PROJECT GENESIS III ~ GOOD NEWS~ Environmental Heroes

The Hanging Garden Tree on the Tall Tree Trail, Meares Island

[This is posted in conjunction with Project Genesis III,
hosted by Suzan over at Old Grey Mare.
For more info and ideas about how we can all help Mother Earth, visit
http://oldgreymareprimitives.blogspot.com/
to view the many contributors:)

TREES are the lungs of our planet. When rainforests - in the Amazon, in Clayoquot Sound or anywhere - are clearcut or burned, the temperature on earth rises. This will ultimately affect every species, including us. It already is. If this matters to us, we can educate our elected officials (and the CEO's of multinational logging companies!) that sustainability is our only option. (Or lend your support to a group that is working to do this, if you dont know where to start.) Merv Wilkinson, a retired ex-logger on Vancouver Island has, for decades, spent his life PROVING that sustainable logging is not only best for the earth: IT IS PROFITABLE and provides more jobs than current logging practices.

Visit http://www.quantumshift.tv/v/1223682852/ for a brief synopsis on sustainable forestry by the Pioneer of Sustainable Forestry himself, Merv Wilkinson

"If the current rate of deforestation continues, 80 to 90 % of the earth's tropical rainforest system will be gone by 2020." (Rainforest Action Network) This cannot be allowed to happen.

Check out http://www.focs.ca/ The Friends of Clayoquot Sound, whose dedicated volunteers devote themselves to protecting the delicate biosphere in Clayoquot Sound, its ancient rainforest and remaining intact watersheds, from the ravages of multinational logging companies. Through their efforts, the area was declared a Biosphere Reserve a few years ago - but that doesnt mean it is safe. Presently, there is a plan to mine Catface Mountain, across the harbour from Tofino. The work continues.


PLANT TREES! PLANT TREES! PLANT TREES!

Willie Smits is another man-of-action, who has taken a piece of deforested desert and reclaimed it, employing the local people of Borneo to create a sustainable ecosystem. Initially concerned with vanishing habitat for the orangutan, he gathered the local people and re-grew a rainforest. Over the last 30 years, he developed a unique sustainable inter-related ecosystem, that not only employs the locals, and provides habitat. He has developed a method of sustainable energy production using the forest to produce biofuels with a carbon-positive impact. To see what one person can do, watch his explanation of how all of the inter-related processes work together in one small area of the planet, a win/win situation for humans and animals and, ultimately, for the planet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vfuCPFb8wk

FRESH WATER sources are rapidly being depleted and/or contaminated by logging practices, as well as urban and industrial pollution and runoff. We are appalled by big disasters like the BP oil "spill" in the south. But every day, in all of our towns and cities, oil and pollutants go into our waterways, both fresh water and the ocean, in agricultural and industrial runoff.

Encourage your local politicians to look into and improve existing regulations. One voice is heard - a hundred voices create concern, a thousand voices will create CHANGE!

Sproat Lake in February

THE AIR~Air quality is affected by all of us, affects all of us, and can be improved by all of us. We need legislation for tighter air quality controls for individuals and industry. We can all drive less, ride bikes, take transit. Ask your government to look into clean energy. There are many sources of earth-friendly energy available, have been for a long time, but this information has been suppressed by large corporate and money interests. Our politicians want to stay in power, so they are cowed by these interests we have allowed to become too powerful. For the sake of us all, we need to insist that our leaders stand up against these vested interests in the interests of humanity and this earth.

Let your voice be heard. It does make a difference to write or email your elected officials, the House of Commons, the White House.

Wind turbine power photo by Nikolaos D.

For more information about clean energy sources that many dedicated people have spent their lifetimes developing, go to http://www.jeanemanning.com/ Also http://www.bluenergy.com/ to find out about the immensity of untapped power in riptides and other ocean currents. Read about the people who are working hard on clean energy, free energy and zero point energy. From Jeane Manning's site, you can also read about Energy From the Vacuum or Cold Energy, the harnessing of free energy from the vacuum of the air around us, the lifetime passion of Tom Bearden, who has a book and film out on this topic.


