PROGRAM STILLS FOR MEDIA
WHEN HEAVEN MEETS
EARTH
Faith, Environment and the Chesapeake Bay
Photo Captions
Beginning top-left and moving across:
Row 1/1: Waterman Nanner Pruitt shows off just one of the Chesapeake Bay's coveted crabs, whose habitat was extremely high risk until many watermen recently entered into a covenant to honor local and fishery laws. That commitment has transformed life on the island of 600 residents.
Row 1/2: Sunset over the Atlantic bids an end to another day of fishing off Tangier Island, on the Chesapeake Bay near the shores of Virginia and Maryland.
Row 1/3: University of Wisconsin doctoral candidate Susan Drake talks with a Tangier Island waterman just yards from the shore of an inlet of the Chesapeake Bay. Drakes thesis, which held that conflict in faith-based communities requires a faith-based response, helped to heal a growing and dangerous rift between watermen and local/regional environmentalists. The conflict had reached the point of an arson attack and, during her early days on the island, death threats against Drake.
Row 2/1: A seasoned waterman cleans his catch on a dock on Tangier Island. The environmental damage to the fisheries had long placed his and future watermen's lifestyle at risk. The work of University of Wisconsin doctoral candidate Susan Drake served as a catalyst to help heal the rift, which has resulted in significant efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its fisheries.
Row 2/2: A vintage bicycle is modern transportation on Tangier Island and other area islands. Tangier's 600 residents drive only a few trucks, and foodstuffs are shipped in 100 miles by boat from Crisfield, Maryland. Golf carts are also used by many islanders.
Row 2/3:The serenity and environmental health of Tangier Island and its fisheries are being restored after decades, if not hundreds of years, of abuse by local fishermen. The conflict began to subside following a public "covenant" by 60 watermen. Their influence on an island of 600 has helped restore the island and heal a rift between watermen and environmentalists.
Row 3/1: As the sun sets, a crab can be seen in the crab pot of a Tangier Island fisherman (a.k.a. "watermen"). Fishing makes a multi-million dollar impact on the region, particularly Tangier and neighboring islands, as well as the states of Virginia and Maryland.
Row 3/2: As tourists and visitors step onto the docks and Tangier Island (population 600), they step into a world still primarily inhabited by a descendants of a single family - that of John Crockett. Their heritage is evident by glancing at mailboxes and backyards - the mailboxes bear the names of ancestors whose graves and headstones are most often found in family backyards, rather than a cemetery. There are only about a dozen family names on the island today.
Row 3/3: Waterman Nanner Pruitt heads away from the dock for one of many daily trips into the Chesapeake Bay. Pruitt was among those who came forward at a public gathering at a local church to enter into "The Covenant," a promise to abide by the tenets of their Christian faith and take greater care of the Chesapeake Bay and its fisheries. "The Covenant" led to the founding of local groups committed to that vision, including FAIITH (Families Actively Involved in Improving Tangier's Heritage) and TaSC (Tangier Stewardship Committee).
Row 4/1: Waterman Jan Marshall - one of the Tangier Islanders who public proclaimed their commitment to "The Covenant" - pulls in a crab pot. Marshall says that his commitment to take better care of the Chesapeake Bay and its fisheries lost him his most cherished lifelong friend. Among other things, those who proclaimed commitment to "The Covenant" were accused of being brainwashed by environmentalists and doctoral candidate Susan Drake. Critics claim the Bay's decline is simply cyclical, and will be restored on its own without human intervention.
Row 4/2: Two Tangier Island residents make their way from church. More than 200 years ago, Methodist minister Joshua Thomas crisscrossed the Chesapeake Bay in an effort to proclaim the gospel and convert islanders to Christianity. Little could Thomas imagine that at the recent turn of the millennium island resident would experience a spiritual revival, which contributed to "The Covenant" among watermen to restore the local environment and fisheries.
Row 4/3:Susan Drake, a University of Wisconsin at Madison doctoral candidate in Environmental Studies, makes her way from an island church. Drake had learned of the local conflict between fisherman (watermen) and environmentalists, and of a recent spiritual revival. She chose to visit the island in an effort to test her thesis that conflict in faith-based communities requires faith-based resolutions.
Row 5/1: Noel Marshall - mother, homemaker, and
wife of waterman Jan Marshall - enjoys some time with her daughter
and a friend on one of the narrow, winding roads on Tangier Island.
Bicycles and golf carts are the primary mode of non-walking transportation
on the island, which has few cars.
Row 5/2: Aerial view of Tangier Island and main
harbor.
Row 5/3: Farmer John Economos in Southeastern Pennsylvania
and his son harvesting hay for their cows and other farmers. One
of the first farmers to make a covenant similar to the watermen's
covenant. It stated among other things that they would establish
buffers between their farms and waterways, keep cows out of the
rivers and streams and stop dumping oil on unpaved roads.
All photos and video stills by Jeffrey Pohorski
Copyright 1998-2006 SKUNKFILMS, Inc. unless otherwise noted.
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