Friends of Shenandoah Mountain Archives - 91��Ƶ News

Conservation photography class looks at proposed Atlantic Coast pipeline route and how it could affect the environment

Elaina Sauber — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 19:13:42 +0000

After the U.S. Forest Service released its newly revised proposal for George Washington National Forest on Tuesday, many concerns about the forest’s future were laid to rest.

But for 91��Ƶ’s conservation photography class, there is still work to be done.

The class, taught by professor Steven Johnson, is in its second year at 91��Ƶ, and partners students with area nonprofits that focus on environmental issues.

Conservation photography seeks to “think about broader ecosystems, the environment, human culture and how they relate to the natural world,” Johnson, who helped bring the class to 91��Ƶ, said, “but it’s also about protection.”

The International League of Conservation Photographers helped coin the term when the group started in October 2005.

Each fall semester, the class works with an environmental nonprofit that helps orient students to the region’s natural habitats threatened by development.

Students take photos of the study area, highlighting its ecological relevance and wilderness, for the nonprofit to use for advocacy purposes and advance the cause of conservation.

For the past two semesters, the class has collaborated with the group Friends of Shenandoah Mountain, a coalition of local residents working to protect the “wild heritage of Shenandoah Mountain for future generations,” according to its website.

The main project this semester – and one of the nonprofit’s major goals – aims to shed light on Dominion Resource’s proposed 550-mile pipeline and its potential impact on the region.

“I’m very clear with my students, this is an advocacy class, not a science class,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to contribute to the objectives of these nonprofits we’re working with.”

Lynn Cameron, vice president of the Virginia Wilderness Committee and co-chair of Friends of Shenandoah Mountain, has helped facilitate the students’ field trips to areas near the mountain, such as Braley Pond and the Hankey Mountain area, which would be directly affected by the pipeline, according to the group’s website.

Last year, the class worked with several organizations, such as the Virginia Wilderness Committee, to “establish and advocate for more sections of wilderness” in the George Washington National Forest, Johnson said.

While he admitted that project was “less confrontational” than this year’s, it was difficult to work with multiple nonprofits while managing transportation and logistics. So, this year he focused solely on Friends of Shenandoah Mountain this year because the group was “really invested in our students … and gave them feedback about their imagery.”

Cameron, who’s been active with Friends of Shenandoah Mountain since it formed 10 years ago, appreciates the partnership between the advocacy group and the class, calling it “mutually beneficial.”

“It really helps our efforts to have these images … and being able to show the beauty of the area, the water resources and the recreational resources,” she said.

Students addressed one of the group’s concerns with regard to habitat endangerment when they found and photographed a cow knob salamander on one of their trips, which lives nowhere else in the world, according to Cameron. She was impressed at the engagement students had with the project.

“I was amazed at the way students were so hands-on, looking for life that was there,” she said.

Students also communicated with private landowners whose homes are located close to the proposed pipeline.

“Sometimes, landowners call us and say, `I want people to know this is land that could be taken by the pipeline, and if those images will be helpful in raising awareness and getting people fired up, then I want students to document this area,'” Johnson said.

Courtesy of the Daily News Record, Nov. 22, 2014

Carnival de Resistance brings earth-friendly performances, art, parade to Harrisonburg

Chris Edwards — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 18:23:26 +0000

Bicycles generated the necessary power, with a gently audible rhythm, for the sound system at gatherings of the recent . Volunteers, including 91��Ƶ students, took turns pedaling for the electricity.

The energetic Carnival troupe began its two-city tour with 10 days in Harrisonburg, camping on ’s lawn while promoting “creation care” through performance, artwork and service both there and at 91��Ƶ. Carnival de Resistance is a new venture, with artist-members from around the U.S. and Mexico, says member Sarah Thompson, who holds an MDiv from and is outreach coordinator for . Four main shows addressed themes of earth, air, fire and water.