Jeane's book is available at her site too :

BREAKTHROUGH POWER BY JEANE MANNING AND JOEL GARBON

Salmon migration in the Stamp River, photo by Jon Merk

THE AIR AND THE OCEAN ARE LINKED. Check out Alexandra Morton's website at http://www.raincoastresearch.org/ and http://www.salmonaresacred.org/ to read about her life's work with the whales who live in her area. In recent years, she has devoted her life to attempting to save the West Coast salmon stock from being wiped out. This woman is working non-stop to make the Department of Fisheries aware and responsible for allowing contamination of salmon stock by effluent from fish farming along migratory routes. Add your voice and support to those working to save our salmon.

Global Warming affects the ocean. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) notes the global temperature has warmed by 1 degree F. in the past few decades and says the energy from this is equivalent to dropping 100 MILLION Hiroshima-sized bombs, and warming the bottom 6.2 miles of atmosphere by 40 degrees F. The ocean is storing this heat, but the rise in its temperature is affecting sea life and, ultimately, ours. NOAA says if the annual Arctic summer melt continues at its present rate, all ice will be gone in 30 years, affecting shoreline communities everywhere. This, too, cannot be allowed to happen.

Clayoquot Sound - so dear to my heart - photo through FOCS

We need leaders who are unafraid to go up against the Money Powers and legislate the tough changes NOW that have been needed for thirty years. We are running out of time. But change is possible. If we will it, if we speak it, if we write it, if we dream it, if we envision it, if we want it, if we work for it, if we support it, if we refuse to accept anything else but a healthy, sustainable, equitable and fair planet.

And this must be the place to speak for the animals, whose habitats have been encroached upon and decimated, who are hungry and homeless, who from hunger and necessity, enter "our" territory and are shot and killed........who are becoming extinct at a fast rate....who are helpless in the face of multinational destruction of the planet that is their home, too.

There is a transformation of consciousness struggling to occur on Planet Earth right now. I have to believe that if we become informed and aware, add our voices to those pushing for change, and our will and heart to the struggle, a miraculous shift is possible. Please join me in adding your energy, your belief, your vision, to the shift. Let's WILL this change into being!

BELIEVE In the Possibility of a Sustainable World

- Use your voice for change -

IF YOU LOVE THIS PLANET!!!!!

Save the Earth photo by NASA

Links to check out, if you wish :

http://www.care2.com/ Many success stories of effecting change and legislation through email and online petition signing. Make a difference with a mouse-click.

http://www.amnesty.ca/ Support their work via donation, letter-writing or online petition signing. It has an effect.

http://www.greenpeace.org/ The non-violent international environmental activist network - check them out.

http://www.ran.org/ The Rainforest Action Network aims to transform the global marketplace through education, organizing and non-violent direct action.

http://www.noaa.gov/ The government watchdog for air and water quality, keeping an eye on global warming, drought, temperatures, seafood safety....tell them your concerns.

This begins to look like Radical 101, but I just like being informed! Here is a list of movies I recommend if you're interested:

Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action: interviews with Thich Naht Hanh, Desmond Tutu, Joanna Macy and more......some amazing stories of how ordinary people effected significant change.

Whaledreamers : A Julian Lennon production. Aboriginal elders and shamans from around the world are invited to a sacred beach in Australia, to sing the whales in, as the elders did in days of old. A message about the beauty of the natural world and our connection to it.

Nobelity: A look at the world's problems through the eyes of nine Nobel Laureates.

No Boundaries: A PBS documentary about the life of Peter Matthiessen.

The Cove: The documented massacre of dolphins in Japan for their meat - meat which is contaminated with dangerously high levels of mercury, but is still sold for consumption.

An Inconvenient Truth: Al Gore opened our eyes to the gravity of global warming.

All of Michael Moore

Peace Out!! :)

A Song of Love

NASA photo
[Article in the Vancouver Sun newspaper, September 14, 1999: Japanese researchers have been studying a mysterious hum emitted by Planet Earth as its geologic and atmospheric events combine to produce a symphony.]

Above ground,
a cacophony of sound:
roar of ocean, mighty wavetops flinging,
thrum of a million songbirds winging,
crickets under raindrops' patter, pinging,
above ground, the song of life,
Earth's creatures, singing.

