Project Earth | Paladins of the Ecosystem
Project Earth is a program of California State University, Fullerton focusing on improving and restoring our local environment. Volunteers help restore habitats, clean beaches, and educate participants.
It’s been a few years since I graduated college, but my alma mater’s volunteer club was more than happy to let me tag along to one of their events. I arrived at Craig Park a little before 9am to twenty or so student volunteers. Since membership is always in flux, we spent ten minutes introducing ourselves and doing get-to-know each other games. Afterward, a ranger met us and directed us to the sports recreation area of the park, and provided us with rakes. We proceeded to rake and bag leaves until noon. In the end, I stood proud. This is a park in my city, one I’ve been coming to for over a decade. I embraced this idea of taking care of it, cleaning its unkempt grounds, that day, rake in hand, I glistened with civic pride. And sweat. It was pretty hot.
Between bouts of raking and bagging, I got a chance to converse with some of the other volunteers. Speaking with them about volunteering and the world was like a shot of adrenaline to my own personal passion factory and optimism center. When we are young, we believe we can change the world, and somehow, somewhere down the road we lose that. We are kidnapped, knocked over the head by an army of the weak-willed trying to recruit us to their non-cause of apathy, laziness, and consumerism. They reprogram us to compete with and vilify our differences. But worst of all, they cloud our minds to where we forget that there is inherent, untapped, awe-inspiring power in every one of us.
Website: fullerton.edu/sll/involvement/csprograms/
Orientation: No.
Commitment: 3hr. raking and bagging leaves.
Cost: $0
This entry is part of 2011’s Project 365 – Volunteering 12 places in 12 months.
melange of the expired
After acquiring some screen printing equipment, I needed to find an image to test it out. After happening upon some old Dover art books which contained some amazing illustrative pieces, I decided to see how detailed this screen press could print. However, I didn’t just want to grab a single illustration and simply print it, so I sat down and began to create some art. This is what spilled out of my head.
Second Harvest | Bearers of the Seed
Second Harvest solicits and coordinates donations, grants, fundraising, food drives, food rescue, harvesting, and volunteers to supply food, education, and advocacy for the hungry through non-profit partners and direct feeding programs. Second Harvest’s mission is to end hunger in Orange County.
I showed up at 3pm at the Incredible Edible Park in the city of Irvine where I met Raul, one of the caretakers of the park. He gave us, a group of about ten, a quick lesson on planting pinto beans, seeds for radishes, and cabbage. Depending on the season, volunteers could be planting seeds or smaller plants, picking weeds, or harvesting broccoli, carrots, onions, strawberries, cabbage, chili peppers, green beans, watermelons, and pumpkins. Occasionally, they harvest lemons and oranges from the citrus groves of the Centennial Museum in Santa Ana.
Some of us hoed the dirt, some planted the seeds, and others covered the seeds up. Once we all got into our grove, we all worked quickly and efficiently. We probably planted over a few hundred feet of seed in the hour and a half I was there. In a few months, some of the seeds we planted will be ready for harvesting and provide food for local shelters, churches, homes for battered and abused women and children, and local pantries.
The work was quick, easy, dirty, and completely satisfying.
Website: feedoc.org
Orientation: No.
Commitment: 2hr. planting seeds.
Cost: $0
This entry is part of 2011’s Project 365 – Volunteering 12 places in 12 months.
I AM A ROBOT! – Art Participation
I need your help.
I need YOU to draw a robot!
Specifically a line drawing of a full-bodied robot from the front. No gradients. No color.
Take 5 seconds, take 5 weeks. Create a robot from your imagination or draw your favorite from fiction.
I do not care if you “can’t even draw stick figures”. I want you to try. Please.
I will be compiling these drawings into brand-new art pieces.
Exactly what it turns out to be is dependent on what I get from you!
Everyone who submits a robot drawing will get a hand-screened print of the final design!
Details:
Robot is a black & white line drawing. No gradients. No color.
Robot is full-bodied (not just a head, unless your robot really is only a head).
Robot is facing forward, a front profile.
Robot is not drawn microscopic. (minimum: 3in x 2in area)
Delivery:
You can mail me your drawing at ████████
You can email me your (high-res JPG) drawing at ████████
You can hand off the drawing if you live in the area.
Please include YOUR address if you want a hand-made print.
