New Jersey Learns Journal 2009

8/9/2019 New Jersey Learns Journal 2009

1/20

New Jersey Learns Case Stories

What

What is going on in your neighborhood?

A very special thanks to the Geraldine Dodge Foundation


2/20


3/20

Introduction Overview o New Jersey Learns

Chapter 1 Power to Educate or Change

Leader Prole: Todd Menadier

Chapter 2 Change Starts With Us

Leader Prole: Mark Loeser

Chapter 3 The Problem Solving Approach to Sustainability,

Leader Prole: Stacey Kennealy

Chapter 4 To Understand A Place

Leader Prole: Angela Clerico

Chapter 5 Making Sustainability Relevant

Leader Prole: Tina Weishaus

Table of Contents


4/20

Introduction

New Jersey Learns or a Sustainable Future is a leadership training program

designed and acilitated by Jaimie Cloud, President o The Cloud Institute

or Sustainability Education. The program was developed to contribute to a

shared understanding o sustainability, and to provide tranormative learningopportunities or participants. Through the New Jersey Learns Leadership Training,

we are building an incredible network o schools and communities to learn together

or a sustainable uture.

Beore a sustainable uture can be realized, it must be widely envisioned. Our

goal is to share a hopeul vision or a sustainable uture and connect schools and

communities to build that vision together. Story telling is one way to promote our

ongoing work to link schools and communities. And to inspire young people to

think about the world, their relationship to it, and their ability to inuence it in an

entirely new way. In telling these stories we can share our strategies, practices, and

pedagogies Educating or Sustainability.


5/20

I got up and asked people to come to my classroom or teen

minutes ater school...

Todd Menadier is a high school science teacher at Bloomeld Technical High

School in Bloomeld, New Jersey. Todd recently created the Green Energy

Academy, an alternative Science Program that has students ocus on alternative

energy and sustainability through science. He hopes to expand this curriculum

throughout Bloomeld Technical High school to promote Education or

Sustainability.

Todd is among the twenty our participants, representing nine dierentcommunities, working with The Cloud Institute to lead New Jersey toward

sustainability through education. As a physical science teacher, Todd is in a

strategic position to link youth to long-term sustainability through education.

His recent eorts with the school and aculty reect many o the Cloud Institutes

goals or developing this training or educators including inspiring educators

and community members to educate or sustainability and creating strategic

partnerships between schools and communities to learn and live sustainably.

Prior to joining NJ Learns, Todd had a strong personal interest in sustainabilityand had already integrated this interest into his science education. His

Sustainable Energy course introduces students to harnessing and delivering solar,

wind, geothermal, and other alternative technologies. As other teachers began

to take note o the work he was doing in this science course, there was a growing

interest in making the school a Green School. But, as he describes, there were

difculties there. We dont have anything green here, we dont even recycle.

Administrators and aculty discussed the ideas o putting up banners and telling

other people what to do to make the school green. The emerging discussion ledTodd to see an opportunity to leverage the interest in sustainability and bring

about real change in his school.

The Power to Educate or Change

Who: Todd Menadier

Occupation: Technical High School Teacher

Location: Bloomeld, NJ

What: created the Green Energy Academy


6/20


7/20

What is Todd Doing in His School?

The learning and action that Todd has seen in just a ew short months hasbeen proound. He continues to teach his Sustainable Energy course while

ocusing on integrating sustainability into his chemistry course as a way

to teach students that what they know and what they do has a powerul

impact on their communities that goes beyond the state o New Jersey.

For example, we just started a recycling campaign or cell phones. But the

students dont just have to recycle the cell phones, they actually get points

or understanding the chemistry behind landlls and why they have to

recycle their cell phones instead o putting them into landlls. He has alsointegrated sustainability into his chemistry course through the creation

o soaps, lotions, and paints using sustainable and organic materials. I just

purchased The Natural Paint Book which has recipes or non-toxic, long

lasting, durable paints that Im hoping to make and share with the Art Dept

and use in projects around the school. Im really excited and hoping to get

the materials and the process started soon. My class room could really use

a resh coat.

