Sufi master – Fire Season | Myth of Progress and Endless Economic growth fostering Ecocide

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee – Sufi teacher in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya Sufi Order – writes for Parabola Magazine Fire Season – A Sufi master looks at—and beyond—the approaching flames

“Will the fires and floods finally awaken us, turn our attention back to the living Earth? Or have we lost that connection, that place of belonging? How long before we are forced to wake from this nightmare of alienation? I used to imagine how Spring would come after the hard Winter of materialism, after all those years when we put profit before people, before the more-than-human world.

The fires remind us that our present story is broken, its myth of progress and endless economic growth fostering ecocide.

Nature untouched, thrives.

Meanwhile, in East Africa, the Somali pastoralists have already moved on, after watching their animals die in the years of drought. They’ve left the land they’d walked for centuries, moving into camps. They know that climate change brings hunger and migration, as they suffer the effects of our use of fossil fuels. They did not put carbon into the atmosphere. They are too poor to pollute. But they are among the first to suffer.

I am sure we will find a victim to blame, anything to escape the deep knowing that our way of life is over, that we cannot continue with this story of exploitation and consumerism, this plague that is burning the land.

Years ago I had a series of visions of the future, of a civilization waiting to be born. I was shown how we would find new ways of healing, bringing together the wisdom of the shaman with the techniques of modern medicine. I saw how we would be given a technology as simple as photosynthesis that could provide us all with free and unpolluting energy from the sun. I saw earth magic coming alive, plants speaking to us again after centuries of silence.

The pandemic has taught us about uncertainty, and the need to listen even more closely to the Earth, to sense her present imbalance.

I used to think that I would live to see the future of my visions. Now I only hope that my grandchildren’s grandchildren will walk in a kinder world, alive to a multidimensional kinship, knowing that everything they can see, hear, and touch is sacred.”

Text excerpted from his article. https://parabola.org/2021/08/01/fire-season/

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

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E.O. Wilson Half-Earth Project to Protect Global Biodiversity | Largest River in the Sky | Norway Bans Palm Oil Biofuel to Protect Rainforest

Unless Humanity Learns about Global Biodiverity, We Will Lose Most Species - E.O. Wilson

Unless Humanity Learns about Global Biodiverity, We Will Lose Most Species – E.O. Wilson

In the Malaysian state of Sabah there are no Sumatran rhinos left in the wild, the Environment Minister says.

Sumatran Rhino is Extinct, Lifegate

Another Giant Has Left Sumatran Rhino is Extinct Lifegate

A new report by Greenpeace has found that Mondelēz International (chocolate producers) have destroyed over 25,000 hectares of Orangutan habitat in Indonesia.

Orangutan habitat destoryed by Chocolate makers Mondelez, Cadbury

Orangutan habitat destoryed by Chocolate makers Mondelez, Cadbury

 

This is not about an allegiance to a particular place, political or religious affiliation or identification with a country. It is about realizing that the vast beauty and fantastic life forms of this planet are what make life on earth so utterly fantastic and magical. There is nothing that could replace it. Nothing on a screen or virtual reality could possibly replace a lifeless world. The life on this planet of which humans are a part, are part of this earth’s heritage. Human habits have been choking out life. This is about recognizing the very fragile state that we have left to the rest of the life forms of the world, when we blinked and realized that we’ve been expiring their habitat through the many actions of humans. The life which makes up this planet is so unbelievably beautiful, enchanting and scintillating. This is about honoring this life and doing all that we can to protect it, as if it is your child.

Joel Sartore, Photo Ark, photographing, documenting species

Joel Sartore’s ‘Photo Ark’ photographing and documenting species before they disappear, to get people to care while there’s still time.

Which is why I bring you visually, Joel Sartore’s work, to comprehend what I’m speaking of. Joel is the founder of the Photo Ark, a groundbreaking effort to document species before they disappear—and to get people to care while there’s still time.”

Joel Sartore, Photo Ark, photographing, documenting species

Joel Sartore’s ‘Photo Ark’ photographing and documenting species before they disappear, to get people to care while there’s still time.

The BBC wrote an article Joel Sartore: The man who takes studio photos of endangered species

Sartore wishes to show us the splendor and personality of all of the delightful creatures. Edward O Wilson is designing an interactive means for all of us around the planet to participate in protecting the flora and fauna of our globe.

E.O. Wilson, Half-Earth Project, Caring, Common Humanity

Edward O Wilson proposes the Half-Earth project
Devote Half the Surface of the Earth to Nature

Let’s help him!

Half-Earth Edward O Wilson Devote Half Surface of Earth to Nature

Edward O Wilson Devote Half Surface of Earth to Nature

We can all do this together! Half-Earth is a call to protect half the land and sea in order to manage sufficient habitat to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity.

 

Half-Earth Project Maps

Half-Earth Project Maps

Take the Half-Earth Pledge, Learn, Care, Act

Take the Half-Earth Pledge Learn Care Act

 

 

 

 

 

US cities, counties, states already committed, 100% Renewable Energy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sierra Club Cities Committed to 100% Renewable Energy!
The Sierra Club announces that across the USA, over 90 cities, more than ten counties and two states have already adopted ambitious 100% clean energy goals. These goals bring tremendous hope for creatures since they share our planet. Climate catastrophe; pollution by chemicals, plastics and particulates and the heating of the globe certainly affects habitats on land and sea.

 

Norway is the first country to ban all Palm Oil based Biofuel to protect the rainforest

“Norway’s biofuel industry will have until 2020 to phase out the oil. But palm oil isn’t just found in biofuel; it is also used in a range of food and personal care items from pastries and peanut butter spreads to shampoos and soaps. Those items will still be permitted. The EU is also working toward a 2030 deadline to phase out products using palm oil. And other countries are expected to follow Norway’s lead on palm oil.”

Norway, ban Palm Oil based Biofuel, protect the rainforest

Norway is the first country to ban all Palm Oil based Biofuel to protect the rainforest

The rain forest is not only the ONLY HABITAT for some of the most wondrous creatures, the rain forest is also a magnificent organ of the earth. The Rain Forest is the lungs and the water of life.

