The month of May was an unusually busy time for the REED Center Team. (Photo, from left to right: Adam, Ben, Gina, Martin, Josh at EPA headquarters in Philadelphia, PA).

Ben and our team were invited to speak to the Region 3 EPA staff from May 8-10! The first two days were a series of small group sessions focused on specific topics, such as water, waste, and climate. The final day included net-working opportunities and a hybrid presentation about ecological interrelationships, the need to transcend silos in our work, and how we humans can learn from the natural world to develop more productive and resilient food production systems. This talk was offered both virtually and in-person for those who wished to attend -- more than 200 EPA employees participated!

The presentations were not videotaped so we cannot include them here, but among the key messages were:

• New technologies are giving us better tools to measure damage that is occurring and to evaluate innovative approaches to restoring ecosystems.
• Victory Gardens 2.0, designed as food forests, could be a significant intervention to build food security while restoring degraded lands.
• Agriculture is the main way humans interact with the planet; agro-ecology must become a more central focus of all our work.

In addition to this 3-day event, Ben was also invited to give a virtual talk at the EPA Summit on May 17th! This presentation was open to the public across the U.S. and will remain public online. We will send the link when it is made available.

Important update on YOGA classes: Starting June 7th, our Wednesday evening yoga class will be offered from 6-7:30 p.m. (in addition to the Sunday morning classes). As the weather is warming, most classes can now be held outdoors. For details on yoga classes, please visit the website here.

PDC courses are continuing -- see full listing below. The next on-site PDC Class is June 10: Supporting the Bees. Sign up here.

The Introduction to Permaculture webinar was recorded and is available here for anyone who missed it or wants a refresher.

If you'd like to be kept in the loop on additional volunteer opportunities on-site, which sometimes pop up on short notice, please add your name here.

Finally, we'd like to offer a special thank-you to all the volunteers who participated in the Mind, Body, Earth weekend event May 6-7, and broke ground at the edge of the Tree of Life planting!

Please read on for details about our PDC classes, volunteer days, and more...