Each January, I write about starting a fresh new year. 2021 is no different but this time it feels a bit more poignant. Let’s face it, as years go, 2020 is best left behind. The pandemic colored all activities and was often stressful.

The new year provides a blank page on which to start our new chapter. Yet before we move forward on the reset, spending some time on reflection will help to build upon our successes and avoid repeating past mistakes.

In my reflection I’ll note that many people in Hopewell Valley concentrated on health– their own and others. People got outside to exercise. We also saw increased civic engagement as folks took a moment to consider on the intersection between their private actions and the public impact. As the national political stage grew more polarizing, personal pursuits became more focused on creating unity.

Individuals not only publicly supported social services that promoted the welfare of others, but also privately began more personal endeavors. Outdoor activity and previously neglected projects now took center stage but with a new twist, namely, mindfulness. For example, people approached gardening, a seemingly mundane task, with a new thoughtfulness by installing record numbers of native plants to improve their property while also seeking to restore the earth.

Doug Tallamy, Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, said it best: “In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water.” Replacing lawn and traditional gardens with native wildflowers and grasses restores biodiversity and transforms that area into life sustaining habitat for rapidly declining insect and bird populations.

While environmental organizations such as mine have often focused on these issues, it is heartening to see conservation gaining ground in our collective consciousness. In the past, we were practically begging to get volunteers.  Now people seek out nonprofit organizations and ask how they can help. FoHVOS has begun monthly volunteer training sessions to keep up with the demand.

As the promise of a vaccine allows a glimpse of normalcy in our future and people plan a return to their busy lives, let’s try to hold onto the positive new practices that we embraced during the challenges of 2020.

An excerpt of this article appears in January’s Hopewell Valley Neighbors magazine.