Category Archives: Home

A Planet of Super Beings

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As a young girl, I experienced leaving my body on a daily basis. It was scary. I would lay in my bed and look down at myself. I could fly through the window and travel through the sky by some miracle I could not understand. My mission was to save lives. I was afraid to tell anyone about my adventures, I did not know how to explain what was happening. As I grew older, I experienced these episodes less and less.

I went to many different churches when I was a young girl. My mother encouraged me to explore them all. Who was this Jesus Christ they were talking about?  All the churches agreed he was an extraordinary and wonderful human being.

I wanted to believe what they said. However, truth be known, I followed the girls and boys I liked to the churches they attended and listened more to my heart than the words being said.

As a young girl, I was susceptible to anything and everything, weren’t we all?  My heart opened freely. I felt a kinship with the spirit of this God they talked about. I liked the ‘goodness and ‘mercy’ the churches talked about. The path to ‘Kingdom Come’ was a clear and bright trail that I wanted to travel. Jesus Christ was a leader I could follow. He knew the way and I was going to follow in his footsteps. I surrendered. I gave myself up and was baptized (maybe more than once). I wanted to lap up those Jesus powers. It was like ‘Science Fiction’!  I was captivated.

I wonder. Did Jesus fully understand his power? I think not. I Imagine he was, just as I am when I get in touch with my power, it’s scary. Getting in touch with my true nature frightens me. Don’t get too close; for what in the world will I do with such power? Marianne Williamson says it best:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” 

I believe Jesus was an ordinary human being; just like you and me. He lived in a time that was unadulterated. His essence was pure.  Unadulterated. No impurities altered his physical, mental or spiritual body. Jesus exemplified the true nature of who we are! Human beings had the capacity to be ‘Godlike’. Human beings were closer to their true nature than at any time in our history. Did he stumble into being a leader?

“He never intended to start a church or a new religion. He did not understand himself to be the divine Son of God; rather, he saw himself as the “Son of [hu]Man[ity]” or an “average Joe.” Not only did he not start a church, but he also joined the reform movement of John the Baptizer (aka John the Baptist), who was a popular and charismatic Jewish prophet.” –  Truthdig

All this digging into who Jesus was and what message he conveyed is a prelude to who we are: we are a ‘Planet of Super Beings‘. This is the ‘image of God’ we are made!  As soon as we accept our destiny we will become who we are meant to be.  As soon as we understand that our essence, our social consciousness, and our physical being are being manipulated, we will have the power to decide to make the choice of becoming the ‘image of God’ we are meant to be. 

The well-being of our Planetary home and all life is at stake. One only has to look around and witness what’s happening to our planet and all its inhabitants. The changes needed today will go beyond much of what we have loved and coveted.

Until we set a new model for governing in place…the guy living in the Whitehouse and everyone else in government; Republicans, Democrats, doesn’t matter what party, they operate from a system of governing which is obsolete and does not meet the needs of our Planetary home or it’s inhabitants. Our economic system must be turned on its head. We have to install persons in governing with the desire to operate our planet with its critical systems and well-being at the heart.

Kate Raworth outlines a model for governing which is based on our Planetary home, well-being and our planet’s critical systems. We need humans like her in government. People like her in a powerful position could turn the world leaders to govern in a similar manner! Watch the video, do as she asks. Spread the video. https://youtu.be/1BHOflzxPjI

We have a couple of choices when it comes to change;  do as Kate suggests or keep traveling the trail of dissolution and destruction. The choice we make will reshape our planet into a flourishing and vibrate home…or, continue chomping away at the heals of our world, leaving a sick, dying and fearful world.

 Happy Doughnut Economy trails!

Your Planet Needs You: 20 Things You Can Do

Home, Planet

In Colorado Springs, CO I have a good friend who forwarded me an email about the Springs Sustainability Snapshot Contest, which is brought to us by the Colorado Springs Office of Innovation and Sustainability. Does your city have an office of Innovation and Sustainability?
If you live in Colorado Springs, you’re gonna want to know about this. If you live somewhere else, you’re going to want to contact your city officials and have them run a similar contest. There’s financial prizes! Plus some great tips I’m going to share with you right now; you can enter the contest if your’re from Colorado Springs, CO.