PBS The Largest River on Earth is In the Sky - Above the Amazon

PBS The Largest River on Earth is In the Sky – Above the Amazon

There are individuals and groups and whole towns working together.

We can do this. We will do it with attention and love, because life would be very dull without it.

Joel Sartore, photo ark, blogger, Carol Keiter

Joel Sartore photo ark picture and the blogger, Carol Keiter

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Emergence | Inevitability of Seeking the Kind Way | Love & Appreciation of All Life

“President Trump ordered a review in April that could open federally protected lands to mining, logging and drilling.” I was alerted through this video showing the lovely national monuments that are at risk. It is atrocious.

This concise video reveals that Trump is not only the first president to not establish a national park, but the first to repeal the laws protecting them. Yes, it is true that there are generations of families who have made their living through the oil and gas industry, yet that doesn’t by any means imply that there would not be a tremendous source of jobs through Research & Development, Transference of skills and work places in the creation of renewable energy jobs across the country. As I mentioned in a former blog how FDR Franklin D. Roosevelt’s enforced the WPA – Works Progress Administration – from the top down; creating massive jobs to rebuild the infrastructure of the USA…this could now be implemented in creating wave, wind, solar, biomass and other technologies helping to restore land, animals habitats, beauty and resource value of nature, along with education and smart transportation technologies…all to make the life for all more free, more equitable and of much better quality.

In the meantime, I see this reading the news, and I responded as I posted it with the most whimsical wishing of a utopian culture, where the goal is to live fully, live peacefully together with others and to embrace nature. The idea that we could actually change the status quo of the workweek and our habits of being enslaved to a consumer-driven culture, to actually free up our bodies and minds to be more conscious beings and for each to thrive doing what they love, is the utopian world I’m dreaming of.
When I read this, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-13/kushners-set-to-get-400-million-from-chinese-on-marquee-tower I just let my sarcasm and wishful thinking flow.

Let’s just focus on making business deals and keep that wealth floating in the clouds, just on the finger tips of the family, not doing anything to better the quality of life of the people, down here. let’s think of only profit, after all, one needs to have, rather than counting, let me reverse this; you can only sit on one toilet at a time, so how much wealth does one person need to amass? Quality of life is the what and where, but mostly how one is feeding one’s own experience. I just overheard someone today saying, “Don’t ask Why, just ask How” We each have our unique set of circumstances, yet how you’re feeling as your strolling a path has much to do with your own accountability to yourself to create the best situation from the circumstances you’re in, and then to others to serve to help them to reach their own affinity with their lives. What about using capital to make an enormous transfer of research & development, purchasing, education and industrial transfer / cross-training to generate a huge amount of jobs for people in every state. Transferring skills and creating clean renewable energy, investing in transportation infrastructure towards clean cars (as a bicyclist one really knows first-hand what is delivered into the air of streets through idling cars and unmaintained gas guzzling automobiles and trucks), creating community gardens contributing to local groceries everywhere, giving more people work opportunities in the creation and implementation of new sustainable technologies: i.e. put minor legal offenses of prisoners into training in renewable and sustainable development and put the prison systems into the growing and animal rehabilitation and habitat preservation business; growing (plants for humans, not resource gouging cows and industrial farming). Dropping the standard workweek to 30 or less hours (reconnecting people to themselves, to their families and nature). Free the cows and pigs and turn them into marijuana growing operations, win/win; the farmers suddenly have a much more lucrative income and this issues an evolving conscious twist and choice to live together harmoniously with other life forms on the planet, and turn the earth into more of a garden than an industrial zone. just sayn’.

I bring up this previously written blog talking about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s remedy to fix a broken economy, and wrote about this back prior to President Obama’s second administration. The idea that many, many things could be set into motion, by a government who cares about the people and wants to set things on to a good course.

https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/notch-up-the-governments-role-with-obamaworks-a-version-of-roosevelts-wpa/

In the meantime, my brother-in-law sends me this article about India embracing solar power and moving at a quick pace to overcome reliance on petroleum energy. This just spells out what a community or country can do, if they aren’t blocked by a wall of greed.

India Investing in Solar Energy

India Investing in Solar Energy

Tesla Energy Powerwall Active Solar Battery Recharger

Tesla Energy Powerwall Active Solar Battery Recharger

And in the meantime, Elon Musk who co-founded PayPal, and continues his entrepreneurial spirit with numerous inventions, now has a ground breaking new one, a power wall, that acts as an active solar panel.

And more free energy http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/05/teen-channels-tesla-and-builds-free-energy-device/

I’ve just posted a blog on my other site, speaking of my own emergence; the appearance of an artist atelier to enable me – and push me – to complete my book. I have suddenly the time, and now the space. https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/emergence-gift-of-artists-atelier-specifically-to-complete-my-ebook-in-6-weeks/

Carol the blogger

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SFCC Presents Sustainability Series | Evolving Energy Policy for a Sustainable Santa Fe

I attended this panel discussion on September 12th, part of a series.

Santa Fe Community College, Sustainability Seminar Series 2016, Evolving Energy Policy, Sustainablie Santa Fe

Santa Fe Community College Sustainability Seminar Series 2016 Evolving Energy Policy for a Sustainablie Santa Fe

It was put together by Christian Casillas together with the Santa Fe Community College. This first one on September 12th was on the Evolving Energy Policy for a Sustainable Santa Fe

SFCC Presents Sustainability Series on Mondays in September

Christian Casillas, Renewable, Appropriate Energy Laboratory

Christian Casillas-Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory

The moderator, Beth Beloff has been involved in the development of sustainability strategies at corporate and municipal levels. She’s the founder and principal of Beth Beloff a business towards Inciting Sustainability.

Beth Beloff & Associates. Incite Sustainability

Beth Beloff & Associates Incite Sustainability

The panelists were

Alexandra Ladd
Asian studies degree
housing planner in Santa Fe
acting interim director of economic development

Craig O’Hare
green building
special assistant for clean energy for the governor of New Mexico
water conservation, long range planning and watershed management

Erick J. Aune (ahn né)
transportation planning
planning director for Aztec, New Mexico

Daniel House Werwath
affordable housing,
co-founder mix santa fe
interfaith housing
creation of affordable housing projects

Adam Cohen
lead faculty of green house technologies and operations at SFCC
mathematics, marine
taught public High School
green farms; high quality foods with minimal
dvlopment os sustainable agriculture programs at SFCC

The site will have each of the panelists’ presentations digitally.

