Earth Day 50th | We Love The Earth | Confronting Anthropocentrism | Look for the Good

Here is to looking forward! Change our hearts from our anthropomorphic view of only seeing the earth and all of its different creatures as resources and objects to use, to loving all earthlings. and recognizing our interdependency.

We Love The Earth

We Love The Earth animated video, Lil Dicky, Earth

We Love The Earth animated video By Lil Dicky – Earth

The

50th Anniversary of Earth Day

was officially April 22, 2020. I watched the ongoing broadcasts and listened to many very articulate youth activists who fully impressed me. There were numerous featured scientists, artists and musicians and indigenous people bringing forth informative and inspiring messages as well. Thank you all so much for sharing and being part of the voice of the new evolving story.

What prompted me to write this blog in the first place, was synchronistically coming upon this powerful 20 minute video presentation by Eileen Crist, in her ‘Confronting Anthropocentrism’. Powerful information as a mirror for humanity to look into the mirror, and move forward.

Confronting Anthropocentrism, Eileen Crist

Confronting Anthropocentrism presentation by Eileen Crist

Even Pope Francis speaks to power. The pontiff said that the (Wuhan virus) Coronavirus outbreak offers an opportunity to slow down the rate of production and consumption and to learn to understand and contemplate the natural world.

“We did not respond to the partial catastrophes. Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that 18 months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? Who speaks now of the floods?” the Pope said.

Pope Francis says Wuhan Virus Nature’s Response to Climate Crisis

Pope Francis says Wuhan Virus Nature’s Response to Climate Crisis

Imagining a Post-Coronavirus World: Ending Ravenous Capitalism and Our Consumer-Driven Promiscuity

Imagining a Post-Coronavirus World: Ending Ravenous Capitalism and Our Consumer-Driven Promiscuity, Andy Worthington

Imagining a Post-Coronavirus World: Ending Ravenous Capitalism and Our Consumer-Driven Promiscuity, Andy Worthington

The Solutions to the Climate Crisis No One is Talking About with Robert Reich

The Solutions to the Climate Crisis No One is Talking About with Robert Reich

Storyteller and film maker Julio Vincent Gambuto wrote an excellent article talking about moving forward. “Prepare for the Ultimate Gas Lighting

“What happened is inexplicably incredible. It’s the greatest gift ever unwrapped. Not the deaths, not the virus, but The Great Pause”

And with this, I only will add two wonderful music videos by artists who contributed their work for Earth Day.

This astoundingly positive message by Jason Mraz – Look For The Good

Young Adult Educational eBook | A Seahorse Tale – A Spin on the Matter of Motion |

Revised May 4, 2022 1st segment of TOC

The bibliography which references links, is searchable by subject.

young adult educational eBook:

A Seahorse Tale  

A Spin on the Matter of Motion

Here’s the trailer: http://spinonmatter.carbonmade.com/projects/4800092#1 !

Adora & Vitali: A Spin on the Matter of Motion trailer thumbnails

A Seahorse Tale – A Spin on the Matter of Motion trailer thumbnails

author website: https://spinonmatter.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/a-seahorse-tale-a-spin-on-the-matter-of-motion/ !

Thanks to Carbonmade for providing online hosting tools to easily and simply create portfolios, for free!! http://carbonmade.com !

Doing the writing, editing, illustrations, formatting on my own. If you have any suggestions or connections to schools, educational publishers, or donations, please send them my way.

Young Adult Educational eBook, A Seahorse Tale A Spin on the Matter of Motion, Carol Keiter, conservation, natural world, renewable, climate change, climate crisis, global warming, education, ebook

Young Adult Educational eBook, A Seahorse Tale A Spin on the Matter of Motion, Carol Keiter, conservation, natural world, renewable, climate change, climate crisis, global

Here is the 2020 version and ultimately the completed version of the first page of the TOC of The Seahorse Tale

Young Adult educational ebook, A Seahorse Tale, A Spin on the Matter of Motion, updated version (TOC) Table of Contents

Waterfunnel painting


adora and vitali a spin on the matter of motion, water funnel baobab

A Seahorse Tale A Spin on the matter of motion, water funnel baobab

Doing the writing, editing, illustrations, formatting on my own. If you have any suggestions or connections to schools, educational publishers, or donations, please send them my way.

Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook & music composition

Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook & music composition

The PayPal donation button functions in Safari and Firefox, however is broken in Chrome.

PayPal Donate Button

blogger, portrait drawer, painter, photographer, musician, composer

Living with Less is Living with More: Co-creating a New Story – Our Relationships

I was going to tack this video within the post c-change conversations with respect to the spiritual relationship we need to co-create, with ourselves, between one another and with the water, the sky, soil, a spider, a bird or rhinoceros. Yet his words and viewpoint needs to stand on its own.

Leo Murray, new story, TEDx beautiful world, climate change, global warming, corruption, relationship, co-creating, stories of the world, environment, the living world, nature

Living with Less is LIving with More Co-Creating a New Story A New Relationship with Earth and her Creatures

 

Living with Less is Living with More: Co-Creating a New Story A New Relationship with Earth and her Creatures
Our hearts and intuition contain the answer to co-creating this new story. A story in which we are not clumsily or hurriedly passing through, busying ourselves and not-wasting-any-time in our stress-filled harried lives.

“Can you imagine a more beautiful world your hearts knows is possible?

We have inherited a culture without any critical inquiry.”

 

Leo Murray talks of the need to decouple the relationship between standards of living and quality of life.

Authors, visionaries and thought leaders who are inspiration to less is more: Charles Eisenstein, Daniel Pinchbeck, Niki Harré, Yuval Noah Harari, David Holmgren, Masanobu Fukuoka, Bill Mollison.

 

Charles Eisenstein, Daniel Pinchbeck, Niki Harré, Yuval Noah Harari, David Holmgren, Masanobu Fukuoka, Bill Mollison, authors visionaries and thought leaders inspiration less is more

authors visionaries and thought leaders inspiration less is more

Here is information some of these visionaries have communicated.

Masanobu Fukuoka states that man does best by doing as little as possible. He unlearned culture and science and realizes that nature does everything.

Masanobu Fukuoka unlearned, and realizes that nature does everything. Man does best by doing as little as possible.

Masanobu Fukuoka Talks About the One Straw Revolution

Charles Eisenstein's speech New Zealand

Charles Eisenstein’s speech New Zealand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Niki Harré talks about her book “Psychology for a Better World

Niki Harré talk about her book "Psychology for a Better World"

Niki Harré talk about her book “Psychology for a Better World”

 

 

 

Niki Harré talks in this video about the Psychology and the Infinite Game In it she describes the distinction between the Finite and Infinite Games.

