Flying Geese
This traditional quilt pattern recalls the image of a blue sky filled with birds. It has commonly found triangle patterns that can be traced back throughout the art form’s history. This pattern reminds one of nature and hope.
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Susan VonderHaar
Permaculture Teacher
Susan VonderHaar is active in her community through education and action. She uses her education in biology and ecology to plant food and to teach others how to take care of the planet. During our interview we talked about her permaculture work, as well as the spark that lit her interest in learning how to save the Earth.
Why don’t we go back to the top. You can tell us your name and why you think you were asked to be here today.
Okay Hello. I am Susan VonderHaar and I run a school garden- actually a school nature center / outdoor education center at Dater Montessori School in Westwood in Cincinnati. It’s a Cincinnati public school. So I’m thinking that’s probably why there was interest in having me join this project. Because of my work with that school community and people of all ages. Our programs touch babes in arms, infants, toddlers, school age children, teachers, their families, adults, we have grandparents that participate. So yeah, it’s quite the little community. It’s a little extended family that we have at Dater Montessori School. That’s where my children went to school when they were young. They’re in their mid to late twenty’s now. And from that experience at Dater I had a lot of other networking connections. Non-government agencies, private individuals that’re interested in that kind of nature education work also kind of webbing in to the whole story. It’s quite an extended journey of cross-connections. I also am involved with the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute which was an interest that I became aware of as part of the training at the civic garden center to get my Master Gardener’s Certification. When Permaculture Design Training became an opportunity I took advantage of that and have been associated with that organization since 2011.
That’s really awesome. I actually heard your name brought up because of the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute. So why don’t you tell me why it’s so important for you to be involved in these topics?
I OFTEN SAY I CAN’T THINK OF ANY BETTER WORK OR ANY BETTER SERVICE. YOU WANT TO DO WHAT YOU DO BEST AND BRING THE GIFTS YOU HAVE TO SERVE. I THINK MY LOVE OF NATURE, MY UNDERSTANDING, MY PASSION FOR THE NATURAL WORLD WHICH I’VE HAD FOREVER, SINCE I CAN REMEMBER, HAS BROUGHT ME A LOT OF MEANING IN MY LIFE AND A LOT OF GROUNDED JOY. IT’S SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE OUR MODERN CULTURE HAS LOST OUR CENTER BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE THAT NATURE CONNECTION.
We don’t have that understanding. We’re not rooted in anything. We’re so displaced after thousands of years of colonization. We don’t really know where we are. I really believe that being grounded in our relationship with the Earth is the essence of having meaning for ourselves. It is certainly purposeful to me. I enjoy nature. As a student of biology, ecology, the more fascinated I become with creation and I feel that sharing that passion and knowledge is very important work. I am energized in myself and I feel I am giving a gift to others to help them find more meaning and delight and wonderment. No source of wonderment is higher than Mother Earth- or Creation I should say.
That’s beautiful.
It’s very lofty, I know. I’ve thought about it before and that’s really the best I can come up with.
Would you say your connection to the Earth links back to your spiritual beliefs?
Well it’s certainly not in conflict with my spiritual belief. It’s hard to even put a finger on my spiritual belief now. They always say ‘God is too big for one religion’. I was raised Catholic. I never found any conflict between what I learned as a Catholic school girl and what I now know as an educated scientist, biologist, nature lover, adult explorer of nature. It was never in conflict. But it all evolved as one package for me in my emerging self.
I am interested in your journey with all of that. I think that is all so fascinating that I wonder where that drive comes from.
Well I can tell you a story about my youth if you want.
I would love that.