From deep within
the heart of Mother Earth,
unheard by human ear
yet sensed within its atmosphere,
its thrum so deep,
as present as
our heartbeats in our sleep,
background to its creatures' chorus
up above,
a steady pulse,
like a mother's,
that we attune to,
our planet,
singing us
its Song of Love.

This Living Planet

Sproat Lake in February ~Lori Kerr photo

[Tonight a haze has covered half of the province, from the forest fires burning in Lillooet. Sunset will be a red fiery orb again, seen through the sm0ky haze. Everywhere, creatures are panting in the heat. Astoundingly, in this same province, trees are still coming down, as fast as mechanically possible, the lungs of our planet rolling out in logging trucks. The tundra is melting, the ocean is hotting up, glaciers are crashing into the sea. The Talking Heads may order a few new "studies" about What To Do; that should buy some more time. Argh.]


Mother Earth,
I hear what you're trying
to tell us.
So quietly, and with a mother's pain,
you watch as we make our foolish choices,
knowing we will do what we will do
until we come to a place of knowing
and begin to understand
the dream you wish
that we already
knew.

We take from you endlessly,
like human children from a human mother,
only rarely acknowledging
the precious gifts you give,
that we treat so heedlessly.
And what do we give back?
Your bare hillsides
weeping giant tears,
as we render plain
the proud beauty you once knew.
What is left is honesty and pain
and scars from the lances
with which we pierced you
through.

Under the crest of a wave
just breaking
a whale is diving deep, deep.
It is chasing memories of freedom
and its dive is wild and joyous
even while its soul is
aching.

The eagle's eyes pierce us through
with half-remembered truths
that we once knew;
from our half-sleep
of half-knowing
what is true,
we need only open
our weary eyes
to waken.
Mother,
the biggest truths
are always the simple ones:
we are one family
and this living planet
is our home.
I feel your pain
as you watch your children
stumbling
carelessly scattering
gifts so rare
that we wont share.
On the wind,
I hear you breathe
a mother's prayer.
It, too, is simple. Just
"Take care. Take care."

Project Genesis: Eat Locally~Help the Planet, Help Yourself

photo by NASA: Save the Earth

Saturday mornings at Harbour Quay, we have a farmer's market, full of a rich variety of local produce, baked goods and arts and crafts. The setting, on the water, is lovely (except for the encroaching clearcut across the water - unsustainable logging drives me crazy!). Deep sea vessels find their way along this inlet to pick up our lumber and take it Away. Sadly, we are exporting a lot of jobs with the wood.

The atmosphere at the market is friendly, and carnival-like. A far lovelier experience than supermarket shopping, but it is so much more than that.

Our local market is under tents, while awaiting construction of a new improved site close by. I love the freshness, nutrition and flavor of locally grown produce. Love knowing it has not been tampered with, or loaded with chemicals and preservatives. Not genetically modified. Just fresh, nutritious, flavor-full whole foods, grown close to home. Like my grandma used to cook and eat.

It is better for us, but also better for the planet to eat locally.Transporting food over great distances adds to fossil fuel emmissions. A regional diet consumes 17 times less oil and gas than food shipped across the country. A local meal travels 66 times fewer food miles than imported foods in supermarkets. (source: The 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon)

We can enjoy fresher, healthier, tastier food while reducing our human impact on the planet.

There are always garden-fresh beautiful bouquets available for a song.

Produce just doesnt get any fresher than this. The flavor, compared to stuff picked green and "ripened" in trucks while it crosses the country, is unparalleled.

Spuds with a friendly smile. A lovely way to shop and feel good about supporting our local family farmers. Agro-business and multinationals have made it difficult for small farmers to survive. We can enjoy better nutrition, encourage sustainable farming, and reduce our carbon footprint, all at the same time. And have fun doing it!

Honey fresh from the hive. Our grandparents ate whole foods. I do believe there is a direct link between our consumption of processed foods full of chemicals and preservatives, hormones and antibiotics, and the rise in cancer in North America. The jury is still out on the effects of genetic modification. But messing with nature cant be a good thing. I believe in growing things the good old fashioned way, and raising our domestic animals and chickens humanely.