 

The purpose of the infinite game is to continue the game.

The purpose of the finite game is to win.

The infinite game invites others in and is full of creativity, the rules continually change and all are flexible in their interactions.

The finite game includes only select people, it is all about replication and does not bend. In life, the finite game winnings are such as getting a trophy, owning property, getting a degree, a promotion, publishing an article, get funded for a program.

She talks of the amazing power of symbol and metaphor. And that in order to keep the infinite game in play, we need to trust people and promote creativity. It’s up to all of us to bring this awareness into our workplace, schools and communities.

Yuval Harari, Sapiens, History of Humankind

Yuval Harari Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind – 5 year anniversary

A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari

A Brief History of Humankind Yuval Noah Harari

 

Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook & music composition

The PayPal donation button functions in Safari and Firefox, however is broken in Chrome.

PayPal Donate Button

Carol Keiter the blogger and Greg Altman in New York City after the Global Climate Strike Sept. 20, 2019

carol_keiter_greg_altman copy

 

Let’s Act Differently-Embrace All Life-Change Habits-Incite Responsibility-Share Incentives

I am sending this letter today, right now, to one after another individual and group on the list included at the bottom. Talk about complete transparency. I want each to realize who all the recipients are, so that they may also add to the list. I need a job, and this is what comes to mind; gathering many to coordinate education at the grass roots level, that all of us can participate in.

I’d like to work with you in starting a global, grass-roots educational campaign – coordinated between all – re: ecological emergency; informing and inspiring public response to changing habits and actions.

Hi, 

I would like to work with you towards shifting peoples’ perceptions from complacency to fully recognizing how their actions and habits make an impact on their immediate surroundings and cumulatively affect climate change. Offering education and incentives that people can relate to, to guide them to think and act differently. An edutainment campaign which reaches to the public to give them a voice, through asking them to participate in providing ideas, questions, answers and listening to their responses. The idea, that by allowing people to engage and participate, they will feel more connected, more empowered and motivated, more responsible, and feel excited and involved as they watch how their messages like waves, ripple to bring other people together. 

I don’t believe anything can happen unless everyone is involved. That’s why I’m writing to each of the (individuals and organizations) resources of information I’ve valued and whose messages I’ve shared. Altogether about 40 at the moment. In fact, I’ve just decided to include the entire list of who I’m writing to, so that each of you can fill in and add some more people or groups to the list; who may in fact be more pivotal and effective in initiating this. I’m a female American who loves to write, draw portraits, paint trees and landscapes, play piano and bass guitar, and use computer music programs to compose electronic music. My compositions often incorporate the sounds of different creatures: whales, dolphins, penguins, insects and birds, so far.

I am ready right now (as I will probably have no housing nor money to pay rent in a matter of weeks and am able and willing to relocate virtually anywhere on the planet) to join a movement that coordinates education to raise awareness and offer guidelines towards immediate action. I believe that by working together, across individual and organizational boundaries, across disciplines, that we could engage the public to respond, as if life on our planet depended on it. Well, because it does. Complacency or lack of information has no place. Leaders and polluters will not inform. Therefore, though the odds may be dramatically against us (comfort over change), we could nevertheless try to inspire a movement of actions from the ground up, for each of us to collectively change some habits, that may actually gather so much momentum that people will start to care about what BIG energy hogs and polluters are doing, and BEGIN to speak out to them. New habits are difficult to start, but if everyone starts to really engage because the same messages are rippling out to the public globally by a team of people who are echoing what you and your collaborators have improvised, there is no telling how a critical mass of people with awareness and action and their heart into it, may start to make this grass roots message really move. 

The idea is to instigate people to re-define their relationship to the planet and its life forms and inspire them to re-imagine a dramatically different relationship to all of life, in which humans act responsibly as guardians to the plants and creatures with whom we share the planet. Messages which convey the realization that our greatest treasure is the life that surrounds us, supports us and delights us on earth; containing inspirational guidelines as to how we can change our habits, to live in harmony with other life forms and feel their value; the natural cycles, beauty of flora and fauna and fertility of the earth. You could say I’m an idealist. 

I’m primarily concerned with the loss of well, everything, all life with which we could live in harmony. Defenseless species of plants and animals lose habitats through the encroachment of humans, their residual noise, air and water pollution, chemical poisoning and the formidable elephant in the room, global warming, for which human behavior and industry are responsible. A trend which could collapse all systems on earth that have sustained life as we have known it. Given, Americans are the biggest energy abusers, without recognizing their contribution through the demands they put on having ease and comfort. By its nature, the capitalist formula is based on ever increasing profits, measuring success through the GDP, without factoring whatsoever, the health and well-being of all systems on the planet. This perception and motif has been perpetuated through the mendacity of those wishing to uphold it, in their allegiance to profit. We could actually shift our awareness to valuing deeply every single species as part of the labyrinth of life on this planet which we share. Effectually shifting from the notion of primacy of humans, to one valuing and being guardians to the sovereignty of all life. 

I speak conversational German, French and Spanish, pretty close to fluent. I love to communicate. I’m presently available to relocate anywhere. I live minimally, acquire a bicycle wherever I live, have no dependents and am healthy, strong and resilient. I gained new perspectives quite different from how I was brought up in central Pennsylvania, though I’ve gathered quite different perceptions of the world through having lived in a variety of quite alternative communities (New York city, Washington D.C., Taos, New Mexico, San Francisco, California, Berlin, Germany where I lived for 7 years altogether, Paris and Montpellier, France where I lived last year for 7 months. I’m adaptable. I’m also a person who has all my life been able to walk up to strangers, approach people and begin conversations. There are plenty of other people who with the incentive to save the planet, would be happy to do the same. I have a strong appetite of curiosity and creative drive to communicate. I have to admit that many of my blogs and music need to be more concise to be more easily approachable. I’m working on delivering more elegant and simple message. I also think vlogs are the way to go, more powerful and compelling, with images and music for people who don’t have the time or patience to read.

My dream is that outspoken individuals and organizations like yourself would actually stretch across each of their own boundaries and work together to create a resoundingly clear and transparent message and movement. A message that moves people emotionally to act, because of how overwhelmingly obvious and compelling it is. And a message that is spread through teams of people who go out into the streets to talk with people and collect information from the public. Messages that are informative, humorous, and elicit community participation. I can help you to create this message, I can’t do it on my own. We can do it together.

Below are links to my blogs, music and book trailer. I am in search of the best fit.

