Productive Dialogue with “Let’s Be Shore”
Please enjoy a guest blog from Maryland Humanities Council: Can Productive Dialogue Set the Tone for Solutions? The “Let’s Be Shore” Project Wants to Jumpstart Conversation by Michele Baylin, Maryland Humanities Council Communications Manager How can watching a video create better stewardship of our watershed? The Maryland Humanities Council’s (MHC) Practicing Democracy project, “Let’s Be Shore,” is using the humanities to connect with Eastern Shore residents, inform them about their county watershed implementation plans (WIPs), and bring people with divergent perspectives together for civic discourse. In 2011, MHC’s Practicing Democracy program was honored with the Helen and Martin Schwartz Prize for using the humanities to tackle local critical issues such as hydraulic fracturing, cultural diversity, and land use. In 2012, Practicing Democracy focuses its efforts on the Shore. “Let’s Be Shore” offers a space for dialogue and listening, so that residents may explore issues of land use and sustainability along the Shore. The EPA expects Bay jurisdictions to work with local leaders and partners to identify county Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) to meet interim water quality goals. But as we all know, the Chesapeake Bay watershed is diverse and land use varies widely between Maryland’s upper, mid, and lower shore counties. Residents are keenly aware of their personal relationship to and responsibility for the area’s natural resources, but stakeholders are often at odds about how to move forward. “We seek to be a neutral convener, not to change people’s values or opinions, but rather to foster a respect and understanding, enabling communities to come together for civil dialogue,” says Executive Director Phoebe Stein Davis. Last fall, Beth Barbush, MHC’s “Let’s Be Shore” Project Manager, teamed up with award-winning documentary filmmaker Doug Sadler (“Swimmers”), conducting audio interviews on the subject of water quality along the Bay. Audio transcripts were reviewed by a panel of Shore residents, who helped