Irene Farrow in Cajamarca

We are excited to have returning staff member Irene Farrow rejoining the Education Department as we gear up for the 40^th Anniversary of Earth Day. Here’s what she had to say on her first day back:

Hi all,

My name is Irene and I am the new National Outreach Associate for Earth Day Network’s Education Department. I will be coordinating the collaborations and outreach that we do with schools and educators across the country for Earth Day 2010. I had formerly worked as the Education Coordinator in 2007 and helped out with a number of campaigns and initiatives during and after Earth Day, including a fabulous school greening at St. Augustine in Buffalo, NY. It’s great to be back!

What did I do in the interim between Earth Days 2007 and 2010? Well, I was out getting field experience and a great tan in the northern coast of Peru as an environment volunteer with the Peace Corps. It was an amazing experience, and I look forward to sharing more about it with you in the future. But for now, I’ll recount a frequent conversation I have with people since I returned January 10, 2010 to the D.C. area.

When I tell people I returned less than a month ago from 2.5 years living in Peru as a Peace Corps volunteer, I often get the question, “How do you feel?” I pause and consider how to respond:

Am I content? homesick? nostalgic? confused? surprised? overwhelmed? freezing cold?

I am all that, and more.

Don’t get me wrong - it’s great to be back. But it’s all a lot to absorb.

First off, I’m experiencing the extreme climatological changes of moving from the tropics and equatorial sun, back to the frigid mid-Atlantic winter. I’m dealing with it. But another change to consider is my perceptions of life and work in D.C. the hotbed of all environmental and social change worldwide. Before I left for Peru in September, 2007, I had been living in the D.C. area and working for the Education Department at Earth Day Network. Now that I’m back, I’m living and working at the same place. It’s a unique transition I’m experiencing: to move from the midst of the international environmental movement’s powerhouse, to an agricultural community in the northern dry forest of Peru, and then back to aforementioned international powerhouse. Some things have changed, but many things haven’t.

Let’s run a short list of things I’ve observed that are different:

• We have a black president now, and most everybody’s cool with it. Now that’s a change;
• Food is bigger than ever. There’s even a farmer’s market in front of the White House?!;
• Earth Day Network has tripled in size and has more projects and campaigns than ever to reach out to nontraditional members of the environmental movement;
• The environmental movement is much more mainstream - every person and organization is touting their greenness.
• Connectivity has absolutely changed peoples’ lives. Before I left, a select few individuals had Blackberries. Now, people of all ages have got some sort of mini-computer and are always connected to telephone, email, internet, etc. etc. And they are much more dependent on all this.

At the same time, though, I am coming to realize that many things have stayed the same. My view of the way of life in the U.S. has probably changed more than life has actually changed.

So to answer the question I raised earlier - how do I respond to the “How do you feel” question:

I say, “Uhh….” and ponder the question for a minute, then smile and say, “Okay.”