I came upon this quote when I was writing an article in 2003 which I just re-located on my HD. This from an Adbusters article in March-April 2003 Issue, “our first problem is one of denial. (and that) our crisis is not fundamentally one of technology, but one of the mind, will and spirit.” The author wrote that our ” denial must be met with a world-wide ‘perestroika’, predicated on the admission of failure: the failure of economics, which became disconnected from life; the failure of our politics, which lost sight or the moral roots of our commonwealth; the failure of science, which lost sight of the essential wholeness of things; and the failure of all of us as moral beings, who allowed these things to happen because we did not love deeply and intelligently enough.”  

With heart, intuition and intent,

Carol Keiter

carolkeiter@gmail.com

(720) 243-2953

skype:  carol_keiter

social networks:

http://www.facebook.com/carol.keiter

http://carolkeiter.tumblr.com

résumé:

http://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2010/12/24/curriculum-vitae-portfolio

portfolio:

http://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/parcel-of-my-portfolio

blogs:

http://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/

https://digesthis.wordpress.com/

I searched under the themes of environment and happiness in each of my blogs, which resulted in several pages in each consolidating articles on these subjects. 

https://digesthis.wordpress.com/?s=environment

https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/?s=environment

https://digesthis.wordpress.com/?s=Happiness

https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/?s=happiness

ebook A Seahorse Tail trailer:

https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/educational-ebook-trailer-a-seahorse-tale-a-spin-on-the-matter-of-motion/

music:

https://soundcloud.com/more_nomadbeatz/sets

https://www.reverbnation.com/nomadbeatz

http://www.myspace.com/nomadbeatz

podcast:

https://deliciousmedicinalfood.wordpress.com

Recipients as of August 24th 2018:  

Alternatiba
Avaaz
Beautiful Solutions Lab
Bill Maher
Bill McKibben 350.org
Brian Thomas Swimme – Center for the Story of the Universe
Center for Biological Diversity
Charles Eisenstein – The More Beautiful World
Climate Warriors
Collective Evolution
Dalai Lama
Daniel Pinchbeck – 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl
David Wolfe – Environmental Defense Fund
Defenders of Wildlife
Democracy Collaborative
Democracy Now Amy Goodman
DJ Spooky – That Subliminal Kid
Earth Guardians
Earthling Ed
Elon Musk
Gabor Maté
Gar Alperovitz – Democracy Collaborative
George Monbiot
Global Climate Action – Climate Network
Greenpeace
Interfaith Power and Light
International Animal Rescue
James Gustave Speth – World Resources Institute WRI
Jeremy Narby – Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge
Joe Brewer
Jon Stuart
Michael Moore
Naomi Klein
National Geographic
National Resource Defense Council – NRDC
Next System Project
Noam Chomsky
PlaceToB – Paris COP21
Pope
Prince Ea
Rob Brezsny
Russell Brand
Save Animals From Extinction
Stephen Colbert
Trevor Noah
Vandava Shiva
WildEarth Guardians
WWF – Nikhil Advani – WWF Lead Specialist, Climate, Communities and Wildlife

EcoRevolution Now | The Years Project | Not an AltEarth

 

Losing Earth The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change

 

Collapsologie is a transdisciplinary study published in 2015 in the scientific journal The Anthropocene Review collapse of industrial civilization and what might succeed it. Developed by Pablo Servigne and Raphaël Stevens in their essay Comment tout tout collombrer: A short collapsology manual for present generations published in 2015.”

Why Everything Will Collapse

Why Everything Will Collapse

 

The premise of collapsologie,   

that everything will collapse,

is based on the supposition

that it’s highly unlikely that our governments will act

that humans are not able to coordinate effectively on the ground level

nor willing to make changes that may significantly reduce their lifestyles

 

I say, give it a shot

create, repurpose, plant 

nurture the earth and its species

stop buying, stop consumerism

 

actions taken together will bring us together

plant gardens, bee highways, plant fruit and nut trees

everywhere – for the present and your future

 

stop shopping, stop building

stop what you are doing

turn it off

tune in

~ to each other and the earth

 

What could be a universal wakeup call?

Stay tuned, and for $19.99, I’ll give you the first hint…

a FOOL’s joke regarding the system we need to replace

 

Start by going out into the streets, sharing stories and creating ways to regenerate.

Share what you value of the natural planet and its species.

Discuss the collective ideas and creative solutions

the Years Project Years of Living Dangerously

the Years Project Years of Living Dangerously

Join groups to participate in such as http://theyearsproject.com/

‘our years of living dangerously’.

 

I came up with some ideas I wrote down on paper. I typed it out to make it easier to digest.

ideas regarding what we can do now

ideas regarding what we can do now

 

Did you Know?

 

• We are in the midst of an ecological emergency

which threatens all life, humans too?

 

• Each of our actions < collectively >

will either delay or exacerbate and accelerate

what is already clearly apparent in many parts of the globe.

 

Do you Love / Value fresh air?

 

Given the choice

 

• Would you prefer walking among trees, flowers & animals

or

paved, treeless streets with no other life?

 

• Would you rather smell foliage

or

the sting of tar & asphalt?

 

• Would you rather walk around fresh air 

or

autos blasting heat & belching exhaust?

 

• Idling engines expel carbon monoxide,

which has been steadily building up CO2 carbon dioxide,

 resulting in increasing global temperatures

felt more extremely at the poles.

 

• Would you rather hear birds chirping

or

your conversation drowned out with loud humming, machines grinding, engines growling?

• There are presently forest fires in the Arctic and sweeping across every continent.

• Every one of each of our actions affect this system.

• We can make a difference if we all act together

organize and participate >

10,000 sunflowers Providence, Rhode Island

10,000 sunflowers Providence, Rhode Island

flowers looking away against a dark sky

  • Plant Bee Highways like these sunflowers

  • 10,000 Sunflowers Activism Art – Providence, RI
  • stop using plastic
  • grow your own food
  • plant fruit & nut trees
  • re-use & recycle
  • turn off idling cars
  • stop or cut down on driving
  • start bicycling, using alternative shared transport
  • eat healthy foods
  • eliminate or reduce your consumption of industrialized factory farm meat, fish & dairy
  • eliminate junk food; mostly made from Palm Oil which is wiping out our earth’s rainforests, the most rich ecosystems on the planet and the only habitat for many of the earth’s treasures

 

India planted 66 Million trees – the population involved together – in 12 hours!

What could people from all over the world accomplish

with measurable effects, in one week?

if we would ALL TOGETHER simply

stop, turn off, and tune in

to focus only on immediate universal reconnection with the planet

NO DRIVING, NO GAS USAGE, shut down all Plants, stop business as usual

Shut down all oil, coal and gas production.

