April 20th: Xan Vella

his week, Project 351 goes green for Earth Week! Week 2 of Service Leadership Academy will focus on environmental activism through enrichment, at home service, and the inspiration of leaders like Reverend Mariama White-Hammond, ecological justice Movement Maker.

Our #351GratitudeMoments are going green, too, as Ambassadors reflect on the places in nature that bring them inspiration and peace.
We begin with the reflections of Ambassador Xan Vella of Wellesley, whose activism for the planet is an inspiration to us, "I've been inspired by Greta Thunberg and her global activism at such a young age. I took part in both the eco-march in our town, as well as the school protest for climate change. Climate change is a big problem, that affects the younger generations in particular. Greta’s a hero of mine for making the issue more visible on the global stage." For today's #351GratitudeMoment, Xan shares a walk in her woods: "Recently I’ve been grateful for water. A little weird, right? (Editors' note: We don't think it's weird!) With Covid-19, it is good to focus on something that hasn’t changed, like water.In quarantine I’ve been taking lots of walks and just putting myself in nature. There's a pond that I like to walk to, with a little wooded area surrounding it.
Sometimes I sit but other times I just walk -- enjoying the quiet and the songs of the birds. The water in the pond flows to a river and a little waterfall, which I find calming and peaceful.

Water has an immense amount of energy and is more powerful than you or me. We need water to survive, it is essential to life -- in fact, water makes up 70% of of us. It impacts weather and climate all over the world. Our waterways are home to thousands of earth’s creatures. Water is so important, but we still pollute and take it for granted.

There have been reports that the decrease of human interaction due to COVID have helped the earth's waterways become clearer and heal other parts of nature.
During Earth Week, I want to thank water for making our planet as amazing as it is." #351GratitudeMoment
#earthday