CHEARS, the CHeseapeake Education, Arts and Research Society, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the health of all who share the Chesapeake watershed environment. We are a tribe of friends and volunteers, natural and social scientists, artists, educators, and families who are learning together and empowering others in ecology, stewardship, and artistic expression for the Cheseapeake Bay Watershed and its major drainage basins -- the East-Shore-MD, East-Shore-VA, Patuxent, Potomac, Rappahannock, Susquehanna, West-Shore-MD, and York basins. We take inspiration from all cultures that recognize the inter-connectedness of all organisms and places within the web of life. We have a special focus on the cross-species, cross-place, and cross-time linkages. We explore linkages between our homes in urban, suburban and rural areas in Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Equally important to us are the temporal linkages, as we look to connect our past heritage and our future visions for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and our relationship to the past, current and future worldwide Earth community. [Learn more about our Projects, our People, and how to Join.]

CHEARS Awarded Grant to help Support the 2008 Green Man Festival March 2, 2008 — On February 10, 2008 CHEARS was awarded a grant of $1000 from the Greenbelt Community Foundation to help support the Greenbelt Green Man Festival 2008. The money will be used to help pay musicians who will perform at the two day event to be held May 10 and 11 in Roosevelt Center in Greenbelt Maryland. This will be the fourth annual festival that features; music, arts, crafts, films, and activities for young and old to express appreciation and concern for our natural world! More information about the Green Man Festival can be found on our Greenman Project page. More on this Image Image of the Week Archives

#9 in Real and Meal Film Series – This Black Soil
May 11, 2008 — The film, This Black Soil will be shown at the New Deal Café on Monday, May 19, beginning at 7:00 pm. It is sponsored by The Reel and Meal at the New Deal, which is a monthly film series that explores vital environmental and social issues and is sponsored by a consortium of Greenbelt organizations interested in preserving our environment. There is no charge for admission. Beginning at 6:30 pm an optional vegan buffet meal will be offered by Chef Karim for $12.00.

This Black Soil is an inspiring and provocative film that chronicles the successful struggle of Bayview, Virginia, a small rural African-American community, to pursue a new vision of prosperity. Catalyzed by the defeat of a state plan to build a maximum-security prison in their backyard, the powerful women leaders and residents proceeded to build a new community from the ground up. Under the leadership of visionary women, this new rural village challenges all conventional ideas of community development and includes not only improved and affordable housing, but a sustainable economic base to earn a living wage.

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#8 in Real and Meal Film Series--The Rights of Nature
April 20, 2008 — Reel and Meal event this Monday night! At 6:30 pm Chef Karim will begin serving from his new menu for the New Deal Café. This optional and complete vegan meal will still cost only $10.00! (See menu below.) The film, Rights of Nature, Conferring Legal Rights to Ecosystems will be shown at the New Deal Café on Monday, April 21, beginning at 7:00 pm.

The Reel and Meal at the New Deal is a monthly film series that explores vital environmental and social issues and is sponsored by a consortium of Greenbelt organizations interested in preserving our environment. There is no charge for admission. Beginning at 6:30 pm an optional vegan buffet meal will be offered by Chef Karim, the new operator of the New Deal Café. The meal will cost $10.00

Rights of Nature, illustrates a powerful effort on the verge of becoming a movement! The law has sided with corporations for centuries. At last, a successful method for protecting communities and preserving ecosystems is gaining momentum. This extremely important and exciting approach is presented in the video by two internationally-renowned environmental lawyers promoting a new jurisprudence demanding legal rights – or standing – for the natural world. Thomas Linzey, co-founder of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), has empowered municipalities in Pennsylvania to pass ordinances conferring rights to ecosystems. South African attorney Cormac Cullinan, wrote the book, Wild Law and lectures internationally on this subject. The evening’s discussion will be facilitated by CELDF’s other co-founder, Stacey Schmader traveling from Chambersburg, PA to help to bring the Rights of Nature to Greenbelt!

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