 

Together

let’s do this

many things are possible WHEN YOU THINK AND ACT DIFFERENTLY

 

 

sunflower bee smile

sunflower bee smile

Many small individual choices & changes of habit can produce massive results

LET’S BE THE GENERATIONS ON THE PLANET

THAT BECOME INVOLVED  in making the difference

ACTING TOGETHER & STARTING A NEW TREND

LET’S START AN ECOLOGICAL REVOLUTION

LET’S GET TOGETHER TO BRAINSTORM, PLAN AND BEGIN ACTIONS

LEARN TOGETHER, SHARE STORIES AND HAVE FUN

IN A CELEBRATORY AIR WITH MUSIC AND LEARNING

 

Turn off and Tune In

pdf, downloadable file, Ocean Plastic Tool Kit, Million Acts of Blue

GreenPeace link to
Ocean Plastic Tool Kit A Million Acts of Blue

 

Parar o Furo, Stop the drilling, Portugal 2018

World Wildlife Fund WWF has put together Teacher’s Resource Guides / Wildlife ToolKits

World Wildlife Fund Teachers Resource Guides ToolKits

echoactivate eco revolution

echoactivate eco revolution

 

Rise for Climate Global day of Action Sept. 8

Rise for Climate Global day of Action Sept. 8

 

words on brick by
Guillermo Gómez Peña
Providence, Rhode Island

words on brick by Guillermo Gómez Peña Providence, Rhode Island

words on brick by
Guillermo Gómez Peña
Providence, Rhode Island

 

Guillermo Gómez Peña~ wrote on the building:

 

WE, THE ARTISTS & INTELLECTUALS, FAMOUS & UNKNOWN.

WE MUD PEOPLE, SNAKE PEOPLE, TAR PEOPLE. WE, BOHEMIANS

echoactivate eco revolution

WALKING ON MILLENNIAL THIN ICE. OUR BODIES PIERCED,

TATTOOED, MARTYRED, SCARRED; OUR SKIN COVERED WITH

HIEROGLYPHS & FLAMING QUESTIONS  WE, THE WITCHES WHO

TRANSFORM TRASH INTO WEARABLE ART  WE, LIVING MUSEUM  OF

MODERN ODDITIES & SACRED MONSTERS. WE, VATOS CROMADOS Y

CHICAS NEO-BARROCAS. WE, BAD BOYS & BAD GIRLS

OVER 50, THE HOLLYWOOD REFUSENIKS, THE GREASER

BANDITS AND HOLY OUTLAWS OF ADVANCED CAPITALISM, WE,

AMERICA’S MOST WANTED, WITHOUT GUNS, WITHOUT

BIBLES.  WE, WHO

NEVER PRAY TO THE

POLICE OR TO THE

ARMY. WE, WHO NEVER

KISSED THE HAND

OF A BISHOP OR A

CURATOR.  WE, WHO

BARTER & EXCHANGE

FAVORS & TALISMANS.

WE, WHO STILL BELIEVE

IN COMMUNITY.

A MUCH STRANGER AND WIDER COMMUNITY. WE THE ARTISTS & INTELLECTUALS WHO

DON’T WISH TO COMPLY. WE, WHO TALK BACK IN RAREFIED SYMBOLS & METAPHORS

AGAINST THE CORRUPTION OF NORMALIZED RELIGION & ART.

WE, CRITICAL BRAIN MASS;SPOKEN WORD PROFETICA,

WE, THE URBAN MONKS WHO PRAY IN TONGUES & RAP

IN EXPERANTO. WE, WHO PUT ON HATS, MASKS & OUTRAGEOUS WIGS TO SHOUT: “YOU

JUST CAN’T TAKE MY ART AWAY.’ WE, WHO DANCE ON THE EDGE OF A CRATER AGAINST

THE RHYTHMS OF THE TIMES. WE, GOING CRAZY TO REMAIN SANE; LITERALLY DYING

FOR NEW IDEAS; PERFORMING AGAINST ALL

ODDS. WE, WHO SUDDENLY FREEZE! (PAUSE)

STANDING NAKED, RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF THE

STAGE OR THE STREET, WITH THE WORDS CARVED

ON OUR CHESTS: ‘PERFORMANCE ARTISTS: ‘WILL BLEED FOR FOOD’

‘OBSESSIVE ARTIST: WILL DIE FOR ONE IDEA,

WE CONTINUE TO TALK BACK, 

SPEAK UP & MAKE ART…

 

Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook &amp; music composition

The PayPal donation button functions in Safari and Firefox, however is broken in Chrome.

PayPal Donate Button

bicycle before sunflowers

bicycle before sunflowers

Carol Keiter, blogger contact card

Carol Keiter
blogger’s contact card

Carol Keiter the blogger at a Climate March in nYc

Carol Keiter the blogger at a Climate March in nYc

EchoActivate | Education, Communication & Fun | Working Side-by-Side, Empowering through Participating | Cleaning, Reusing, Planting & Restoring Habitats for All Creatures | Global Climate Action Summit

If India was able to plant 66 million trees in twelve hours with a million + people side by side doing it, this same action could happen around the world towards any environmental movement.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-plant-66-million-trees-12-hours-environment-campaign-madhya-pradesh-global-warming-climate-a7820416.html

actions, EChOACTiVate

Word cloud of involved actions in EChOACTiVate

I meditate daily and ask the four forces – earth, air, water and plasma – practicing heart rhythm meditation. My intent is to carry my voice to peoples’ platforms I can participate in and for information and guidance to be carried to me. It’s an intuitive process of trusting in the intelligence and consciousness of the universal force. I feel that many things that appear to ‘happen’ serendipitously, arrive because of intention to connect to this information. Magic? Today, for the first time i clicked on and read this info from this community that I learned of while taking courses when living in Pennsylvania. Interfaith Power & Light: A Religious Response to Global Warming. I’d go to multidisciplinary talks with religious leaders from all these different faiths putting forth their viewpoint on various questions. Opening it, i found out about this, http://globalclimateactionsummit.org/. The Global Climate Action Summit happens to be taking place in San Francisco, September 12th to 14th. Just a week before the ccc reunion.

lets mots, les activité
pour EChOACTIvate

It seems to be an excellent place to continue to disseminate my idea. The idea started years ago, imagined actually right before the COP21 Paris climate talks, which I went to, to Paris for two weeks with 20 dollars.

