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We started off the meeting with an hour of sustainability education, compliments of the NJ Learns program that Jen Kelley, Jodi Raditz, Mark Loeser and myself are a part of.  The NJ Learns program is funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and facilitated by The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education (see previous posts or go to www.sustainabilityed.org for more information).  Jodi was our main facilitator, since she has gone through this particular part of the program with her Carusi Middle Schoolers over eighteen times!  Jodi engaged the group in the simulation “Fish Game”, which allowed them  to experience first “unsustainable” fishing practices and then ultimately they learned how to fish sustainably with enough fish to go around for the entire group to continue to fish abundantly and indefinitely.  It was incredible to witness so many of our board members having “light bulb” moments as they realized that it is possible to live sustainably and abundantly at the same time!

After a short break,  the group got down to business as they learned about the history, mission, principles, goals and achievements of our organization.  The most inspiring  part of the evening for me came when everyone went around and introduced themselves and told the group who they were and why they wanted to be a part of the SCH movement.  The excitement in the room kept increasing as each board member spoke with passion and described their professional and personal affiliations.  The quality of the individuals in that room was really astounding.  Imagine, one after another, board members spoke of their experience in engineering, law, marketing, PR, technology, education, public health, architecture, renewable energy, business and more.  We have representatives from the Mayor’s office, Town Council, the CH Planning Board, the small and large business community, the faith community, the CH Board of Education, Camden County, the CH Fire Department and the list goes on.  The common theme of the evening was that each board member, as individuals, had begun thinking deeply about sustainability either throughout their lives or just recently, but that they were not sure how to act on their concerns.  Given the opportunity to be part of a greater movement, especially one that stresses positivity and action, was the biggest motivator for them to join the board! 

Several of our board members were not able to join us last night and we have a few more people or companies that we are currently cultivating to come on board.  I look forward to working closely with this group of individual and the community at large to move towards sustainability.