write one page summery

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up north. And why the trees in their very own backyards

are protected. So we offer new residents an environmental

orientation program. . . . We travel around the island by

trolley, looking at the natural systems and talking about land

restoration strategies. I take them by boat into the estuary so

they can understand our “islandness” a little better.”

Anders leans forward in her chair, intent as she describes

the foundation’s corps of more than 300 volunteers: “People

have an innate sense of protectiveness about our wildlife, our

nature—that’s nothing I’ve caused to happen.”

A desire to preserve has run high on this twelve–mile

crescent of sand and shell. J.N. “Ding” Darling, a Pulitzer

Prize-winning political cartoonist, was a powerful force in

allowing Sanibel a better fate than its sister island, Marco.

With his leadership, residents in 1945 began acquiring

pockets of land for a refuge; in 1967 they succeeded in

creating a national wildlife refuge named for Darling, which

now protects better than half the island. By the mid-1960s,

southwest Florida’s building explosion had breached the

island’s tranquility, thanks to a three-mile causeway between

Sanibel and the mainland that was constructed against the

islanders’ wishes. Mangrove forests were leveled, wildlife

habitat destroyed, and sewage dumped into the island pristine

waters. Sanibel’s residents voted to incorporate themselves

as a city in 1974 to control development and to preserve the

island’s unique balance of humans and nature. “It really

is quite extraordinary that we’ve been able to remain true

to the original Sanibel plan adopted in 1976,” says Sanibel

Planning Director Bruce Rogers. “I credit the high quality

of our elected leadership over the years—no one runs against

the plan.

“But anytime you do regulation, you have to put equal

time into education, otherwise it’s never going to work,”

says Rogers. “That’s why the work of the Sanibel-Captiva

Conservation Foundation and the refuge are so important in

carrying out our programs.”

When Anders began her work on Sanibel—first at the

wildlife refuge and, since 1988, at the foundation—she’d

completed a double major in marine science and outdoor

education at Penn State and was well-prepared to “stand on

the shoulders of the giants,” as she call Ding Darling and

Sanibel’s other conservation leaders. But she credits her

passion for nature to her early mentors—her grandmother and

father, in particular. “We lived in central Pennsylvania, in the

woods near a creek, and we were always outdoors, looking at

every flower and leaf, canoeing, hiking,” says Anders. “They

really got me to ask questions.”

How well Anders shares her knowledge and passion on

Sanibel is impossible to quantify, even with enthusiastic course

evaluations. “Ultimately, we’ll only know if we’ve succeeded

when we can answer affirmatively questions like "Can Pine

Island Sound (the estuary on the bay side of Sanibel) remain

healthy?” she says.

Meanwhile, Anders wishes she could do more. “Every

single Thursday morning, member of the realtors’ association

meet for breakfast and then caravan to view all the new

multiple listings,” she says. “I’d love to be on that bus, looking

at the landscapes with them, pointing out where mangroves

are being trimmed legally and where they’re not, and where

native plants are used in the landscape.

Just outside her office, Kristie Anders looks at an

enormous satellite photo covering a wall of the foundation’s

conference room. In the darkened room, Sanibel Island

floats emerald, enchanting, seamless. “This is how an osprey

might see it,” Anders says. “Why not do it their way and

look at the big picture, the needs of the natural as well as the

human-built community?”

She stares at her island, lost in through. “We think what

we’re doing on Sanibel is do-able anywhere,” she says. “It

doesn’t matter if your town is known as Sanibel is, for its

well-kept environment. Maybe what you’ve got is a special

cultural identity or a thriving downtown.” What’s important,

says Anders, is telling the stories behind the unique aspects of

our communities.

“All [the qualities] that set communities apart and define

their sense of place are what we’re losing to ‘the blob’ of sprawl

and unsustainable development,” she says. “If you want to

preserve what’s special about your community, find its stories,

and then share them with everyone who lives there. In my

case, although I didn’t write the Sanibel story, I get to tell it.”

— Susan Cerulean writes from the Red Hills bioregion of north Florida. The Book

of the Everglades, her latest anthology, was published by Milkweed Editions in

July 2002.

pu s h fo r ch a n g e

By Ann Sihler

What is the sound of 50 push mowers clipping the grass of

a major city park? We — a group of nine ecologically-minded

friends who now call ourselves Push for Change — asked this

Zen- like question in 1994. We answered it the next spring when

we organized a “mow-in” at Portland’s famed Tom McCall

Waterfront Park. After getting a permit from the city’s Parks

Department, we invited the public to help us mow a section of

the park to demonstrate clean, quiet lawn care.

