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Communities Take Root Orchard Grants
Amy

Posted on | August 22, 2010 | No Comments

Is there a food bank, community center, homeless shelter, or other location in your community that —could benefit from a free orchard?  The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF) and Dreyer’s Fruit Bars are planting orchards across the country in a collaborative program called Communities Take Root (CTR).  Through this program, communities compete in a nation-wide vote to win a complete community orchard.

The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation is dedicated to planting fruitful trees and plants to alleviate world hunger, combat global warming, strengthen communities, and improve the surrounding air, soil, and water.  In 2010, twenty-five communities won orchards for public parks, community gardens, food banks, homeless shelters, and community centers.  The FTPF is seeking applicants for 2011.  The first 125 qualified applicants will be in the running to win a free orchard, including free community workshops on planting, pruning and caring for fruit trees.

If you know an organization or community group that would benefit from this wonderful opportunity, please download the application & learn more about this year’s orchard program.  All approved applicants will be in the running for an online vote to determine the winners.  If you know a school that may be interested in having an orchard, check out FTPF’s Fruit Tree 101 school orchard program.

PeopleTowels loves bringing awareness to great organizations such as The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation because their work builds better communities by  improving our environment.   We hope in the future to see FTPF orchards across America, around the world, and in your community.

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Countdown to Earth Day 2010: The Rock Cries Out to Us Today
Jill Ettinger

Posted on | April 22, 2010 | No Comments

You know that feeling you get when the family is gathered around the Christmas tree too early to even see clearly as excited children rip open packages? It’s a special moment when we’re with family, and even more meaningful when they’re experiencing joy. This morning, on Earth Day, it feels a little bit like that for me.

I know most people are working. Earth Day is not a bank holiday, and many people and corporations will make wasteful choices today, just as if it were any other day. Even still, I sense our growing transformation of community. The birds outside my office window are chirping louder than usual. The sun feels different. The future awaits us, anxiously and with pleasure.

What began forty years ago as a vision by a U.S. Senator has transformed into festivals, businesses, media campaigns (and little blogs like this one) around the world, pondering what it means to be part of this planet–as opposed to living atop it as we so often delude ourselves into thinking.

There are an infinite number of facts, suggestions and practices worth mentioning about how we tread on our planet. The good folks at EarthDay.org have that covered, and most often our blog here discusses practical ways we can all decrease our footprint.

Today we feel inspired. What does it mean to be an Earthling? To roam where the dinosaurs once ruled, where ice covered land, where oceans ebbed and flowed? To want to care for the Earth means respecting, loving and appreciating all its magic and mystery. So today we’ll celebrate Earth Day with some beautiful words. Enjoy your day. And your Earth.

The Rock Cries Out to Us Today
by Maya Angelou

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Mark the mastodon.
The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.
But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.
I will give you no hiding place down here.
You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness,
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.
Your mouths spelling words
Armed for slaughter.
The rock cries out today, you may stand on me,
But do not hide your face.
Across the wall of the world,
A river sings a beautiful song,
Come rest here by my side.
Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.
Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.
Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more.
Come, clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I
And the tree and stone were one.
Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow
And when you yet knew you still knew nothing.
The river sings and sings on.
There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing river and the wise rock.
So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew,
The African and Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek,
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the tree.
Today, the first and last of every tree
Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the river.
Plant yourself beside me, here beside the river.
Each of you, descendant of some passed on
Traveller, has been paid for.
You, who gave me my first name,
You Pawnee, Apache and Seneca,
You Cherokee Nation, who rested with me,
Then forced on bloody feet,
Left me to the employment of other seekers–
Desperate for gain, starving for gold.
You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot…
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru,
Bought, sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.
Here, root yourselves beside me.
I am the tree planted by the river,
Which will not be moved.
I, the rock, I the river, I the tree
I am yours–your passages have been paid.
Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.
History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage,
Need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.
Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.
Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts.
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.
Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me,
The rock, the river, the tree, your country.
No less to Midas than the mendicant.
No less to you now than the mastodon then.
Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes,
Into your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.

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Countdown to Earth Day 2010: The Story of Cap and Trade
Jill Ettinger

Posted on | April 21, 2010 | No Comments

We’re big fans of Annie Leonard. Her approachable style delivers just the right touch of comfort with the otherwise unpleasant news about humanity’s devastating behavior. If you haven’t seen the Story of Stuff video yet, you’re one of the few. It’s viral reach is over 2 million and growing, which is good news for the planet.

Another great video that Annie put together deconstructs cap and trade. It’s an especially relevant topic for us here at PeopleTowels as we’re quite invested in keeping trees in the ground, where they belong. As we’re now just hours from the 40th Earth Day celebration, we are keeping with the theme and sharing some info we hope you’ll find useful. If you can, spend a few minutes with Annie as she untangles the Cap and Trade system so eloquently.

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