New Items to TerraCycle at Grace

To date, Grace Church has earned over $300 from recycling our waste through TerraCycle, and we're still going and growing.

We're excited to add 3 more TerraCycle Brigades to our collection:

Any GoGo squeeZ or other
healthy food snack
pouches are accepted. 
PLEASE rinse out before
leaving at church.

• GoGo squeeZ
• Revolution Foods
• Wine Pouch

For the GoGo SqueeZ collection, all healthy food snack pouches are accepted.  Please RINSE the packages out before bringing them to the church so we can avoid any unwanted friends.

The Revolution Foods collection is limited to just Revolution Foods branded snacks, but the others can be included in the GoGo squeeZ above.

For the Wine Pouch collection, the bags in box wine count as well as wine pouches.  In Medford, you can recycle the Tetra-Pak bottle like boxes of wine along with juice boxes in our Single-Stream Recycling.

We also continue to collect the following items:

• Drink Pouches
• Chip Bags
• Cookie Packaging
• Candy Wrappers
• Energy Bar Wrappers (including Cereal Bars)
• Inkjet Cartridges (though we give those to the Roberts Elementary)

 Unfortunately, TerraCycle has cancelled the Coffee Bag Brigade, so please no more coffee bags.

If you are interested in helping sort, collect other items or find out more, please contact Alicia or Jonathan Hunt.

Welcome to the 2012 Green Up Clean Up season!

Green Up Clean Up is the award winning [2011 EPA Environmental Merit Award] program organized by Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, MA.  Through this program members of the church coordinate with members of the Medford Community,  the City of Medford, other local organizations and businesses to run Clean Ups of local parks and green spaces.  Past clean ups have included picking up trash, spreading mulch, pruning, weeding, painting, and more.  It is through this effort that we are able to stretch our tax dollars further by having the City provide the materials, while we provide the labor to improve our parks.

We are very excited to announce several upcoming Green Up Clean Up dates for 2012:

Saturday April 14, 1-3PM - Fells entrance at Winthrop St., Gate 1 - This is our first Clean Up at a DCR site!  We will be picking up trash around the trailhead that leads into the fells at this location.   

Saturday April 28 -  9:30 AM Earth Day Events in Medford Sq, 10:30 AM Mystic River at the Condon Shell.  Green Up Clean Up will be participating in Medford's Earth Day festivities this year, come meet us at our table at 1 City Hall Mall, the new site of the Medford Farmers Market.  Sign up for our email list, learn about upcoming Clean Ups and participate in the activities and clean up in Medford Square.   At 10:30 we will have a group joining the Friends of the Mystic River for their annual cleanup.  Our group will meet at the Condon Shell at 10:30 to do our part!  http://www.fomr.org/

Saturday May 5, 9AM - Noon -   Wright's Pond and Trails - Join us for our annual Wright's Pond Clean Up!  This is our biggest event,  organized by Rev. Noah Evans.   This year we're going to venture onto the trails next to the pond as well as the public swimming areas.  Please join us, there is always a lot to do here!

Saturday May 5 - 10AM - 1PM Brooks Estate - As is our tradition, we will be sending a group to help at the Brooks Estate annual clean up.   http://www.brooksestate.org/ 

Other Clean Ups that are still being organized for this Spring include Magoun Park, Victory Park & Logan Park.

If you are interested in helping with this effort, we could use a few more park leaders, donations of clean up supplies and snacks for the workers!  

For more details on the roles, and the type of work we can typically do at the clean ups,  please see the Team Leaders link on the Green Up Clean Up webpage: http://gracemedford.org/greenupcleanup/

We are also interested in hearing from you about which parks need attention or should have a Clean Up this year.   Please email us at greenupcleanup@gracemedford.org to let us know which parks you would like to see a Clean Up at.  We cannot do every park and green space in Medford, so we will try to focus our efforts where people see the greatest need.  

Clean Up Summary:

• Saturday April 14, 1-3PM - Fells entrance at Winthrop St., Gate 1 - Lydia Coty Gay

• Saturday April 28 -  9:30 AM Earth Day Events in Medford Sq  - Alicia Hunt

• Saturday April 28 - 10:30 AM Mystic River River Cleanup - Margaret Smist

• Saturday May 5, 9AM-Noon -   Wright's Pond and Trails - Rev. Noah Evans

• Saturday May 5 -  Brooks Estate - Allison Andrews 

• TBD Logan Park - The Hamel Family

TBD Magoun Park

• TBD Victory Park 

The 2012 Green Up Clean Up Organizing Committee

Alicia Hunt

Margaret Smist

Vin Maganzini

Lydia Cotty Gay

Daniel Smith

Marion Stoddart: The Work of 1,000 Showing in Arlington

In case you missed it, or just want to see it again, Marion Stoddart's The Work of 1,000 is showing at the Capitol Theater in Arlington on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 7pm.  We really enjoyed having Marion join us during our Lenten Green Faith Series last year.


Mystic River Watershed Association invites you to Get Energized & Inspired with Marion Stoddart.

