Tag Archives: development

Intrepidly Daring: The Adventure Awaits

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It’s alright to be audacious…as I’ve said before, and, I’ll say it again. Much of what we love has to go! Sad and true. Even with my knowledge, letting go is the hardest thing I’ve ever attempted.

In my heart, I know the class system is unjust and immoral. We’ve been living in a age of imitation for much too long. Humans are as a big baby crawling around the planet with no consciousness or care for what we do.

Words like ‘poor’, ‘poverty’, ‘hunger’, ‘homeless’ must be eliminated from our language. Along with contaminated, poison, adulterated.

I like the word flourish. Let’s face it. We can’t flourish as long as those words exist! Those words define an existence of suffering and strife. Suffering and strife can not be our norm. It totally rubs me the wrong way…thank goodness I’m not alone in this thinking.

Throughout history there have always been those who have said ‘no’ to suffering and strife. I join those ranks. I say no more to the inequality running rampant. I join the long line of woman who fought and died for the right for women to vote and the rank of those who fought and died for civil rights.

Someone has always championed morality and justice for all. This too is the norm. There will always be people who protest injustice! TRump will always ‘protest’ our right to ‘protest’ injustice! Stupid. The rebellion is here! It will never go away!

We’ve always had audacious leaders like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. History is full of those who want to make the lines between the top, middle and bottom go away, or at least blur. Their ideas are not new, they’re just and need to be integrated into our government. We need Foundational Pillars that begin to blur the lines of inequality. We need Well-Being legislation, and less focus on Economic Growth as our only measuring stick for prosperity!

Wild Horses of the Calico Mountains

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Wild horses of Nevada’s Calico Mountains

The  Calico Mountain Wild Horses. Beautiful. Perfect. Look more closely.  Can you see the terror in their eyes?  Can you see the frozen sweat on their bodies? The hot breath bursting from their lungs? They have been running to stay free and wild. They can not escape the helicopters which track them down and corral them. I can almost hear them say, Where do I go? Why is this thing chasing me? Terrified, screaming and running as fast as they can; their families scattered like the wind.

One hundred years ago an estimated two million mustangs roamed the Western range. Now there are under 35,000. Most ranchers want our Public Lands for their Livestock and want the Government to Stick It to Wild Horses and Taxpayers. Ranchers who graze their cows on federal lands are hellbent on taking wildlife and the public along with them for the ride. The Livestock Industry require more food, water, land, and energy than plants to raise and transport livestock. Cornell University ecologist says the U.S. could feed 800 million people with the grain that livestock eat. Never mind that a single cow, on average, releases 70 to 120 kgs of methane per year. Now, it is important to remember that we’re talking about a single cow. Worldwide, there are approximately 1.5 billion cows and bulls, each emitting that much methane. Where does the methane go? Into our Planetary home’s atmosphere!

“Every time you or I take a bite of beef we are saying, ‘it’s okay to run off these once free wild horses off there land and separate you from your family’.  You don’t matter! It’s okay for us to terrorize you and run you from your home…think about this the next time you order up a Quarter Pounder!”

Doughnut Economics: Planing for Planetary Well-Being!

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Women (and some enlightened men) are rising up everywhere. The broom is in hand by Wild Women: we’re cleaning up men’s mess! Women are becoming more engaged than ever before in their communities, city, state and national governments!

Now what? What course do we women take? How do we make a sustainable home? And, as Kate Raworth asks, what language do we need to speak to make the changes in the world we want to see? She believes its ‘Economics’. I agree. Kate went to college to become an economist. However, she soon discovered our economy was not rooted in anything she cared about.

How do we create an economy which supports well-being for all? She has an answer: the theory of ‘Doughnut Economics’. Guess what, it turns our current economic system on its head! Which is a very good thing as far as I can see. Good for our Planetary home and all life! Remember the theory of ‘what’s good for the goose is good for the gander’! Same principal.

Looking back to where we come from and how we got here helps us to understand how to plot a more sustainable course. Our centuries of imitation reveal men at the helm. They have knowingly and unknowingly plotted a short-term course, without thought to the repercussions of their plotting.

Women can do better! The roundtable of ‘Doughnut Economics’ offers a plan for well-being for all! And as Kate asks, What if economics were based on human well-being? Let’s each take a journey to the ingenuity of creating well-being for all!

Happy Trails!

“The World is a Filthy Bachelor Pad that Needs a Woman’s Touch”!

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So says my new found friend Laura Egan. And as Bob Dylan sang, ‘The Times They are a-Changin’. Women (and some enlightened men) are rising up everywhere. The broom in hand is held by Wild Women! We’re cleaning up men’s mess by becoming engaged in community, city, state and national government.

Do look back! It’s important for each of us to get a deeper grasp of humanities situation and where we come from.

