Welcome to the 44th Annual Earth First! Summer Gathering
This year we are gathering July 2-9 on Lenape Land, in Lenapehokink – “Land of the Lenape.” The Lenape are the original inhabitants of what is colonially known as eastern “Pennsylvania,” southern “New York,” “New Jersey,” and northern “Delaware.” The gathering is happening in Bangor, PA at what is now the Kirkridge Retreat Center. With Seeds of Peace we will be providing hot breakfast and dinner; please bring your own food for lunches if you can, as well as your camping setup. We are also hoping to secure extra camping gear for people that need.
In this page you will find; information about the location, physical accesibility notes a schedule, directions and transit options, and our policies. Please email hotEFsummer@proton.me with any more questions!
We are also collecting funds to support travel for for facilitators and BIPOC folks as well as for the kitchen, general infrastructure stuff to help with accessibility and extra camping gear. Email hotEFsummer@proton.me to inquire about BIPOC travel funds.
About Kirkridge
“Located on the homelands of the Lenape, we are invested in dismantling supremacy of every kind, at every level, and about welcoming people of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, ages, religions, and abilities.
“Steeped in the peace-and-justice loving traditions of radical Christianity, Kirkridge wholeheartedly welcomes people of all faiths and none. Kirkridge prioritizes the needs of people and groups who are targeted and/or excluded within existing social systems and structures.
“In our now 82 year history, Kirkridge has served as a place of respite, provocation, strategy, organizing, and spiritual formation for countless people. Desmond Tutu, Vincent and Rosemary Harding, Bernice Johnson-Reagan, Daniel and Phillip Berrigan, Dorothy Day, and Bayo Akomolafe are just a few who have frequented this place.
“In the mid-1970s the first ever retreats for LGBTQ Christians were held here, and in the 1980s, Kirkridge began the Memorial Garden as a final resting place for people dying of AIDS.
“This past May, our board voted to sign the Treaty of Renewed Friendship with the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, and we are exploring what it means to make right what was wrong. “
Physical Accessibility
We will have marked off areas for parking- including accessibility parking that will be as close to the gathering places as possible, and will allow for easy access and the ability to leave the site quickly if needed. Please, let organizers know your needs when you arrive so they can place you in accessible parking. Do not park in accessible parking if you can make the walk from farther parking. Some parking is available across a road that you will need to cross on foot. This forest has 3 landings that are flat, with a steep trail connecting all three. We would like everyone to camp on the first landing or in the woods on the way up to the second. There is parking space on the second and third landings but we ask that folks not camp up there. We will prioritize filling parking on the first landing before sending folks up to the second and third. You may need to walk down the trail from the upper landings to get to the first one where the main events will be, if you have parked up above. We will have a map of the site when you arrive.
In general, you will not need to walk more than 10 to 15 minutes to get to where things are set up. The walk is on an easy path with minimal inclines and the path is wide enough for a wheel chair. The paths are unpaved, and could pose difficulty for that reason. The site is located on a ridge with very steep hills- but the kitchen and family camp and most workshops will all be a few minutes of a walk a part with gentle inclines. If you so choose to walk deeper into the woods, you will find steep hills. Feel free to camp there if you like! There are flat woods area too that will be available for camping. Please remember to bring your own water bottle and dish / utensils to eat with and to wash. There will be water stations to fill up your jugs.
Directions
From I-80: Take Pennsylvania exit number 307 (Old Exit 50) in Stroudsburg to Route 191 South. Take Route 191 South approximately 5 miles to the top of the ridge. The first Kirkridge sign will be for the Nelson Lodge, proceed to the second sign and turn left (Fox Gap Road) for the Farmhouse.
From I-78: From either the east or west, take the Route 22 exit and follow to Route 33 North. Take Route 33 North to the Route 191 exit at Stockertown. Take Route 191 North through Stockertown, Ackermanville and Bangor. Continue approximately 5 miles to the top of the ridge. Turn right at first Kirkridge sign (Fox Gap Road) for the Farmhouse.