At 91��Ƶ’s Thomas Plaza in front of the Campus Center Wednesday, more than 100 experienced the air-themed show, titled “Out of the Whirlwind.” Featuring its creators, Jay Beck and Tevyn East as Raven and Dove, it began serendipitously as a full harvest moon emerged from clouds:

Addressing human neglect of earth

Dove (East), a wordless dancer in white robes, cradles an egg. Hatchling Raven (Beck) appears, clad in black rags. Raven’s first word is “death.” His narrative – angry, mournful, sometimes humorous – attacks humanity’s neglect of Earth:

“For the earth to stay alive, your way will have to die.”

Raven and Dove briefly dance on a biblical-type ark, but Dove gets confined to a cage. “We can scarcely fly in this soup of chemicals,” shouts Raven, who warns of angering Gaia, envisioned as the mother of Earth.

“The concepts were thought-provoking,” said ’08, an 91��Ƶ staffer who brought a church youth group to the show.

At an earlier chapel service, the troupe led a Cherokee chant to “the great spirit,” along with the adaptation of a familiar spiritual’s words “When I die, hallelujah, by and by,” to “When we live, hallelujah, how we live.”

On the Carnival’s , inspiration is attributed to an array of influences, including First Nation and African earth-centered spirituality and activist theologians Ched Myers and William Stringfellow.

Resonating with students of sustainability

91��Ƶ biology professor observed that the Carnival “links oppressed people with the oppressed earth.” The radicalism, he said, may reach some who ignore conventional messages.

Troupe members visited Yoder’s classes all week. They have committed to making no purchases while touring, relying on kindnesses when needed. The Carnival is supported both by grants and hospitality.

91��Ƶ junior Chris Lehman, an environmental sustainability major, served as one of many sound-powering bikers and directed parking. Everett Brubaker, a classmate in the same major, participated as co-president of the campus . This major has been attracting increasing numbers of students, with 30 now in the program.

Junior Erin Rheinheimer, an environmental sustainability minor and Earthkeepers member, helped make sunflower signs for a parade and enjoyed a Carnival “skill-share show.”

Lehman, who enjoyed the air show most, is considering a career in conservation or wildlife biology. Brubaker, who especially liked the Carnival parade, hopes to work in advocacy.

Gifting a mural to Cedarwood

The second-floor mural in began with images by Carnival troupe member and nomadic painter Dimitri Kadiev. These were selected by art professor from his previous works, and the two worked collaboratively on shaping the overall result.

On part of the mural, between a laundry-room window and custodial closet door, a figure with outstretched arms smiles joyfully. A river seems to flow from the figure’s heart. Nearby, a quetzal (Guatemala’s national bird) displays its tail feathers.

Gusler and Kadiev started with a yellow background, which she notes, “glows through wherever there is open space.” Next, they filled in large shapes with solid colors – blue (river and shades of sky); green (landscape); purple (mountains).

Then, Gusler had all her students participate. At Kadiev’s suggestion, they created stenciled images of living things: an owl, poppy, hibiscus, egret and butterflies. Others subsequently dipped brushes in varying shades of green, instructed to “fill the shapes, and while you do, think about the earth.”

A passing student shows a spot to a companion, noting, “I did that shape.” Cedarwood resident director Micah Hurst points to the blue space his children, 4 and 8, helped paint.

Parading down Main Street

In Thursday’s Carnival parade, imaginatively retooled bicycles rolled alongside marchers from Harrisonburg’s North Main Street to Court Square. Motorists smiled at jugglers, banners, colorful costumes and percussionists with homemade instruments.

The local “Fossil Fuel Zombies,” wearing shredded black trash bags, called for burying fossil fuels with message-bearing signs, including “Oil, oil, watch Earth boil.”

“Are you really Jesus?” someone asked Kadiev, who had lettered the name atop his paint-splattered garb. “Only a stand-in,” Kadiev smiled.

The march ended with an hour-long “Power Down and Lift Up” rally at Court Square. Local groups represented by speakers included the for sustainability, the global-warming awareness movement, , , and .

Pastor Phil Kniss, who helped pedal the sound system, explained why his church installed 125 solar panels. When believers ask “Why worry about this world?” he responds, “Because God loves this world.”

At Trinity this weekend, the Carnival will offer children’s events and a “Water Show” before bicycling to Charlottesville for its final 2013 gig. Each day’s is posted on the Carnival’s website.