Our centuries of imitation gives proof of men at the helm. In their childlike behavior, they plotted a course of war and destruction. While the other half of the world’s population were kept quiet and subservient. The crushing truth, we needed both men and women to navigate a more sustainable course. Humanities naivety has created as my friend says, “a filthy bachelor pad that needs a women’s touch” and the world’s undoing.

However, here’s a ‘wake-up call’!

  • The Organic Food Industry has grown 3400 % in last 20 years! No industry has ever achieved such phenomenal growth.
  • Solar energy jobs are growing 12 times as fast as the US Economy.
  • America’s Wind Industry is reaching record highs.

The customer base fueling sustainable industries are intelligent and growing in number. We demand a sustainable approach to everything. ‘Putting all one’s eggs in one basket’ has never worked out well. Back off fossil fuel. We have alternative and safer ways to do fuel our world. Back off Pharmaceutical Industry, we have nature, clean food, and bodies that are capable of healing themselves if given optimum care and nutrition! We who fuel the sustainable industry are a new group of pioneers. Pioneer’s who are taking the time to listen and learn before we leap and make messes.

The Outdoor Life Conservation Pledge, written in 1946 defines what this ‘pioneer’ looks like. The pledge is short and to the point.

“I pledge to protect and conserve the natural resources of America. I promise to educate future generations so they may become caretakers of our water, air, land and wildlife.”

Wild women and that new breed of men have a moral compass which dictates bringing to the forefront our feminine nature, doing little harm to our body and learning what gives us optimum well-being. Just ask Tom Brady,  football hero at age 39 about knowing his body and what it means!

I propose a new pledge for our nation. Let’s combine the Pledge of Allegiance with the Conservation Pledge. It gives us a more balanced perspective! The last revision of the Pledge of Allegiance took place in 1954…we’re way overdue for a new revision!

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I pledge to protect and conserve the natural resources of America. I promise to educate future generations so they may become caretakers of our water, air, land and wildlife.”  

Just a side note for all you ‘wanna be wild women’, there’s a Wild Woman Conference!

We understand our connectivity to all life. We are learning our place in our connectivity. We do not have dominion, we are caretakers. We are kind and look for harmony, not war. We are communicators. Get on board!

And yes, ‘The Times They are a-Changin’. As a sustainable life advocate, I’m continual discovering the changes in myself and the sustainable direction people are insisting upon. And, as my new found friend says, “The World is like a filthy bachelor pad that needs a women’s touch”!

Happy Trails!

City of Colorado Springs: Homelessness and Poverty

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Tree Guard in Stratton Open Space
Tree Guard

September 3, 2015

Honorable Mayor Suthers and City Council Members,

I understand your dilemma with regard to the issue of people displaying themselves in what you have deemed as inappropriate places and in inappropriate manner.

It saddens me to see our beautiful city streets filled with poverty and homelessness. No one in our nation or the world should be living in such a manner! We the people have been lazy. You only have to look at our voting records and the state of so much dis-ease in the world to see how little involvement citizens have taken in governing ourselves better.

It is everyone’s job, not just yours to find positive and long term solutions to homelessness and poverty.  We are not alone in this struggle. Our entire nation struggles with this scourge on our planet. Now, our city has an incredible opportunity. We can become a beacon in this endeavor; if we all put our heads together and take time.

I believe you could postpone acting on ORD 9.2.112 and give the citizens, businesses and organizations of Colorado Springs an opportunity and time to assist you in coming up with more positive and long term solutions.

I have a few idea:

  1. Lets get our community businesses (Home Depot for instance) and people who have graciously contributed to Habitat for Humanity to rise to this emergency by creating more housing for the homeless.
  2. Lets began a City of Colorado Springs Work program which many of the homeless could fill; With this creative effort our tax dollars would be spent to give people pride and encouragement. Good will goes a very long way to keeping peace and justice!  Much more so than jail and fines.

These kinds of ideas are what is needed. Ideas which bring positive and long term solutions. I want to live in a city that shines and is a beacon for other cities. Colorado Springs can be that city if our focus and attention address the root causes of poverty and homelessness.

Thank you,

Gail Black

My Dream

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Once upon a time we reproduced to shun extinction. Now we must stop reproduction for the same reason.My Dream

is that we be more realistic about how many humans our world can sustain. Do we need to continually manipulate nature to support a population who seem to believe there is no boundaries to how many people our world can sustain?  Are the consequences we are witnessing not enough evidence of our mis-guided nature? Introducing poisons’ into the world to manipulate agriculture and feed an over-populated world; when you think about it, it’s a craziness.

My dream is that we are more thoughtful in our approach to bringing more and more humans to the the planet.