This Saturday there was even live music. The Marim-Bam-Buzz Band played their joyful marimbas and set all our toes to tapping. Everyone was smiling, and it was as much fun to me as a trip to the Mardi Gras.

Beautiful huge blueberries and beautiful smiles!

Climate change means we need to focus on meeting our needs locally. It is healthier for us and better for the planet. It helps preserve farmland. We can ask our local grocery stores to feature organic and local produce. Most are happy to meet customer demand. When the demand is there, business will respond.

This cool car was parked near the market.

The Rage's Farm booth is always knee-deep in customers. Their produce is fantastic.

These little girls looked so adorable!

I couldnt resist this glorious little sweater, fresh off the knitting needles, for my cousin's first grandchild. It has little red cars for buttons, too cute.

Our town has another market on the main road into town. Naesgaard's Farm Market has been around for decades and offers wonderful locally grown produce as well as starter plants for local gardens.

Their entry is so inviting. Being on the main road through town, they attract a lot of tourists on their way to the west coast. But we locals are happy they are there as well. A trip to both of these markets is highly enjoyable. Plus you come away feeling good about supporting them, with bags of the most lush and flavorful fruits and vegetables. It is win/win all around.

This week they had some old tractors on display and were fund-raising for Children's Hospital.

This is their cornfield, right beside the market.

Multinationals have created a system, and a dependency on that system, that works well for them and for their Bottom Line: Profit. But it doesnt work too well for humanity in general, or the planet. We can vote with our feet and support our local food producers. It's a vote for this planet, which is our home.

For many more great ideas on how to help Mother Earth, please go to

http://oldgreymareprimitives.blogspot.com/2010/06/project-genesis-7110.html

THE MIGRATION OF 1997

february 25, 1997
[I wrote this in an attempt to add my small "shift" to assist the transformation of human consciousness that is our best hope for this planet. As the icebergs continue to melt, it needs to happen pretty fast.]

Sister whale,
you begin your migration
along the rugged coast,
and I stand waiting in the chill late-winter dawn,
watching to see you passing by
on your ancient journey,
both of us caught in the spell of a force
far greater than man's,
connected in the mystery
and the beauty of the universal plan
that makes us sisters under the skin,
that makes us kin.

Mystical swimmer in the primal sea,
it has been your ocean since the world began.
You have made your way
century upon century
from birthing grounds to feeding grounds,
your babies by your side,
your steady progress purposeful and true
through the perilous course
your corridor has become
since it became a corridor
man shares with you.

I have looked down
to see you from the air,
your body outlined like a dozing giant in the kelp,
and I have caught my breath as,
with a huge exhalation,
you surfaced right beside my boat,
with your wise, loving eye seeing me clear,
looking like you wanted to offer
us bumbling humans help
to learn the ancient wisdom you could share,
if only you could find a way to speak,
and if only we could find a way to hear.

Now they say you're dying in massive numbers in the Gulf.
Up north, we're weeping as we read the news
that your corridor, a whale highway at this time of year,
is also now a passage for cocaine.
The news item says drug smugglers are dumping chemicals - NK-19 -
that they use to mark drug loads
for detection
from the air at night.
The shining boats must make a pretty sight,
but when dawn comes
there are your bodies lying on the shore
in numbers too great to ignore,
from swimming through the sea in total trust,
because you have no choice
and swim you must.

My mind, after the numbness and despair,
begins to form a bigger question: how
can small boats dumping buckets cause such hell?
Or is this just a smokescreen to hide the truth?
Is nuclear waste the story they wont tell?

My heart is aching,
for what it's worth.
Should we put up a sign in Baja:
Detour this earth?

Soon we'll hear that whales are glowing out at sea.
Will we sell tickets then to see the show?
Night time whale watching:
double the profit, double the fun.
I'd say I'm sorry and I'm not the only one.
I own the guilt of belonging to my species.
All I can do is write my pain into a poem.
I know your heart holds sorrow too,
everywhere you roam,
for I can hear it in your mournful song.
What are we doing to your home?
What are we doing to our planetary home?

Sister whale,
swim fast, swim free.
Some of us know
that together we share
a common destiny.