There was a man in our neighborhood. We were Baby Boomers- a bunch of us kids running around the neighborhood. One family, their father was a big hiker. He had hiked all continents but Antarctica by the time he died. He would take us into the woods and pile us all in the car. Back in those days nobody was wearing a seatbelt. It was the 60’s. We would go to a neighborhood park- Rapid Run Park, Mt. Airy Forest. I grew up in Price Hill. He would hike us around and his big deal was survival. He was a survivalist. He was like ‘this is how you find your trail. This is what you can eat’. But I was just fascinated with all of it. I never wanted to miss a chance to join that expedition. He would take us whenever the weather was nice. Everything I saw fascinated me. I just wanted to know more. Not just about how to find my way in the woods, but those other things in the woods- look at all those amazing beings in the woods. How do they do it? No one cares for this garden. So how does it all work? I went on to study biology as an undergrad and I got the masters degree in environmental science because I was definitely interested in ‘saving the Earth’. I can tell you another story. Jump ahead to about age 10 and the first Earth Day. I often identify this point in my life when, on television would come ads to protect the air and the water. There would be public service announcements about not littering and how we gotta protect the planet. This first Earth Day happened in 1970 and I just was engrossed. I was mesmerized. I was all in.
THERE’S NOTHING MORE FORMIDABLE THAN A 10-YEAR-OLD GIRL WHO WAS TOLD THAT SHE COULD SAVE THE EARTH. THIS IS WHAT SHE HAS TO DO. THAT REALLY WAS BRANDED ON ME. I WAS ALL IN AT THAT POINT. THAT’S IT. I FORMED ECOLOGY CLUBS AT SCHOOL AND IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. I WAS LIKE ‘WE HAVE TO PICK UP GARBAGE. WE HAVE TO RECYCLE THE GARBAGE’. YOU KNOW, IT WAS A PURPOSE I FOUND VERY EARLY.
That’s amazing. So your interest in doing this was sparked at a very young age.
And obviously it’s long connected.
What would you say are the main actions you are taking towards helping the Earth? Not just learning about it but giving back to it as well?
Well, I am teaching others primarily. I teach Biology and Ecology and Environmental Science at a local private Associates Degree College- Chatfield College. I always emphasize our individual choices as essential and relevant to whatever I’m teaching- however I can emphasize that. I remind people of their greatness and empower people not to be overwhelmed by problems, but to recognize that when systems are so flawed there’s many places for intervention. That’s one of my favorite messages. And then at Dater Montessori School where I have the nature center program I go once a month and give lessons to classes that sign up for the monthly lesson. I’m doing the same thing with very young ones- preschool, kindergarten, first, second and third grade. And these are a wonderful audience that just soak up everything you tell them. I feel very encouraged when I see these six, seven, eight-year-olds jumping around and hugging trees and being fascinated my earth worms and being told why it’s important to plant trees. The education piece I would say is foremost in what I do. And then here in my yard I practice permaculture and try to garner a lot of food production on my own. Depending on the growing season and the competition with the wildlife I can get maybe 50% of my diet from my home grows. I’m pretty sure I’m up to about 70% of all food consumption via farmer’s markets, local and organic stuff. I frequent farmer’s markets for things outside what I grow or to supplement. I am a meat eater, so I try to get the sustainably grass-fed, organic meats and eggs. I don’t have chickens yet, but I certainly will. Another thing that I feel I’m doing well with the classes and on my own is wildflowers for native pollinators, wild edibles, things like hazelnuts and pawpaws. I’m trying to make sure that we plant these native, sustainable, disease-resistant varieties. Not just all cultivated gardens. I focus on that pollination and support as well as food for wildlife and ourselves.
It sounds like you do an awful lot of community work through your job and through other venues. I wanted to ask what would you define as your community? Is it a group of people who are interested in the same thing? Is it a group of people who life in the same area? What is your community to you?
You know that is an excellent question. I’ve asked myself that more than once. I guess I’d have to say it depends. I definitely feel more connected to those people who are interested in the things I’m interested in- permaculture gatherings and rights of nature gatherings at Imago Earth Center, singing circle gatherings, meditation gatherings. But I am not connected enough with my immediate neighbors. It actually was delightful today that there were people outside of their homes on the street here that I spoke to. I think because of the Coronavirus pandemic that’s keeping people home, it was a unique experience. Plus a nice beautiful day. Five neighbors were out on the street. Even though we had to keep our social distance, we were able to check in and chat. I do admonish myself internally for not having a close enough relationship with the people that live the closest to me. I guess the answer is that my community is the people who think like me and are involved in the things I’m involved in.
Do you think you’ll take steps to expand that circle in the future?