I took notes of each of the panelists’ presentations, which I’m sharing here.

Alexandra Ladd does census tracking according to the demographics of age, income, the local hispanic population, etc. She points out that the current trends are to displace the younger and darker skinned populations to the south of the city with the point that we want to preserve the city as a mixture of diverse groups living together. The trend has been for youth and the hispanic population being shut out from center of town.

Ladd mentioned that on any given night in Santa Fe, 100 young people don’t have a safe place to sleep or eat. As is the trend around the world, this leads to prostitution.

Ironically, an article from the Guardian came out this same day, on September 12th, “US teens often forced to trade sex work for food study finds.”

Alexandria Ladd also mentions that 1 out of 5 kids are in poverty and that in the center of town, 1 in 4 are over 65 in age. In fact, 50% of the residents are cost-burdened by housing costs. Only 1/3 of people living in SF work here, therefore the that commute to other places to work are spending money in these other communities.

Improving public transportation is an obvious way to help with people in poverty. The demographic projection for 2020 is that 50% of people living in downtown Santa Fe will be over 65 years of age. She implores that we need to ensure that our decision making is empowering the leadership of young people.

Craig O’Hare, talks of the efficacy of renewable energy efficiency. He mentions that promoting a green economy is important, specifically with respect to his concern about global climate disruption. Stating that the global climate change statistics have become more dire than predicted,
we need to get onto renewable a.s.a.p. He talks about Home Energy Efficiency. Specifically efficiency technologies.

• Renewable Energy: solar > solar electric
• the building envelop: walls, ceiling, attic, doors windows: with the goal to reduce air leaks & increase insulation. With respect to this he mentioned that within your own home, you can get out a lighter and check electrical plugs, windows, doors and seal for leaks. Areas with leaks will cause the lighter to flicker.

The Santa Fe Community college has an excellent ‘building performance certification program’ to insulate one’s home. He mentions that even with the best technology, windows let heat out. The best are triple panes, filled with argon gas…yet if you don’t have capability to invest in these, duct tape is also great for insulating. However, as you make the home tighter with less leakage, there are concerns about CO poisoning. NG & Propane Furnaces and Water Heaters can send carbon monoxide into the air. Fortunately, HVAC & major appliances have better technology. He points out that ceiling and portable fans are effectivee at cooling, in addition to shading your windows with trees, awnings, portals, etc.

LED lights have warm and cool light quality; warm = 2700 Kelvin.

The Santa Fe, NM County government site has a Residential Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Forum with incentives for common sense energy.

craig O'Hare, Renewable Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Forum

craig O’Hare Renewable Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Forum

New Mexico has the 2nd best solar resource. The new design of solar electric photovoltaic cells convert the sun’s light (not heat) into electricity. Yet, the utility companies are fighting this. Solar thermal produces water and space heating. He runs ads all over the county offering free solar power with a 30% federal income tax credit and 10% state income tax credit, that would be exempt from paying etstate sales tax.

• wind energy is naturally site specific

 

 

 

The next panelist Erick J. Aune speciality is public transportation.

The quest is personal mobility, which equates to freedom, which comes down to the vehicle of choice. His talk induced a wider philosophical perspective into questioning why we do what we do. Humans want access to experiences, asking why we do things, where are we going? For the most part is it for convening in addition to the economic element, going to work.

He pointed out the history of transportation in this area,the ancient roads and pathways. Pointing out that transportation surpasses coal-fired power plants for most CO2 emissions in the United States.
There is a significant production of greenhouse gas emissions from transport, because ‘in America, we love to drive’.

He speaks of the importance to recognize the value we put neurologicaly, socially and emotionally on driving, mentioning that it is extremely difficult to compete with the automobile. He mentions,
Jarrett Walker’s ‘Human Transit’ book.

Jarrett Walker, Human Transit

Jarrett Walker Human Transit

Erick Aune asks What If environmental sustainability was the goal, and all other things became subordinate to a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases?

All sorts of technologies and organizations can help towards this cause; smart phone data, bike shares, Zagster, meters, ride-shares, Über etc.

Daniel House Werwath is the affordable housing and community development guy. He talks of real community sustainability as it relates to housing. Buildings produce 39% of our greenhouse gases. New construction is needed; talking about zoning with respect to ‘infill’, social fabric and cultural diversity. He’s a community developer who wants to create energy efficient buildings. Presently he’s involved in developing a local Arts & Creativity center and affordable live-work rental properties.

He reiterates the point made by Alexandra Ladd, the zoning panelist, that “we are segregating low-income, people of color and younger people to far outside of town. Therefore he’s an advocate of zoning for higher density housing, investigating ways to broaden public participation in land use and policy making, and using technology so that everyone has a voice.

Adam Cohen is on the Greenhouse faculty for the Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) on hydroponics (a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil) and aquaponics, “a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic animals supplies nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water.”

SFCC, Greenhouse Management, School of Trades, Technology, Sustainability

SFCC Greenhouse Management School of Trades, Technology, Sustainability

He’s talking about food; not just the energy/water nexus, but agriculture.

Food is how we store energy as a whole. There will be over 9 Billion people on planet by 2040. Over-fishing has lead to an 80% depletion of fish; almost every species we eat are either critically over-fished or will be gone, cratered to irreversible levels. Agriculture amounts to 70% of the usage of water and 40% of the land goes to agriculture. The present day agricultural systems account for 14% of global greenhouse gases. In New Mexico, 97% of the food is imported – less than a weeks worth of food in the grocery stores. Therefore fossil foods are involved in the transport chain; ie. 250 to 1,000 miles.

He claims that two generations have been brought up on processed foods. They are low in cost, yet also low in nutritional value. These habits are a strong contributing factor to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Just as the blog I posted previously about “Food Sovereignty” in which the Gangsta Gardener Ron Finely talks of his guerrilla gardening in Los Angeles.