RIDESHARE
You can sign up to offer a ride or look for a spot in a car at http://www.groupcarpool.com/t/e8pjum. We will also have a large piece of cardboard hung in a prominent location at the gathering for folks to post offered & needed rides. The information on the online rideboard versus the IRL one will not be kept up to date with each other so we encourage you to look at both locations.
Getting a ride directly to the gathering is the easiest and cheapest way for you and puts the least pressure on organizers to shuttle people around so we really encourage this option if possible.
BUS
FROM NYC
The Martz bus leaves from the Port Authority at 8th Ave & 41st St in Manhattan many times a day. The earliest bus is 8:30 am. Take it to Stroudsburg PA. The cost is $54 each way ($51 bus fare + $3 in fees).
Depending on which bus you take the bus may drop you at two different locations in Stroudsburg. We will be running a shuttle from the 1082 Foxtown Hill Road location so if you want us to scoop you please take a bus to that location specifically.
SHUTTLE TO GATHERING FROM MARTZ BUS
We will be have a 6 person shuttle available to run 3 times a day from the 1082 Foxtown Hill Road location in Stroudsburg. ***We will only run this shuttle when we know for sure that someone is in need of a ride so if you plan to take the bus and need to be picked up please TEXT so we can be sure to have space for you in the vehicle (929) 448 1961.*** If you do not text us there is the real possibility that there will be nobody there to scoop you when you get in. As well if you NEED a ride FROM the gathering to the bus- please let the folks organizing the shuttles know! They will make themselves known at morning circle. Again, please prioritize using the rideshare board (both online and a separate in person one) and/ or self organizing your own rides with new friends.
The shuttle will leave from the EF! gathering for Stroudsberg at:
12:00pm 4:00pm 8:00pm
It will leave from 1082 Foxtown Hill Road in Stroudsberg back to the gathering at:
12:40pm 4:40pm 8:40pm
TRAIN
FROM NYC
NJ Transit runs a train that stops a few times a day in Hackettstown PA, which is a 40 minute drive from the gathering. The cost is $18.40 each way. This train does not run on July 4th or on the weekends.
Two lines run to Hackettstown PA – the Morris & Essex line and the Montclair-Boonton line. You can find the train schedules here – you can download the full schedule over on the right under where it says Download PDF schedules or just enter your arrival and destination points under “Train Schedules”.
Both lines depart both from Hoboken in NJ (1 Hudson Pl, Hoboken, NJ) and from Penn Station in Manhattan (214 W 34th St., New York, NY). If departing from Penn Station you will need to change trains at Newark Broad Street but the total cost of the ticket will not go up. You can also access NJ public transit from the Newark Airport, in which case you will have to change trains both in Secaucus and again at Newark Broad Street.
You can also call NJ Transit to check updated train times- (973) 275 5555.
We will not be running shuttles from the train station so please only use this route if you can find a buddy to scoop you and bring you to the gathering.
POLICIES
Dogs: We love them, but we don’t love them getting in fights, defecating in our water, and barking through morning circle. If you can, please leave your furry companions at home. However, we know that’s not always an option for everyone. We are aware that some of us have accessibility aspects and dogs accompany us while engaging certain processes. If you have to bring a dog (or raccoon, ferret, whatever) please keep them on a leash, out of the kitchen, and out of conflict. Thanks. If your dog is a huge problem, your animal friend will be asked to leave the gathering.
Alcohol, cigarettes, and other substances: Please do not use alcohol, cigarettes, or other substances in common spaces, including the kitchen area, workshops, morning circles, non-rowdy fire, and kids area. In you own camping area or autonomously organized fires, do what you want. It way me worth communicating with your camping neighbors about the experiences you are looking to have, so that folks can make informed consent. As a general approach, please don’t push it on anyone else, consider the impact you may have on others if you are smoking, using substances, or intoxicated, and be cognizant of people in recovery or for whom alcohol, tobacco commodification, and other substances are part of colonization and subjugation. There will be a separate social space for a rowdy fire where drinking is not prohibited. There will be spaces designated for cigarette smoking. Overall, we all carry different histories and relationships with substances. As organizers, we support a harm reduction approach and do not believe in shaming substance use. We do ask that folks consider the group, the gathering, and make thoughtful, mindful decisions.