I sure know that I should. It’s one of those things that when I give myself time to think about it I think I need to do this. I have isolated things- one Christmas I ran around and brought everybody turkey-noodle-soup. And I think it’s been ten years since I did that. One year our street was repaired- we have a brick street. Again this was about ten years ago, they repaired it and put brand new brick on the street. The city couldn’t repair a patch. We had a party and I organized that- Hit the Bricks Party. But again that’s been like ten years. I think about food/ nut lawns and the book by a Cincinnati native- Amy Strauss’s Suburban Microfarm, and these people that write these books use their produce in their yard to become a gathering hub for the community building in their neighborhood. They share their food and their knowledge. I have a fantasy about that. I have another fantasy about my next-door-neighbor who flies his flag with the AK-47 on it that says ‘Come and Take it’. I think I’m getting right behind him in the zombie apocalypse and I’ll share my potatoes with him. He can protect us and I can feed him.
At least you’re all set. You’ve got a plan.
It’s tough, this community business. It’s so easy to see how the divide and conquer idea has taken us over.
That’s very true. It’s kind of scary to see that.
I fantasize more about it than I actually take intentional steps. But once again thanks to the pandemic we all may be forced into it faster than we know.
It’s a silver lining at the very least. You are one of the teachers at the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute right?
That’s correct.
Tell me a little bit about what that institute is for and what their goals are with Cincinnati.
Well the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute is all about bringing permaculture to the greater Cincinnati area- what we call our bioregion. Right here in Southwest Ohio. It’s doing that in two main ways. Through education, which primarily takes the form of the Permaculture Design Certification Course. And the organization also runs a nursery of edible perennial plants. Mostly fruit trees and bushes and nut trees and some perennial vegetables. By providing the foods that they can plant in their food forests and the training to understand what a food forest is, as well as many other facets of permaculture, which in its essence is about ecologic living. It’s a design system to help you make sustainable choices in your life. That has to do with food production but it also has to do with how we feed ourselves, how we get energy, how we clothe ourselves, any number of things.
SOCIAL PERMACULTURE CAN BE APPLIED IN COMMUNITY BUILDING. FINANCIAL PERMACULTURE CAN BE APPLIED TO ECONOMICS AND SO ON. THERE’S EVEN A LONG DISCUSSION OF EMOTIONAL PERMACULTURE, MAKING SURE YOU’RE CARING FOR YOURSELF.
What actually happens to the food grown there?
They have a nursery, it’s a retail sale. So they’re potted and they get sold. Hopefully they get into gardens and forests that are going to be producing food.
That’s wonderful. How often do you do work there? Is it a pretty regular gig for you?
It’s definitely seasonal. Some of the big work is fall and spring when new plants come and it has to be potted up. There’s these blitz work days to pot plants because the nursery stock is bought from other nurseries that propagate the stock. Then we purchase it and put it into pots for local sales. A couple times in the spring there’s often watering or mulching. In the summer a couple times we will be called to go have a watering schedule when there’s a drought. That being said there’s maybe half a dozen times a year for up to four hours a shot. It’s high-need times that we turn up. There’s actually a person who is employed at the nursery. That person is doing the bulk of the work there. I would show up in a high-need time as a volunteer.
This is all really interesting. Do you have any other aspects of your work that you would like to talk about with us?
Hmm. Well I want to tell you something about my recent political enthusiasm if I may. I tend to hate politics. Party politics disgust me. I think it has completely destroyed democracy if we ever did know it in the first place.
I AM VERY ENERGIZED, JUST LIKE I WAS ON MY FIRST EARTH DAY, ABOUT THIS RIGHTS OF NATURE MOVEMENT. THERE ARE A COUPLE COMMUNITIES IN THE UNITED STATES THAT HAVE PASSED LOCAL BALLOT INITIATIVES TO PROTECT THEIR NATURAL RESOURCES. BUT NOT AS NATURAL RESOURCES, BUT AS AN ENTITY- NATURE BEING AN ENTITY THAT DESERVES RIGHTS AND PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW. THERE IS NOTHING IN OUR CONSTITUTION OR IN OUR 250 YEARS OF LEGAL INTERPRETATIONS THAT SAY NATURE HAS THE RIGHT TO EXIST UNHARMED. THESE RIGHTS OF NATURE BALLOT INITIATIVES THAT SMALL COMMUNITIES HAVE PUT FORTH ARE LOOKING TO CHANGE THE WHOLE LEGAL STRUCTURE OF HOW WE LOOK AT NATURE AND HOW WE VIEW NATURE AND HOW WE CAN USE NATURE.