Todds work is just one o the examples o how great, engaged education

can spark schools and communities to learn together to create a

sustainable community. Aligning his commitment to sustainability to New

Jersey Learns has helped him to spark his school to educate or it, as he

describes, I already knew about sustainability beore, I had already started

the sustainable energy program but [NJ Learns training] has given me the

power to educate or it.

*Image source: http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007-2-15/top_green_jobs_career_build.jpg. 2009


8/20

I see my greatest role as contributing to the talk o sustainabilitythrough my personal lie and grassroots organizations.

Mark W. Loeser is a resident o Browns Mills, New Jersey. He has a background

in environmental science and works as an account manager or New Jerseys

Clean Energy Program. Since his participation with the 2008 New Jersey Learns

training Mark has given lectures throughout New Jersey on topics o Education

or Sustainability. He is an active member o Sustainable Cherry Hill (www.

sustainablecherryhill.org), determined to educate or sustainability regionally in

hope that this movement will cause a paradigm shit in the mindset o all citizens.

What is Mark Doing in His Community?

Since I started with the NJ Learns program, I have joined the group Sustainable

Cherry Hill. Together, with other members in NJ Learns and Sustainable Cherry

Hill, we have organized and conducted several training programs and have given

many presentations around the state to municipalities, to public and private

interest groups and to other sustainability oriented community groups. What we

try to do through Sustainable Cherry Hill is empower local constituencies to enactenvironmentally positive practices and principles. We educate the community

on practical, cost-eective ways to develop a sustainable path into the uture. We

hope that in the near uture, legislation and practices will change to balance out

our ecology and the economy to satisy our long-term needs or a healthy society.

In my work, I am really trying to plant the seeds to transorm peoples thinking

around sustainability. I have always been aware o the principles o sustainability.

There is a growing awareness o people who do not necessarily know about

these principles which makes it easy or us to spread these teachings to

ellow community members. My coworkers have been very receptive to the

sustainability trainings I have given to them.

Change Starts with Us

Who: Mark LoeserOccupation: Account Manager

Location: Brown Mills, NJ

What: Gives trainings on energy and

sustainability


9/20

Lorem Ipsum

123 Everywhere Ave

City, ST 00000

I have noticed that every time I talk about sustainability, nobody says, no,

sustainability is wrong. I think there is a general consensus that there

needs to be a shit in the way we conduct ourselves as a global society. I

use the recent nancial crisis and the big bailout (September, 2008) as an

example o our interdependence or the need o a shit in our mental mod-

els. The bailout really exemplied an unsustainable process in the nan-cial markets and people really get that. I we continue to act in our own

sel-interests, ailure is inevitable. The recent nancial crisis really sets pre-

cedence or the change that we need to be apart o; there was a process

that was really not sustainable and people see that and can relate to that

reality. What we are doing to overcome that now is to understand that we

cannot use the same method that got us in this situation, to get us out o

it. We have challenges that we are aced with, these situations are real, and

like I said, I have never seen anyone deny this understanding. We cannot

continue doing what we are doing without major consequences.

Preparing or the Future

I see my greatest role as contributing to the talk o sustainability through

my personal lie and grassroots organizations. We can only hope that all

this talk will amount to something substantive on the legislative level. We

need to see people on both sides o the table make the realization that we

cannot continue what we are doing without major consequences, our so-

ciety will just not work. There has to be a lot o push to see this through ona mass scale, we cannot let our guard down and slip back to our old way

o living. We have to reinvest in our inrastructure throughout our country

and throughout the world. It is the only way we can sustain ourselves and

prepare us or the uture. There has to be a shit in our mentality. While we

all have to change our attitudes and actions regarding sustainability there

is only so much one individual can do to change a culture. But i we bond

as citizens, change will be made to be more sustainable.


10/20

...whether or not we can create sustainable communities is hinged

upon correct problem identication

I am Director o Sustainability at Greenaith, an interaith environmental

organization that works with congregations, religious schools and communities

o all aiths to help them become environmental leaders. We build this leadership

and awareness in a number o ways. We preach and speak about religiously-

based environmental stewardship, and we teach clergy how to do the same. We

help institutions green their acilities, through energy audits, recycling and green

cleaning programs, solar energy installations and other actions that reduce an

institutions environmental ootprint. We teach and promote advocacy aroundenvironmental justice, or the idea that low-income and minority communities

are disproportionately burdened by environmental problems. We do a lot o

work on the ground in New Jersey, and we also have two national programs.

