Environmental Issue Hike

Quote for January 31, 2006

"It is our collective and individual responsibility to protect and nurture the global family, to support its weaker members and to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live." – Dalai Lama

Women of the Storm

I started a non-profit organization about a year ago called the Cottonwood Institute, whose mission is to teach students how to change the world through an exciting blend of adventure and service. I have dedicated my life to inspiring the youth of America and I continually hear my mom say, "where did he come from?" However, to me, it is very clear where I came from.

My mom, Beverly Church, is a New Orleans civic activist, community leader, author, lecturer, event planner, and a primary source of my inspiration to be committed to my community. She recently helped organize a group of women called Women of the Storm to help rebuild the City of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated my hometown at the end of August 2005. They boarded a donated charter flight bound for Washington D.C. with a cross-section of women from New Orleans who were affected by the storm and who are deeply committed to rebuild the historic city. Their goal is to invite members of congress to visit New Orleans to see the devastation first-hand so they will be more likely to vote to save the city.

The term activism can conjure up negative images of almost militant people fighting extreme causes. But for those who have been ignored or oppressed, many times activism is the only card they can play. Activism does not have to have a negative connotation. Gandhi was an activist; Martin Luther King, Jr. was an activist; Mother Theresa was an activist. But these examples set high standards that paralyze many of us from ever getting involved. Let us instead be inspired by the average citizens like Beverly Church and the Women of the Storm who have the courage to exercise their voice and take a stand for what they believe in.

Question: When have you taken a stand for something you believed in?

Quote for January 30, 2006

“The longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break an organization…a school…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have. And that is our attitude…I am convinced life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…” –Charles Swindoll

Nature Awareness Hike

Quote for January 27, 2006

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Quote for January 26, 2006

“One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast…a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk bound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards." – Edward Abbey

Quote for January 24, 2006

“We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobile rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind…Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

CAP Photo Album, 1st Quarter 2005

Welcome to the Community Adventure Program! Whether you are a current CAP student, a parent, or if you are a student thinking about taking this class next quarter, check out our CAP Photo Album and let us know what you think.

Trees, Moss, and Compostable Cutlery: A Final Reflection, by Jamie Shapiro

When I signed up for the Community Adventure Program, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought I would be taking hikes, maybe learning some skills, perhaps volunteering in the "community." And here I am now, committed to helping solve a problem I didn’t even know existed until a few months ago. Here I am, committed to reducing my ecological footprint. And the astonishing thing about it…I actually want to. I now have a genuine desire to do something good for my environment. What motivated me to come to this realization, you ask? Was it the camping, the hiking, the vast expanses of untamed beauty? Was it the quotes, the inspirational movie? No, I think not. Although I enjoyed all the aspects of this class, it was the Action Project that motivated me to do something about the place in which I live. Don’t get me wrong however, I wasn’t particularly interested in zero waste when we started, or even now for that matter. It is not zero waste that is motivating me right now, nor is it the foul state of our earth, or how wastefully I am living. It is the people I saw in this class, living out what we was said in those quotes. People who live with purpose.

The two overnights we went on were extremely enjoyable for me and were very unique experiences as far as camping goes.  I have been backpacking many time, almost every year since I could lift a pack, but I never knew how to hang a bear-hang, scatter the ashes of the fire, dig a sump hole, or sleep under a tarp…correctly that is. It’s funny to think of that as it seems I have been doing these things forever. Perhaps that’s the mark of a great wilderness class, to do something twice, and make it seem like a hundred.  Probably the only thing I would have changed about the trips would be to hike in further in, but do to the structure of the class, I realize that this would be impossible. I loved the structure of independence that the trips were based on in terms of eating and sleeping. It definitely made me feel much more self-reliant and confident. My favorite part, however, would have to be the blindfold drum exercise.  I felt completely detached from everything except my feet, my hands, the earth and the trees. I think one of the most important things I realized, not in terms of “skills,” but in terms of perspectives, was that the object of camping is not to make the woods feel as comfortable as your living room, but rather make yourself the “living room,” and the world your woods. I like the idea of home within oneself, rather than an exterior home. That way everything can be a home, which can be as comfortable as you feel.
 