What effects are they hoping this has?
It actually gives the community a legal right to go after offenders. Because the government is not doing that job. The Ohio EPA is not enforcing the restrictions on large agricultural operations that are causing algal blooms in our source water. Very recently, in May of 2019, the city of Toledo passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights which gives the city of Toledo the legal power to enforce regulations limiting the amount of run-off into the lake. It happened because Lake Erie had so many severe algal blooms over the past four years that they lost their drinking water source. Like I said, the EPA and Department of Natural Resources was doing nothing to change it. The government was not protecting them so the community said ‘we are going to protect ourselves’. They made it illegal to harm Lake Erie and they can go after offenders. Now, our legal system has to be tried and tested in court, so there is going to be a long litigation process before any of these laws really get legs.
THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A WHOLE SHIFT IN OUR OUTLOOK CULTURALLY ABOUT THE VALUE OF NATURE. IT HAS THE RIGHT TO EXIST NOT AS PROPERTY, NOT AS OUR RESOURCE USE, BUT BECAUSE IT HAS INTRINSIC VALUE AND ITS OWN RIGHT TO EXIST. I’M VERY EXCITED ABOUT THAT. I HAVEN’T BEEN POLITICALLY MOTIVATED SINCE JIMMY CARTER WAS PRESIDENT BUT I AM NOW.
That’s amazing. Are you looking for hopefully in the future having some similar legislation like that in our area?
Yeah. In Southwest Ohio we know that the Ohio River is going to be faced with a new petrochemical industry moving up the river because climate change is making it difficult for them to operate in the Gulf of Mexico now. So they’re going to be coming up the Ohio River. This is a big energy valley here with the coal and fracking that’s going on in our shale-rich region. We’re looking to protect against that however that plays out. We want to preempt that by having protections that will either not accept a petrochemical industry or make them work very hard to control their contamination.
Okay Hello. I am Susan VonderHaar and I run a school garden- actually a school nature center / outdoor education center at Dater Montessori School in Westwood in Cincinnati. It’s a Cincinnati public school. So I’m thinking that’s probably why there was interest in having me join this project. Because of my work with that school community and people of all ages. Our programs touch babes in arms, infants, toddlers, school age children, teachers, their families, adults, we have grandparents that participate. So yeah, it’s quite the little community. It’s a little extended family that we have at Dater Montessori School. That’s where my children went to school when they were young. They’re in their mid to late twenty’s now. And from that experience at Dater I had a lot of other networking connections. Non-government agencies, private individuals that’re interested in that kind of nature education work also kind of webbing in to the whole story. It’s quite an extended journey of cross-connections. I also am involved with the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute which was an interest that I became aware of as part of the training at the civic garden center to get my Master Gardener’s Certification. When Permaculture Design Training became an opportunity I took advantage of that and have been associated with that organization since 2011.
That’s really awesome. I actually heard your name brought up because of the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute. So why don’t you tell me why it’s so important for you to be involved in these topics?
I OFTEN SAY I CAN’T THINK OF ANY BETTER WORK OR ANY BETTER SERVICE. YOU WANT TO DO WHAT YOU DO BEST AND BRING THE GIFTS YOU HAVE TO SERVE. I THINK MY LOVE OF NATURE, MY UNDERSTANDING, MY PASSION FOR THE NATURAL WORLD WHICH I’VE HAD FOREVER, SINCE I CAN REMEMBER, HAS BROUGHT ME A LOT OF MEANING IN MY LIFE AND A LOT OF GROUNDED JOY. IT’S SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE OUR MODERN CULTURE HAS LOST OUR CENTER BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE THAT NATURE CONNECTION.