Your robot is not guaranteed to make it into the final design(s).
Pass this invite along to EVERYONE you know!!!
Thanks to everyone in advance!
―Dean
The Final Product!
Irvine Ranch Conservancy | Stewards of the Rural
The Irvine Ranch Conservancy is a non-profit, non-advocacy organization. Their mission is to protect, restore and enhance the natural resources of the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks in perpetuity and to provide diverse opportunities for compatible public enjoyment by catalyzing and conducting scientific, recreational, and educational initiatives and programs.
Mission: Hunt down and collect the elusive acorn.
Party: Five tenderfoot volunteers. Two seasoned docents. And me.
We were escorted deep into the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmark to mysterious Limestone Canyon, the land of giant oak trees. We were ordered to harvest precious acorns that would later be forced to sprout and grow under optimal conditions. Their ultimate fate, however, would be banishment to a single spot for the rest of its long life in order to restore habitat within The Ranch.
Once we pulled up to the massive oaks I was immediately asked, “Do you want to wear some snake chaps? The Ranch has a very healthy rattlesnake population.” I laughed to myself skittishly, yet declined. I didn’t want to be encumbered by these lumbering contraptions if I had to react quickly. If a snake wanted me, they would have to catch me. We encountered no deadly rattlesnakes that day. There were, however, nice snakes, tarantulas, eagles, and owls. We were also spared any attacks from the bobcats, foxes, and mountain lions that also inhabit the land. Most of our time was spent strolling the great wilderness, picking acorns from both the trees and ground, while taking the occasional spot check for any mauling type animals. Then after we had enough acorns, our gracious docents chauffeur us around showing us more of the expansive reserve including the beautiful Dripping Springs.
This is simply the best place in Orange County that I have seen for hiking and mountain biking. And there are a myriad of other volunteering opportunities if hunting acorns isn’t your bag.
Website: irconservancy.org
Orientation: No.
Commitment: 3hr. nature hike picking acorns.
Cost: $0
This entry is part of 2011’s Project 365 – Volunteering 12 places in 12 months.
I was a god
In a world where video games have become hyper-realistic and intensely intricate, where your emaciated imagination slowly withers from lack of use, there is a glimmer of hope — a rebellion is forming. You perhaps have seen it, even participated in it, but have been unaware. In these times your brain yearns for a break from the constant external bombardment of being told what and how to imagine. It is screaming to be set free, to become creative, and to engage with other like-minded souls. Some have sought to counter the dulling of their brains with mind-challenging games — e.g., Scrabble, Cranium, and Trivial Pursuit. Others seek more, for they have tasted adventure blasting from their screens, they have been transported to other worlds, they have metamorphosed into someone beyond themselves. I was one of these people. I sought more.
Enter the game leaving all else behind. Forget yourself. Become the character. Tell your story. These are the rules that I learned after that first role of my 20-sided die. These are the rules I follow every time I play Dungeons & Dragons. A criterion of the imagination, a mash-up of improvisational acting, storytelling, and board gaming that transports you to another realm. Say what you will, until you create a character, embody them, write their history and fight to keep them alive, you can’t fathom what this game truly can be.
In my specific campaign, I immediately spotted some opportunities to flesh out this world in which my character found himself. Our Dungeon Master had a simple map of the world he created years upon years ago. I took it upon myself to translate and update this map utilizing my skills as a graphic designer. Thanks to the guidance of the amazing people at the Cartographers Guild I was able to produce a map that echoed the rich and vivid world that lay in my imagination.
While recreating the world of our campaign I could not help but be transported. Imagination stimulated, oceans, seas, mountains, valleys, forests all calling out for names and becoming real places with rich, complex histories. I watch as my character’s past materializes and evolves. I create new cities and landmarks, I trace not only his personal history but his lineage back through time. For a while I am a god. However, the real fun is not creating the playground, it’s the adventures that happen once you step inside.
Farm Sanctuary | Saviors of our Kin
Farm Sanctuary works to protect farm animals from cruelty, inspire change in the way society views and treats farm animals, and promote compassionate vegan living.
Why do we eat what we eat? What qualifies as a pet? Do all animals have rights?
