The First Meadow

Dear Mr. President,

I know. One more of those "Open Letter" things.

The last thing you need right now is one more well-intentioned suggestion on how to do things, but please hear me out. I'll leave the financial and world crises to you; I just want to talk with you about…your lawn.

You know, the White House lawn.

I bet you already know that lawns are not very environmentally friendly. All that water, all those chemical fertilizers and pesticides contaminating the ground water, and all those carbon emissions coming from the small gasoline engines of the White House mowers. Is that really the eco-example you want to set?

May I suggest an alternative?

Meadow! “The White House Meadow”! Can't you hear it now?

"President Obama today hosted a climate change summit in the White House meadow.” Has a nice green ring to it, doesn’t it?

The White House meadow could be a living testimonial to your commitment to biodiversity, right outside your front door. The native wildflowers in the “First Meadow” would definitely attract more birds, butterflies and other wildlife because of the food and cover it provides. It would require less water, no chemicals, and far less gasoline-powered maintenance. Plus a lot of us think it would look pretty cool. Sounds good, right?

So I bet you’re thinking: how do I get started?

Well, you’re in luck. New Jersey Audubon Society just published a new book “Meadows on the Menu” by Tama Matsuoka Wong, and it’s filled with great ideas to help you (or your landscaping staff in the event you’re busy with other things) establish a native wildflower meadow. Sure, it’s got a New Jersey orientation (we’re New Jersey Audubon, after all), but a lot of it would be suitable for your neck of the woods as well. And proceeds from the purchase of “Meadows on the Menu” support the conservation and stewardship initiatives of New Jersey Audubon Society.

Wouldn’t it be great to have pioneered a National Meadow Movement, right from the White House backyard?

Oh, and about that Easter Egg Roll you do on the lawn every year? Now it’s the White House Easter Egg Hunt. What kid wouldn’t prefer hunting for eggs in a wild meadow, rather than rolling eggs on a boring manicured lawn. No contest. If you don’t believe me, ask Sasha and Malia.

You can get the book at any of our New Jersey Audubon centers.

Thank you Mr. President.

Hello, I must be going...

Hi, my name is Denis Cleary, and I'm the store manager for New Jersey Audubon Society's The Nature Store at Scherman-Hoffman in Bernardsville, and a casual student of social media and social media marketing. I am interested in learning the Web 2.0 tools that I hope will enable New Jersey Audubon to more effectively engage both our members as well as others who may share our values and be receptive to our message and the work we do. I have come to believe that for NJAS to survive and thrive we need to find alternative ways to reach these audiences to communicate our message, market our programs and stores, and yes, raise funds. I'm hopeful that this workshop will start me down that path.
In that spirit I recently started an internal blog targeted to the retail staff at NJAS (although just via email right now, I hope to move to an actual blogging platform very soon) and I plan to also initiate a "public" blog as well in the near future.

First Post

Hello -- I'm Jim O'Malley, Informaton Systems Manger for the New Jersey Audubon Society in Bernardsville NJ. I will be attending the Web 2.0 workshop along with my friend and colleague Denis Cleary.

As you might have guessed, one of my responsibilites at New Jersey Audubon is the care and feeding of our Society web site. NJAS has had a web presence for many years and we take pride in keeping the site current and useful for our members. Beginning in 2009 we are planning to update the site with new features and content -- and part of that planning will be to look for ways to incorporate more social media functionality. I'm hoping to get some good ideas while attending the Web 2.0 workshop.