We don’t have that understanding. We’re not rooted in anything. We’re so displaced after thousands of years of colonization. We don’t really know where we are. I really believe that being grounded in our relationship with the Earth is the essence of having meaning for ourselves. It is certainly purposeful to me. I enjoy nature. As a student of biology, ecology, the more fascinated I become with creation and I feel that sharing that passion and knowledge is very important work. I am energized in myself and I feel I am giving a gift to others to help them find more meaning and delight and wonderment. No source of wonderment is higher than Mother Earth- or Creation I should say.
That’s beautiful.
It’s very lofty, I know. I’ve thought about it before and that’s really the best I can come up with.
Would you say your connection to the Earth links back to your spiritual beliefs?
Well it’s certainly not in conflict with my spiritual belief. It’s hard to even put a finger on my spiritual belief now. They always say ‘God is too big for one religion’. I was raised Catholic. I never found any conflict between what I learned as a Catholic school girl and what I now know as an educated scientist, biologist, nature lover, adult explorer of nature. It was never in conflict. But it all evolved as one package for me in my emerging self.
I am interested in your journey with all of that. I think that is all so fascinating that I wonder where that drive comes from.
Well I can tell you a story about my youth if you want.
I would love that.
There was a man in our neighborhood. We were Baby Boomers- a bunch of us kids running around the neighborhood. One family, their father was a big hiker. He had hiked all continents but Antarctica by the time he died. He would take us into the woods and pile us all in the car. Back in those days nobody was wearing a seatbelt. It was the 60’s. We would go to a neighborhood park- Rapid Run Park, Mt. Airy Forest. I grew up in Price Hill. He would hike us around and his big deal was survival. He was a survivalist. He was like ‘this is how you find your trail. This is what you can eat’. But I was just fascinated with all of it. I never wanted to miss a chance to join that expedition. He would take us whenever the weather was nice. Everything I saw fascinated me. I just wanted to know more. Not just about how to find my way in the woods, but those other things in the woods- look at all those amazing beings in the woods. How do they do it? No one cares for this garden. So how does it all work? I went on to study biology as an undergrad and I got the masters degree in environmental science because I was definitely interested in ‘saving the Earth’. I can tell you another story. Jump ahead to about age 10 and the first Earth Day. I often identify this point in my life when, on television would come ads to protect the air and the water. There would be public service announcements about not littering and how we gotta protect the planet. This first Earth Day happened in 1970 and I just was engrossed. I was mesmerized. I was all in.
THERE’S NOTHING MORE FORMIDABLE THAN A 10-YEAR-OLD GIRL WHO WAS TOLD THAT SHE COULD SAVE THE EARTH. THIS IS WHAT SHE HAS TO DO. THAT REALLY WAS BRANDED ON ME. I WAS ALL IN AT THAT POINT. THAT’S IT. I FORMED ECOLOGY CLUBS AT SCHOOL AND IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. I WAS LIKE ‘WE HAVE TO PICK UP GARBAGE. WE HAVE TO RECYCLE THE GARBAGE’. YOU KNOW, IT WAS A PURPOSE I FOUND VERY EARLY.
That’s amazing. So your interest in doing this was sparked at a very young age.
And obviously it’s long connected.
What would you say are the main actions you are taking towards helping the Earth? Not just learning about it but giving back to it as well?
Well, I am teaching others primarily. I teach Biology and Ecology and Environmental Science at a local private Associates Degree College- Chatfield College. I always emphasize our individual choices as essential and relevant to whatever I’m teaching- however I can emphasize that. I remind people of their greatness and empower people not to be overwhelmed by problems, but to recognize that when systems are so flawed there’s many places for intervention. That’s one of my favorite messages. And then at Dater Montessori School where I have the nature center program I go once a month and give lessons to classes that sign up for the monthly lesson. I’m doing the same thing with very young ones- preschool, kindergarten, first, second and third grade. And these are a wonderful audience that just soak up everything you tell them. I feel very encouraged when I see these six, seven, eight-year-olds jumping around and hugging trees and being fascinated my earth worms and being told why it’s important to plant trees. The education piece I would say is foremost in what I do. And then here in my yard I practice permaculture and try to garner a lot of food production on my own. Depending on the growing season and the competition with the wildlife I can get maybe 50% of my diet from my home grows. I’m pretty sure I’m up to about 70% of all food consumption via farmer’s markets, local and organic stuff. I frequent farmer’s markets for things outside what I grow or to supplement. I am a meat eater, so I try to get the sustainably grass-fed, organic meats and eggs. I don’t have chickens yet, but I certainly will. Another thing that I feel I’m doing well with the classes and on my own is wildflowers for native pollinators, wild edibles, things like hazelnuts and pawpaws. I’m trying to make sure that we plant these native, sustainable, disease-resistant varieties. Not just all cultivated gardens. I focus on that pollination and support as well as food for wildlife and ourselves.