Our Fellowship Program is a comprehensive education and training program to

prepare lay and ordained leaders or religiously based environmental leadership.

Our Certication Program is an interaith environmental certication program or

congregations; it provides a roadmap to help institutions complete substantial

and signicant actions and education in relation to the environment.

The New Jersey Learns Leadership Program gave me a better understanding o

systems thinking and the processes needed to address environmental problems.

These ideas are really at the core o sustainabilitywhether or not we can cre-

ate sustainable communities is hinged upon correct problem identication. Prior

to the Cloud training, I hadnt thought about sustainability in those terms. The

Cloud Institute provided the needed missing piece, which has really helped me

in my work. The New Jersey Learns Program has helped me understand how toaddress systems thinking and problem solving in the presentations I give and the

programs I design or Greenaith. Particularly with regards to the Fellowship

The Power to Educate or Change

Who: Stacey Kennealy

Occupation: Director o GreenFaith

Location: New Brunswick, NJ

What: Helps organizations become

environmental leaders


11/20

Program, I want to give the Fellows these skills to help them do their work

more eectively and better developed.

Green Faith has three core missions: Spirit, Stewardship, and Justice. Spirit

involves religious education, worship services and spiritual practices thatpromote environmental stewardship. Stewardship involves practical sus-

tainability actions and education, particularly in reerence to the greening

o acilities. Justice ocuses on education and advocacy related to envi-

ronmental justice. Since those are our three core missions, our Fellowship

Program has three retreats, each ocused on one o the missions.

The Fellowship retreat in November 2008 ocused on stewardship andsustainability. I wanted to give the Fellows the Cloud Institute material to

provide a ramework or practical actions, and to help them think about

the thinking that underlies these issues. Many o the Fellows think about

sustainability in reerence to practical environmental actions, such as recy-

cling programs or the purchase o Fair-Trade coee, but they dont always

use a systems thinking or problem-solving approach in their work. I set

up an hour and a hal long lecture and we did the diminishing resource

game (the chair game) and I discussed systems thinking and communityindicators. I talked about indicators as one measure o progress and gave

examples o three communities. I highlighted New Jerseys Sustainable

State Institute, Sustainable Lawrence and Sustainable South Bronx. I talked

about the community indicators developed by each o these groups, and

how those goals and indicators have helped them on their path toward

sustainability.

What is the Relationship Between Faith-based Groups and

Education or Sustainability?

I think a lot o aith based groups understand environmental issues in

terms o particular topics that are addressed one at a time. For example,

they may develop energy conservation practices to save money. Then

i they are interested in water conservation they will implement a ew

activities, with perhaps a little education thrown in. It is not a systematized

approach. They dont necessarily think o the overall picture-how thewhole system is working and how all o these topics are tied in together.

Similar to the general population, they tend not to question the thinking


12/20

that causes us to have water problems or energy problems in the rst

place. I wanted to give the Cloud material to the Fellows because I

thought it was very good theory to have on hand and it is very applicable

to the sustainability initiatives in their own communities.

About ve years ago I graduated rom Rutgers University where I studied

environmental policy and ecology. However, neither my policy nor

ecology classes really addressed the topic o sustainability. In order to

gain this experience, I did hands-on projects ater I graduated. Over time,

I realized that, in practice, sustainability works very similarly with religious

institutions as secular institutions.

However, I nd that I like working with religious groups betterI can

actually speak about the moral imperative to live sustainably, which is

something I can rarely discuss with secular environmental groups. In my

current work I can afrm that stewardship is something we are called to do

by our Creator, no matter his/her name. It is written in the Bible, the Torah,

the Koran, and all other sacred texts. Environmental stewardship is a

universal calling or religious groups. Once these communities understandthis calling, they quickly act to live out those values. They come to

GreenFaith or guidance, and to learn more about the ways in which their

religion speaks to these issues.

