moss Protocol 01: Seeing in Rainy Glory

Take a moss walk. Bring water with you to hydrate moss. Look on your block or in your neighborhood. Take your time, walk slowly. Moss exists on evolutionary time!

Be part of moss Summer Camp, created in collaboration with EPA guest agents + local mosses. Graduates will receive a certificate from the "real" EPA (Environmental Performance Agency).

Participate

View responses

Participate: moss Seeing in Rainy Glory

A Note on Comfort and Care: As you engage with moss Summer Camp, move with care and safety for your body and the bodies of others.

Take a moss walk. Bring water with you to hydrate moss. Look on your block or in your neighborhood. Take your time, walk slowly. Moss exists on evolutionary time!

Look for a gathering of moss. You’ve arrived at moss’ party! Start by experiencing moss color from 6 feet. Listen. Moss speaks to humans in the language of color. Attune to moss.

Go closer to moss and ask for permission: smell, touch and water moss. Observe what happens.

Notice your own physical posture when experiencing moss. Notice the scale of moss. Think about relationship between human body and moss “body.” What kind of relationship would you like to create with moss?

Settle into presence with moss, then take their photograph. Give a gesture of gratitude back to moss before you leave.

Submit the photo of the moss you spend time with.

moss’ library (work in progress)

Moss is connected to time and climate and geology. They teach us about our own interactions with water, microbes, pollution, heat and substrates. 

In protocol 04, you will be asked to hydrate moss’ library with your letter. We will then see what germinates as spores alight. As it grows, moss’ library will merge topics across land rights, reparations, and food systems, with a focus on resources and texts that center BIPOC communities and moss practices. 

More details coming soon! If you want to contribute suggestions for moss’ library, email us at environmentalperformanceagency@gmail.com.

This is moss’ library. The library is always open. 

Responses

  • Aaliyah from east orange nj
  • Abubakar from Jersey City, NJ
  • Priya from New Jersey
  • Kim Long Island
  • Julius, Rutgers Newark
  • Anthony Timpanaro Northvale, NJ
  • Jessica from Columbus, OH
  • Marie from Rahway,NJ
  • Paula, Ithaca, NY
  • Khaled from Old Tappan NJ
  • Anisha Central New Jersey
  • Sonam from Menlo Park, NJ
  • Ashley from Jamesburg,nj
  • Carolina from west Orange, NJ
  • Aylin, Randolph, NJ
  • Estonia, Woodbridge NJ
  • Charles from Roselle Park
  • Alex from Glen Ridge, New Jersey
  • Antouny Samaan, Rutgers Newark
  • Henry from Kearny Nj
  • Nelson from Elizabeth NJ
  • Jaelynn from Clark, New Jersey
  • Christina Catanese, MI
  • Rosalia Mesa-Castillo, NJ
  • Akansha Ghosh, NJ
  • Antouny Samaan, Rutgers Newark
  • Newark, NJ
  • Joel from Middlesex, New Jersey
  • Dot from Crown Heights, moss soaks in tears, Brooklyn
  • Dot from Crown Heights / tears for moss, Brooklyn, NY
  • Victoria from Columbia MO
  • Amy Youngs from Columbus, OH
  • Joey from columbus ohio
  • Marcia from Columbus OH
  • Lucia from Columbus, Ohio
  • Colin, Columbus, OH
  • Trevor McNutt from Columbus, Ohio
  • andrea, Lenapehocking land, East River Park, NYC
  • Ada from Ohio
  • Aber from Columbus, OH
  • Bilal from Reynoldsburg, Ohio
  • Angelica from Crown Heights, BK
  • Magdalena from Wroclaw-Borek, Poland
  • Chattanooga, TN
  • Birgit Larson from Beacon, NY
  • Bridget in Warren Michigan (Anishinaabe territory)
  • Victoria from Columbia MO
  • andrea and moss from East River Park, NYC
  • Josephine from Alston, Cumbria
  • Petra Kuppers, Odawa territory, Frankfort, Michigan
  • Stephanie Heit, Up North Michigan
  • Linda Stillman Hillsdale NY
  • Ellie, Troy, NY
  • Martina, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Megan Accord, NY
  • andrea from Brooklyn, NY

Further action

Is your state fighting to control transportation-related emissions?


Global temperatures are on target to rise at least 3°C (5.4 ° F) by 2100. On March 31, 2020, while the country was in lockdown due to the Covid19 pandemic, the US EPA passed a rule relaxing fuel efficiency standards through 2026 (based on spurious science). Transportation related greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise as Americans get on the road again. While Federal agencies fail us, states are fighting to regulate emissions more aggressively. Twenty-two states have sued the EPA.

Is your state one of them?

U.S. EPA is trying to omit vital Public Health Data- Tell them what you think!


In early March 2020, the U.S. EPA announced further amendments to it’s “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” policy proposal, which has been dubbed the “Censor Science Rule” by the scientific community, as it disqualifies all anonymous medical data – effectively the data that measures the health impact of environmental pollution.  We now know that the respiratory illness caused by Covid19 has brought the unsettling correlation between death rates and the POC and immigrant communities most exposed to environmental pollution further to light. 

ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE PUBLIC COMMENTS: Due to continued pushback on this proposal commenting is extended until May 18th. Visit regulations.gov to give a public comment, search by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OA–2018–0259.

Sent a comment to the US EPA

Don’t let the U.S. EPA get away with using the pandemic as an open license to pollute


Good Air quality is key for both humans and nonhumans alike. On March 26th, 2020, the U.S. EPA released a letter titled “COVID-19 Implications for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program”, announcing that it would not be enforcing its compliance regulations, giving industry a pass to pollute freely during this global health crisis. Former US EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy, called it “an open license to pollute.”

TAKE ACTION: Sign the NRDC Petition

How are bird and multispecies communities being impacted by US EPA rollbacks?


This March the U.S. EPA gutted the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which now no longer holds individuals or companies (for example real estate companies) accountable for the incidental killing of migratory birds. In New York City, 90,000 birds collide with buildings every year, many of these are migratory birds, as the city is located on a major migratory pathway. One more reason to stand up against massive real estate developments in the city! 

MAKE A PROTEST POSTER FOR YOUR WINDOW! And if you happen to live in a highrise, or any building with glass:

Use this Template to Help the Birds See the Glass

We want real climate justice policy! What Energy Policy would your Street Tree Endorse? 


In 2017 former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a notice proposing a repeal of the Clean Power Plan, which requires utilities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. The rule was replaced in 2019 with the “Affordable Clean Energy” (ACE) rule which weakens emissions standards. The U.S. EPA, over the past 4 years, has rolled back over 95 rules put in place to protect environmental health, supporting the interests of the coal, gas, and oil industries, along with Big Agriculture. How has this changed the role and pressure we place on so-called green infrastructure? What kind of energy policy would street trees endorse? Read about the Red New Deal, and A Peoples Climate Plan for NYC.

Read the Peoples Climate Plan for NYC

 Almost ⅔ of Earth’s biodiversity is bacterial. How do we deconstruct and unlearn human supremacy?


The U.S. EPA endorses the use of powerful herbicides and pesticides like glyphosate (Round Up) and chlorpyrifos. In 2019, the U.S. EPA announced that it would not ban chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that its own experts have linked to serious health problems in children, and farmworkers. Now more than ever our food supply depends on supporting and protecting farmworkers.

Visit Beyond Pesticides to learn more.

Tell Congress to provide essential benefits to essential workers