Special Announcement: Habitat Restoration Volunteering Event at AvatarMeet 2014!

[Raiden]

I have a special announcement to make; we are introducing a new event to the annual meetup itinerary, starting this year.

I didn’t come to this community because I felt like being social. I came here because I was hoping that Avatar made more people realize that we live on an amazing world, and that unless we act to keep it healthy for other living things, all we’ll have to remember them by are books and preserved specimens pickled in university basements. I found those people, and I’ve hoped that the message stuck with them and that those people are the same people reading this now.

Our community is unlike those of other interest groups. Our reason for gathering may have been a work of fiction, but we have something more than others like us; we have purpose.
The central message of Avatar is one of environmental responsibility and empathy for other living things. There are no other online communities based on fictional material that can lay claim to this. We were all touched by this movie, and many of us were awakened to the severity of the problems facing the health of our planet –our Eywa –and how they will impact the future of the organisms that live here, including ourselves.

In a way, it is our responsibility to owe up to these ideals. If we do not take action on our values and ideology, we are little more than hypocrites obsessed with the color blue. We can help make a difference, and through the meetups we can join forces to help make every part of the world we visit a little better for the plants and animals that live there.

And so, I am pleased to announce that we have arranged a volunteering session with Madrona wetlands, a nature preserve located right in the midst of Los Angeles. On Saturday at 1 PM, we will all head down to Madrona and help improve the habitat there by removing invasive species and replanting them with natives; this will help by giving the animals that live in this island of a once-common ecosystem in the area new places to forage, take shelter, and raise their young.

Madrona will provide us with the tools and other necessities, and will be offering refreshments as thanks for providing our assistance. We will be bringing lunch with us from the hotel; we will eat lunch in their picnic area and then roll up our sleeves and get to work. If anyone with physical limitations finds the tasks too difficult, other options can be furnished.
Our session will last from 1 to 4 PM, and after that we will return to the hotel for our last night before we all have to depart. I hope everyone is excited for this opportunity to have some fun while helping to repair the damage that others have dealt to our planet’s biosphere.

If anyone has any questions, send me a private message on the Learn Na’vi forums or on the Tree of Souls forums, or send me an email at entomancer@gmail.com. I have been involved in restoration activities in my hometown, and I can answer any questions about the details. I look forward to joining the rest of your in helping to restore our Eywa.