Is sex a form of entertainment? Is your only claim to fame having a baby…then our world is doomed! The challenges our children face are greater than what we adults in our mis-guided actions can presently correct. It’s appalling that we would bring more children here; believing life will be better for them and they can correct our mistakes. Is it fair to bring children into a world which is bursting at the seam and scrambling to sustain an already over-populated world which is continually at war, with systems of government who work for the rich? Governments who view it’s population as mere resources and pawns and care so little that every society has poverty and suffering…and its’ citizens say, ‘It’s okay that we have poverty and suffering, it’s always been this way’!

is that our development stops creeping in on wildlife habitat; that we continually expand spaces which acknowledge our inter-connectedness with nature and wildlife. My dream is for spaces that celebrate this connectedness; exciting and joyful places; places where bird songs, babbling brooks and the wind through the trees supply much of the entertainment we crave. Am I delusional?

My dream is that Offices’ of Economic Development and Public Finance around the world offer environmental incentives which have an extremely high tax break for people and business who want to move here and NOT drain or poison our resources, employee locally; and not destroy wildlife and natural habitats. Wildlife does not understand the ‘concrete jungle’ that keeps crumbling the land.

My dream is that all governments make education (free for everyone) and infrastructure (including agriculture) their priorities.

My dream is that everyone accepts their responsibility as a steward to our planet and understands what being a steward means: Setting aside our ‘wanting’ to look at what is ‘needed’.

 

Is this a crazy dream?

 

Salvation: Walking on Four Legs and Wagging it’s Tail

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Salvation for me is treating humans, animals, and nature as a  single system. Finding my way to thinking about this kind of consciousness is easy…implementing the idea is another. Is this a mind-boggling concept or a simple truth? As I trek into the woods this way of thinking becomes a simple truth. Living so close to the mountains makes it possible to have a unique perspective; I can be in the wilderness in 20 minutes. The flip side is in the city with a population of about 370,000 in the same 20 minutes. Talk about mind-boggling! Anyway, going into the wilderness on a daily basis does something to your psyche. The sight of the various pine trees and vegetation; the smells, the wildlife, the sound of my feet on the trail, the crunch of snow, rustling in the bushes. Stopping to inhale and look deeply at where I am. Life abounds and surrounds me; hides from me and excites me! I feel like I’m on another planet!

A WARREN OF RABBITS!

Sometimes I feel like Fever in ‘Watership Down‘, Richard Adam’s novel; delving into the surprisingly violent world of a warren of rabbits as they seek to escape human development which is destroying their warren.

THE HEAVY PRICE WE PAY

Do we acknowledge the heavy price we pay for our over-populating and development? I feel a bit disillusioned and impatient with our societies failure to show respect and value towards all living beings; to seek a balance that would bring our world to the ‘Eden’ it was meant to be. Those who do acknowledge this ‘heavy price’ are seeking a balance, we treat all as a single system. We are aware that the places we let ‘slip and slide away’ hold inhabitants that define the balance we seek. As we seek this balance we look with a slow and long eye. We see the camouflaged beauty and unsuspecting inhabitants. We seek to populate and develop more consciously; we acknowledge those inhabitants as equally deserving to be here and that we each have a role to play.

MOVE MORE SLOWLY

000_0322.jpgThere is hope if we move more slowly and follow the lead of our furry friends. Take a path into the forest and unpaved trails. Look more deeply at the nature around us… salvation does walk on four legs and wags its tail.

 

SCIENTISTS SAY

Nowhere is Living holistically more evident than in the four-legged animal we call ‘dog’. Scientists say we have walked with and depended on the ‘dog’ somewhere near 130,000 years (one millennium is 1000 years)!

ANCIENT LEGENDS

There are two ancient legends which speak about our relationship with our canines. The Chinese tell a story about a great separation, as do the Native Americans.

Zeb and AniBoth legends speak of the separation between humans and canines; and how humans lived before this separation; the legends speak of how humans were able to communicate through telepathy; that we understood and respected all life and nothing was beneath or above us: we were all equal. A marvel of harmony!

 

HARMONY VS EGO

Where did this harmony go? Legend says our egos developed. We no longer wanted to travel on the same path as the other animals. We moved away from other creatures and forgot how to communicate with them. We lost most of the holistic approach to life that flows in nature.

The Chinese and Native American legends differ by one extraordinary event: When the Great Spirit of the Native American legend decided to create this ‘Great Separation’ an extraordinary event occurred!

ONE POWERFUL LEAP

Following our Angel BeastsLegend says, the Great Spirit of the Native Americans opened a chasm in the earth, and the Great Spirit wanted to make the separation between humans and animals permanent. The chasm continued to widen; dog looked to human as the chasm widened; then looked at the other animals…then at the last possible moment; dog made a powerful leap across the chasm; making a conscious decision to join humans forever.

OUR CONNECTION WITH NATURE

In the Native American version of the Great Separation, we did not lose our connection with nature; our canines keep the connection ever present. I believe a key ingredient to keeping our holistic nature alive, is to listen to and follow our four legged friends as they urge us to enter the wild. While there, if we listen and watch closely, we can more fully feel and understand our connectedness to one another and recapture some of the holistic nature we lost.

000_0194.jpgHappy Trails!