It sounds like you do an awful lot of community work through your job and through other venues. I wanted to ask what would you define as your community? Is it a group of people who are interested in the same thing? Is it a group of people who life in the same area? What is your community to you?
You know that is an excellent question. I’ve asked myself that more than once. I guess I’d have to say it depends. I definitely feel more connected to those people who are interested in the things I’m interested in- permaculture gatherings and rights of nature gatherings at Imago Earth Center, singing circle gatherings, meditation gatherings. But I am not connected enough with my immediate neighbors. It actually was delightful today that there were people outside of their homes on the street here that I spoke to. I think because of the Coronavirus pandemic that’s keeping people home, it was a unique experience. Plus a nice beautiful day. Five neighbors were out on the street. Even though we had to keep our social distance, we were able to check in and chat. I do admonish myself internally for not having a close enough relationship with the people that live the closest to me. I guess the answer is that my community is the people who think like me and are involved in the things I’m involved in.
Do you think you’ll take steps to expand that circle in the future?
I sure know that I should. It’s one of those things that when I give myself time to think about it I think I need to do this. I have isolated things- one Christmas I ran around and brought everybody turkey-noodle-soup. And I think it’s been ten years since I did that. One year our street was repaired- we have a brick street. Again this was about ten years ago, they repaired it and put brand new brick on the street. The city couldn’t repair a patch. We had a party and I organized that- Hit the Bricks Party. But again that’s been like ten years. I think about food/ nut lawns and the book by a Cincinnati native- Amy Strauss’s Suburban Microfarm, and these people that write these books use their produce in their yard to become a gathering hub for the community building in their neighborhood. They share their food and their knowledge. I have a fantasy about that. I have another fantasy about my next-door-neighbor who flies his flag with the AK-47 on it that says ‘Come and Take it’. I think I’m getting right behind him in the zombie apocalypse and I’ll share my potatoes with him. He can protect us and I can feed him.
At least you’re all set. You’ve got a plan.
It’s tough, this community business. It’s so easy to see how the divide and conquer idea has taken us over.
That’s very true. It’s kind of scary to see that.
I fantasize more about it than I actually take intentional steps. But once again thanks to the pandemic we all may be forced into it faster than we know.
It’s a silver lining at the very least. You are one of the teachers at the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute right?
That’s correct.
Tell me a little bit about what that institute is for and what their goals are with Cincinnati.
Well the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute is all about bringing permaculture to the greater Cincinnati area- what we call our bioregion. Right here in Southwest Ohio. It’s doing that in two main ways. Through education, which primarily takes the form of the Permaculture Design Certification Course. And the organization also runs a nursery of edible perennial plants. Mostly fruit trees and bushes and nut trees and some perennial vegetables. By providing the foods that they can plant in their food forests and the training to understand what a food forest is, as well as many other facets of permaculture, which in its essence is about ecologic living. It’s a design system to help you make sustainable choices in your life. That has to do with food production but it also has to do with how we feed ourselves, how we get energy, how we clothe ourselves, any number of things.
SOCIAL PERMACULTURE CAN BE APPLIED IN COMMUNITY BUILDING. FINANCIAL PERMACULTURE CAN BE APPLIED TO ECONOMICS AND SO ON. THERE’S EVEN A LONG DISCUSSION OF EMOTIONAL PERMACULTURE, MAKING SURE YOU’RE CARING FOR YOURSELF.