Adam Cohen mentions that any economy that only produces raw materials is tied to poverty. He speaks of the
Omnivore’s Dilemma” book, and the cost for transporting the ingredients of a single salad my involve 3,000 to 35,000 miles.

Regarding food security, Cohen states that New Mexico is first in the nation for childhood hunger, at 18.6%. All of this pointing to the fact that we need to grow our own food ~ it is one of the easiest things we can do. Fortunately, there has been an increase in farm to table efoorts, farm to schools and farm to restaurant operations. For example, in the last 5 yrs in Dallas, Texas, he saw 14 farmer’s markets start up in addition to food co-ops, CSA’s farmer’s markets. Even the big box supermarkets are showing marked increase in preference for ‘locally grown’ food, because they save money with respect to transportation.

The bottom line, we need to produce more food > controlled environment agriculture (greenhouses). For example in northern New Mexico there are 7 months of growing, whereas greenhouses will provide 12 months a year; to grow a much larger portion of food will increase food sovereignty and community development.

In Europe 90% of agriculture is done in controlled environment spaces – greenhouses. Once again the point is made in this discussion that we have a society addicted to fossil fuels.

We need food and Ag education, and it’s best to start with children with the food education.

We need to change our food culture: We are addicted to fossil fuels and maintaining the status quo.

Currently they are putting up a teaching facility at SFCC to teach people in NM how to grow food for New Mexicans; 12,000 footage of greenhouse space. With these hydroponic and aquaponic techniques, for the same quantity of harvest, they use 95% less water. With aquaponics, there is zero waste. In aquaponics, one feeds the fish, and then the waste of the fish is converted to fertilizer, which fertilzes the plants.

These systems are simple. 1. they can be done on the counter top 2. this can involve marrying the traditional heritage of agriculture with new techniques.

The rest, is up to educating ourselves and taking the steps towards making positive changes wherever we can.

CASSE, Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

CASSE, Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

On this note, here’s a site I happened upon that can be another guide to the same principles brought up towards allowing sustainability to evolve. CASSE, Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

As George Monbiot elegantly states in his blog “The Purse is Mightier than the Pen” the biggest pitfall is money.

 

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Carol Keiter, the blogger, PA

Carol the blogger back in Pennsylvania

Biggest Threat to Renewable Energy: Politics of Oil Industry Greed | Your Voice Against Monopolies | Ecological Transitions2

Basically it’s like this. The earth has been warming due to increasing concentrations of (CO2) carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which serves like a blanket, containing the molecules and thus increasing the temperature. There are various man-made components affecting this, most of it due to industrialized processes; oil, gas and coal extraction among the biggest culprits, with industrialized agriculture trends also contributing to a nefarious impact.

EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, CO2

EPA Environmental Protection Agency on CO2

As the EPA site of the United States government describes, “The main human activity that emits CO2 is the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) for energy and transportation, although certain industrial processes and land-use changes also emit CO2.”

There have been scatterings of renewable energy projects around for years and new ones emerging, despite the intention of stock-holders in petroleum industries from keeping them from floating.

A huge project is underway in Morocco which is the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant, powered by the Saharan sun, set to help renewables provide almost half the country’s energy by 2020.

12 meter high parabolic mirrors in launch of mega solar project in Morocco

12 meter high parabolic mirrors in launch of mega solar project in Morocco

Here’s a clever very short video animation “Can the Sun Cool Down the Earth?” that is so informative, on the benevolence of solar power.

Can the Sun Cool Down the Earth, Keep It In the Ground

Can the Sun Cool Down the Earth? – Keep It -OIL- In the Ground

It’s contained within an article “Morocco Poised to become a Solar Superpower with launch of Desert Mega-Project

Keep it (Oil) in the Ground

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2015/jul/22/sun-cool-down-earth-video?CMP=share_btn_fb

It’s from this article Morocco Poised to become a Solar Superpower with launch of Desert Mega-Project

The project, the biggest of its kind in Europe, will have a total installed peak capacity of 6.3 megawatts, and should generate enough energy to power 1,800 homes in its first year.
In an article in his blog Rigging the Market, George Monbiot mentions that the oil industry actually had done their own studies of the impacts of their actions on the environment decades ago, and proceeded to conceal their findings of the malevolent effects. He mentions, “But some renewables firms are being tanked by the same forces: just as natural gas prices plunge, governments like the UK’s are stripping them of their subsidies.”

“Already, according to the IMF, more money is spent, directly and indirectly, on subsidizing fossil fuels than on funding health services. The G20 countries alone spend over three times as much public money on oil, gas and coal than the whole world does on renewable energy. In 2014, subsidies for fossil fuel production in the UK reached £5 billion. Enough? Oh no. While essential public services are being massacred through want of funds, last year the government announced a further £1.3 billion in tax breaks for oil companies in the North Sea. Much of this money went to companies based overseas. They must think we’re mad.” However, Ramsay Dunning in this article “COP21: Co-operative voice is being heard in the EU” mentions that Co-operative Energy has been active over the last 12 months in both REScoop and Co-operatives Europe’s Energy Working Group, recognizing that as one door closes in the UK, another one may open in Europe. “Cooperatives Europe is part of an EU project on renewable energy cooperatives together with cooperatives from across Europe to promote and develop them.”

Monbiot discusses the politics of money in the oil industry and how much this in itself impedes progress in all of the renewable industries – wind, solar, wave, biomass, etc – which would actually reduce these rising temperatures; from the dirty activities of the petrochemical industries (oil, gas and coal extraction) that have been denigrating the environment, polluting air and water and by virtue of rising temperatures alone, corrupting and dismantling the balance of the biosphere. Humans are presently witnessing far more severe weather patterns due to unprecedented draughts and flooding, and epic storms. Yet human habitat can to a degree be rebuilt after the fires and landslides and floods. However it’s a different story for other inhabitants of the earth; from coral reef bleaching to animals dying off that are very small on the bio chain, these then affect larger marine and land mammals. Not to mention the chemical wastes and biohazards that are put into the water and atmosphere due to human industrial farming, resulting in other die-offs of species; i.e. bees and other pollinators. It appears that the smallest creatures are affected the most, which subsequently directly affect human communities; with disease epidemics that are exacerbated with rising global temperatures.

