SWFL RESET Center

10/21/2026

Is it okay to be using silicone?

10/20/2026

“It isn’t half so important to know as to feel.” Rachel Carson

image002.jpgThere are many ways to protect the planet. Poetry is one of them, which is why the SWFL RESET Center wants to adapt a project undertaken by zoos in six major cities called The Language of Conservation.

Zoo directors were concerned that people visited their zoos and read informational signs about the animals they came to see but left “without a sense of being personally implicated or moved toward stewardship.” These directors knew that they had to appeal to people’s emotions as well as to their intellect, so they installed short poetry on signs, fences, walkways, and such.

Ninety percent of people read and liked the poetry and half explicitly indicated that they had drawn connections between the poetry and conservation issues, consistently mentioning that “the poems caused them to think about human responsibility to act as stewards of wildlife and about the interconnectedness of humans and the natural world.”

Instead of placing short poetry in zoos, the SWFL RESET Centers intends to place poetry on nature trails in parks and preserves and similarly appropriate places.

If you like poetry and appreciate how it can inspire greater conservation, we welcome your participation. Join us!

Learn more at 7pm on October 22nd at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers at 13411 Shire Lane (off Daniels Parkway). Please register here.

Short poetry on nature trails is an effective way to nurture a love of nature and environmental stewardship. Join us.

09/15/2026

Poetry on Trails: Nurturing a Love of Nature and Environmental Stewardship

Nov 5th 7:00pm

Short poetry on nature trails is an effective way to nurture a love of nature and environmental stewardship. Join us.

The SWFL RESET Center wants to partner with interested organizations to install signs with poetry along nature trails in parks, preserves, botanical gardens, and similarly appropriate natural places in SW Florida.

This project is an adaptation of the Language of Conservation projects in six zoos in major cities across the nation.

Many visitors who read the poetry at these zoos explicitly indicated that they had drawn connections between the poetry they read and conservation issues, consistently mentioning that the poems caused them to think about human responsibility to act as stewards of wildlife and about the interconnectedness of humans and the natural world.

We want to do nearly the same thing on nature trails. Learn more on November 5th.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ja7M4CmjRhunxLSAMDyBpQ

09/15/2026

As many of you know, the Lee Board of County Commissioners has asked county staff to update the Lee Plan and Development Code to streamline the documents and make them more efficient. As a consequence the 17 Community Land Use Plans in unincorporated Lee county are being deleted. Some, but not all of the content is moving to a different location in the documents. The requirement that some communities have for developers to present their plans at a public meeting is being eliminated. You can read about the changes in this link:

Lee Planning Agency information

The impacted communities have very recently founded The Lee Communities Coalition to organize opposition to these changes and to unite the individual communities. A website is in development, stay tuned... [email protected]

For those of you who are in town, please attend in person.

These are the last 2 steps prior to transmitting the Lee Plan and Lee Development Code revisions to the BOCC Their meeting is currently scheduled for Tuesday, October 7, 2026.

The Executive Regulatory Oversight Committee (EROC) will consider amendments to the Land Development Code at their meeting on September 9, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room 1B, 1500 Monroe Street, Fort Myers. The purpose of EROC is to assess the impact of all new regulations on the local economy. View the meeting agenda and packet:https://www.leegov.com/dcd/Documents/Agendas/EROC/2026/SEP92026.pdf
The Land Development Code Advisory Committee (LDCAC) will consider amendments to the Land Development Code at their meeting on September 11, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. in Conference Room 1B, 1500 Monroe Street, Fort Myers. The purpose of the LDCAC is to review changes to the Land Development Code prior to sending to the Board of County Commissioners for public hearings. View the meeting agenda and packet:https://www.leegov.com/dcd/Documents/Agendas/LDCAC/2026/SEP112026.pdf

09/01/2026

Fort Myers Recycling. Below are two cartons. Both have the chasing arrows on them. So we think they can be recycled. However, if you look closer the one one the left says "Recyclable" and in small print says "visit recyclecartons.com to see if recycle in your area" The second no such wording. If you go their website, https://recyclecartons.com you can look up your address and see if they are recyclable in your area. I have lived in Fort Myers Fla. for 5 yrs. Only today did I find out that they are not recyclable here. Please do your due diligence and also pass this along. See less

08/18/2026

08/17/2026

Help us plant trees!

Join Future Forestry on August 22 for a planting in Cape Coral - see https://dash.pointapp.org/events/761125 for details

07/20/2026

You always hear why, but seldom how. Here is a chance for you to learn how. Wont you join us?

When you attend the Beyond Plastics’ Grassroots Advocacy Training, you learn from people who started where many participants are now—just beginning their advocacy journey.

Suzette Munley, National Community Engagement Director for Beyond Plastics, began as a volunteer speaker in the Beyond Plastics Speakers Bureau. Today, she leads the Beyond Plastics Network and works alongside Rebecca Martin, Director of Community Partnerships and Training, helping communities turn advocacy into real policy change.

Suzette describes the Beyond Plastics Network as a space for everyone—whether you’re just getting started or already active in local advocacy. It’s a monthly virtual program to put training into practice, build skills over time, and stay connected to real campaigns.

We cannot recycle our way out of the plastic crisis—but we can organize and collaborate across communities to pass laws that stop it at the source.

Head to beyondplastics.org/trainings to learn more and join us for our upcoming quarterly Grassroots Advocacy Training this July

06/17/2026

For anyone who completes the Zero Waste class and sends me a copy of their certificate of completion I will send you $25. Please share this with others. Everyone needs to understand the importance of Zero Waste.

05/29/2026

Welcome to two talks sponsored by Climate Talks for Everyone, to a petition launch, and to support MAPA

-- On Saturday, May 30, via Zoom, join Rev. Payton Hoegh from Los Angeles, California, as he reaches out to all including communities of faith urging mindful practice and dialogue. Make sure to convert to your local time. Find details and sign up at this link, https://actionnetwork.org/events/nature-spirituality-earths-intersecting-systems-of-healing-and-wholeness/.

--On Sunday, June 14, via Zoom, join Assoc. Prof. Katja Kircher from Stockholm, Sweden as she discusses traffic mobility and a new vision around biking and auto travel. Find details and sign up at this link, https://actionnetwork.org/events/future-mobility2026/.

--Help gather signatures on a petition to Stop Big Oil, https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-big-oil-profits/. Ordinary citizens are everywhere being hit hard, as oil prices surge and we remain stuck in the wrong energy system furthering climate havoc. We need to get into solutions, and out of profit gouging and unnecessary wars and violence. When you have gathered over 50 to 100 and you submit them to various authorities, write the FFF Newsletter https://www.fridaysforfuturenewsletter.org/ about your efforts, and we will seek to publicize your empowering work.
--Seek to amplify voices of those forgotten and underrepresented. Fridays for Future MAPA (Most Affected People and Areas) needs funds to send a delegation in June 2026 to bring demands of communities directly to climate negotiators from around the world in Bonn, Germany, for the UN Climate Change Intersessional Meetings (SB64). These negotiations are a crucial moment ahead of COP31. MAGA also seeks to organize a major climate march and mobilization in Bonn as part of our Global Climate Strike. Find out more here and please donate, https://chuffed.org/project/fffsb64

FFF Action Network, FFF Newsletter, Climate Talks for Everyone, and other groups.

Mobilizing Global South Youth Activists for SB64 in Bonn