Here’s the list of ‘things you can do’ developed by our marvelous Colorado Springs Office of Innovation and Sustainability!

20 Things You Can Do

Make a pledge for Earth Month and upload a pic of yourself with your pledge.

Shop with a reusable bag.

Ride a bus/bike/walk/carpool/otherwise reduce fuel consumption.

Attend an Earth Month event (PikesPeakEarthDay.org calendar).

Pick up litter in a park (Extra points for dog poo).

Use a reusable bottle.

Rescue a recyclable out of the trash.

Enjoy locally-sourced food or beverage.

Take a photo with an energy-saving LED streetlight.

Great Gardening-Start window garden or seedlings or work in a local garden.

Kill a phantom electrical load.

Creative reuse for a non-recyclable.

Use a Greener Corners bin

Volunteer in the community.

Take a photo with a LEED-rated facility.

Take a photo of any renewable energh.

Shop/donate at a second-hand retail(Goodwill/ARC/Re-Store/etc.) or check out a book from the “green books” list at the library.

Check tire pressure/purchase sustainable seafood/change a light bulb/replace a cleaning product with a GREEN cleaning product.

Water reduction: change a shower head, use a shower timer, or check your toilet for leaks.

Sustainovation Challenge: what did we forget?

If you click on the image at the top, it will take you to the Colorado Springs Office of Innovation and Sustainability where you can find ‘details’ for the contest.

Happy Sustainability Trails!

 

 

 

 

Ineffable Hunger: A Driving Force for Discovery

Home, Humans, ,
Rocky Mountain Trail

I listened as the teacher said to the young boy. “We each have a destiny; fulfilling this destiny is our purpose.”

Do you understand what this teacher meant? Are you on the road to fulfilling your destiny? Or, has the road become dark and your path uncertain? Have you reached what seems to be an ‘impassable juncture’? If you feel yourself at this juncture…this is where you dig deep into your heart; you call on ‘something for which there seems to be no proof’.

“Nobody else knows your reason for being. You do. Your bliss guides you to it. When you follow your bliss, when you follow your path to joy, your conversation is of joy, your feelings are of joy — you’re right on the path of that which you intended when you came forth into this physical body.”

– Abraham Hicks

I like what Abraham says: it’s encouraging. However, if you are really in a crunch…like reached the bottom of the pit or that impassable juncture, it would seem difficult to just jump up and feel that inner light. If we could all reach it so easily…well, we and the world would definitely be very different.

Reason For Being

How do we reach this ‘purpose or destiny?’ How do we find that ‘light’ we supposedly brought with us into our body at the very beginning’? Since stepping back in time is not an option for me. My journey to finding  away out of what seems to be an ‘impassable juncture’ at times is by taking responsibility for my well being. I’ve discovered there is ‘no quick fix’! I’ll say this again: there is no quick fix! If you believe the pharmaceutical industry will develop a pill to insure your well being and help you on your path to fulling your purpose; you’re delusional!

What works for me…and I imagine for many, is to go to a quiet place. Ideally a place where there is no electricity. Surrounding oneself with running water, trees, nature sounds. Get out of the static…the cities are full of static and crazy makers: television is the number one culprit. I’m so grateful television was not around when I grew up. Entertainment was an outside event! I ran in the woods on a daily basis.

Nature is the best medicine. A walk in the woods is free and easy.  One step after the other will lead to waking up the heart and freeing your inner light. Find or create some ‘quiet’. Having a place where your mind can be still is crucial. When your environment is quiet, your mind can take a breath and empty out all the static buildup. Take long deep breaths; hear the birds twittering in the trees; water; rustling leaves. The wind blowing through pine trees sounds like an ocean. Did you know it takes a tree 24 hours to take a breath! Imagine! Take some slow and deep easy breaths. Sit, close your eyes.

