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<<First Name>>,
We hope you're all staying safe and healthy. This week, the state and city released detailed guidance on reopening beginning next week. The past few months have been incredibly difficult for everyone, and warmer weather will do us good. It's also a moment for reflection and gratitude; the crisis that we're gone through together, what we learned, and remembering the nearly 100,000 people lost in the past two months in the U.S. and additional 240,000 worldwide.
We see it as time to reconnect with our local environment, and build a shared way forward to a world that works for everyone: equitable economics, renewable energy, vast urban agriculture, and cities that remove pavement in favor of people.
We share these values with you, but our ability to fund the work is especially challenging. Right now, your donation of just $5 a month is more important than ever. Please give today!
As these past few months have been jarring, finding some semblance of normalcy has been incredibly grounding. So I can't thank Julie Croston, who facilitates our Wildlife Arts program, and Seanna Berry, our Farm Manager, enough for their efforts. They are tireless rock stars: THANK YOU!
It's up to us, including you. See you outside.
Steven Nutter, AICP
Executive Director
Green Cambridge
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Cleaning up the Alewife, circa 2003.
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Visit the Alewife Reservation and help clean up our urban wild! Normally we would have had groups working with us all spring scrubbing this natural sanctuary after the winter thaw. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, we offer an alternative approach: Just grab a bag and gloves to collect trash.
If you choose to collect trash please observe safety guidelines: Maintain social distance, do not gather in groups, wear gloves, avoid sharp objects, stay away from homeless encampments, and stay out of wet areas and water (which is contaminated). Regarding trash bags and latex gloves you may bring your own – or use ours. They can be found beneath the wheelbarrow next to the Green Cambridge shed along to the bike path and adjacent to the constructed wetlands stone amphitheater. You are welcome to leave filled bags behind the shed or take home.
Tag your photo on Facebook with #alewifeclean!
We're also happy to welcome our new Alewife board helping to guide the work! Thank you all for joining it to make Alewife even more amazing! (A special shout out to Larry Childs 😊.)
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Kids! Green Cambridge and Cambridge Local First are partnering to connect local public school students with city habitats through the Cambridge City Nature Art Challenge. The challenge merges the artistic and creative energies of students in Cambridge with the Boston Area City Nature Challenge, an annual citizen science project contributing to research-quality data on living organisms. The deadline for entries has been extended to Tuesday, June 9, 2020.
Students in Cambridge Public Schools from Kindergarten through Grade 8 are eligible to enter works of art in the Cambridge City Nature Art Challenge. Prizes for students in Grades 3–8 are gift cards to businesses that are members of Cambridge Local First. Kindergarten through Grade 2 students with winning entries will receive a set of art supplies. Some local business members of Cambridge Local First will display winning entries in windows.
More information at greencambridge.org/artchallenge!
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Hurley Farm Opens June 1, More Growing Sites!
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Growing food is booming in Cambridge! We're off to a delayed start, but the Hurley Street Neighborhood Farm returns June 1st! Come grow with us, albeit with the proper social distancing. This season we're introducing scheduled farm slots, and you can choose your social distanced farm time here.
In addition, we'll be working at Riverside Press Park Community Garden piloting it as a communal farm modeled after our Hurley Street location! More details to follow, but you can get involved by sending an email to farms@greencambridge.org.
And more to come! We're continuing our advocacy for more growing space in the city, and are so inspired by the new grassroots group Cambridge City Growers who are looking for new growing spaces. If you're interested in participating, sign up here.
Need inspiration? Check out this new movie about the success of urban farming in East Boston featuring our friends at Eastie Farm.
Finally, we're excited to get started building the preschool garden at Nurtury in Central Square, made possible by a grant from the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority. Thank you! More on that in the coming weeks, but you can check out the video of getting the first seeds started!
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Speak Out For More Growing Sites on Public Land!
We need space for growing food in Cambridge! If the COVID-19 Crisis has shown is the vulnerability of our food systems and delivering enough food to many people in our community. But what if there was a way forward of growing more of our own food here in Cambridge? We have the land: in fact about 1/3 of the city is permeable soil--able to grow food and trees? What if just 10% of that were for farming? And what if many of those farms were on public land, just like we put playgrounds and dog parks on our public property?