Our Action Project was probably my favorite part of the class, just because I have never done anything like that before, and it seems like something everybody should. I think an Action Project should be required to graduate from high school. If I ever start a high school, it will be like that. Concerning zero waste specifically, I had no idea it even existed until this project. Learning about the issue was great, and applying it worked fairly well.  It was fun watching movies about it, hearing people talk about it, and then actually doing something. I think we should have pushed a bit harder, maybe set higher goals for our class to work towards, but the goals we did set were completed with style and grace. I loved what Alex Carr did to the flyer: he really took control of that project, and I think it was the best of anything we did. The skit was also quite good, but I’m not sure the audience understood what a fantastic job we really did. The Boulder Farmers Market rocked, I was surprised how many people were interested in what I/we had to say. I would talk to people, expecting to hear a polite “oh that’s nice,” but instead I would hear about their day, where they went to high school,  or how much they loved the environment. Shocking. The shirts are also way rad. I wish we could have done more with businesses, but I guess it’s never to late to do something myself.  I think it changed how I view environmental issues affecting the community in an optimistic, positive way. I had always been extremely pessimistic about the quality of the environment, but after seeing how much is really being done, at least in Boulder, and how many people care, I can’t help but see it as an issue that is changing for the better. I can’t say my views about high school students in the community have changed quite so much, however. I had rather high expectations for the class, as well as myself, which weren’t exactly fulfilled.  What I can say is that a group of thirteen high school-age humans can accomplish just as much as the same amount of people in any age range, if not more. I think forming a habit of caring about the state of the planet might be exceptionally beneficial for society as a whole. I learned that making a change is extremely difficult, but also that it can be a good time. What can I say, being helpful makes me feel as though I have a purpose. I think we have set a great foundation for future CAP classes, mostly in our furthering of knowledge, connections, and that sweet flyer. I liked doing that Action Project and I know we reached some people outside the class; maybe ours will be the ripple that starts the revolution.

When I think of the Community Adventure Program class as a whole, I am reminded of how much we really accomplished. We went on hikes, we had philosophical discussions, we talked about the environment, we read Doctor Seuss, we tackled zero waste, but overall, if I had to think of one word to describe the class as a whole, I would say inspirational. Everything we did was about becoming inspired. We hiked and camped to appreciate the wilderness, to become inspired by the outdoors. We talked about our inspiration. We campaigned about our inspiration, through talking to people at the Farmers Market, through the flyer, skits and T-shirts. We become inspired. Inspired to change. Inspired to be the change. Inspired to be. The class as a whole, when I take a step back, was about making young people inspired.

When I think about my personal ecological footprint, it makes me want to go live in a cave somewhere, and live off of fungus, and create absolutely no waste. Unfortunately, as that’s not going to happen, some more reasonable measures should be taken I think. I always bus to and from school, which is good, but I could just as easily bike. I think I do moderately well, in terms of environmental effects, at least for my lifestyle. I always recycle, at least when I can, I reuse plastic bags, and other reusable items. I could do better, however, seeing as if everyone lived likes me, we would use seven point five planets. A big part of it, I think, is simply including the environment in my personal ethics and morals, making it something I stand for. I think if everyone thought of themselves as environmentalists, they might become environmentalists. The biggest personal motivator is always your own opinion. You are your harshest critic and that can go to work for you in a situation like this. The more I have begun to think of myself as environmentally conscious, the guiltier I feel when I act out of this ideology. That would be a great step, at least for me, in saving the world, which is basically at stake.

In conclusion, I would just like to say that I genuinely got something out of this class. I’m not saying it was life changing (although isn’t life life changing?) just that it had a positive impact on me. I’m also not saying that Figures 1 didn’t have a positive impact on me, because it did. All I’m saying, really, is that it inspired me, more than if I had taken Russian Revolution, or some such class. It shaped me for the better, what better praise could there be?

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