"Beauty and seduction are nature's tools for survival, because we protect what we fall in love with. It opens our hearts and makes us realize we are part of nature and we're not separate from it. We are connected to a universe that celebrates life. Each day that's given to you is a Gift. If you do nothing else but cultivate the response of Gratitude then each day is well lived"
This video is pure truth and beauty. It speaks exactly to what I have been expressing on this blog from the beginning. Enjoy the heart opening that it offers.
Global Earth Exchange | Radical Joy Bird
Pictured above: Radical Joy Bird made from found plastic pieces next to a dead shore bird. Placed on ancient native American shell midden on polluted beach Richmond. Layering of ancient and contemporary- eternal and ephemeral refuse.Having compassion for the unloved parts of ourselves and the world is the first step to healing. This is what this wonderful organization Radical Joy for Hard Times is teaching us: embrace the sad and unloved places and you offer them the space to heal. I recently took part in their Global Earth Exchange where I went out to a place in nature that is neglected and polluted, created some art and offered the spirit of the place a bit of love.
Here's a quote from their work:
Here's a quote from their work:
"Weʼre all aware of the damage that pollution, mining, urban development, and other environ-mental assaults do to the places we love. Yet still we feel deeply connected to these places. It is by actually seeking out these wounded places, sharing our stories, and opening ourselves to the possibility of finding and making beauty there that we transform both ourselves and the place. We do this through a simple, yet deeply meaningful process called the Earth Exchange.
We call it an Earth Exchange because in the process of enacting it, an exchange is made between people and place. People receive meaning and beauty from a place they might previously have seen as spoiled or even worthless, and the place receives compassion and creativity from the people who care about it."
We call it an Earth Exchange because in the process of enacting it, an exchange is made between people and place. People receive meaning and beauty from a place they might previously have seen as spoiled or even worthless, and the place receives compassion and creativity from the people who care about it."
The beach where I made these Radical Joy Birds is just near my house in Richmond. On a recent day of trying to clean up the garbage on the beach I was totally disheartened by the futility of my efforts. How could it possibly make any difference at all, it's never ending! I know that any real positive change in our environment has to start from within us. I realized that the polluted beach is so deeply connected our inner pollution. This is what we've manifested by being so disconnected from nature. Doing this Earth Exchange and actions like it help to heal this disconnection on a deeper spiritual level and has really given me some feeling of being empowered and hopeful. I know that when we notice the beauty in nature, even in the saddest places, Mother Earth smiles upon us with infinite appreciation that she's not forgotten.
Pictured here: this Radical Joy Bird is made from sharp pieces of rusted metal I found here. The heavy winds we've had lately uncovered lot's of this rusted metal I've never see before here. It's very sharp and dangerous. 
Above: My radical joy doggie- always showing me how to love being in natureWater Deva
"Water is a Deva- a divine being who offers her body to be used as the basis of life" says PR Tigunait, a Tantric scholar. Reading these words in the recent Yoga Journal set me adrift to contemplate on this lovely thought. Water does have a magical essence: healing, invigorating, meditative, cleansing, sacred and beautiful beyond description. I've always been drawn like a magnet to the great source of all water, the sea. Something about it gives me a feeling of expansiveness, peace and belonging, as if she were a mother or a goddess calling me home to myself. After a recent diving experience I said to my husband that I felt completely renewed like I'd been baptized again. There's just no other feeling like being in the expansive blue full body caressing embrace of water. The myriad wild wonders revealed beneath her blue cloak are so infinitely marvelous.
Throughout my life the sea has soothed me, supported me and celebrated with me. Perhaps replacing the mother that I lost when far too young. The fact is we wouldn't exist without precious, beautiful water. How heartbreaking then to know how polluted and abused water all over the world is today. She is sick and suffering in a toxic mix of chemicals, oil, radiation, garbage and plastic. Why do we use water sources as a dumping ground for what we don't want to have or see anymore? Don't we know that by poisoning it we are poisoning ourselves? Perhaps it's time to start revering water as the divine being that it is. I owe water my life and wish I could protect it, but fear it's too late. On this earth day I send a prayer out into the world that we will start to honor the sacred source of life itself. In my dream for the planet I throw my arms around the oceans and return that tight embrace hoping to give back just a drop of what the divine water Deva has given me.
