National Audubon is a wonderful resource and a leader for all the individual chapters throughout our county and world. As such, they mentor us and provide guidance for our chapter in order for us to succeed and stay relevant.
Recently, National Audubon has started to inform us and lead the way to commit to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. I thought it would be important for our members to understand what this emphasis is, and what it means to our chapter.
As we grow, and our chapter has been growing, we should be aware that our community has many diverse citizens, and outreach to these communities will only benefit our society.
Audubon states, “Just as biodiversity strengthens natural systems, the diversity of human experience strengthens our conservation efforts for the benefit of nature and all human beings.”
The birds Audubon pledges to protect differ in color, size, behavior, geographical preferences, and countless other ways. By honoring and celebrating the equally remarkable diversity of the human species, Audubon will bring new creativity, effectiveness and leadership to our work throughout the county.
I would like to believe that there are many young people, brown people, black people, etc., that want to learn about our local birds and work for conservation in St. Lucie County. How can we find them? How can we include them in our chapter and welcome their participation? Our Board of Directors has talked about this and want to include all our members in the discussion for our future planning. Please let us know what you think and if you have any ideas that we can develop for our chapter.
Lastly, we want to give a great big THANK YOU to Ed Bowes who successfully presented an informative talk to the Del Webb community recently. He created a Powerpoint presentation, that even included photos taken by their residents, of birds that they see around their community. He was very well received and we may have signed up some new members! We also raised over $100 in donations too! Now Ed moves on to coordinate our Christmas Bird Count on December 18th! He is a great Vice Chairman and Citizen Science Chair! Thanks Ed!
Happy Holidays to all our members! And I wish everyone a Healthy and Covid-free 2022!
Ellen Lynch, President