I help Glenmeadow, a life plan community for older adults in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, in creating free, educational programs for the audience it serves. I also promote the presentations through PR and social media, which helps raise awareness about Glenmeadow and its many quality offerings. This blog I wrote for Glenmeadow’s website offers a look at the third and final program in the Glenmeadow Learning series; it also provides a community service, offering a look at ways everyone can help protect the planet.

Most all of us are well familiar with the standard mantra that trumpets the protection of the planet: Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Terra Missildine, a recent Glenmeadow Learning presenter, points out, though, that many well-intentioned people focus on only one effort in the triad: recycling.

“Many people don’t think about reducing or reusing. Those efforts are oft-overlooked and more effective,” Terra told several dozen people who gathered last week at Agawam Public Library for our third and final Learning program,  “Environmental Responsibility: Taking Steps to Protect Our Planet.” 

An educated audience took an active role in Terra’s presentation, brainstorming ideas with her on ways to—as Terra says—“live lighter on the planet and lower our impact.” They discussed ways individuals can reduce and reuse, and Terra talked about the importance of watching where legislators stand on the environment. She also reviewed the United Nations global goals, relating to the environment.

“Consumption is the number one environmental problem today,” Terra said, noting, for example, that 35 million plastic flip-flops end up in the ocean each year. “People need to think more carefully about what they buy. There is a lot of waste. Planned obsolescence is built into so many of our products today.”

While recycling is very important, Terra said it’s not an infallible system; many materials that people put in their recycling bins never actually get recycled. Some materials might not be clean and can contaminate an entire truckload of items, and some materials we think are being recycled might not be accepted in our particular community.

Also, Terra said there is an environmental cost to recycling—trucking the materials and processing them, for instance.

Terra outlined additional steps people can take to protect the planet, including “voting with their dollars” by not purchasing low-quality products that have a short shelf life and will end up in landfills. 

She also said people can use their actual votes to elect more candidates who have a history of supporting measures that are environmentally sustainable. She suggested researching candidates on line to get a sense of their philosophies and voting records, where the environment is concerned.

In terms of products that are environmentally friendly, Terra recommended those made by Shaklee, such as Basic H2, which is a concentrate that makes thousands of gallons of product. Terra passed out samples.

To take sustainability to another level, Terra suggested that people who believe in “Reduce, reuse, recycle” become community advocates, educating people they meet one-on-one on best sustainability practices. She stressed that advocates should not shame others but educate them instead.

Terra was raised in a family that values the outdoors. She became an advocate for the Earth herself around the turn of the millennium. At that time, Terra was raising sheep on an organic farm and had enrolled in a sustainability program at the University of Massachusetts. She started thinking about how toxins were affecting people’s health; she had also developed allergies and chemical sensitivities to such things as laundry detergent. 

Terra was newly married to her husband, David—who was in the audience at our program. They decided to launch a business called Beloved Earth, the first environmentally friendly cleaning company in Western Mass at that time. They made environmentally friendly alternatives to cleaning and other household products by using ingredients such as baking soda and vinegar. (Now they use Basic H2 in clients’ homes and businesses.)

Beloved Earth now supports 18 staff members and still operates by cooperative principles. The business will mark its 15^th anniversary in 2020.

Indicating its an uphill battle, Terra said she is confident that systemic change—while slow—is in motion to protect the planet and that, if people commit together, we can slow the damage and perhaps get on a track to begin to repair the Earth.

“Protecting the environment has been a conversation since I was my daughter’s age, and she’s 5,” Terra said. “That gives me hope.”

Terra offered these resources:

• To learn how to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle: https://biofriendlyplanet.com/
• To see what one nonprofit is doing to support climate legislation in the state, and how people can find a local chapter and get involved: www.massclimateaction.org
• To check out the United Nations global goals: www.globalgoals.org 

Glenmeadow Learning is one of many free programs Glenmeadow offers to members of the wider community. It represents only one facet of the life plan community’s mission to serve seniors across the region and to operate as a socially accountable organization.