Midway's Albatrosses Survive the Tsunami (but will they survive the plastic tsunami?)
By Brandon Keim Email Author
The famed albatrosses of Midway Atoll took a beating from the tsunami, but their population will survive, say biologists on the islands.
There are, of course, more pressing concerns in the tsunami’s aftermath than wildlife, and some might balk at paying attention to birds right now. But compassion isn’t a zero-sum game, and Midway Atoll is one of Earth’s natural treasures: 2.4 square miles of coral ringing a deep-sea mountaintop halfway between Honolulu and Tokyo, a flyspeck of dry land that’s home to several million seabirds.
Roughly two-thirds of all Laysan albatrosses live on Midway’s two islands, as do one-third of all black-footed albatrosses, and about 60 people. Many of them work at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. They had time to prepare for the tsunami, which struck late on the night of March 10. Nobody was hurt; after the waves receded, they checked on the wildlife.
An estimated 1,000 Laysan adults were killed, and tens of thousands of chicks, said Refuge official Barry Stieglitz. Those figures represent just the first wave of mortality, as adults who were at sea when the tsunami hit may be unable to find their young on returning. Chicks now wandering on shore may be doomed — but in the long run, the population as a whole will recover.
“The loss of all these chicks is horrible. It’s going to represent a significant portion of this year’s Laysan albatross hatch. But in terms of overall population health, the most important animals are the proven, breeding adults,” said Stieglitz. “In the long term, the greatest impact would be if we lost more adults. The population should come through this just fine.”
On a sadder note, however, one of the wandering chicks is the first short-tailed albatross to hatch on Midway in decades. The species was hunted to near-extinction in the 19th century, its feathers so fashionable that a population of millions was reduced to a handful of juveniles who stayed at sea during the carnage. (Young short-tailed albatrosses live in the open ocean for several years before mating.) About 3,000 of the species now survive, and a few have recently made a home on Midway.
“If the chick lost one parent, it could be in danger. If it lost both, it’s definitely out of luck,” Stieglitz said.
Another well-known avian denizen of Midway is Wisdom, a 60-year-old female Laysan albatross. Banded for identification in 1956, Wisdom is the oldest known wild bird. In February, she was spotted rearing a new chick.
“When I gaze at Wisdom, I feel as though I’ve entered a time machine,” wrote U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist John Klavitter in an email. “My mind races to the past and all the history she has observed through time.”
Midway’s Laysan albatrosses feed in waters off Alaska, flying about 50,000 miles each year as adults. Wisdom has flown between 2 and 3 million miles in her lifetime, compensating for age with smarts and efficiency. She hasn’t been spotted since the tsunami, but Stieglitz said the biologists haven’t looked for her yet. Wisdom’s nest is on high ground. They’re not too worried about her.
Mardi Gras In NOLA = Below Sea Level Plastic Garbage
Mardi Gras In NOLA = Below Sea Level Plastic Garbage
By Stiv Wilson on March 10, 2011
(Photo by Patrick Semansky, NOLA)
Wow. This is one of those times when you think about celebration, you think about consequence, you think about excess, you think about consumerism, you think about the fact that there are fewer than 500 people in the world working on oceanic plastic issues full time and you kind of freak out.