The most startling thing, is that the human condition which has tended in the last decades to be more focused on material displays of wealth and economic gain over actually using our brain power and hearts towards a real spiritual transformation that is possible, has been stuck in a fixation with making short-term profit gains, without having the sensitivity or empathy to give a hoot about anyone or any creature whose lives are affected by their actions.

And in the increasing symptom of monopolization of power, which was already taking place as the New World was beginning to make its entrance on the global platform, this trend has basically snow-balled. Though monopolies may have had their place contributing to better organization to do large-scale public works, “Monopoly is the extreme case in capitalism. It is characterized by a lack of competition, which can mean higher prices and inferior products.”

Those with money who invest it well, often stealthily, gain power and more leverage. And as this game evolves, the equation of intelligence and leadership with political sovereignty has been replaced with who has the most money to buy the election. There have been so many actions taking place behind closed doors, with people placated with entertainment and distracted by being so busy and feeling powerless to change the system, that people – by not voting and not caring – have let democracy become a hollow symbol.

It’s been a trend for a decade or three, the continued gobbling up of companies by a larger one who opts to buy up the competition, rather than allowing it to survive. I guess it seems enticing to have the money dangled in front of you. Like the farmers fields that I have seen disappearing in the town where I grew up in central Pennsylvania, but the trend is everywhere. Developers buy the land, contractors establish new housing communities that appear pretty quickly, which have these euphemistic names like ‘Greener Pastures’ or ‘Sunny side Meadows blah blah blah.

In addition to big money affecting politics from corporate bastions, individuals with enormous wealth and investment in petroleum industry and its bi-products also corrupts, such as the Koch Brothers.

Illustration by Victor Juhasz the Koch Brothers' Dirty War on Solar Power

In the Rolling Stone magazine, Tim Dickinson writes in The Koch Brothers’ Dirty War on Solar Power “But the birth of Big Solar poses a grave threat to those who profit from burning fossil fuels. And investor-owned utilities, together with Koch-brothers-funded front groups like American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), are mounting a fierce, rear-guard resistance at the state level – pushing rate hikes and punishing fees for homeowners who turn to solar power…Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s narrow 2014 re-election was financed by more than $1.1 million in contributions from the IOUs – investor-owned utilities.

In another article, Inside the Koch Brothers’ Toxic Empire Dickinson writes, “The enormity of the Koch fortune is no mystery. Brothers Charles and David are each worth more than $40 billion. The electoral influence of the Koch brothers is similarly well-chronicled. The Kochs are our homegrown oligarchs; they’ve cornered the market on Republican politics and are nakedly attempting to buy Congress and the White House. Their political network helped finance the Tea Party and powers today’s GOP…The toxic history of Koch Industries is not limited to physical pollution. It also extends to the company’s business practices, which have been the target of numerous federal investigations, resulting in several indictments and convictions, as well as a whole host of fines and penalties.”

Recently driving across the country, I encountered just a few renewable energy projects, although I drove through southern states along flat areas with plenty of wind and as the desert approached, plenty of sun. As I heard more and more Christian leaning radio stations driving an automobile, I didn’t really see many projects taking hold that were utilizing these resources. However, entering California and approaching Los Angeles from the East, I was delighted to see this windy plain used extensively with one farm of windmills.

23,000 solar photovoltaic (PV), Walton-on-Thames

23,000 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels will be floated on the reservoir near Walton-on-Thames

Thames Water announced work on a huge floating solar array, equivalent to eight Wembley football pitches, begun in London this week. Just over 23,000 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels will be floated on the reservoir near Walton-on-Thames.

windmill, southern California, desert

windmill farm on the southern California desert / photo by Carol Keiter

windmill farm, southern California desert, approaching Los Angeles

windmill farm on the southern California desert approaching Los Angeles / photo by Carol Keiter

Phil Noble, California’s First Offshore Wind Power Project, Offshore Wind Farm, Irish Sea

This photo by Phil Noble for article California’s First Offshore Wind Power Project features an Offshore Wind Farm in the Irish Sea

This article “California’s First Offshore Wind Power Project Faces Environmental Headwinds” describes that again, funding is something to navigate. “Pollution-free, renewable energy for some 300,000 homes could arrive on the California coast in the next decade if a new wind farm plan can navigate the contentious climate that thus far has derailed all offshore power projects in the state since 1969.” Margaret Bruder of the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University commented on this article: “Have you ever seen a strip coal mining operation? have you ever lived near a coal power plant. If you think wind turbines are an eye sore take a close look at these too dirty eye sores. The only difference is they are not in your backyard. And as for nuclear power–they might be “clean” energy but we have no idea what is going to happen to the spent fuel rods that have a half life of thousands of years. Do you want to live near their storage tanks when the concrete cracks and crumbles which we all know is likely ot happen in Michigan climate.”

Even more abundant than sun or wind, are wave energy.

Pelamis Wave Power technology

Pelamis Wave Power technology

Wave Power Could Supply Half the U.S. With Cheap Electricity—Here’s Why It Doesn’t” The technology works, but surviving harsh ocean conditions and securing funding has proved tough.

On this note, check this out, Défis Transitions2 calling for the bringing together of the digital and ecological transition, to expedite the process and imbue this transition with a direction.

Défis Transitions2, Digital, Ecological

Connecting the Digital and the Ecological Transitions

transition écologique ecological, objectif,imperative!

transition écologique ecological est notre objectif, our imperative!

Agir Local, Act Local

Agir Local / Act Local

mobilités actives

mobilités actives

Respire ta Ville, Breathe your City

Respire ta Ville /
Breathe your City

Ecology by Design

Ecology by Design

Open Models for Sustainability

Open Models for Sustainability

Digital Transition

the 7 Leverages of Digital Transition

the Vectors of the Ecological Transition

the Vectors of the Ecological Transition

carol keiter, blogger, arizona, wwoof

Carol the blogger in her Moose-themed residence at her first WWOOF experience in Arizona

 

Here’s a pic of me, the blogger in my ‘moose lake lodge’ residence in the Sonoran desert where I’m participating in my first WWOOF experience on the Veteran’s Ranch, a means of avoiding homelessness while at the same time being very interested in learning about farming techniques from the pros – the people who run the farms and ranches – and I absolutely love and adore animals of every type.