If you can do this on a daily basis or as often as you can, you will feel joy and peace enter into your being. For me there is no doubt. I’m proof positive. I feel Joy and Peace everyday. Humans can not do without nature. The more we separate ourselves from nature the less fulfilled we become. There is no substitute. Nothing is more positive. Nothing brings more joy. Nothing brings more peace. See it. Feel it.  Believe it.

As I continue to do this: inner light, peace and joy fills my heart and illuminates the path I have been seeking; the path helps to fill my ‘ineffable hunger’. What better purpose? What better destiny?

Happy Trails!

The American Dream: A Fix For America

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Walking the line between sensuality and reality leaves me a little dizzy. ‘Give me Freedom or give me Death’ is obsolete. There are varying shades of freedom and death in Blueray and Digital surrounding me. A colorful vortex sucks at my bones; luring me with promises that I know will leave me docile and apathetic. Jump in, be happy!

Jump in, be happy! The American Dream is your ‘fix’!  And, everything comes with a promise. How do you know who will keep their promise? Who can you trust? Trust is much more than a word. How do you chose without knowing? How do you find the truth? It takes a ‘pioneering spirit’ and time; you can’t buy time, control it, or ever seem to have enough. If you are not making time to filter through the muck; that colorful vortex is sucking at your bones, luring you with promises which are leaving you apathetic and docile! And the truth no longer matters!

Where to begin? Let’s step back in time and examine what shaped our society. Sigmund Fraud wrote about  ‘human psychosis’.  What does Fraud have to do with the ‘American Dream’? A little history. Fraud discovered humans had feelings we repressed because they were too dangerous: remnants of our animal past. As he witnessed the horror of war mounting; he believed war to be terrible evidence of exactly how we should have expected people to behave given the knowledge of our psychoanalysis.

I surmise that our ‘animal past’ gave us a limited ability to communicate; and as a result, we were more inclined to battle for what we wanted. However, our evolution into intelligent beings, with increased communication skills, should have curtailed our nature to battle for what we want. This being said; is it our ‘animal past’ that keeps us in the battle or is it purely economics?

It only took me a couple of minutes to ‘filter through the muck’ to get to this information.

“I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.” 

―  Smedley D. Butler

How did people of our nation come to accept everything that the medias’ feed us? Without question, we believe the glossy advertisements as truth and we buy what is being sold.  We have to go back in time a little to look at how we were duped and continue to be duped.

We have let others tell us what the ‘American Dream’ should be! Fraud’s American nephew, Edward Bernays was the first man to show American corporations how to make people want what they do not need; manipulating the masses; linking mass-produced goods to our unconscious desires. Out of this came a new political idea of how to control the masses: by satisfying people’s inner selfish desires, one made them happy and thus docile. The start of the all-consuming ‘Self’ which is come to dominate the world today!

Armed with this knowledge, American Corporations learned how to package and present anything they could make a ‘buck’ on to the American people…war was dressed in patriotic speeches and love of country becoming the ultimate commodity for those who would benefit.

Education is a ‘pillar post’ to humanities foundation: And, if you take the time to educate and do research you will see how we came to our nation’s crisis; you will find yourself motivated to get out of the ‘muck’ and this crisis. You may also find yourself wanting to ‘shoot the messengers’ who present the facts of how we got here. Go beyond that notion. Go deeper. Their solutions may not be what you can take hold of, but their solutions will give you ideas to build on. You will discover solutions you can hold on to.  Solutions to our bleak reality do not exist in continuing the model we’ve created…it is NOT working for the majority of us! We need a new kind of ‘Paradigm’. I believe, whenever given the opportunity and mechanism to do so, people are good, kind and supportive. There are new ‘paradigms’ to build on. New ‘opportunities and mechanisms’ to be apart of…we simply must not give up our pioneering spirit.

I’ve worked hard for some piece of the American Dream for almost 70 years. I’ve come up with a tiny bit…and I could probably stop with what I have. However, my ‘pioneering spirit’ and my nature to be ‘good, kind and supportive’ will not let me be content. I have a vision that humans can be all that is good in the world. Through my ‘looking glass’ I’ve found some ‘new paradigms’.  If you are visionary enough and can learn to trust a little more you will seek out these ‘new paradigms’ and change our History! Here is one such ‘paradigm‘! There many out there with real answers and solutions. One, in particular, has caught my attention…Kate Raworth. Her Doughnut Economy: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist can be pushed into the light!