We have a long way to go in this movement. For all the inspiration, good work and good people sometimes the monster we fight shows his face and we're all taken aback. But never say die. Support us. Please. http://5gyres.org/
TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch Conference | Van Jones- Environmentalism=Social Justice
This video is from the TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch conference which took place last November in LA. There were over 30 illuminating speakers who shared amazing information about plastic and pollution but this one in particular stood out for me. Van Jones, a brilliant environmental advocate and civil rights activist- author of "Green Collar Economy" linked environmentalism to social justice unlike anyone I've heard. The idea is so simple: the moral challenge of the movement to stop plastic waste must go hand in hand with the entire mindset of disposability which also effects the under classes. The issues of the high percentage of incarceration of the poor and impoverished communities that are degraded and polluted like Cancer Alley in Louisiana, are evidence of the interconnection of poverty and pollution in our throw away society. The concept of Biomimicry -respect for the wisdom of all species- is actually a social justice idea like democracy which is respecting the wisdom of all people. You can't have one without the other.
We don't have to pick just one issue to care about- whether we will hug a tree or hug a child- we have two arms and can hug both. Thank you Van Jones!
We don't have to pick just one issue to care about- whether we will hug a tree or hug a child- we have two arms and can hug both. Thank you Van Jones!
One Plastic Beach | Richard and Judith Lang
One Plastic Beach from Tess Thackara on Vimeo.
Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang have been collecting plastic debris off one beach in Northern California for over ten years. Each piece of plastic Richard and Judith pick up comes back to their house, where it gets cleaned, categorized and stored before being used for their art. The couple make sculptures, prints, jewelry and installations with the plastic they find washed up, raising a deeper concern with the problem of plastic pollution in our seas.
To learn more about their work, visit:
www.beachplastic.com/
www.plasticforever.blogspot.com/
Camera / Edit - Eric Slatkin
Producer - Tess Thackara
Plastic Pollution Coalition | Get Started Advice for 2011
Disposable plastic items are so common that it’s easy to not notice them. But disposable plastic is everywhere– the plastic straws delivered in our drinks; the plastic bags offered to us at stores; the plastic cups, bottles and utensils at nearly every social event; the plastic packaging of nearly everything in the supermarket. Once you see it for what it is—plastic pollution—it’s simple to just REFUSE. Here are some tips on how to avoid generating plastic waste.
1. Water
- Bring a stainless steel water bottle rather than drinking water out of disposable plastic bottles. Purchase our cool water bottle in red, stainless steel or black at BuyGreen or grab one at just about any store. Just make sure it is not aluminum.
- Don’t have your stainless steel bottle with you? Buy a glass-bottled drink. When you finish that beverage, reuse the bottle.
2. Bring Your Own Bag
Always bring your own bags whenever you shop, not just for the supermarket. By bringing your own bag, you alone can save between 400 and 600 plastic bags per year.
There are lots of cool tote bag companies out there. Just a few of the bags we like:
- Citizenlove - designs by our co-founder Dianna Cohen
- Envirosax – very popular in Europe
- Chico bags – wonderful, small and easy to carry around in lots of colors
3. Straws
Consider some easy alternatives to the ubiquitous plastic straws.
- No straw. Do you really need one?
- Carry your own stainless steel straw.
- Use an elegant glass straw in one of many sizes and designs
4. To Go Cups
Bring your own ceramic or stainless steel mug. Carry one in your car. Some coffee shops will even reward your thoughtfulness with a small discount on coffee or tea.
5. To Go Food Containers
Whether you prepare school lunch, order takeout or go out to eat, take along your own reusable containers. Some of the sites where you can purchase one:
6. To Go Utensils
Bring along your own utensil set, add a straw and you are all set! You can purchase sets online at To-Go Ware.
7. Lighters
Rather than buy plastic disposable lighters, consider investing in a refillable multi-use lighters. The oceans of the world and the albatross chicks who are fed these from out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean will thank you.
8. Milk
Buy your milk in a glass returnable, reusable bottle… old fashioned, but tastes great and it’s better for you. Many health food markets and farmers markets carry milk in glass bottles.
9. Choose Paper to Wrap
Wax paper is an excellent substitute to the ubiquitous stretch plastic we have been told is essential for cooking and preserving foods. Choose wax paper to wrap sandwiches, place on top of foods warmed up in the microwave, or when storing food in the fridge. Yes, it does not stick to foods like plastic – that’s exactly what’s good about it!
10. Ready to do more?
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