Previously I named the idea Eco Revolution, then EcoActivate, because the first was taken.

https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2015/11/21/calling-for-echoactivate-partners-core-team-refugee-manpower-best-weapon-is-education-and-empowerment/

https://digesthis.wordpress.com/2015/11/21/calling-for-echoactivate-partners-core-team-corporate-sponsors-government-subsidies/

lo que tu puedes hacer con EChOACTiVate

The idea is to bring the information to the people, through a cyber portal of information, and a mobile unit that comes to a community with needs that people perceive or perhaps aren’t aware of at all, that they can then do together to clean up and build sustainable energy, transportation and to plant community gardens, bee and butterfly highways, plant trees and build animals bridges…

The idea is to bring people together in a celebratory, participatory way. With the knowledge they need to create, transform and participate in greening their own environment.

Education is the tool. People power is the engine.

was EChOACTiVate ist

was EChOACTiVate ist

WHAT CAN WE DO? | LET’S DO SOMETHING! | How can we Organize the Human Community?

Democracy is Dying and it's Startling, Few Worried, Paul Mason

Democracy is Dying and it’s Startling How Few are Worried Paul Mason

I have been in France just under a month. I found out not even two hours ago through a conversation on skype with my sister who lives in England and France, that during the time we were back in the United States of Apathy, that ICE (i hadn’t know what this was, i thought ICE was simply In Case of Emergency) However I learned from my sister today about the other version. (ICE) Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

I hadn’t known what ICE meant, I had to google it. http://www.newsweek.com/immigration-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-ice-donald-trump-628896

ICE had come into the town of Lebanon, PA into a catholic church on a Sunday, and rounded up dozens of people, probably mostly men, of darker skin, and packed them into a van to take to another town to sit in jail, awaiting trial, perhaps a 1 or 2 year wait.

Newsweek, ICE raid, Risk, Deportation

Newsweek ICE raid Who Is At Risk Deportation.

While visiting the USA just a month ago, my sister befriended a guy from El Salvador who stayed in the motel room next to her. He’s been in the USA for 25 years, has a green card and has several kids and a wife in Virginia. Presently he’s been in central Pennsylvania working in construction to support his family. He was one of the people rounded up and loaded into this van. My sister attempted to stay with him, holding his hand, went into the van, and the police officer warned her with a tone of reproach that she better get the hell out of there if she knows what’s good for her.

The El Salvadoran gave my sister his phone and the number of his wife to call in VA. My sister said that his wife was screaming when she heard the news. Her life support money-earner for herself and her kids, disposed of.

War Zone Desperate and Dead Mondediplio

War Zone Desperate and Dead Mondediplio

I knew nothing of this. I was just reading headlines last night about 500 people in Turkey under questioning or worse, for attempting to overthrow a dictator. I know nothing of this Turkey official and hadn’t read the story yet.

500 in court, Turkey Coup Attempt 2016, CNN

Nearly 500 in court Turkey Coup Attempt 2016 CNN

Yet I thought to myself, can not the world step in and change this situation? That was before I knew what was happening in the neighboring town while I was sleeping on a Sunday morning. WTF.

 

 

What can we do? Sit back, crack open a beer and hang out with friends, watch a TV show, get ready to arrange the schedule of picking up the kids from their practice…..when before our eyes a military dictatorship fascist embarrassment of a President is enforcing this sweep of people across the country who have been living and working here, taking jobs that Americans haven’t wanted, and who were brought here to do the dirty jobs that help our system to run efficiently, are suddenly afraid to leave their homes to go to the grocery store?

Stop Swooning over Justin Trudeau, Climate Disaster, Bill McKibben

Stop Swooning over Justin Trudeau Climate Disaster Bill McKibben

McKibben writes for the Guardian, “Yes, 173bn barrels is indeed the estimate for recoverable oil in the tar sands. So let’s do some math. If Canada digs up that oil and sells it to people to burn, it will produce, according to the math whizzes at Oil Change International, 30% of the carbon necessary to take us past the 1.5C target that Canada helped set in Paris.

That is to say, Canada, which represents one half of 1% of the planet’s population, is claiming the right to sell the oil that will use up a third of the earth’s remaining carbon budget. Trump is a creep and a danger and unpleasant to look at, but at least he’s not a stunning hypocrite.”

Out of Wreckage, A New Politics, Age of Crisis, George Monbiot

Out of the Wreckage A New Politics for an Age of Crisis George Monbiot

Monbiot writes, “A toxic ideology rules the world – of extreme competition and individualism. It misrepresents human nature, destroying hope and common purpose. Only a positive vision can replace it, a new story that re-engages people in politics and lights a path to a better world.”

What are we going to do?

Immigrants from Syria and other parts of the world, war/climate immigrants are escaping deplorable situations to come to the West, which has been living amply, to be treated with hostility and turned away with barbwire. Black market money to stuff people on rickety over-loaded boats, taking peoples’ life savings, to flee situations, only to find that the rest of the world is not helping to organize their safe transport.

This is very, very wrong. We can use the money from the enormous profits from banks, international corporations who make millions and billions in profit, to set up communities, and renewable energy enterprises to re-esatablish safe havens.

This is not right. We can’t read news and do nothing like it isn’t our problem. In some countries people are having 12 to 16 babies. A large part of the problem of GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE CHANGE IS due to over-population. We are sucking up the soil, destroying habitats of other animals who have a right to life.

Humans need to be accountable.

We need to be accountable for what is happening ALL OVER THE WORLD.

We Are Humanity Film, Jarawa documentary

We Are Humanity Film Jarawa documentary

We need to intercept. I’m sorry, but we need to educate and infiltrate, not remain passive, saying it’s not my problem. Not my problem if some people are cruel to other humans or animals or their actions are knowingly or unknowingly destroying the habitat and polluting some creatures’ environment.

I don’t think any living being can just sit back and let all this happen without having a conscience and wanting to help.

I don’t know where to begin, except for expressing this. I think the world needs leaders who will actually step in and shut Trump and other dictators down. People can divest – take their money out of banks and institutions that support dirty energy and dirty politics. There are numerous ways that people working together could SHUT DOWN OPERATIONS AS THEY ARE through organized actions like; those working in public transportation or truck drivers to not work for a day, or three…We can all work together, educate one another, demand new structures and create them together, IMMEDIATELY.

There are plenty of people with the wisdom and insights and contacts to know how to lead and guide a worldwide REVOLUTION. Not a violent one, a movement with people stepping out of their routines and giving a little time and effort and action to make their voice heard. We can’t let more dictators destroy peoples lives. We can’t let peoples religious beliefs just allow people to pop out 13 babies and pretend that it’s okay. We live in one world, one with limited resources. I refuse to just take on business as usual, and pretend that it’s okay for Mr. Orangehead Chump to push his grey suits around and whimsical notions of what he thinks needs to happen. It’s time for the fucking world intelligence, artists, teachers, scientists and leaders to step in. I still have to read about what’s happening in Turkey, or Venezuela, because I can’t keep up with all of it, but it just IS NOT OKAY ANYMORE, to think that “It’s not here next to me in my community, so it’s not my problem.” IT IS ALL OF OUR PROBLEM. WE NEED LEADERS WHO CAN STEP IN AND INTERCEPT, AGENCIES TO EDUCATE, GUIDE.