Happy Visionary Trails!

Genesis: Trail Building the Planet

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“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” John 8:32 (NIV)

Firstly,  I’ve made many mistakes in my 69 years; bad judgement, cheated, lied, stolen and disrespected life.  Each of us, I believe can lay claim to some part of this statement.  Does it matter what our discretion? My discovery:  I’m an ordinary human being who has discovered a trail to becoming extraordinary. Join me.

John was right, “the truth does set you free’. However, remember, you have to ‘know the truth’ to be ‘set free’. What will the ‘truth’ set you free from?

Many find the ‘truth’  sets them free from something they don’t want to be set free from. You could say the ‘truth’ came back to haunt them. There are many kinds of ‘truths’. The ‘truth’ that sets you to building a new trail. Or a ‘ truth’ might set you to maintaining a trail that has been neglected. A ‘truth’ that sets you to covering a trail that should not be traveled.

Our lightning fast medias’ bring us all kinds of  ‘truths’. We have to chose which truth to believe. We have to ‘know the truth’ before it can ‘set us free’…and that could be a difficult truth to build into our trails…or stop our trails altogether!

Relax, this is just between you and me. Let me put you at ease…yes, we’re ordinary, but we have the ability to become extraordinary in whatever way we wish. We can live our dreams…or maybe some part of them.  Isn’t that a relief?

Okay, now that you’re relaxed, take a few deep breaths:  Imagine. You have just been elected President. You are the new leader of a nation! You have just moved into your new home and  stepped into your new office. Extraordinary! You are going to change the world!  All the work and money to get here paid off…pinch yourself. It’s real, you’re here.

Many helped get you here. You have debts to repay. Things are expected. You have a ‘things to do’ list that would choke a heard of horses! There are all kinds’ of battles to be fought; 7 billion people are scrambling to live on this planet; communication is lightning fast! Global thinking is a prerequisite.  There is a multitude pushing you forward…it’s a race to change the face of our planet! What was that dream you had? Is it still here? Or,did it get lost along the way?

Now’s your chance to shape the world. Are you up to the challenge? Just answer one question. You’ve already surrounded yourself with those you trust and believe can help you most. Now let the rest of the world know your intention. What’s your plan?

Think about this and get back to me. Just go to the ‘Share the knowledge’ below and click on ”Comment’.  If you need some ‘plan help’ you can also go to the top and click on the video. Jill Stein has some good thoughts. Are go to Mitt Romney or President Obama’s web site. The main thing is to take the time to discover! Have at it!

Happy Trail Building!

 

 

The Universe Within: A Foundation for Education

Earth Talk, Food, Home, Humans, , , , , , ,

“Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.” – Henry Kissinger,  1970

This is not a new strategy.

 “In 1870, some U.S. government officials  promoted the destruction of the bison herds as a way to defeat their Native American enemies, who were resisting the takeover of their lands by white settlers. Soon, military commanders were ordering their troops to kill buffalo — not for food, but to deny Native Americans their own source of food. One general believed that buffalo hunters did more to defeat the Indian nations in a few years than soldiers did in 50. By 1880, the slaughter was almost over. Where millions of buffalo once roamed, only a few thousand animals remained. 

– Nature, American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation

By now you may be asking, ‘what the heck does killing off the buffalo’ have to do with the universe within and a foundation for education’. I understand. It’s a huge leap. Although, the two are most relevant and have much in common.

We have put our trust in those individuals we have elected to govern our nation to safeguard our food. What kind of job is being done?

A recent article, February 2015, New Yorker article, A Bug in the System, gives gory details of how the trust we place is undeserving.

Each year, contaminated food sickens forty-eight million Americans, of whom a hundred and twenty-eight thousand are hospitalized, and three thousand die. – Wil S.

