“Conserving our air, our water and our natural resources is a national priority, and young people want to help. I will make sure our national leaders understand that and consider what is needed to support them,”  SCA President Dale Penny said about his participation in the Service Nation Summit on Thursday and Friday which includes Presidential Candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. 

Have questions for the candidates? Post them below in the comments and we’ll give them to Dale.

Service Nation is a coalition formed to persuade the next President and Congress to pursue policy that will engage Americans in service to their communities and nation.  In addition to the Summit, the Service Nation coalition is organizing a massive day of national service on September 27th.

SCA invites everyone and especially its alumni force of over 50,000 to lead a service project on the Day of Service on September 27.  Please visit our Take a Pledge page and register your event so that we may include you in our list of service activists.  You can find SCA sponsored events here. And please, tell us what you did on September 27th.  We’ll post your photos and stories here.

Degrees of latitude I cannot measure but I picked up at least 40 degrees of Fahrenheit between Gateway Nat’l Rec Area and Padre Island Nat’l Seashore. PAIS, in the shorthand of the National Park Service, is one of two SCA Alternative Spring Break sites sponsored by American Eagle this year. Grand Canyon is the other.

Twenty-five college students from around the country are building an ADA-compliant boardwalk on this Texas barrier island; next week another 25 will put an addition on a sea turtle research building some 40 miles downshore. (more…)

From Live Earth and youTube, a tribute to Michele Gardner-Quinn, SCA Intern ‘06, Prince William Forest Park, VA.

Trained as a zoologist, Rachel Carson began her career as a contract government science writer at a time when… “wildlife agencies still handed out recipes for the animals they were studying.” (An Environmental Icon’s Unseen Fortitude, Washington Post 5.18.07) She is best known for her still controversial book Silent Spring and its crusade against the widespread use of DDT, but her legacy extends well beyond that. She is widely acknowledged to have been the inspiration for the environmental movement, with the creation of the EPA being only one of the results. “The earth itself needs an advocate,” she said. If she were still alive, I wonder what she would be advocating? What do you think? She was apparently incapable of remaining silent. Would that the same were true for the rest of us.

by Joshua Stearns, SCA Board Member and Alumnus

Our narratives transcend fact, for they are formed from the delicious emotional nuances of sensation: sound, smell, moods, sensuality, taste, color, shadow, texture, rhythm, cadence, tears, laughter, warmth, and coolness all experienced here, at a place on this earth.
– Robert Archibald

Recently I posted an essay by a friend of mine that points out how the “Starfish Story” of one person making a difference, teaches us a flawed lesson, if we look at it in terms of community service and conservation.

One commenter on this blog said, “I agree. So, what’s a better tale to tell?”.

I believe we need to begin telling stories about communities large and small working together creatively to address our own lifestyle and our culture’s increasingly disconnected relationship to the world around us. (more…)

by Kass Hardy, Glacier ‘03 & ‘04, Yosemite ‘06
This letter is intended to raise awareness and to encourage YOU to be a part of the future of OUR National Parks.

The National Park Service turns 100 years old in 2016. What a great opportunity we have to rejuvenate and reenergize the service. Many of you know that President Bush has proposed a few good things for the NPS, in light of this celebration.

Most recently he has:

• Proposed the largest National Park Service budget in history that included the largest ever one year increase in park operation funding
• Proposed $3 Billion of new public and private investment over 10 years to fund his National Park Centennial Initiative
• Proposed an additional $2 Billion in matching private and public funds for signature projects and programs

This is all very exciting. If we can get our act together in time to influence the NPS and Washington with what to do with the $.
(more…)

“Answering the Call: Asian American Youth Get Real, Give Back to the Environment with SCA” Asian Week February 23, 2007
by Christina Wong, SCA Board Member and Alumna

“Do I dare disturb the universe?”

This is what I asked myself when I first noticed our nation’s frightening levels of air pollution, contaminated drinking water, climate change and other ‘inconvenient truths:’ the reality that our planet is in serious decay. Repercussions of environmental neglect are readily apparent, and never before has the urgency to confront these ecological dilemmas been more pressing. The future of our planet is at stake, and America’s youth must come front and center to give a voice through conservation advocacy, awareness and, above all, action.

These and other environmental passions led me to the Student Conservation Association (SCA), which for 50 years has been the nation’s largest provider of conservation service opportunities, outdoor education, and leadership training for young adults. With its steadfast commitment to diversity, SCA allows Asian American youth to better connect with nature while promoting a unique, hands-on perspective to an underexposed field - not to mention presenting new career options that we may never have been considered. In fact, I am a living testament to SCA’s impact. (more…)

provided by Joshua Stearns, SCA Alumnus and Board Member
As part of my series of reflections on community, service, and environment, I want to pass along an article by a friend, Keith Morton, a professor of American Studies at Providence College. This short article has been published in a few sources, and is available in various places on the web, but I don’t know that it has ever been considered in terms of our work in conservation. It is meant to provoke dialogue about how we define and think about our work in communities, and I hope you will add your voice in the comments section.

Enjoy! JS
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

by Keith Morton
One of the most popular stories in community service events is that of the starfish: a (fill in your description, usually young) person is running, hurling starfish deposited on the beach by a storm back into the sea. “What are you doing,” asks a (fill in your description, usually old) person, “you can’t possibly throw all the starfish back. Your effort makes no difference.” “It makes a difference to this one,” replies the first person, who continues off down the beach.

The usual conclusions drawn from this hackneyed tale are about the importance of making a difference where you can, one person or problem at a time; about not being put off by skepticism or criticism or cynicism. The story acknowledges the relief that comes when we find a way to relieve suffering. A somewhat deeper reading is that there is merit in jumping into a situation and finding a way to act - the first step in determining what possibilities for action might exist.

But the tale is, ultimately, mis-educative and I wish people would stop using it. (more…)

by Kevin Hamilton

You may not know Rebecca but you’d be a better person if you did. Altered, at the very least.

Rebecca has directed dozens of SCA trail and restoration projects. She is wise, optimistic and caring. Tender, patient, and a bit shy; she would probably prefer that I not post this. But most of all, she is passionate. About nature. About stewardship. About life.

I haven’t seen her in years and I miss her. She’s been in the Yuha Desert, leading a steady rotation of volunteers in erasing the braided tracks of off-road vehicles from acres and acres of wounded landscape. The work is tedious. “We move rocks [and] sweep the sand off the desert floor to another place on the desert floor,” she recently reported in her typically understated way. But it’s also effective: overwhelmingly, riders have left the restored areas alone. (more…)