Most people would cringe at the idea of eating a dog. But they would be outraged if you told them first the dog would be put in a tiny pen with a concrete floor, some living their short lives ankle-deep in their own feces. How about having their beloved pet subject to painful mutilations, ears cut, tails cut, without anesthesia. Then once ready to grind into meat they’re stunned with a stun gun, with only most rendered unconscious. These dogs, some still conscious, now hanging upside down by their back legs, will then have their throats sliced open with a knife so that they may bleed out. However, often, fully conscious dogs can be left to hang upside down, kicking, struggling, and whimpering, while a slaughterhouse worker attempts to slice their throats open. If the worker is unsuccessful at this first station, the dogs would be carried to the next station on the slaughterhouse assembly line, the scalding tank, and boiled alive fully conscious.
This is what happens to pigs on many factory farms.
“Pigs love video games.”, she began. We were in the middle of pitching hay, cleaning pens, and befriending the rescued cows, pigs, turkeys, and other farm animals when we all turned to listen. It was a story of a pig and dog playing video games. It was simple, not only were the pigs far better than the dogs at playing these games but once the reward treats stopped, the dogs instantly lost interest. The pigs kept playing.
I don’t know why this hit me as hard as it did. Perhaps being face-to-face for the first time with the question: At what cost do we please our taste buds? Food is such a delicacy, such a source of pleasure in people. Where do we draw the line? If the only way you can have bacon is to torture an animal smarter and more curious than your pets, is that okay? Should we not get outraged? Is there even such thing as humane killing? And who are we to breed an animal into existence just to take its life? These thoughts flooded my head that day in Acton, especially as my taste buds experienced the wonderful dishes of a vegan pot-luck, surrounded by such majestic creatures, these farm animals.
“Let’s face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.”
― George Orwell, Animal Farm
Website: farmsanctuary.org
Orientation: Mandatory. Part of the 6hrs.
Commitment: 6hr. cleaning animal pens.
Cost: $0, a vegan meal for the potluck lunch.
This entry is part of 2011’s Project 365 – Volunteering 12 places in 12 months.
Wildlife Waystation | Custodians of the Wild
Wildlife Waystation is a non-profit animal sanctuary in Los Angeles. Their mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, relocate, and provide sanctuary for exotic animals from around the world as well as native wildlife.
I spent the day with lions, tigers, llamas, bears, zebras, jaguars, chimpanzees, ostriches, hawks, and ferrets.
Less than an hour from Downtown LA, The Wildlife Waystation is like going behind the scenes of a zoo. This amazing sanctuary is, at its heart, a retirement home for native, wild, and exotic animals. And it was one of the most awesome and rewarding experiences I could have ever had. In just one day of volunteering, surrounded by so many magnificent creatures, it’s difficult to convey just how quickly I felt welcomed and connected to them.
Unlike any zoo, you’re in such close proximity to wild animals that you can not only see, but feel their personality, intelligence, and their sheer magnificence — it’s a true awakening. It was also a reinforcement of my belief that we are all connected, that these animals are just as important as any one of us. This is not our world, but theirs as well. And we have a responsibility as the dominant species, as guardians, to care for all life in this world, as these animals stand at the mercy of our pillaging.
More than once while cleaning its cage, I found myself holding the gaze of a beautiful Siberian tiger named Drifter, and for a second, when our eyes locked I saw a reflection, a truth, and I saw how much the same we truly were. I can only imagine how the full-time staff and regular volunteers must feel towards their wards. It was truly a privilege to clean the homes of these beautiful beasts.
So, on my first day after orientation, I had an ostrich stalk me, I interacted with a very playful brown bear, had a leopard jump at me, watched someone hand-feed a tiger, stood a few feet away as a full-grown male lion roared, and made friends with a 400lb pig. I can’t wait to go back.
Website: wildlifewaystation.org
Orientation: Yes. Mandatory.
Commitment: 6hr. Orientation/Training. 8hrs cleaning cages, preparing food, and feeding animals.
Cost: $25 donation.
This entry is part of 2011’s Project 365 – Volunteering 12 places in 12 months.
Our master in brew
My morning prayer:
Our master in brew
coffee be your name.
Your caffeine come,
your will be done,
in mug as it is in brew.
Give us this day our daily highs,
and forgive us our sleepy eyes,
as we also have not killed our neighbors.
And lead us not into addiction,
but deliver us from this unhallowed sedation.
Amen.