I thank all of the environmental, social, ecological groups who serve as watch dogs and educate the rest of us, but somehow, i think something much more brilliant has to take place to begin lighting up the whole world to working together. If we are the people – in a Democracy – choosing our leaders, then we should have the military industrial complex working with us, not in militarized suits, against us.

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Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook & music composition

Carol Keiter the blogger on return hitch from Taos to Santa Fe, New Mexico

Carol Keiter the blogger on return hitch from Taos to Santa Fe, New Mexico

carol keiter blogger card

carol keiter blogger card

WHAT | Seeking Artist Residency /\ Sustainable Community | WHERE Europe | WHEN Yesterday

WHAT: Ideally, I’d like to find a place where artists, musicians, writers and creatives can live and exchange their board and meals with work on sustainable green projects and the commitment to adhering to a weekly or bi-weekly series of scheduled benchmarks of deliverables: what they’ve achieved in that period in terms of their own work projects. This achievement report would correspond with a meeting involving all of the residents; to offer each other advise, critique and possibilities of collaboration.

WHERE: I prefer to be based in Europe, though I’m always open to ideas and travel. Does anyone in the world, know of something of this nature that exists?

WHEN: Once again I find myself almost homeless, after a ‘workaway’ gig in Brooklyn that I had applied for and been accepted 3 months in advance, hadn’t worked out after the first week.

pic James and Lois Keiter

Pic a few years ago of my parents in the yard they planted. father James deceased 2013.

Here’s the drawing I just did of this which is a Christmas present for my mother Lois. Framed it after the final retouches!

sketch by Carol, daughter of James and Lois Keiter

Framed after final touches an illustration of my parents James and Lois Keiter

Whoops, I’ve changed it a couple times before framing it, and need to upload the new photo tomorrow. This is the 2nd last version.

Carol's drawing of mother and dad, Lois and James Keiter

Carol’s drawing of mother and dad, Lois and James Keiter


My drawing of my parents James and Lois Keiter

My drawing of my parents James and Lois Keiter

In the meantime, I have dozens of articles to write, a book to complete, music to practice and compose and illustrations that I wish to continue to create. My requirements in order to deliver: time, shelter, nutrition and a positive & safe environment with electricity and internet access. As I am not savvy with my own marketing or google adware and the like – in order to monetize my blogs – I fall into the same quandary.

As a seasoned hitchhiker and couch surfer, one thing I excel at is in approaching strangers and conversing with people and exchanging ideas, which I further research and communicate in writing, illustration and photographs.

An option is to couchsurf, associated with furthering my own project. I met a French girl at the PlacetoB in Paris who has been living for the past year and a half exclusively couchsurfing throughout France. She has had success. I could offer on my own youtube channel a video of the projects I’m involved in, and regularly reveal what I’m achieving on a bi-weekly basis. I would reveal my work in various media, adhering to benchmarks of what I deliver on a bi-weekly basis. In exchange for the couchsurfing hosts, I would offer cooking, cleaning, piano & bass guitar lessons, computer software music & graphic design training, language instruction, portraits of the family, health & fitness training, etc.

Why? >
>I thought that my blogging should pause while I seek out monetized income by delivering this same material – in the form of dozens of articles – querying environmental publications. Upon investigating a dozen or so publications. As someone unknown and low on the totem pole, though each have their own rules of submission, all say that there will be a 3 to 4 month time period before they can respond, if they do at all.

I have begun investigating cooperative sustainable communities and eco villages with the idea of living in a community and sharing the various activities and work needed to be done – growing food, cooking, repairing, child-care, entertainment – yet until one physically meets the people, it is hard to blindly commit to any length of time until one has visited the group in person.

I know that there are artist grants & residencies out there, however I don’t have 3 months or even 3 weeks to research these, for which most require scouting the contact people and apply within a particular time period and waiting in a potentially long line of people for positions.

Carol Keiter | Burning the Man: A Utopian Requiem | article after 1st Burningman experience

I just discovered that my article that had been hosted at a friend’s website, has been offline, and I’m not sure for how long. I had to dig it up on a portable HD, where fortunately I had the text together with a folder of the original photographs I had incorporated into the article. I wrote this after attending my first Burningman back in 1999, while living in San Francisco, California.

Burning the Man

A Utopian Requiem

written by Carol Keiter 1999

I held the scepter of a skeptic as passenger in a car bounding linearly along the divided highway on the way to this event, shouldering a relentless sun. I had forgotten how quickly the desert encroached as we left the breezy coastal town of San Francisco behind us. The heat towered, reducing my acumen to a dull wistfulness, tainting my anticipation of what to expect among such a large number of people thronged together. Surely there would be vigorous anonymity, as is the metropolitan method. But we were greeted warmly and ushered very efficiently to our destination once we entered the gate, and then swept into a never ending court of colorful, elaborately costumed people, ready to playfully transcend anything that may have been weighing them down on the other side. I spotted a trampoline at a neighboring campsite in the first minutes of setting up ours’, and it sparked my enthusiasm about the possibilities of play envisioned.

Juxtaposed to the shrill decadence and tackiness of Las Vegas, also nascent to this desert state, whose pursuit of profit is at the lowest common denominator of the quick-fix of cash, this ‘Burning Man’ municipality was a playground of a completely different nature. The layout of the conglomeration of camps had been  surveyed ahead of time, with the different ‘theme’ camps, whose particular motifs were elaborately staged and developed for the fellow campers to participate in, were given pre-assigned locations in the Black Rock community. The rest of the campers set up their living quarters on a first-come first-serve basis in the available spaces. It was all so thoroughly planned, now in its’ 7th year in this location, that there was an array of print information mapping out scheduled activities and their locations for the duration of the week, along with a tremendous effort that was made to assuage any problematic situations affecting the general health and well-being of the inhabitants of this pop-up town. Sewage disposal, electronic resources and first aid access were all arranged, along with the various means of circulating information. A few independent camps offered special amenities such as ice and showers, for those willing to pay cash for the extra conveniences.