Appropriation
White Locks, Eagle Feathers, Sage: No White Locks. You know if you’re white. You know what locks are. If you’re white and have locks, then remove them or leave. Your focus should be on your responsibility to respect those you wish to have solidarity with, not your right to be a white person with locks. If you believe that you are not responsible for removing your locks after being told that it is harming black people in this space, then we don’t want you around. We have received feedback from some EF!ers of color that, when they see white people in EF! spaces with locks, or eagle feathers, or sage, or otherwise utilizing practices that are culturally significant to BIPOC folks, it hurts them and makes some of them decide not to come back. Don’t burn sage if it’s not your ancestral tradition – there are lots of beautiful histories of sacred smokes and plant relationships within your specific cultural lineages for you to explore. There’s no need to take those of others.
Tobacco: Tobacco originally comes from a place of being a sacred element used in spiritual and ceremonial practices by Native Americans for thousands of years. Tobacco has been stolen, criminalized – “U.S.” laws made Native Americans’ traditional use of tobacco illegal from the 1880s to 1978 – culturally appropriated, and turned into a hybridized commodity for the $106 billion a year “U.S.” tobacco industry. Appropriated tobacco became one of the primary products fueling colonization and a driving factor in the introduction of slave labor. From 1617 to 1793 it was the most valuable cash crop exported from “British North America” and the “U.S.” Today commercial tobacco occupies hundreds of thousands of acres of land for production. Commercial tobacco kills worldwide over 8 million people annually, including approximately 1.3 million from secondhand smoke. The CDC reports it as the leading cause of preventable death in the “U.S.” While we recognize tobacco’s role in harm reduction regarding substance use, we ask you to be conscious of your tobacco use, its history, and the modern commodified version’s negative health effects and not smoke in common spaces and use designated smoking areas.
Let’s choose not to do things that we hear are hurting people. Please don’t do it and read more in the cultural appropriation section of this welcome packet.
Consent: We all come from different spaces and have different lived experiences that lead us to develop our own needs to feel “safe.” Consent is a way to communicate and respect those needs. Whether it be a sexual act, a hug, taking a picture, or smoking a cigarette, it’s necessary to communicate first about consent. Consent is the permission of any act, given freely without coercion, force, manipulation, stress, or fear. When someone consents to something, they are making an informed decision and understand the outcomes and effects of that decision. Consent to one act or idea doesn’t imply consent to ALL things. It’s OK to revoke consent too. People can change their minds at ANY time, even if they’ve already given consent. Take time to check in when moving forward. This is especially important if/when folks are imbibing alcohol or other substances; you are still responsible for your behavior and your impacts on community. Consent violations will be taken extremely seriously. If you need support around this, reach out to the conflict team or trusted friends.
Photographs, Videos, and other Tech: Do not take photos or videos of groups or individuals unless you have explicit permission from everyone in the camera’s view. Do not record others without permission. Period.
Additionally this in a no-tech space generally. So, you’re encouraged to leave your phone and other tech at your campsite or in your car if it’s not medically necessary. This helps keep us all safer. For more about why digital security is important, please see the “Security Culture” section. If you are unsure about the policy or why we have it, ask a new friend. Let’s keep each other safe! Put your phone away! Be free!
Personal Waste Removal: Please pack out what you bring in. Don’t make other people clean up your trash. This is pretty simple: If you are here, then you support earth liberation. So, pick up your trash and other people’s trash that you find. Generally, do your part to minimize our impact on the land holding us during this week.
Respecting the Space & Each Other
Cultural Appropriation: This is the adoption or theft of icons, rituals, aesthetic standards, or behavior from one culture by another for material or cultural capital. It’s generally applied when the subject culture is marginalized/subordinated in social, political, economic, or military status by the appropriating culture. Here in the so-called “U.S.”, this is overwhelmingly (but not exclusively) white people appropriating cultural practices of Indigenous, Black and Brown folks.