Join a lively discussion with acclaimed Massachusetts environmental pioneer, Marion Stoddart, preceded by the award-winning film about her, "Marion Stoddart: The Work of 1,000".

Thursday, March 22, 2012
Capitol Theater
204 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA
7 p.m. (doors open at 6:45)

$10 Suggested Donation, $35 Join MyRWA plus Admission

Purchase tickets here:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/218263

Co-Sponsors
Friends of Spy Pond Park, Ocean River Institute, Ecological Landscaping Association, Friends of Alewife Reservation, Charles River Canoe and Kayak, Woburn Residents' Environmental Network, Green Medford, Somerville Climate Action, Sustainable Arlington, Friends of the Mystic River and East Arlington Liveable Streets Coalition.

Corporate Sponsor
Boreal Renewable Energy Development

Green Up Clean Up: Park Leader Role

To coordinate so many park cleanups around town, we have found it helpful to clearly lay out what is expected from our volunteer Park Leaders and what they can expect from the GreenUp CleanUp Organizing Team.

Usually we divide the work as follows:

Park leader

• Picks a date
• Decides what work needs to be done at the park and lets the organizers know what your recommendations are for the park (email to greenupcleanup@gracemedford.org)
• Does local outreach to people who use the park or live/work nearby. (If at a special location, coordinate with that location, e.g., Brooks Estate Trustees, Friends of the Mystic River)
• Is in charge the day of the cleanup
• Sets up at the beginning and cleans up at the end of that cleanup.

Green Up Clean Up Organizing Committee

• Coordinates all the dates
• Communicates with the City about what materials and tools are needed on each date for each park cleanup; they make any special arrangements that might be necessary (e.g., getting bathrooms opened out of season for volunteers, unlocking parking lot gates for the clean up, etc)
• Does central & city-wide outreach, including email, press releases (but Park Leaders are welcome to do this as well)
• Maintains the webpage:   http://gracemedford.org/greenupcleanup
• Brings the large lemonade cooler, cups
• Brings work gloves, garbage, recycling & yard waste bags

Snacks and Beverages
Some year we have a volunteer who is able to solicit donations of food and beverages (coffee, water) for the cleanups.  Sometimes the Park Leader organizes snack, either through donations or bringing something on their own.   For 2012 we don't yet have a volunteer (yet) to organize this, and we'd be happy to have someone volunteer, or for businesses to contact us directly.

Examples of Clean Up Activities
We are happy to report to the City Park's Department whatever you want them to hear about the park.  Typical activities they are able to support us doing include:

• Raking
• Sweeping sand
• Picking up trash and recycling
• Spreading mulch (they have provided mulch, shovels, wheel barrows)
• Spreading safety wood chips (they have provided wood chips, shovels, wheel barrows)
• Spreading sand (they provided sand, shovels, wheel barrows, rakes)
• Pulling weeds
• Removing graffiti (the City has special graffiti removal cleaner)
• Painting (the City has provided paint, brushes)
• Pruning (sometimes the City will send one of their staff with power tools)
• Planting flowers and sprucing up local gardens

The City is happy to supply the tools and supplies we need, within their budget, provided we make the request in a timely manner and it is something they have available.

If you are interested in organizing a Clean Up, but you're not sure where, or what to do,  members of the organizing committee and the Medford Parks Department have recommendations on locations that could use volunteer help.


Thank you for volunteering!
Green Up Clean Up Committee
Grace Medford
greenupcleanup@gracemedford.org

Treading Lightly for Lent 2012

Tread Lightly for Lent 2012

The Presbyterians have done it again creating a wonderful environmentally focused Lenten calendar for 2012: Tread Lighting for Lent 2012.  The calendar take individuals on a journey of reflection and action that anyone of us can and should do. 

When we care for God’s good earth, we do so through both action and reflection. We are called to engage in intentional and thoughtful “doing” as well as “being.” As we anticipate the lengthening of daylight during Lent, we are invited to long, deep reflection. This reflection will shape our action. Likewise, our actions shape how we reflect—on ourselves, our world and our Creator.

In what spirit might we enter a season of reflection and action? I propose that we enter Lent in a spirit of fasting and feasting. We fast, refraining from things that do not foster life. Yet we also feast, remembering God’s grace and power in the world. Echoing Sabbath and Jubilee themes in the Torah and other parts of Holy Scripture, we feast on God’s liberating goodness even as we fast from the harmful things we do to the earth.

So I invite you, then, to reflect and to act, to fast and to feast. This simple calendar will serve as a daily Lenten reminder of this invitation. Most reflections and actions can be done in less than 10 minutes, or they can take as long as you like. Guiding themes for the weeks in this calendar are: creation, water, land, air, people, diverse species, and lifestyle commitment.

From the introduction to the Tread Lighting for Lent 2012 from the Presbyterian Church (USA) Environmental Ministries.

If you are interested in another faith based environmental path for Lent, there is the 2012 Ecumenical Lenten Carbon Fast which will send you email with daily actions for Lent.  The Lenten Carbon Fast is developed and run by the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ.

What ever you path you choose, do something for yourself and the world the Lord has entrusted to us.

Peace!
Jon