ABOUT THIS EFFORT
bringing in a ' nature era'
The people who head up the programs and projects at Clement Waters have responded to an increasing post-pandemic public interest in the benefits of nature. In late 2020, strategic planning sessions revealed a clear direction: to strengthen volunteering efforts and provide safer-feeling experiences to individuals who haven't felt safe in nature before. We are following that theme in 2022.
clement – /ˈkle-mənt/ (adj.) 1. mild, peaceful, calming; 2. merciful.
OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES
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The purpose that lies within every one of our programs is to CELEBRATE the CONSCIOUS DISCOVERY made possible in NATURE'S HEALING SPACES.
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We do this so as to create a sure sense of PURPOSEFUL, UNIVERSAL BELONGING in all participants; and so as to support EMERGING, LOCALIZED RESTORATIVE EMPOWERMENT efforts.
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Because self-beliefs of empowerment and universal belonging support the PREVENTIVE AND REACTIVE HEALTH measures FREELY AND READILY PROVIDED by nature.
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Our program planning process fully considers SCIENTIFIC GUIDANCE, and RATIONAL CONSIDERATION from MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES.
OUR PROGRAMS
Growing Food, Gaining Peace, Building Spaces from the Ground Up
NEIGHBOR-GROWN FOOD NETWORK
We help families living in USDA Food Deserts around KC to grow their own kitchen gardens. We welcome helpers in greenhouses, in gardens, and at home growing their own heirloom varieties of food so that each year's seed will be resilient in KC's unique and changing climate.
NATURE IMMERSION THERAPY
The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT) and Blue River Forest Nature Sanctuary are both helping Clement Waters form programs that bring peace of mind to people seeking calm through nature. If you want to become a nature immersion guide, please reach out.
RETREATS AND NATURE-SPACES
In Kansas City, since 2018 over 600 volunteers have worked to establish and maintain a 4-acre walking trail winding through a forest full of edible and medicinal plants, young tree plantings, fallen trees home to fungi, and various species of forest fauna.
Starting in 2022, four volunteers are manning a nature retreat in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, designed to be a safe place for respite care for people who have difficulty feeling safe. It can be visited without driving on Missouri back-country roads—something very important to families of color.
nature is our everything
"What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another."
Mohandas Ghandi
"We need to shift toward protecting and healing ecosystems on every level, especially the local. On a cultural level, we need to reintegrate human life with the rest of life, and bring ecological principles to bear on social healing."
Christopher Einstein (2018). "Climate: A New Story"
"The relationship we have with everything that Earth offers, it's about reciprocity. That's the only way we are going to learn how to shift our culture from an extraction culture to a balanced and harmonious culture with the land."
Xiye Bastida, environmental advocate and Otomi-Toltec tribe member