Training!

We've had a jam-packed few days here at the Woolman Hill Conference Center and Retreat. We're tirelessly preparing for the summer ahead, surrounding ourselves with inspiring mentors and peers, and immersing ourselves in exciting environmental news and debates.

Here's a look at the week thus far:
Sunday brought our enthusiastic climateers from all over the world (yes, this is a global issue!) and involved first introductions, settling in, and much deserved rest!

Monday, we awoke bright and early for breakfast followed by an amazing 3-hour version of the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium. During this session we experienced the feelings of sorrow, enlightenment, reflection, hope, and empowerment. We will be trained in leading this symposium ourselves on Thursday so that we can spread the message as we travel around the state. Afterwords, we worked in exchange for our stay here which included weeding and gardening, brush removal, wood stacking, mulching, and window washing among other jobs. Lectures on creating a personal Public Narrative and the History of the grassroots environmental movement followed at the end of the day.

Tuesday we enjoyed a hearty blueberry pancake breakfast followed by more practice with Public Narrative tool use. After lunch we continued our work-for-stay projects. Later, we talked about relationship building during our canvassing. Lastly, we found out which routes we are to be on (Western and Central Mass, Cambridge and the North Shore, Cape Cod and Islands and South Shore) and worked on event planning together.

Wednesday (today), we completed canvass training, and more work-for-stay. We got a crash course on bike maintenance from John, a student at UMass Amherst. In the evening we finally got to put our training to work during our first trial run of canvassing in downtown Greenfield! We were very successful in our signature gathering for the petition calling for 100% clean electricity in 10 years. We learned a lot about how we can further hone our canvassing and public speaking skills over the coming months.

As a group we have grown very close to each other in such a short period of time and will be sad to see the teams go their separate ways. However, we look very forward to meeting up in Boston at the end of July to share our amazing experiences.

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Stay Green!