Perhaps we need to pay more attention to who we are electing? Be more engaged in governing ourselves? Oh, that means the 63% of us have to get off our tired butts and pay attention to why they are so tired…and do something about it. We have endorsed persons in power who are obsessed with producing  ‘cheap food’ for the masses.  Their excuse, doing so is necessary to feed an ever growing population. A population growth out of control. A population growth out of touch and with no consideration of the resources necessary to accommodate such growth. We are a nation obsessed with quantity over quality!

We are growing food in an abundance as fast as we can, using whatever science to fertilize this obsession in order to feed ourselves…and be damned the consequences!  Cheap food and cheap labor is the dream of the 1% controlling our world.  Encouraging population growth is essential to having a constant source of expendable and renewable energy…a type of slavery that President Polk’s administration could not have imagined when they sought to win the American West!

It is not too late. We can cease this ‘age of imitation’. Do as the ancient sages believed: Know Thyself. Know our bodies work best when we take guessing and placing trust in others out of the equation. I’m not a Christian…however, I do agree on many of their beliefs: our bodies are our temples and in order for us to reach our true optimal potential, should be treated as such.  The Blue Ray and High Definition  glossy and colorful ads enticing us into oblivion is an addiction; it is time to say ‘no’ more.

Placing biology at the forefront of education is a huge service to humanity, the planet and all its inhabitants!  Placin’g Biology as the foundation on which all else is built and integrated into increases our understanding of our place in the web of life. Start counting the bones in your feet as soon as you begin to speak! The well being of the Universe within and ewithout  is counting on it.

What is Biology? Merriam-Webster defines Biology as:

1 : a branch of knowledge that deals with living organisms and vital processes
2 : the plant and animal life of a region or environment
While in my eighth grade Biology class, I didn’t pay much attention to my teacher  Mr. Gentry. He was a very large man with one eye. He was scary and I don’t remember biology being taught before then. Talking about our bodies at home or at school was a ‘taboo’!
The knowledge I’ve acquired over the years about my body, makes this notion absurd. Curiosity moved me into uncharted territory…I questioned much of the curriculum being forced into my head and pursued knowledge outside the borders of traditional education. Nothing was ever mentioned about how we are connected to everything on our planet…and  I wanted to connect the dots.  I did not understand how my body worked, nor what was required for it to be the ‘super being‘ I believed it is capable of being.

Obstacles 

I believe our first responsibility, no matter what your faith, is to treat your body as your temple; Earth as our place of worship and all the inhabitants as our congregation. Those before us knew controling our food is the best way to control people. The ways in which our food is being controlled today is much less direct than for instance, ‘our war to win the American west‘. There are no Buffalo to target this time. Now the control is much more illusive. More scientific. The human population is approaching seven billion…and everyone has to be fed!  The World Bank puts the food and agriculture sector at 10% of global gross domestic product, which, taking the bank’s 2006 estimate of about $48 trillion, would make the sector worth about $4.8 trillion.

Who is responsible for undertaking the monitoring of  nuances going into our food?

“For most opponents, the war to win the west was a transparent attempt to extend slavery into new territories that would become new slave states, thus ensuring that the South would control Congress and the presidency into the foreseeable future.”

– Miller Center, University of Tennessee, An american President: A Reference Resource

Humankind’s health and well being is reflected in the condition of the planet’s congrigation. Look closely at the heart and soul of what life is about, not just what it looks and smells like; new doors to how we connect are opening and ‘What happens to the least of us, does happen to all of us’. The changes needed today will go beyond much of what we have loved and coveted. We have a couple of choices when it comes to changes;  we can choose to leave a bright and shiny world full of everything healthy and beautiful;  or, continue chomping away at the heals of our world, leaving a sick and fearful world.

 The happiness you seek comes from:
“A human being is part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole [of] nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein 1950
This acceptance and understanding will dissolve any discord, fear and discontent you may have.  You have the power and responsibility to all that is apart of this web of life. You are obligated to insure the highest quality of life for all.

Happy trails within!

 

 


Network Marketing is NOT a Pyramid Scheme!

