We Are All in This Together

By Maurice Carter, Sustainable Newton President

I remember vividly the last time I saw my fellow Sustainable Newton Board members in person, on the evening of March 9, gathered around a table in our usual meeting room at First Presbyterian Church of Covington.

Three days earlier, 21 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed on a cruise ship off the California coast, and the disease had reached a nursing home in Washington state.  But the World Health Organization had yet to declare a pandemic. 

Still, I recall the awkward silence when a colleague sneezed several times.  "Bless you," we said out loud, but our body language was a little more complicated.  We adjourned at the end of the meeting without saying so, but I suspected we might not see each other again for a month or two.

And, then, all Hell broke loose.

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This coming Monday night will our ninth monthly board meeting held via Zoom.  Those first couple, it was hard to focus.  We had much larger concerns, and it was an unfamiliar way to collaborate.  The sadness and anxiety were debilitating.

That was then, but this is now.  And with this strange, sad, trying year drawing to a close, I'm able to see how much we still accomplished by adapting and remaining committed to our purpose.  That's only true because everyone else adapted with us.  You stayed engaged, you cared like we have, and we made good things happen.

The photo above was taken by my wife near the garden she and I tended through spring, summer, and fall -- a great distraction from the terror gripping the outside world and our isolation in that moment.  I wore that shirt often in April and May especially, because we really are "all in this together."  And, that's made all the difference for Sustainable Newton.  I want to thank the many individuals and organizations who helped us stay focused and maintain momentum by hosting virtual events throughout the year, including:

• Oxford Mayor David Eady and council members Laura McCanless and Jim Windham, who joined us July 9 for our first virtual event -- a town hall to discuss sustainability plans for their community.
• Becky Griffin and Ashley Best, from the University of Georgia Extension Service, who joined us August 5 to discuss the upcoming Great Georgia Pollinator Census.
• Newton County "bug" lover and amateur nature photographer Alisa Brown, who chatted with us on August 21 to commemorate the census.
• Our panelists Ameina Covington, Grayson Eady, Leah Hartung, Jordan Hasty, and Don Moreland who discussed the film 2040 for us on September 17.
• Minnesota-based filmmaker Erika Gilsdorf who shared the exciting details about her project What Fuels You:  An Electric Road Trip on October 9.
• My fellow board members Dr. Melissa Hage and professor Theodosia Wade who joined me to present 24 Hours of Reality:  Countdown to the Future on October 10.
• Ameina Covington, Susie Keck, Rachel Musetti, and Nancy Schulz who participated in our October 15 panel discussion for the film The Story of Plastic.
• Local farmers Nicolas Donck and Jeni Jarrard (Crystal Organic Farm), Nathan Fussell (Camp Twin Lakes), Daniel Parson and Catherine Reuter (Oxford Organic Farm), and Sara Vinson (Yellow Hen Farm) who helped organize and participated in our December 7 virtual civic dinner for Drawdown Georgia Food & Agriculture solutions for carbon reduction.

I don't space to name everyone who showed up, participated, and helped us spread the word.  You made these events successful and kept 2020 a year when we transcended difficulties and persevered in our purpose.

We will forever mourn the lives of family, friends, and fellow Americans lost during this tragic moment, and we ache for everyone impacted physically, emotionally, and financially.  But, we will also remember proudly that we made the best of a difficult situation.

We are all in this together!  And we can't tell you how much that means!!

I can't wait for the day widely distributed vaccines and proven therapeutics mean we can gather safely in one place again.  I miss my teammates and our friends!  But, until then, we'll keep doing everything we can to be an effective grassroots organization in a virtual world.  We've got great ideas for what comes next!

In our board and membership meeting Monday night, we'll be electing board members and officers for 2021.  We hope you'll join us in the coming year, as we continue living out our motto:

There's no time like the present to give our children a better future.