And I’ve started to take videos of the animals, with the incentive to capture the sounds, to then weave into some new music (sounds on the ranch 🙂

Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz ~ As an avid blogger who is presently picking up where I left off with my eBook to complete it and and beginning again to compose music, I ask you rather unambiguously and unabashedly to please donate, if you are able. !-))

PayPal Donate Button

In addition to the fact that donations are always welcome and appreciated, I just discovered to day February 20th, 2016 patreon, which I am very happy to join and am about to create an artist profile. It is a very similar concept to something I conjectured a month or so ago: wishing there was an artist residency somewhere where the artists can collaborate if they choose, yet which is based on earning money for what they create. They are paid, as they commit to producing work. Well, patron is not a residency, yet it does offer capital, and I’m pretty stoked to have discovered it. Certainly it will act as a motivator for all artists, lighting a fire to keep them producing new work!!! I’ll sign on to patreon as a blogger/photographer/illustrator/author creating a profile tomorrow, and will be de light ed to find some patrons encouraging me to keep on producing work!

The New Story | Sustainability | Fritjof Capra & Pier Luigi Luisi’s ‘Systemic View’ | CEL

Sustainability may not be widely discussed in the network news channels, as ‘action’ news stories often focus on human conflicts, disasters and economic problems of immediacy, rather than delving into long-term repercussions or solutions. Often one is not presented with situations from the standpoint of how you, the viewer, can potentially get involved and help to transform the situation.

In fact we have often received information, from the top-down, through a hierarchy of stations delivered by a few news networks, owned by a few individuals. However, even the new story, implies a new way of gleaning information; through social networks. This implies horizontal sharing of information which a person can actively investigate on their own, delving into sources of information that offer alternative views or by talking with one another, sharing ideas or even taking a walk in the woods to contemplate. So rather than being spoon-fed bits of information, it’s a process of actively investigating and sharing. In other words, thinking, for oneself.

You really Are What you Think.

Sustainable Man, A New Story of the People

Sustainable Man A New Story of the People

The “New Story of the People” is narrated breathfully by Charles Eisenstein; his story of ‘a more beautiful world’.

A New Story, being in service to something larger than yourself

A New Story being in service to something larger than yourself

With respect to the ‘Sustainable Human’, Eisenstein talks about how in the last hundred years science has been focused on dissecting and reducing things to their elemental parts in the quest to understand our universe and the matter which makes up our world. Yet during the scientific process, the influence of the subjective viewer has come to be understood as influencing the object of study. In the past, this would have been discounted as something that can not be empirically proven. As the Western World expands beyond its scientific rationalism and objectification of the world in the ‘Industrial Age’ into a new view of the web of connections through the discoveries during the ‘Information Age’, our definitions are changing. And these spill over from the scientific view of the universe, into parallel pursuits in other arenas, such as recognizing that there is really something to the wisdom traditions of Eastern spirituality and mysticism. A perspective that has been compatible to various indigenous people all over the planet for millennium.

Eisenstein metions that “A new paradigm has begun to evolve along with this scientific view that emerged out of physics; a paradigm which sees the universe not as discreet parts with everything distinctly separate, but as interconnected.”

paradigm shift of perception, from separateness to interconnectedness

We are in a paradigm shift of perception, that moves from separateness to interconnectedness

When I was younger, my interest in science as well as consciousness, spirituality and mysticism, drew me to read the book “The Tao of Physics ” written by the physicist Fritjof Capra.

Fritjof Capra, an Austrian-born American physicist, described in this book what the new sciences were disclosing, a completely new way of looking at the universe, particularly looking at the world from the scientist’s perspective of probing the smallest building blocks.

The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra

The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra

Capra went on to write together with biochemist Pier Luigi Luisi “The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision”. The authors mention that the book primarily deals with the question, “What is Life?”. Their years of research reveal that from bacteria, to cells, to organs, to living organisms from plants and insects to birds and mammals involve networks.

At the core of this paradigm shift, is a perception shift from ‘separateness’ to ‘interconnectedness’.

Rather than looking at isolated events or bodies within its skin or shell, the most obvious characteristic of life are the relationships among networks with other bacteria, cells and creatures as well as relationships between different species, organs and colonies of beings. Life of all kinds, is not a distinct entity which can merely be quantitatively measured and classified into a particular domain, but the very essence of life is a qualitative interconnection between others of its kind and the whole ecological system of relationships between different species.

The common thread of all life is that it is the network. the network is a pattern consistent through all of life, the network is a series of relationships. the science that describes this new perspective is called the ‘Systemic View’. Nature sustains itself in the sense that every organism, from a cell, to an organ, to a body, to the social nature of a species, to the planet itself is an autopoietic system that regenerates itself. This works because it is in a set of relationships within a network system.

Vita e Natura - Life and Nature - video intro of Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi's book - The Systems View of Life A Unifying Vision

Vita e Natura – Life and Nature – video intro of Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi’s book – The Systems View of Life A Unifying Vision

Here is an “essay excerpted from The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision”, presented on the (CEL) website Center for Ecoliteracy, which Capra co-founded.

Capra and Luisi argue “that many of the most important problems we face today – from financial instability to climate change and ecological degradation – reflect our collective inability to appreciate just how the world operates as a holistic, networked system in which every part depends on every other. This is something that can be approached and healed, from the systemic view. We need to live in a way that allows the planet itself to regenerate itself naturally. This leads us to consciousness of ecological sustainability and the intent to build and live in sustainable communities.

You are not distinct from Nature, You Are Nature

Having attended the “People and Planet First” conference in September of 2015 presented by the (IPS) Institute for Policies Studies in Baltimore, Maryland, the panelists also talked of a “New Story“. Among the speakers were Annie Leonard “The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard” and historian and political economist Gar Alperovitz who mentioned that though this new stream of activity towards cooperative business and horizontally-shared ownership is happening in discrete communities all over the United States, it isn’t being consciously driven, yet.