Home, Planet, Wild World

“Home-based businesses are one of the fastest-growing segments in our economy, and that trend will only continue, as the age of the corporation, which began barely a century ago, now gives way to the age of the entrepreneur.” – Paul Zane Pilzer, Author and Nobel Prize Winning Economist

Join a company for the right reasons. A business has to have a product/service that I feel passionate about. For me, I won’t sell anything that I don’t believe is a benefit to myself, my community and this planet.

There are 1000s of small businesses in my community and yours. Local businesses that you nor I know about. The knowledge of their existance is changing. Enter Groupon, Living Social and The Customer Advantage. These companies are making these small businesses known. They recognize the benefit of supporting local businesses. Local businesses employ 68% of employed people.

Getting In Front of a Trend

Technical and Social Media is changing everything. Look at Groupon. Groupon’s membership grew to 40 Million in just two years. Groupon was able to get in front of a trend (Group Buying). Group Buying is a major new trend and Groupon is now the fastest growing business in the history of business! Faster than Google, faster than Amazon, faster than any company you can think of. Their business is so successful they recently turned down a $6 Billion dollar buy out from Google!

Look at Facebook and how it developed. Mark Zukerberg didn’t have any idea what he was creating when he started Facebook. It was a change that was  ready to happen and was going to happen with or without him. He was able to get in front of the change. Now look at where he is.

There are thousands of great Network Marketing companies out there that offer people a way to GET AHEAD OF A TREND; Trends that Technical and Social Medias are pushing forward at the speed of whatever your modem runs at!

If you are thinking about joining a company, follow these steps before joining. Then when you are satisfied, Jump In! The water is great!

Find — and study — the company’s track record.
Learn about the product
Ask questions
Understand any restrictions
Talk to other distributors (beware shills)
Consider using a friend or adviser as a neutral sounding board or for a gut check.
Take your time.
Think about whether this plan suits your talents and goals[34]

Have fun on your trail to GETTING AHEAD OF A TREND!

Penny Politics: Side Stepping the Government

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“The livestock industry is the last wildlife-genocide program in the United States,” says Bruce Apple, the director of an Oregon-based environmental organization appropriately called Rest the West. “All-out war is declared on a diversity of species every day to benefit a single industry.” 

Wild horses of Nevada’s Calico Mountains

This ‘single industry’, the Beef Industry, is one example of how our dollars have an impact to not just the wild horses, but our health and the environment. Think differently about your purchases. Every penny you and I spend makes a political statement.  Take time to look ‘behind the name’. Understand what your purchase means to others.

Is this a difficult concept to wrap your mind around? Yes. However, once you take time to understand everything that happens behind the products we purchase and realize the power of every dollar you spend, then you can begin to govern like no government ever will!

Behind the Burger:

Our sensational appetite for Whoppers, Big Macs and Wendy’s burgers is chomping at the hills of our nation’s wild horses; people eat approximately 200 billion burgers a year! The United States has a population of a little over 307 million; “Modern plants can process 800,000 pounds of hamburger meat a day, from many thousands of different cattle”. Last year the U.S. Population Ate 26.4 Billion Pounds of Beef Cattle! And according to ‘Freakonomics, The Hidden Side of Everything’, “Our Future Looks Fat; Study Predicts Nearly Half the U.S. Population Will be Obese by 2030”.

About 45 million beef cattle roam some 870 million acres, more than two thirds of the land mass in our seventeen westernmost states. There are about 33,700 wild horses and 4,700 burros roaming on BLM ranges in 10 Western states.  The Bureau of Land Management says, if these horses were left on their own, the population would explode. Let’s see, 45 million beef cattle and 33,700 wild horses…and why is the BLM focusing on the wild horse population? Chomp! Chomp! Oh, by the way, there is a huge difference in the way cattle and horses graze.  I’m not saying to stop eating beef…just slow down! Try eating only ‘organic’ and eat less.

The changes needed today will go beyond much of what we have loved and coveted. We have a couple of choices when it comes to the changes we need. We can choose to leave a bright and shiny world; full of everything healthy and beautiful; or, continue chomping away at the heals of our world, leaving a sick and fearful world. This is difficult journey; making time to study before you make a purchase. The upside: You can participate in governing this planet with every penny you spend.

