The AHEPAN - Fall 2009 - 18

Being Green Is In Our DNA by brother John Sarbanes, u.S. congressman, 3rd congressional district of maryland hese past few years I have been fortunate to travel across the country and meet Greek Americans from all walks of life. From these encounters, I have been struck by our community’s ongoing exploration of who are we, how did we get here and where are we going? I realize that, as far back as I can remember, I too have been preoccupied with these important questions. It explains my intense interest in the great journey that my Yiayia and Papou undertook -- at a time when crossing the Atlantic meant leaving your family, your friends and your village forever. Through hard work, perseverance, and an unwavering commitment to family, my grandparents established themselves in Salisbury, Md. There they became the proprietors of the Mayflower Restaurant, and through their restaurant, became engaged in the civic affairs of their adopted community. T My Yiayia and Papou raised their children to respect the importance of education and a life dedicated to the Hellenic values of hard work, family and pursuit of excellence, the very same principles that guided them through their epic life journey. Today, I happily remember the weekends, summers and holidays spent with my Yiayia Matina on Maryland’s eastern shore. There, my Yiayia would take me crabbing on the Nanticoke River and she would keep me outdoors the whole day. Later, in my formative years, I traveled to Greece and to my ancestral home in the Peloponnese. One day my uncle prepared a “trapezi” and we sat right by the sea. As we were enjoying the natural food, the sun, the sea, the fresh air, my uncle turned to me and said, “Yianni, this is life.” Our ancestors mostly came from the village or island life of Greece. For them, nature was a part of daily life, whether it was the fish from the sea, the bounty from the harvest or the lamb from their flocks. I believe that my commitment to the environment began with my Yiayia’s love for nature, a love of nature that grew out of her daily life in Laconia and a love of nature that she nurtured in me along the tributaries of Maryland’s eastern shore. As a member of the United States Congress, I have been a strong proponent of the environment and in particular of giving children the opportunity to experience environmental education. It has been my privilege to work with a broad coalition of groups in introducing legislation in the Congress called the No Child Left Inside Act. The NCLI bill seeks to improve education in our nation’s public schools and to protect our environment by creating a new environmental education grant program; training teachers to provide environmental education instruction; and requiring states that participate in the environmental education grant program to A replica of the certificate given to the Ecumenical Patriarch by The No Child Left Inside Coalition. develop a K-12 plan to ensure high school the ahepan Fall 2009 www.ahepa.org

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The AHEPAN - Fall 2009

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