Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Old Friends Make the World Go Round

Yesterday Sven called an old friend, who used to work on Greenland and now makes documentaries back in Sweden. Hooking up with old friends for a long chat about the past is definitely “good for the soul,” as the Eagles sang in Hotel California. Strangely enough, I also spoke with a long-lost friend, someone who sat next to me in fifth grade. In this day and age elementary school friends often re-connect through Facebook. We did not meet through social media though. My brother ran into Lynne Pledger in Western Massachusetts and told her to contact me. Turns out Lynne is an environmentalist and works for Clean Water Action in Hardwick, Massachusetts. She called yesterday to tell me about the John O’Connor Award, given this year to grassroots leaders here in Massachusetts, including GreenCAPE, for its work in defense of clean water. I told Lynne that actually Laura Kelley and I had played a role in the moratoriums, obtained by the Cape Cod Commission, with regard to the pollution of our sole-source aquifer but had kept that information to ourselves. Lynne told me the GreenCAPE reps had graciously accepted “on behalf of many." Several legislators attended the event, held Saturday in Framingham. It's wonderful to have our effort to save the Cape's sole-source aquifer acknowledged this way. I hope GreenCAPE feels very proud of what it has achieved. The battle is not yet over, however.

Lynne also said she has heard great things about Wellfleet’s Recycling Commission, and I confirmed its awesomeness. She is coming down here some time in October. I’m hoping we can get together in person and reconnoiter.

Have you reconnected with any old friends recently?