Look closely at the CHANGE that is ahead for all of us; the heart and soul of what life is about, not just what it looks and smells like; new doors to how we connect are opening. Welcome. ‘What happens to the least of us, happens to all of us’.  Me, I’m just a ‘whimsical kid’ that keeps dreaming. Penny Politics works! Try it on and see how it feels!

Happy Wild Horse Trails!

Chief Seattle: Beyond a Name

Animals, Earth Talk, Home, Humans, Planet, , ,

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it.Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.
—Chief Seattle

Chief Seattle Pictures, Images and Photos

As I sit in the sun, delighting in the flutter of  wings and reveling at the sight of birds as they feast; cautious, fearful, yet determined to feed, no matter how close I come. As long as I remain still they succumb to bravery and peck away at the bird feeder.  There are hundreds waiting their turn at the feeder. Fluttering and chirping surrounds me. If I move too quickly, they flicker away. What is this invisible line of connection? Drawing them near, then frighten them away with my movement. I’m a giant in their world. Their language and pecking order a mystery. Yet, they too are an intricate thread within the web of life.

“Is there something wrong? I’m somewhat concerned. One of the village men came and said there were stirrings of trouble in the forest. What kind of trouble? The village man said, “creatures are being killed and dying in the forest. Insects, animals and birds are struggling for life.”

– Clive Cussler, Blue Gold, a novel from the NUMA files.

Fiction? We all recognize the ‘trouble’: It’s all around us; fear is nipping at everyones’ heals.The novel brings a glimpse of one mans movement that caused the death of a pod of whales and more. He places an enormous blister on humanities face and bringing imbalance to life and the planet.

How do we begin changing lifestyles and habits?  Until each of us acknowledges what Chief Seattle so eloquently said; ‘all things connect’, the imbalance we’ve created is killing us.  Is it our lack of education? Is it greed that provokes humanity to take such stupid steps? Our rampant and irresponsible development and consumption reveals our societal immaturity on an enormous scale!

Think ‘non-consumption’. Opps, that won’t work…the basis of our economy would go bust! Oh, our economy is already a bust. For me, a good start would be to shift from ‘want’ to ‘need’ as a basic foundation for curing much of what is wrong in our world. We need to tilt the scales back to when we were a ‘need based’ society. We are a society  Starving for purpose, but we need to give up ‘gluttony’! Standing in line at the grocery, I heard a woman say, “I want an SUV! I’m having a mid-life crisis!”. We chase after ‘things’ to fulfill ourselves; never giving a thought about how these kinds of actions affect the world around us. Even when we are aware, we seldom go beyond the name of a thing; at the depth beneath a name and how it connects to everything.

Just as you, I yearn to have a voice, to be heard.  To be understood and respected. I too have a dream:

Stewardship is practiced by everyone. Each of us is a good and loving person. Each of us can take the time to ‘go beyond a name’ and become familiar with the ‘essence of life’ and how we are all connected.  We understand Biology; living organisms and vital processes. We see a beautiful living thing and know how it is connected to ourselves and its environment. We no longer lose all that we hold dear. There is a natural balance and every community thrives.

Happy non-gluttonous trails!

We Didn’t Have the Green Thing Back Then

Earth Talk, Home, Humans, , , , ,
Rocky Mountain Trail

The following story was sent to me in an email. I am so pleased to present it here. I asked about who the author was and could not get an answer. So, if anyone knows who wrote this, I hope you will let them know that I have published their words; which are addressed to any and all those who believe the ‘boomer generation’  didn’t do enough to help the environment.

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.” The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment.”

She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not a Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need computerized gadget to receive a signal from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Conservation isn’t just a ‘state of mind’…it’s taking a close look at where we want to go and how we want to get there.

Tightening our belts with regard to the economy also means changing many of the way we do things. If each of the 310,950,000 people in the United Stated changed one little thing with regard to conservation…what a huge difference we could make.

Happy Conservation Trails!