Chris, Julie and Farm for a Year got a mention in the Maple Ridge News this week! Local author, environmentalist and retired teacher Jack Emberly wrote a piece about the positive changes that are taking place in Maple Ridge at a community level. I’ve reposted the article below, but you can also read it online at mapleridgenews.com.

It’s what makes Gerry Pinel smile

By Jack Emberly – Maple Ridge News, Published: April 15, 2011 6:00 AM

It’s Wednesday morning in the ‘ghetto’ a section of downtown Maple Ridge, known as a haven for drug dealers, prostitutes, and sleazy apartment buildings.

That’s changing.

Young families and others on fixed incomes have formed the Port Haney Neighborhood Change Initiative. It’s determined to make this area a good place to live and work again.

Harambee, an African folktale, celebrates seven principles of community building. In Swahili, Umoja, the first, means unity. Ujima is collective work and responsibility.

Since coming together, the Port Haney group has developed a collective work plan. A crack house disappeared after locals liaisoned with the police. Group members make regular walks around that area now, establish eye contact, dialogue with everyone they meet.

Principle three, the story says, is Nia –  purpose. The message is clear  – we live here; this place is important to us.

In Swahili, Kujichagulia means self-determination. Any illicit behavior is reported to the RCMP.

Lately, group attention has turned to projects. Collaboration with the Municipality has improved street lighting –fewer places to hide now.

Kuumba, in Swahili, stands for creativity, Principle 5 in community building.

On Earth Day, April 16th, members will clean up the park next to the Centre for Education on Environment and Development at the south end of 223rd. The CEED building lies in the heart of this area.

That’s where we are now, sharing coffee with anyone with a vision for a healthier community. Today, this includes local shop owners.

In Swahili, Ujaama means cooperative economics. Think of that as support for local business. It’s Principle 6 in community building.

Chris Moerman represents  Farm for a Year, a project aimed at returning his family’s farm to production again; a new source of local produce.

Moerman’s wife Julie, a teacher, is developing curriculum to bring more of our teachers and kids into the discussion of climate change and the world’s dependence on oil. Here too, are Dave Rush, of the local bicycling coalition, Lisa Eastman representing artisans, and Kim Lauzon, a CEED volunteer who plans a food cooperative soon. The women have meet-up internet sites.

These folks along the Fraser have Gerry Pinel smiling. The CEED centre director is the key force behind the Golden Ears Transition Initiative in Maple Ridge (www.goldenearstransitioninitiative.ca). It’s aimed at making our community a place where citizens view each other as neighbors rather than strangers. Information about the Golden Ears Transition’s 12 working groups that share this goal can be found at its website.

Pinel, an industrial technician, personally heads up The Red Action Team, a workgroup that provides home energy assessments – a way to reduce energy dependence while shortening the family’s carbon footprint.

Another Golden Ears goal is cataloguing the skills people might share with others in town. The aim is always to enrich life here, and prepare for climate change and ‘peak oil,’ the rapidly approaching time when demand outstrips the reserves of oil. Alberta’s tar sands aren’t the solution, says Pinel.

“If you have a community that’s affected by the higher prices of gas and oil, and every town is, you have to reduce dependence on the outside. What that comes down to changing our behavior.”

Not the words you’d expect from a man who made a career in the fossil fuel industry, but Pinel’s passion for the environment is well known.

“Things happen in your life,” he says. “My folks had an orchard here. I grew up surrounded by the outdoors. I knew the changes I’d seen were about climate change. When I read a book called Boiling Point [Ross Gelbspan]. I knew I had to do more than just reduce my own use of energy. I looked for bigger ways to do it.”

While working at Petro Canada’s Burnaby refinery, Gerry found a big way. He rescued a rare population of tree frogs from a dried up swamp on company land.

“We built a dam with metal louvers to control the water.

“It re-invented a bog. The frogs came back. Security to the refinery increased because no one could get through without hip waders. It was a win-win situation.”