My area o expertise is sustainability, the practical and scientically-based

actions institutions can make. We also have an Episcopal Priest on sta,

as well as a Rabbi, and they teach many o the theological ideas to our

constituents. Even though environmental stewardship has been in sacredtexts or thousands o years, religious groups have more recently become

activated around these issues. The religious environmental movement is

very new and religious groups oten dont know where to start, what the

key issues are, or how to make the connection between religion and the

environment. They need to start with very basic background inormation.

They oten begin with the understanding that stewardship is a religious

concern, and then they may learn the practical steps towards sustainabil-

ity that they can take within their congregation. From there, they shouldlearn the Cloud Institute material so that they can understand these issues

on a deeper level, and more eectively teach sustainability concepts to

their members.


13/20

I hope the ES concepts can help our constituents better understand the

undamental principles o sustainability. Without understanding these

basic ideas, we are just developing interesting initiatives and not creating

long term systemic change. We cant go about sustainability addressingindividual issues one at a time and not examine the whole system. Once

this concept is understood, sustainability becomes an ever expanding

process instead o a destination.


14/20

I see my work as engaging people in conversation about sustainabil-

ity and planning

Angela Clerico is a land-use planner in New Jersey the chair o the Sustainability

Committee or the New Jersey Planning Association. Through her work as a plan-

ner and her work with New Jersey Learns for a Sustainable Future she has worked

to train planners to work in communities that are asking or more sustainable

guidelines.

My goal was to plant the seed o what sustainability meant and what it could be.I went through the New Jersey Learns training.... So I had a dierent perspective

o sustainability and I wanted to share it. There are a lot o progressive environ-

mentalists in New Jersey who understand sustainability. But, my approach was

to get people to talk about the concept o sustainability. Sustainability, in this

light is a mind shit. And I was hoping to get my community members to change

their understanding o the purpose o their work. It is a way o understanding

that doesnt categorize things but seeks to preserve the system. The land must

be preserved as a whole system. For me, this is the purpose and why I am doingwhat I am doing.

As I thought about how to introduce the topic o an environmental town plan, I

thought, we should have a conversation about carrying capacity. We should have

a conversation about how much our community can actually handle. I wanted to

discuss how our impact on the land and the eects the system around it socially,

environmentally, and economically. I wanted to present The Fish Game (that I

learned through NJ Learns) as a way to get people to interact and become part o

the project. This program has been a good way or me to connect with my peers

who are also interested in sustainability. I have denitely been orming

To Understand a Place

Who: Angela Clerico

Occupation: Land-Use Planner

Location: Highland Park, NJ

What: Trains planners to work in communities

that want to move towards sustainability


15/20

relationships with other peers who are interested in the topic.

Lessons LearnedWe have to look at [each community] as a part o a system insoar as we

must understand how a stream or example aects the woodlands, the

wildlie, the topography o a region. From there, we have to gure out how

to create some kind o regulating language to protect that area. It is a dif-

cult task to build and develop in a way that ts with the natural landscape.

There are so many actors involved in land-use planning. The lesson hereis that we must understand the place, where it came rom and what it has

evolved into because nothing stays the same, nothing is static. For exam-

ple, i there is a stream that we are trying to protect and prevent building

around it, we must understand that a stream constantly moves. I we are

regulating a stream based on its location, the stream may one day move in

close proximity o a development and it becomes difcult to regulate and

orecast its movements. We must put ourselves squarely within the sys-

tems that we design, especially when we are developing ordinances. Peo-ple do not put themselves in the models that they create. I see my work as

engaging people in conversation about sustainability and planning. I see

mysel engaging in this work because you cant tell people to have that

ramework. They have to come to it on their own.


16/20

...any problem you are trying to solve, you can do it sustainability.

Tina was trained by Al Gore to conduct trainings on global warming issues. She

requents schools and other organizations that invite her to do a ree presenta-

tion on global warming. Locally, she is also a part o the Highland Park Green

Communities Working Group Commission that works with the town on issues to

improve energy conservation and waste reduction. She is dedicated to reducing

waste, promoting recycling, and taking steps toward sustainability in her neigh-

borhood and beyond.