If you believe in this very possible future, you can add your voice and sign this petition! We're halfway to our goal of 500 signatures. Add yours for a resilient future! |
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It's not the marathon but almost as fun! You can run with the herring up the Mystic. Sign up for this free, fun virtual event to celebrate the spectacular herring migration with our friends at the Mystic River Watershed Association. Run one mile for every one thousand fish that traveled up the Mystic River last year.
For a cool-down activity after your run/walk—be a citizen scientist and help document the run size using our underwater "fish cam" and counting platform.
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Volunteer for the Central Square Farmers Market!
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Mass Farmers Markets is looking for volunteers to help run Central Square Farmers Market and other locations.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to progress, they'll need all hands on deck to help manage the marketplace and create a healthy food-buying and food-selling environment for all concerned. More info about the role here.
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Sign the Petition for Space for Social Distancing
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All of our streets are public spaces, and right now, we need that for proper social distancing! City Council needs to hear the from you: Sign this petition to make your voice heard!
The good news is that on Thursday, we got word that city staff has been working on a plan for potential changes to streets to better respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. They'll present it to City Council during the May 27 City Council Round Table.
But without your voice, action may not be taken. Sign the petition today to make streets for everyone!
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And now, ICYMI: Thank You Edition
News that got lost in the pandemic...
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Late last fall, we opened our new office on "Non-Profit Row" in Central Square at 99 Bishop Allen Drive. We're thankful to be working in the same building with such inspiring organizations like Sustainable Business Network, Cambridge Community Foundation, Cambridge Camping, EnRoot, the Cambridge NonProfit Coalition, and the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. We can't wait to go back to our offices after these months away!
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We were blessed with amazing interns this spring, and managed to continue working with them through all of this.
- Jacob is a graduate student at the Harvard University Extension School in the sustainability and environmental management master’s degree program. He is working with us to develop our Urban Forest program.
- Mina is a senior at Lesley University studying Environmental Science. She is working with us on the Alewife, developing a new section of our website from integrated historical research (which we'll be sharing soon!)
- Alison is at Lesley University, studying Political Science and Math Studies, and worked with us to get our databases in order.
- Amelia is graduating senior at CRLS, and helped us with our Wildlife Arts program and at the Hurley Street Neighborhood Farm.
A big THANK YOU to Alison, Amelia, Mina, and Jacob for your extraordinary efforts this semester. You've made us that much stronger and able to have a bigger impact in reconnecting us with our local natural environment and to each other!
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This spring we added two new board members Sukia Akiba and Jan Devereux, plus our first Youth Board Member Justin Biemann. We thank them all for their commitment!
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Sukia is an advocate for social justice, our environment, sustainable transportation, affordable housing, universal free pre-k, mental health, and LGBTQIA+ rights. She has a Bachelor's in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and a Master's in Global Health Policy and Management from the Heller School at Brandeis University. She is Nigerian and currently works with several organizations to improve the quality of life in Nigeria.
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A two-term Cambridge City Councillor, Jan served as vice mayor in 2018-19 and as a chair of the Health and Environment Committee from 2016-19. As a councilor, she partnered with Quinton Zondervan and Green Cambridge to launch the Urban Forest Master Plan study and to strengthen tree protection. A committed cyclist and transit rider, Jan has lived in Cambridge since 1993 and is the mother of three grown children. She earned a BA in English at Princeton University and an MBA in marketing at Columbia University.
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Justin has lived in Cambridge all of his life. He is a student at Concord Academy and a member of the school’s Youth in Philanthropy organization. In his third year with Green Cambridge, Justin is committed to spreading its message of sustainability and education at home, at school, and throughout the community.
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Thank you to our new Funders!
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Thank you to all who have donated to Green Cambridge. We really couldn't exist without your support. If you haven't donated, consider a gift of $5 a month!
We're excited to announce new funding this spring from the Cambridge Community Foundation, the Cambridge Arts Council, and the Cambridge Department of Public Health! This support means the world to us. THANK YOU!!
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