More recently, Pinel established his own climate change initiative in Port Moody. The group, The Boiling Point Action Network for Climate Change (BPAN), funded a writing contest aimed at school kids two years ago (<a href="https://www.meetup.com/GETIS-Little-Red-Schoolhouse/).https://www.meetup.com/GETIS-Little-Red-Schoolhouse/).</span>

Students were challenged to write a sequel to a story of mine called The Giant With Two Heads (peak oil and climate change). School district staff promoted the contest (<a href="https://newton.sd42.ca/groups/thetwoheadedgiantthathatedbeingbig/).https://newton.sd42.ca/groups/thetwoheadedgiantthathatedbeingbig/).</span>

On April 16th, in Memorial Peace Park, Pinel will talk about the need for communities to look inside for the resources to face global influences.

“My goal is to help us reduce their negative impact,” he says.

Pinel has faith.

Imani, the word for that in Swahili, is the seventh principle of community building. In Harambee, the folktale, a spider and fly – unlikely partners –rescue the world by bringing light into it.

On Earth Day, I’ll tell that story. The message is not just for kids.

In Swahili, Harambee means all pull together.  It’s time, isn’t it?

I live a pretty charmed life right now. I work three days a week for an awesome charity, spending most of my work time in a downtown Vancouver office with a view of the Burrard inlet, the North Shore mountains and Stanley Park. My commute to work involves a beautiful train ride, a Starbucks stop and a 20 minute walk along the Coal Harbour seawall. I spend the other four days of my week on the farm, participating in fun outdoor projects with my closest friends.

Seriously? Sometimes I have to remind myself how fantastically good I’ve got it. (Remind me of that the next time I find a gigantic spider sitting on my toilet paper roll in my outhouse).

While I was in the city today a good friend asked me if I planned on staying on the farm beyond my original one-year plan. My honest answer was, ‘I don’t know’. There are so many things that I love about living in Vancouver – the close proximity to many friends, the ability to walk and bicycle pretty much anywhere I need to go, the plethora of coffee shops, restaurants and boutiques, the regular access to the ocean… On the other hand, life in the country is amazing – such a strong sense of community, spending the majority of my time outside, learning lessons about how to garden and farm and interact with animals and nature daily, seeing how much my cats love being outdoors, being ‘Auntie Jawcey’ to two little boys who I adore… It would be difficult to choose between the two – which is why I’m so thankful for the perfect balance that I seem to have found myself in.

Despite my love for the city and urban spaces, the more time I spend on the farm, the more I’m convinced that my ideal future would include living on land, growing my own food and having animals – while having regular access to the city. Kind of like now – other than the fact that I can’t camp out on my friends’ land forever – I’ve gotta find a little piece of my own at some point.

Coming home from work tonight brought all of this home for me. It’s a beautiful evening – still light out, not raining and not too cold. As soon as I got home, the heels came off, the boots went on and the cats and I went for a walk around the farm. I stopped by to say hello to our new pigs and was struck by how delightful they are – they’re like puppies! They come when you call, their ears perk up, their eyes register you… I went into their pen with them and they nibbled at my boot toes and let me scratch their backs before deciding to climb all over each other in an attempt to see who could drink the most water out of their fountain.

From the pig pen, I could see our chickens pecking happily in their run, the yellow spring daffodils adding a pop of colour to their side of the yard. I went to say hi to them too and they all came running up to the fence, hoping for veggie scraps. I went into their coop and found a fresh egg and popped it into my jacket pocket for breakfast tomorrow.

As I was walking around the outside of the chicken run, towards the back forest, the wild male and female mallard ducks that have taken up residence on our pond LITERALLY waddled across my path. It’s the closest look I’ve gotten at the female and she is gorgeous. Lola (my cat) got a good look at her too and got down into the spring position. I grabbed her up and carried her away – I definitely don’t want to see my cats disrupting the happy life of those ducks (or their ducklings which I imagine will be coming at some point).

Then I walked to the rabbit cages to see how our fluffballs were doing and discovered a new nest of baby bunnies! I’m not even joking. This evening was like the epitome of perfect.

On top of all of that, spring flowers are unfolding daily and buds are coming out on our fruit trees and berry bushes.

It’s a good, good life and I don’t think I want to leave it.