I am a NYS Professional Geologist and licensed attorney, having spent my career as an environmental consultant to municipalities and private industry. I am currently working on my own, dedicated to applying my training and skills to progressive initiatives and legal advocacy.
As a geoscientist, I personally understand that our dynamic planet’s climate has begun changing in a direction that we as a species have not experienced since our coming into existence. From my studies of Earth processes and recent events, such changes are occurring more rapidly than was initially expected and will not support our population of eight billion people, or at the very least not support our global civilization. What has happened during this past year is a sign that Earth has given us our eviction notice, as the Founding Member of the Sixth Extinction. However, as chilling and perilous as this fact may be, I believe that our unique qualities of intelligence, technological skills, adaptability, and social behaviors can lead us to not only survival but also lead to the next step in our evolution as an intelligent species for many generations to come. However, we must (as a people) “get off of our asses” and get to work at developing resiliency, adaptability, and sustainability at the grassroots level.
Let’s Get Back to Our Garden Inc. is formed as a New York State Not for Profit Corporation dedicated to applying the principles of environmental sustainability at the grassroots community level, to create resiliency, adaptability, and sustainability within communities in the face of environmental degradation and climate change. The organization’s mission is to develop self-sustaining communities to be adaptable to today’s environmental, social, and economic challenges threatening human survival.
Let’s Get Back to Our Garden Inc. is also formed based on my vision for a humanistic religious ministry and movement dedicated to ensuring the survival of our species throughout the changing climate. I believe that positive collective grassroots actions support community cohesion which can be resilient and sustainable when such actions are developed from local “home grown” environmental, social, and economic resources. My vision for this movement is also based on scientific and other evidence-based approaches to ensure the realization of progressive humanist morality guided towards ensuring community and ultimately humanity’s survival in harmony with our living environment and the dynamic Earth.
This vision is based on my life experiences while growing up in Upstate New York and later living with my family on Long Island as part of the greater New York City Metropolitan Area. I realized that our humanity is naturally motivated towards collective social actions for the benefit of ourselves, families, friends, and local interconnected communities most prominently expressed during times of catastrophic events.
I’ve experienced epic storms, major power outages, and social crises including the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. I consistently experienced during those times that while our political leaders, civil services, and utility services struggled to maintain our needs and security, our neighbors and local communities shifted to act independently for the benefit of ourselves and each other. This genuine concern to participate in helping each other, sharing resources, and expressing concern for each other effectively sustained community cohesion during each event until the given crisis ended. I also experienced that such spontaneous acts of care and support during these times of crises resulted in stronger ties between neighbors and within communities, whether in urban, suburban, or rural environments.
Let’s Get Back to Our Garden is devoted to cultivating this positive and healthy aspect of human nature as a popular progressive movement with a religious purpose, as a means to withstand the environmental, social, and economic challenges to the survival of our communities (and our species) as Earth’s climate changes. Let’s Get Back to Our Garden Inc. Ministry will include the Let’s GB2RG.org website and interactive marketplace online presence, participation in progressive actions and celebrations in the communities, and developing “off-the-grid” sustainable lifestyles in harmony with all forms of environmental conditions for all people for generations to come.
https://letsgetback2ourgarden.org/ the website is admittedly a work in progress and currently expresses the organization’s lofty goals. As Executive Director of the corporation and ULC Minster I plan on recruiting advocates, students and graduates interested in assisting with making Let’s Get Back to Our Garden an online source of information and resources, and eventually a “boots on the ground” enterprise empowering individuals and their grassroots communities. I am also hoping to recruit more experienced NFP board members to join the organization. Our organizational plan for 2024 includes developing the website to be a news site and interactive marketplace as a social media influencer and provide our services supporting grassroots community initiatives for environmental, social, and economic sustainability.