When comparing environmental education with education o sustainability, we

learned that sustainability is much broader, more o a world view than envi-

ronmental education. It includes the whole environment and anything you are

teaching, any problem you are trying to solve, you can do it sustainably. We want

to bring sustainability into our communities but we want to make it relevant,

through particular activities that people can do. You want people to integrate

sustainability but they dont necessarily have the perspective o thinking sustain-

ably, through systems. People generally want to do something concrete. Wewent to the PTO meeting to talk about school lunch and creating a better envi-

ronment in the lunchroom where things can operate a little more sustainably.

We tried to talk concretely about developing a sustainable lunchroom. It is hard

to talk abstractly unless the whole school is in an accord and are committed to re-

thinking the system dynamics and see how each part interacts with one another

and rethink the institution as a collective and restructure the existing ramework,

then you will be taking everything very piecemeal. Piecemeal isnt bad, its just

not the goal.

Making Sustainability Relevant

Who: Tina Weishaus

Occupation: volunteer

Location: Highland Park, NJ

What: Gives ree global warming

presentations to schools and other


17/20

Patience, Patience, Patience

I was the liaison to the school system because I was the PTO president or many

years at the high school I met with the superintendent and talked about the

action that the school district was responsible or and urged them to develop abetter system. For example, their recycling program was really not working so

it took about a year and a hal to shape it up to a well unctioning system. But

that is a really long time to develop. It took a year an a hal to get grants to buy

the larger containers, to secure places on the property where they can keep the

recycling until the trucks up, interior bins or the students to use. It was really

ascinating how long it took to get it to what it is today, and there were a lot o

people working on it too! We are currently talking about creating a sustainable

lunchroom, and creating a school garden that are discrete and concrete projectsthat people can do that will change the nature o how people see their environ-

ment and communicate sustainability through these smaller projects, my goal

is to create a macro view through micro actions. In a sense, we are doing it very

piecemeal but it is working.

Highland Park is a small town o about 13,000 people and it is a walking town,

meaning you can walk almost everywhere. It is a very liberal town, a town

where the average community member is very active in political, environmental,

sustainable and many other social concerns. It is a very open town and welcomes

new innovative ideas that will help better our town in general but it is sometimes

difcult to get people excited about any one project. I think this town, with all

its support rom the mayor and other groups such as the Green Communities

Working Group Commission, will continue to help create a sustainable Highland

Park community. So we are a little dierent in that when an initiative gets started,

many community members jump on board, but people can get overworked

because we all have busy lives outside our activism. At this point I think it justcomes down to the question o time, how ast things happen.

* Image source: http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/112907/sxEastBrunswickSynHosts.jpg. 2009


18/20

WHATS YOUR STORY?

I you would like to share your story, please ollow the ollowing ormat (template also

ound at www.cloudinstitute.org) and submit a WORD le to Leah Mayor at leah@

cloudinstitute.org.

Name:

Date:

Afliation (Organizational):

Afliation (Program)

Project/Program Title:

Practice Story:

Title/Theme (or the reader to think about):

1. Whats your current position? How long you have you been at this position? Can

you give me a brie overview o what is it that you do in your work?

2. Can you tell me how you got involved with ______________ program?

3. What attracted you to work with _______________program? What are you most

excited/passionate about?

4. Since joining _______________program are there any specic initiatives or projects

that you have ocused on?

5. Can you tell us your specic role and contributions to this project? Start with the

beginning, whats the rst thing that you did?

Have there been any turning points or you in this work?

Have there been any key relationships that have mattered most?

6. Were there any turning points (or you, your community, your school)?

7. What are the lessons or other program participants and others new to this work andembarking on a similar project?

8. What has been the impact, how many people do you think have been eected by

this work, how?

9. What does the project you have told us about tell us about educating or sustainabil-

ity?

10. I there was one thing that you could change about this project that would really

make a dierence what would it be?

11. When you think o the uture and the work you have talked about here what gives

you a sense o hope?


19/20

The signifcant

problems

we ace

cannot be

solved

with the

same

level o

thinking we

used when

we created

them.

Albert Einstein


20/20

Documents

New Jersey Learns Journal 2009