What I hadn’t known beforehand became delightfully apparent as I perused the network of camps within the first hours, that the motive here was to barter or offer as gifts one’s creations, rather than to make a profit. Cash was for the most part an entity out-of-order. Merit came through what one could offer through ones’ own means. A story, joke, sketch, massage, article of any sort, food or drink, virtually anything fathomed that could be offered as an exchange, considered to have worth by the person or camp offering their commodity or service, was fair play. Many camps who hosted beverages or services asked for nothing in exchange, offering what they presented just for the satisfaction of contributing their nuance to the whole experience. Wow!  This quickly became an encounter of a very surreal nature. Then there were those who randomly offered their own tidbits of information or personal propaganda to anyone interested, just to make their own statement. I liked the bumper stickers one guy was handing out from the basket of his bicycle that said in bold letters “Advertising Is A Lie”. I appreciated the message because I have for years harbored a pretty dark-sided view of what I think Capitalism has come to misrepresent, kind of like the Christian religion gone awry. Like a dis-ease, this mass consumeritis has promoted and perpetuated through suggestions from various media that the ego is laden with flaws and is to be mistrusted, suggesting that people grab for something outside of themselves to bring them closer to that more perfect state, or more productive one. Naturally, in our Material World, that perfect state is alluded to as being attainable through acquiring material accessories. It’s promised!  It’s a peer pressure hypnosis in which individuality is squelched. Achievements, are not simply states of mind tapped into from one’s own sense of what is right, but in the form of a possessions, material things that once attained, adorn one with esteem and glory to pump up the ego. I’ve rambled off on this tangent only because the essence of this collective event was so far removed from any religion born of the values precipitated by the pursuit of paper money. Contrasted to popular culture’s mechanisms, this entire camping crusade came to embody the heroism of the individual, celebrating each person’s creative instincts and efforts, so that the appraisal of wealth was in what was unique, not what one acquired as an appendage and token of someone else’s fashion dictates. This world of mirrors cast a very different light on what is real and of value.

ego, soul

The Ego Rarely Knows what the Soul Wants

My preconceptions about the meaning of Burning Man was laced with my own experience of an event annually taking place in Santa Fe, New Mexico, also involving the burning of an effigy of a human figure. This one, called the Zozobra, a tradition introduced by the Spanish immigrants, is woven around a pagan symbol of the harvest, and represents the burning of ‘Old Man Gloom’. It takes place in the Autumn when the day light is shortening with the onset of winter. But Burning Man was not merely a harvest festival, but a reaping charged with regeneration  that was fantastically creative. Humorous twists omnipresent in dress, decor and subject matter were kind of like antidotes to the social ills of the ‘real world of illusions’. It was as if the soulful purpose of this ritual of integration, was to allow the dwellers of the camps to manifest pure creativity, from the raw to the sublime. The point, to tap into one’s talents and articulate them, sharing one’s unique expression with others, not locked into firm goals with decisive ends in mind but in full participation with the process.

Harbored in the Nevada Black Rock desert, the Burning Man campsite was in a high plain valley of rarefied starkness and rawness, nestled between jagged bereft mountains. The barrenness of this environment caused every shape, shadow and change of color illuminated by the shifting light rays of the sun to reveal an enormous beauty in their subtlety. By virtue of the harshness of the habitat, a quality of openness and offering to strangers reigned. Having to deal with the harsh elements in which the wind could be daunting, spinning dust into devils taunting ones’ breath, not to mention the scarcity of water, the bleak climate itself engendered a palpably warm and sympathetic human response. It reminded me of tales of nomadic Bedouins of Africa and Arabia who extended acceptance and hospitality to everyone, even enemies, who passed within the vicinity of their tents, knowing that the role as a provider could be assiduously reversed in a matter of moments. If the winds were to suddenly bring in a wall of asphyxiating dust or if the water supply were to dwindle, among any other unforeseen threats, one then had no choice but to rely on the humanness of a stranger to endure. The only answer to combat the elements was to extend an affinity and sympathy to all, recognizing that only through bonding and cooperating would one survive. And these temporary desert dwellers did just that, gracefully and intimately cooperating with one another. It didn’t take long to realize how familiar one could become with the other people in this communal village, when each is layered with dust, confronted with the same extremes of heat and thirst, and when grooming or bathing was not confined to a private area but in full view of tens of others within the immediate radius of one’s tent. One quickly let one’s guard down.

Gone as well was the sense of needing to guard one’s own residence or property.  The spirit of the whole camp was very much one of collaboration and genuine community. Remaining isolated in one’s home-entertainment-center by virtue of accumulated possessions was non-non-existent, and diametrically opposed to the spirit of this place. Instead, people came together visiting each others’ home camps to mutually participate in the arena of entertainment and education offered to all. It was the living pulse and breath of an underground of shared consciousness in which ideas, images, spoken word, sculpture, performance art, theater, ceremonies and music participated in influencing and shaping everyone present. Everywhere were painted bodies, personal fashions, crafted bicycles and vehicles that perused through the labyrinth of elaborately constructed tents. Scattered in front of the ring of tents across the vast playa were sculptured works of art, many elegant in their simplicity.

the lovers, Burningman

The Lovers: One of many sculptures appearing on the desert canvas.

The messages among all of this adornment covered the gamut from ironic to satirical, iconoclastic to absurd. The whole flux, like a Fellini movie, was an embryo of ideas that procreated as they were seeded in the hearts and minds of all. Humor was everywhere, and the palette of spontaneity and serendipity the temperament that washed over every event. This was the ‘unreal world of reality’ which honored complete freedom of expression. This degree of creativity and uniqueness was a utopia I had yet to experience in action. Each person’s responsibility was to tap into the spirit within and reveal what it bore, and each of the different works of art fashioned were a gift, an offering to the imagination, of everyone else present.

The interesting quality about this extravaganza in the desert was that, like its’ habitat, it was in essence constantly changing, continuously evolving and metamorphosing as the various participants affected it through time. Just as the desert climate continually transformed itself, taking on different forms with cloudscapes, light reflections on the bordering mountains or the winds redistributing the sand, the thousands of people contributed through the elixir of their own thought patterns to manifest a mutating campsite, through a plethora of decorated vehicles and bodies that flowed into one’s view constantly, along with the arena of stationary as well as floating exhibitions. And as the people poured in to set up their camps, the variety exponentially increased.

The festival, several longtime goers informed me, was instigated as a response by a man named Larry Harvey to a relationship gone brittle, which he chose to burn out of his system. So he made an effigy of a human figure and gathered some friends to join him in his own cleansing ritual, by burning that Man on Baker Beach in San Francisco in 1989. It must have been a successful catharsis for him and his friends, kind of like the Phoenix rising from the flames, because the event has since pulled more and more people into its eclipse. Less than ten years later, there were about 15 thousand people who attended. Perhaps many people have engaged themselves as a means of disengaging from their own personal nagging spirits, in order to crystallize their own hopes and dreams of what they desire to bring into their lives. There’s an inherent value in people joining together, manifesting a mutual support system, to help to make each personal myth happen.