This New Story is all about sustainability: the capacity for human individuals and societies to live in a way that reduces the amount of the earth’s resources that they use, to a level that is compatible with the earth’s ability to regenerate itself and maintain a healthy balance.

This recognition of life as a network of relationships that are holistically healthy and regenerative only insofar as each of the interconnected parts are, as articulated in the Systemic View of life, is beginning to emerge in all different aspects of human relationships, as something to aspire to.

• in the individual – recognizing that we are as healthy and strong and happy only insofar as other members of the human community are also compatibly accessing education and opportunities as well as healthy environments
• in the cohesion of the human social community – in which cooperation rather than competition, diversity in participation and sharing between disciplines and groups is a healthy circulatory system
• in the realm of health – towards new ways of gardening and farming as well as the recognition of health sustaining nutrients inherent in foods and spices
• in emotional well-being – bringing the mind and the body into an interactive balance of movement and stillness; movement for healthy circulation, stillness to allow oneself to connect to that dimension which is beyond our immediate focus
• in spiritual continuity – recognizing that diversity is the spice of life; homogeneity breeds incestuous, narrow-mindedness and stagnation
• in economic behavior – towards openness & transparency, collaboration, horizontal sharing of ownership and the subsequent democratization of wealth
• in political systems – the more open and transparent the governing representatives, the more trust and mutual consensus for what is relevant and important in the fabric of existence; which includes humans, a healthy environment and relationship with all species

Diversity is healthy, whereas homogeneity breeds incestuous narrow-mindedness.

The New Story has evolved as our stories about ourselves, and the place of the human being in the world evolves.

You really Are what you Believe.

Ego vs Eco | Ecological Thinking for Business Transformation | The Nature of Business

Ego vs Eco | Ecological Thinking for Business Transformation | The Nature of Business

The premise of the organization “Ecological Thinking for Business Transformation” is that our perception of reality and our worldview has been outdated. “We are witnessing a change in business paradigm from one suited for the industrial era to one suited for the interconnected era.”

In 1995, the physicist Fritjof Capra together with the philanthropist Peter Buckley and think tank director Zenobia Barlow, founded the Center for Ecoliteracy with the intent of sharing the awareness of the systemic view with students, through a series of educational programs that support ecological principles and systems thinking to curricula and projects in habitat restoration, school gardens and cooking classes, partnerships between schools and farms and curricular innovation among K12 schools. Among other things, the center helps to develop projects in habitat restoration, school gardens and cooking classes and partnerships between schools and farms, with the awareness that health begins with a healthy diet.

You really Are what you Eat.

Ecoliteracy dot org Education for Sustainable Living

Ecoliteracy dot org Education for Sustainable Living

The New Story | Sustainability | Capra & Luisi’s ‘Systemic View’ | Heart Dimension

Sustainability may not be widely discussed in the network news channels, as ‘action’ news stories often focus on human conflicts, disasters and economic problems of immediacy, rather than delving into long-term repercussions or solutions. Often one is not presented with situations from the standpoint of how you, the viewer, can potentially get involved and help to transform the situation.

In fact we have often received information, from the top-down, through a hierarchy of stations delivered by a few news networks, owned by a few individuals. However, even the new story, implies a new way of gleaning information; through social networks. This implies horizontal sharing of information which a person can actively investigate on their own, delving into sources of information that offer alternative views or by talking with one another, sharing ideas or even taking a walk in the woods to contemplate. So rather than being spoon-fed bits of information, it’s a process of actively investigating and sharing. In other words, thinking, for oneself.

You really Are What you Think.

Sustainable Man, A New Story of the People

Sustainable Man A New Story of the People

The “New Story of the People” is narrated breathfully by Charles Eisenstein; his story of ‘a more beautiful world’.

A New Story, being in service to something larger than yourself

A New Story being in service to something larger than yourself

With respect to the ‘Sustainable Human’, Eisenstein talks about how in the last hundred years science has been focused on dissecting and reducing things to their elemental parts in the quest to understand our universe and the matter which makes up our world. Yet during the scientific process, the influence of the subjective viewer has come to be understood as influencing the object of study. In the past, this would have been discounted as something that can not be empirically proven. As the Western World expands beyond its scientific rationalism and objectification of the world in the ‘Industrial Age’ into a new view of the web of connections through the discoveries during the ‘Information Age’, our definitions are changing. And these spill over from the scientific view of the universe, into parallel pursuits in other arenas, such as recognizing that there is really something to the wisdom traditions of Eastern spirituality and mysticism. A perspective that has been compatible to various indigenous people all over the planet for millennium.

Eisenstein metions that “A new paradigm has begun to evolve along with this scientific view that emerged out of physics; a paradigm which sees the universe not as discreet parts with everything distinctly separate, but as interconnected.”

paradigm shift of perception, from separateness to interconnectedness

We are in a paradigm shift of perception, that moves from separateness to interconnectedness

When I was younger, my interest in science as well as consciousness, spirituality and mysticism, drew me to read the book “The Tao of Physics ” written by the physicist Fritjof Capra.

Fritjof Capra, an Austrian-born American physicist, described in this book what the new sciences were disclosing, a completely new way of looking at the universe, particularly looking at the world from the scientist’s perspective of probing the smallest building blocks.

The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra

The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra

Capra went on to write together with biochemist Pier Luigi Luisi “The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision”. The authors mention that the book primarily deals with the question, “What is Life?”. Their years of research reveal that from bacteria, to cells, to organs, to living organisms from plants and insects to birds and mammals involve networks.

At the core of this paradigm shift, is a perception shift from ‘separateness’ to ‘interconnectedness’.

Rather than looking at isolated events or bodies within its skin or shell, the most obvious characteristic of life are the relationships among networks with other bacteria, cells and creatures as well as relationships between different species, organs and colonies of beings. Life of all kinds, is not a distinct entity which can merely be quantitatively measured and classified into a particular domain, but the very essence of life is a qualitative interconnection between others of its kind and the whole ecological system of relationships between different species.