We are busy planning the events in our spring 2020 series! Stay tuned.

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Terra Missildine, founder of the first eco-friendly cleaning company in Western Massachusetts, to lead  

AGAWAM—Glenmeadow will offer an education program on protecting the planet on Tuesday, November 19 from 10 a.m. to noon at Agawam Public Library, 750 Cooper St., Agawam. 

“Environmental Responsibility: Taking Steps to Protect Our Planet” is the third and final program in the fall Glenmeadow Learning series, which provides free educational offerings in the community.

The presentation will be led by Terra Missildine, who will speak about how her mission to protect the Earth began and why it’s important for everyone to commit to doing so. 

Missildine will also outline what individuals, organizations, and legislators can do to begin to bring about positive change and environmental healing. She will offer samples of earth-friendly products.

Missildine has had a lifelong passion for sustainability. While in an early iteration of a sustainable living program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 2005, she founded Beloved Earth, the first eco-friendly cleaning company in Western Massachusetts. 

Since then, the business has blossomed to support 18 team members and still operates by cooperative principles and the values of the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit. Missildine also helps to support her sustainability and that of her family through running a small suburban homestead, where they grow a fair amount of their own organic food.

Environmental Responsibility is free, but space is limited, and reservations are required. To register, contact Jazlyn Wanzo at jwanzo@glenmeadow.org. For more information, or to register online, visit glenmeadow.org/events.

Glenmeadow Learning is one of many free programs Glenmeadow offers to members of the wider community. It represents only one facet of the life plan community’s mission to serve seniors across the region and to operate as a socially accountable organization.

Established in 1884, Glenmeadow is a nonprofit, accredited life plan community; it provides independent and assisted living at its campus at 24 Tabor Crossing in Longmeadow and expanded Glenmeadow at Home services throughout greater Springfield.  

To learn more about Glenmeadow and its history and offerings, visit www.glenmeadow.org.

About Glenmeadow 

In the 1800s, elderly individuals without family or means were sent to live at what was called “the poor farm.”  In 1884, a group of civic leaders raised funds among themselves and other area families and purchased a house on Main Street in Springfield’s south end, establishing The Springfield Home for Aged Women. Quickly outgrowing that house, land was purchased on the corner of Chestnut and Carew streets, where a new home was constructed and opened in 1900.  In 1960, the name was changed to Chestnut Knoll, and, in 1992, it began to admit men.  

In 1993, the organization purchased a 23-acre parcel in Longmeadow to build a new community that would provide both independent living and assisted living in one building with various common areas.  This was a new concept known as a continuing care retirement community.  Existing residents from the old Chestnut Knoll property were moved to the new campus in 1997.  Shortly after the move, the board voted to change its legal name to Glenmeadow to coincide with the name being used by the developer of the property.  

Continuing care retirement communities are now referred to as life plan communities, responding to the needs of the aging population with new opportunities for care, plus creative, educational and personal exploration. Glenmeadow offerings, which include everything from senior living options and handyman services to personal care and travel programs, are provided at its Longmeadow campus and across the region through Glenmeadow at Home. Glenmeadow strives to fulfill its mission of nurturing the whole person in mind, body, and spirit.

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Terra Missildine is offering the event because she has a mission to protect the earth as well as an agenda to support parents and children. Missildine owns Beloved Earth, a green cleaning company based in Northampton, and she recently created Cultivate Community to assist what she calls parentpreneurs—or parents who are also entrepreneurs.

Participants in the clean-up event will meet at picnic site number one, between the parking lot and the new playground in the park. The walk will begin at 9:30 a.m., but people are welcome to join in at any point throughout the event.

Coffee, water, and juice boxes will be available, and gloves and hand sanitizer will be provided. Parents and children are encouraged to stroll through the park as they clean up their local community. There will be time for networking, and a raffle will be held after the clean-up walk.

To register for this event, contact Missildine at 413-949-3509 or cultivateandnest@gmail.com.

For more information, visit the Cultivate Community website at http://www.cultivateandnest.com/

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