair’s Waterway Story; #OptOutside Gratitude Walk alternative to Black Friday; Work with us! We are HIRING PT Development staff; We encourage you to share widely!
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This week’s highlights include election day (!), March for Clean Air 10th November in Newark, 15th November faith groups sharing water protection in action, a reminder about joining Waterspirit’s book club just a few weeks away on 22nd November, a link to the recording from Democracy In A Day, an outdoor alternative to ‘black friday’ 🍂,a Halloween/Birthday fundraiser report back and more. We encourage you to share widely!
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This week’s highlights include contemplative preparations for COP 26, a reminder about joining Waterspirit’s book club just a few weeks away on 22nd November, announcing an upcoming event 15th Nov focusing on opportunities for religious institutions to protect clean water, a friendly reminder to VOTE if you are capable of doing so wherever you reside, and a link to testimony being heard 28th October from polluters. We encourage you to share widely!
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This week’s highlights include a special invitation to Meditation for Earth - featuring some drumming afterwards, the registration link for our #DemocracyInADay event 21st October at 6:30PM ET, a reminder about Clean Ocean Action Beach Sweeps and invitation to partake this weekend, a request for voluntarily help in the Waterspirit office digitizing archives, and a reminder to send in any honor and memory cards.
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This week’s highlights include a commemoration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, sharing a massive week long action called People v. Fossil Fuels happening right now, a recap of Waterspirit advocating for sound investments in coastal areas, a ‘Save the Date’ for our upcoming #DemocracyInADay event 21st October at 6:30PM ET, a Green Amendment Update (NY is live!), and a reminder about joining Waterspirit’s book club just a few weeks away on 22nd November!
Waterspirit is part of a new coalition lifting up resiliency and long term planning for future generations of New Jerseyans and visitors alike.
There has been some coverage of the event, Beach Replenishment Hurts the Environment, Subsidizes Wealthy Homeowners, Group Argues via NJ.com, 'No end in sight': Coalition Argues $1.5B in NJ Beach Replenishment has Been a Waste via Asbury Park Press, Fishers, Green Coalition: Beach Widening at Jersey Shore A Waste via AP, Ongoing Fight: Jersey Shore Towns To Receive $26 Million of Beach Replenishment Starting Next Month via News12NJ, Advocates push for alternatives to beach replenishment in NJ via NJ Spotlight and we are sharing Waterspirit’s full statement below.
My name is Rachel Dawn Davis and I am the Public Policy & Justice Organizer for Waterspirit. Waterspirit is a 20-year young spiritual ecology center and ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Our office, once at the Stella Maris Retreat Center- lost following Sandy, is now located on occupied Lenni Lenape land known as Rumson at the historic first Presbyterian Church. Our mission critical is to hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, centered around water.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Please take a look at the water and smell the air. Think of the generations before us. We are all connected. Today we are living in climate emergency. We must consider the future, now, today.
Think of the generations to come. The New Jersey Backbays study allows us to engage with the idea of retreat when the authors share: “in some cases, just as ecosystems migrate and change functions, human systems may have to relocate in a responsible manner.” Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si’, warns: “Future generations will never forgive us if we miss the opportunity to protect our common home.” Earth is our common home. We have a moral obligation during this time of climate chaos to act in the best interests of all humanity, not some few. A New York Times reporter “…talked to dozens of Jersey Shore mayors, engineers and other municipal officials about the billions it will cost just in the short term to fight the water. None of them had seriously considered curbing development to reduce risk to life and property.” This helps us understand why retreat was only raised as an option in the last two minutes of the second 1.5 hour recent NJ Backbays study public sessions. It deserves closer consideration.
Resiliency is one thing, and regeneration is a phrase that lends itself appropriately to the challenges faced by younger inhabitants of our climate emergency. It would be prudent to invest in alternative means of regenerative community building. Prioritizing beach replenishment perpetuates income inequality for young New Jerseyans, soon to be voters. New Jersey would benefit more significantly from investing in local, community prepared response to scientific climate change projections, such as sea level rise, exacerbated by storms, flooding and tornadoes.
We have climate migrants in this country, all across Turtle Island. Young people across the country and their families are already relocating multiple times due to flooding or fires or hurricanes. Young people’s experiences with our climate emergency are shaping the types of education they are or aren’t capable of receiving due to the income their parents and caretakers have or lack to provide.
We have a moral obligation to fund projects and programs that will alleviate the burdens from the most vulnerable communities: people of poor or low wealth. It is not prudent to accentuate more beach havens where more building could take place into a vicious cycle. Where retreat is not chosen, the enforcement of building code standards must be sufficient to meet the realities of climate change projections.
“According to a global survey and peer-reviewed study soon to be published in Lancet Planetary Health, a scientific journal, 75% of young people think the future is frightening and 45% say climate concern negatively impacts their day.” ~ Time Magazine
Politicians are refusing to accept correspondence, letters, openings for dialogue with young people about better solutions to focus on regenerative communities that account for considerations well into the future. This is misguided and we hope that through honest dialogue we may move forward together.
Note, Waterspirit is advocating for stormwater utility exploration https://bit.ly/StormwaterMgmtChat2021 which was raised at the end of the press conference as one idea of supplemental assistance for municipalities seeking to enhance their preparedness for inevitable storms and flooding. Waterspirit is a new member of Flood Defense NJ. https://www.njlcvef.org/flood-defense
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This week’s highlights include National Voter Education Week, a reminder to join our in-person Meditation for Earth sessions on Tuesdays at 12:15 PM in the Sanctuary at Rumson Presbyterian Church, an exciting announcement rooted in Laudato Si’ Actions, lifting up Waterspirit’s partnership as part of the ongoing Regenerative Communities Summit through October 10th, national & state level advocacy updates, bringing Waterspirit to your community, and photos from last weekend’s Live Streams event.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness…
Did you miss our live ceremony on the equinox? No worries— you can catch the recording on our YouTube channel! Please remember to “like” the video and to subscribe to our channel as well.