The idea for the mow-in came about after the

members of Push for Change began meeting

casually to discuss environmental issues and

the philosophy and practices of an ecologically

sound society. Before forming as a group,

each of us had decided personally that

it was important to live a more

sustainable lifestyle. Some of

us were professionally

involved in “earth-

friendly” activities such as recycling, organic gardening, or

environmental education. Others were vegetarians, frequent

bicycle commuters, or garage-sale shoppers. Although the depth

and type of our commitment to sustainable living varied, as

a group we found ourselves much in agreement. Eventually

we saw that what we really wanted was to affect the choices

of people outside our own group — to have a wider, more

direct influence on people than simply the example of our own

behavior. We wanted to take action!

The actions we discussed ran the gamut from supporting

political campaigns to what we called “reverse vandalism” —

planting a tree in someone’s yard during the dead of night, for

example.

Somehow we kept coming back to lawn mowers. All of

us owned and enjoyed using push mowers and considered the

pollution, noise, and petroleum consumption of gas-powered

mowers unnecessary for the maintenance of many Portland

lawns. We thought that demonstrating a clean, silent, and

healthy way to care for lawns would gently remind people to

reconsider their lifestyle choices.

What we didn’t expect was the fun it would be. After

organizing two mow-ins, we have found push mower users to

be a devoted, enthusiastic lot eager to show off their scythes and

antique mowers, their brand new models, or plain ol’ garage-sale

specials. Attendance almost doubled from the first year to the

second, and the event expanded to include a mower maintenance

clinic. Media attention also increased — exponentially, with

National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition doing a spot on push

mowers versus gas-powered ones. Locally, we rejected sponsorship

by Portland General Electric, which was offering rebates on

electric or push mowers for people trading in gas mowers.

If we had known how successful and fun an event such as

the mow-in would be, we would have organized one earlier!

— Ann Sihler is editor of The Association of Oregon Recyclers' Newsletter.

fac t s a B o u t ge e s e

By Angeles Arrien from Insight and Action

Milton Olsen (the Naturalist) said it’s very

interesting that, particularly with geese, we have a lot

to learn about collectives.

Fact one: As each bird flaps its wings, it

creates an uplift for the birds following it.

By flying in a V-formation, the whole flock

adds 71 percent greater flying range than if

the bird flew alone. Many indigenous cultures recognize that

there’s a lot I can do by myself, there’s a lot I can do with a

partner, but the power of what I can get done with a collective

is quantum. It’s a mega-step, it’s a mega movement. The lesson

from this fact: people who share a common direction and sense

of community can get where they’re going quicker and easier

because they’re traveling on the thrust of one another. That’s a

universal collective lesson.

Fact number two About Geese: Whenever a goose falls

out of formation it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of

trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take

advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.

Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in

formation with those who are headed where we want to go and

be willing to accept their help, as well as give ours to others.

Fact number three: When the lead goose gets tired, it

rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the

point position. An invaluable lesson for us to apply to all group

work. It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing

leadership. With people as with geese, we are interdependent

on each others’ skills and capabilities and unique arrangements

of gifts, talents, resources, or what indigenous societies call the

“good, true, and beautiful.”

Fact number Four: The geese in formation honk

from behind to encourage those in front to keep up their

speed. Lesson: we need to make sure our honking from

behind is encouraging. And not something else. In

groups where there is greater encouragement against great

odds, the production is much greater — the power of

encouragement. Now, I love the word courage because it

means “to stand by one’s heart, to stand by one’s core.” To

encourage someone else’s core, to encourage someone else’s

heart — that quality of honking.

Fact number Five: When a goose gets sick, or wounded, or

shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down

to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again

or dies. Then they launch out on their own with another

formation or catch up with the flock. Lesson: if we have

as much sense as geese, we too will stand by each other

in difficult times as well as when we are strong. And

I think it’s important that one of the things indigenous

cultures have done for years is that they look to nature

as an outer mirror of one’s own internal nature. And

so as we begin to learn about collectives of animals and

their patterns, perhaps we have some tools, techniques,

methodologies about community and about collective

work and group work.

— “Facts About Geese” is from a talk by Angeles Arrien to the Organization Development

Network, 1992. Arrien is a cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator and

consultant to many organizations and businesses.

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