What actually happens to the food grown there?
They have a nursery, it’s a retail sale. So they’re potted and they get sold. Hopefully they get into gardens and forests that are going to be producing food.
That’s wonderful. How often do you do work there? Is it a pretty regular gig for you?
It’s definitely seasonal. Some of the big work is fall and spring when new plants come and it has to be potted up. There’s these blitz work days to pot plants because the nursery stock is bought from other nurseries that propagate the stock. Then we purchase it and put it into pots for local sales. A couple times in the spring there’s often watering or mulching. In the summer a couple times we will be called to go have a watering schedule when there’s a drought. That being said there’s maybe half a dozen times a year for up to four hours a shot. It’s high-need times that we turn up. There’s actually a person who is employed at the nursery. That person is doing the bulk of the work there. I would show up in a high-need time as a volunteer.
This is all really interesting. Do you have any other aspects of your work that you would like to talk about with us?
Hmm. Well I want to tell you something about my recent political enthusiasm if I may. I tend to hate politics. Party politics disgust me. I think it has completely destroyed democracy if we ever did know it in the first place.
I AM VERY ENERGIZED, JUST LIKE I WAS ON MY FIRST EARTH DAY, ABOUT THIS RIGHTS OF NATURE MOVEMENT. THERE ARE A COUPLE COMMUNITIES IN THE UNITED STATES THAT HAVE PASSED LOCAL BALLOT INITIATIVES TO PROTECT THEIR NATURAL RESOURCES. BUT NOT AS NATURAL RESOURCES, BUT AS AN ENTITY- NATURE BEING AN ENTITY THAT DESERVES RIGHTS AND PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW. THERE IS NOTHING IN OUR CONSTITUTION OR IN OUR 250 YEARS OF LEGAL INTERPRETATIONS THAT SAY NATURE HAS THE RIGHT TO EXIST UNHARMED. THESE RIGHTS OF NATURE BALLOT INITIATIVES THAT SMALL COMMUNITIES HAVE PUT FORTH ARE LOOKING TO CHANGE THE WHOLE LEGAL STRUCTURE OF HOW WE LOOK AT NATURE AND HOW WE VIEW NATURE AND HOW WE CAN USE NATURE.
What effects are they hoping this has?
It actually gives the community a legal right to go after offenders. Because the government is not doing that job. The Ohio EPA is not enforcing the restrictions on large agricultural operations that are causing algal blooms in our source water. Very recently, in May of 2019, the city of Toledo passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights which gives the city of Toledo the legal power to enforce regulations limiting the amount of run-off into the lake. It happened because Lake Erie had so many severe algal blooms over the past four years that they lost their drinking water source. Like I said, the EPA and Department of Natural Resources was doing nothing to change it. The government was not protecting them so the community said ‘we are going to protect ourselves’. They made it illegal to harm Lake Erie and they can go after offenders. Now, our legal system has to be tried and tested in court, so there is going to be a long litigation process before any of these laws really get legs.
THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A WHOLE SHIFT IN OUR OUTLOOK CULTURALLY ABOUT THE VALUE OF NATURE. IT HAS THE RIGHT TO EXIST NOT AS PROPERTY, NOT AS OUR RESOURCE USE, BUT BECAUSE IT HAS INTRINSIC VALUE AND ITS OWN RIGHT TO EXIST. I’M VERY EXCITED ABOUT THAT. I HAVEN’T BEEN POLITICALLY MOTIVATED SINCE JIMMY CARTER WAS PRESIDENT BUT I AM NOW.
That’s amazing. Are you looking for hopefully in the future having some similar legislation like that in our area?
Yeah. In Southwest Ohio we know that the Ohio River is going to be faced with a new petrochemical industry moving up the river because climate change is making it difficult for them to operate in the Gulf of Mexico now. So they’re going to be coming up the Ohio River. This is a big energy valley here with the coal and fracking that’s going on in our shale-rich region. We’re looking to protect against that however that plays out. We want to preempt that by having protections that will either not accept a petrochemical industry or make them work very hard to control their contamination.