Cultural appropriation is harmful because it is an extension of centuries of racism, genocide, colonization, slavery, erasure, and oppression. Cultural appropriation treats all aspect of the oppressed peoples as free for the taking. It is the same rationale that has been, and still is, used to steal land and resources from Indigenous people and other marginalized cultures.
Calling each other in/out for appropriating other cultures (or even navigating conversations around cultural appropriation) can be tricky. As always, it’s really important not to assume anyone’s identity. For example, just because someone has light skin doesn’t mean they’re white. Be open to hearing from others about how appropriation harms them and try to not get defensive. The bottom line is, if you learn that your choices are appropriative, stop engaging in appropriative choices. Cultural appropriation is a form of colonial violence.
Anti-Fascism: There is no compromise here: This gathering is nt a safe space for Eco-Fascists and Eco-Fascism. Fuck Fascism in all of its forms.
Anti-White Supremacy: White people in EF! and EF! spaces are also making a commitment to fight white supremacy in its more pernicious forms, including addressing how white supremacy shows up in our spaces and how we can collectively fight it.
If this is not a commitment you are willing to make, then this space is not for you.
Power Dynamics: There are complex webs of privilege, power dynamics, social dynamics, and other undercurrents at play in the world and in this space. In an effort to make this space more supportive and safer for everyone, ask yourself question such as: “Have I already spoken a lot in this conversation?” and “Am I speaking from my onw experiences right now?” Please also read the Cultural Appropriation section below for further thoughts.
Labor at the Gathering: There is always something folks could use support with – from getting firewood, to restocking TP at the shitters, to facilitating workshops. If you’re able, pitch in! Often, different types of labor fall on or are dominated by the same folks all week long. Consider whether you could offer to teach more people a skill you already know, like cutting firewood, or whether you could relieve the workload of someone else, like a parent, by signing up to do some childcare (It’s really fun!). You might even learn something new.
Covid-19
The entire gathering is outdoors, and the organizers designed workshop spaces with airflow and social distancing in mind. That said, we encourage people to wear a mask when it feels appropriate or necessary for you.
Overall, be mindful of other people’s personal space and Covid boundaries. Ask for consent! Be proactive! Respect each other! Carry masks with you in your day pack to meet emerging mask needs.
We will ask people to mask if a workshop space seems cramped. If you are in close quarters and someone asks you to mask, please do so.
Please test before coming to the gathering. If you have symptoms, please don’t come – even if you test negative. Masks and tests will be available at the medic tent at the gathering. If you develop symptoms after arrival, please self-isolate and get in touch with the medic crew.
When in the kitchen: WASH YOUR HANDS! The kitchen crew will be following standard meal prep safety guidelines (hand washing and wearing gloves when preparing raw foods). Please follow their lead when helping out in the kitchen to keep us all as safe as possible. If you are volunteering in the kitchen and would like folks around you to mask, or would like to be given a more isolated task, please just let them know.
Meal times: We will be practicing social distancing while standing in line for food. Those helping with serving food will be masking.
Camping Gear Drive
If you have an extra tent, if you have an extra sleeping bag, please bring it. We are trying to have a supply of gear for folks who might not have gear but want to join us during the week. We’ll make sure you get it back! Thank you.
Earth First! – Food Drive
Can you bring some food to the gathering? Can you obtain some on the way? Produce, Cheese, Canned Goods, Tortillas, Chips, Bread, etc. Waste not, want not! Do you work on a farm? Or in a food processing facility? Help contribute to feeding your fellow activists for the week?!
Clowning!
Finally, if you plan to be around toward the end of the week, there’s a special event planned and the dress code is CLOWN! We can’t disclose more at this time but you’ll want to bring your clown gear and costumes to include yourself in!
hotEFsummer@proton.me
Reposted from Earth First! Journal