San Francisco friends planning the building of their structure. 

San Francisco friends planning the building of their structure.

There on fine sand which was once covered by an ocean floor mingled a bunch of people who had come from numerous states and a number of countries, not separated by what they possessed or what territories they emerged from, but joined through a mutual embrace of sharing and giving of themselves. Not a Woodstock, but an evolution of what that festival represented in its’ time. Music played an enormous part, because music is a magic that pulls many people together in its’ many incarnations. One could be guided around by the beacon of sound emanating from an area as profoundly as blaring strobe lights out there in the moonlit desert evenings. The music represented, booming out of different tents, covered as wide of a arc of what is out there in our contemporary Western culture ranging from House, Techno, Trance, Jungle to Industrial, Classical, Country, Brazilian Samba, French Rap, Hard Rock, Experimental to JUST Mental, as the individuals who were present. There wasn’t really one genre of people but an interesting mix and a vast collection of alter egos displayed through the week long parade of costumes. The splendor of this party was that each of the guests heartily participated, the whole arena a dramatic, interactive theatrical explosion of ideas, visions, dreams, incarnations and symbolism from the individual collective. Costumes were requisite, gaiety and laughter abundant. It was a vast arena in which people displayed their wares, their creations, in order to share their particular tilt.

As abundant as this essence of sharing, was the respect and acknowledgment each gave to others’ contributions. One delightful and fresh aspect was the fact that there was such a trust present. There was a tolerance and lack of judgment or ridicule towards other people, the opposite extreme of what we typically learn to express to one another in most communities. The critical eye, assessing other peoples’ dress codes that even the anti-conformist groups are guilty of when it comes to judging whether a persons’ uniform is hip or not, whether it be punk, gothic, grunge… had vanished. There was also a refreshing trust and respect for other peoples’ material possessions. When  I realized that I could ride my mountain bike around everywhere within the 2 mile radius of the entire camp and just lay it down, un-locked, to enter into some tents’ happenings without any concern, it was an unprecedented and astounding feeling of liberation. There were thousands of people transporting themselves by bicycle, as driving motorized vehicles, unless they were concocted into a float of some sort, were not allowed nor practical. Along with all of the re-creation on the pure aesthetic level, there were everywhere different avenues of genuine information sharing. Camps offered yoga, meditation, dance or poetry writing workshops, music and drumming participation, mask making or group discussions spawned by a topic a speaker instigated. One of the theme camps, ‘Disturbia’, offered among other features a theatrical musical performance which was an elaborate session, unmasking a very poignant message. The actors created a gothic theater which was a futuristic glimpse of technology unharnessed, resulting in the devolution of culture, in which the individuals had been reduced to mental, emotional and moral decay. Transfixed in their own wrath of how the one-sided reign of technology had rendered them pathetically crippled, they engendered to battle the machines that destroyed them.

Ironically, prevalent everywhere during the carnival was a union of opposites. The most prominent one being that between the high tech and primitive, which embraced and complimented one another. State-of-the-art technologies, no doubt spawned by the proximity of Silicon Valley to the birthplace of this event, glittered in their splendor next

to primitive rituals, somber and graceful in their symbolism of nature and transformation. It was a living and breathing union of the Yin and Yang. There was a funny incongruousness of seeing fires everywhere in the night skies together with an array of neon, electronic pulsating lights and lasers. As if in our present day, fire worship has transmutated into that of electricity, not so much as a myth that we live by but an addiction that we can’t live without. In tandem with this is how the slow alpha and theta brain waves generated as people look at their television sets are similar to those activated by people gazing into a camp fire. Or, how people dancing, particularly in the contemporary electronic music scenes common at this festival, respond in unison to a beat, regardless of whether it is generated by a drumming circle of live flesh beating on drums or a dj spinning mutations of noise in rhythmic pulses. Tribal drumming was an integral part of the ‘Burning Man’ week, offered in various sites equipped with either skin covered drums or metal fabrics, yet feeding the entire camp was a generator powerful enough to allow the 15 thousand inhabitants their supply of electricity, to feed the machines…the dj’s turntables, p.a. systems to give life to the many electronic musical instruments, elaborately decorated tents brilliantly lit with custom lighting systems, laser and neon craftworks, and even a giant Tesla Coil, a machine which demonstrated man-made branched lightning bolts in a thundering arc. This fusion was apparent throughout.

The collective camp was laid out in a two mile arc, with the Man embraced in the center in a loyal gesture of kinship. This half moon shape, symbolic of a communion, reminded me of a Native American Peyote ceremony I’d taken part in. That ceremony in New Mexico was steeped in ritual movements, in which the fire keeper methodically fed the fire in the center of the teepee with wood as he raked the coals, shaping the burning embers from a thin crescent moon in the beginning of the rite to a full circle by its’ end 12 hours later. I felt that this half moon shape of the Burning Man camp pulled together and focused the energy of all of the people present with a kind of Feng Shui deliberacy. The whole event reached its’ climax on the night of the big burn, pointedly, when the moon was full.

In the center of the camp stood the tree of life, a copper-tubed sculpted tree which trickled with water to give relief to the desert dwellers that congregated there in day light, and which spouted out graceful 6 foot flames from its’ branches in the nighttime. As emblematic as this tree, the magic was in the awareness of these dualities, one needing the other to make way for the new.

It’s as if the whole electronic revolution, and our 20th century evolution of visual media in the form of photographs, television, video imagery, and film have created the way for this organic leap to take place, in which our forays from the rational terrain of the Western Industrial Revolution have reached, in our Information Age, into the teachings of the Eastern hemispheres of our planet and into the Right hemispheres of our brains.

Copper tree with people gathered around getting the water relief

Copper tree with people gathered around getting the water relief

As though our right brain enhanced minds, reconcile us through neurological practice, to discerning patterns, holistic thinking and musical and aesthetic appreciation all associated with its’ territory, a feminine leaning path, surfacing from our traditional masculine, linear and analytical left brained approach. Perhaps it’s a mutation, breeding a union of the hemispheres and an androgyny of spirit, or just the way our evolution is naturally flowing.

Burning Man exemplified how our technology, which is an extension of our imaginations, lends us to embrace ancient teachings and knowledge coming from all different crevices of our planet and minds. Dualities played on the playa, in night-life and day-life, fire and water, femininity and masculinity, in this renaissance festival of the nineties. Lone pieces of sculpture scattered on the vast stretches of sands waited to be pondered as did the opportunity of collective rapture as hundreds of people drummed or danced in unison.  Synchronicity was alive and breathing among the painted bodies in this painted desert.

Carp e diem

Carp e diem