The common thread of all life is that it is the network. the network is a pattern consistent through all of life, the network is a series of relationships. the science that describes this new perspective is called the ‘Systemic View’. Nature sustains itself in the sense that every organism, from a cell, to an organ, to a body, to the social nature of a species, to the planet itself is an autopoietic system that regenerates itself. This works because it is in a set of relationships within a network system.

Vita e Natura - Life and Nature - video intro of Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi's book - The Systems View of Life A Unifying Vision

Vita e Natura – Life and Nature – video intro of Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi’s book – The Systems View of Life A Unifying Vision

Here is an “essay excerpted from The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision”, presented on the (CEL) website Center for Ecoliteracy, which Capra co-founded.

Capra and Luisi argue “that many of the most important problems we face today – from financial instability to climate change and ecological degradation – reflect our collective inability to appreciate just how the world operates as a holistic, networked system in which every part depends on every other. This is something that can be approached and healed, from the systemic view. We need to live in a way that allows the planet itself to regenerate itself naturally. This leads us to consciousness of ecological sustainability and the intent to build and live in sustainable communities.

You are not distinct from Nature, You Are Nature

This New Story is all about sustainability: the capacity for human individuals and societies to live in a way that reduces the amount of the earth’s resources that they use, to a level that is compatible with the earth’s ability to regenerate itself and maintain a healthy balance.

This recognition of life as a network of relationships that are holistically healthy and regenerative only insofar as each of the interconnected parts are, as articulated in the Systemic View of life, is beginning to emerge in all different aspects of human relationships, as something to aspire to.

• in the individual – recognizing that we are as healthy and strong and happy only insofar as other members of the human community are also compatibly accessing education and opportunities as well as healthy environments
• in the cohesion of the human social community – in which cooperation rather than competition, diversity in participation and sharing between disciplines and groups is a healthy circulatory system
• in the realm of health – towards new ways of gardening and farming as well as the recognition of health sustaining nutrients inherent in foods and spices
• in emotional well-being – bringing the mind and the body into an interactive balance of movement and stillness; movement for healthy circulation, stillness to allow oneself to connect to that dimension which is beyond our immediate focus
• in spiritual continuity – recognizing that diversity is the spice of life; homogeneity breeds incestuous, narrow-mindedness and stagnation
• in economic behavior – towards openness & transparency, collaboration, horizontal sharing of ownership and the subsequent democratization of wealth
• in political systems – the more open and transparent the governing representatives, the more trust and mutual consensus for what is relevant and important in the fabric of existence; which includes humans, a healthy environment and relationship with all species

Diversity is healthy, whereas homogeneity breeds incestuous narrow-mindedness.

The New Story has evolved as our stories about ourselves, and the place of the human being in the world evolves.

You really Are what you Believe.

Ego vs Eco | Ecological Thinking for Business Transformation | The Nature of Business

Ego vs Eco | Ecological Thinking for Business Transformation | The Nature of Business

The premise of the organization “Ecological Thinking for Business Transformation” is that our perception of reality and our worldview has been outdated. “We are witnessing a change in business paradigm from one suited for the industrial era to one suited for the interconnected era.”

In 1995, the physicist Fritjof Capra together with the philanthropist Peter Buckley and think tank director Zenobia Barlow, founded the Center for Ecoliteracy with the intent of sharing the awareness of the systemic view with students, through a series of educational programs that support ecological principles and systems thinking to curricula and projects in habitat restoration, school gardens and cooking classes, partnerships between schools and farms and curricular innovation among K12 schools. Among other things, the center helps to develop projects in habitat restoration, school gardens and cooking classes and partnerships between schools and farms, with the awareness that health begins with a healthy diet.

You really Are what you Eat.

Ecoliteracy dot org Education for Sustainable Living

Ecoliteracy dot org Education for Sustainable Living

Frijof Capra says that he has studied agroecology or regenerative agriculture.
Agroecology or agroforestry combines; forestry, agriculture and livestock. It is beyond sustainable, it is actually regenerative.

Jeremy Wickremer’s mentions in his article for The Ecologist Connecting the Dots: the Big Permaculture Picture ”Just like you need a holistic vision for a healthy mind and body, the same applies for a healthy planet. One way of living that seeks to do this is permaculture. To put it simply, permaculture is agricultural and social design principles centered around simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems. It is a design system that mimics nature, where everything in the design supports everything else.”

Syntropyc, Regenerative Agriculture, Ernst Götsch

Syntropyc Regenerative Agriculture, Ernst Götsch

In terms of sustainable and regenerative agriculture, Agroforestry is land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland. It’s another example of replenishing the environment with nutrients and water, without needing chemicals or pesticides. This encourages growth in biodiversity and is healthier for farmers.

Besides the growth of food and the reflection of these sustainable practices on all of the other creatures with whom we share our planet, there are plenty of business solutions that are as well following this New Story, emulating what already clearly works in nature. One group is “Ecological Thinking for Business Transformation” also speak of the “out-dated worldview, a perception of reality inadequate for dealing with the volatile and globally interconnected business world.”

Having attended the “People and Planet First” conference in September of 2015 presented by the (IPS) Institute for Policies Studies in Baltimore, Maryland, the panelists also talked of a “New Story“. Among the speakers were Annie Leonard “The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard” and historian and political economist Gar Alperovitz who mentioned that though this new stream of activity towards cooperative business and horizontally-shared ownership is happening in discrete communities all over the United States, it isn’t being consciously driven, yet.

Eisenstein, in his Sustainable Man video about The New Story, talks of stepping out of this paradigm of control and allowing oneself to be of service to this larger body of which we all are a part. And that as we direct our questions and intent to ask what we can do to serve having a healthier body, mind, well-being, community and world, that indeed, the answers and direction will arise in response to the intention.

step from paradigm of control, ask how you can serve, and the opportunities will arise

When you feel that you are here in service, and bow to that, opportunities will arise to allow you to act on that intention.

Besides the rational means of digesting information, there is the whole realm of the invisible. I’ll call it the domain of the heart. Herein lies the capacity of a person to intuit something and feel whether the information is in alignment with the words. A person can sense whether they feel good around a person, or uneasy. A person can have an impression beyond the rational, about whether the words of another person seem to convey the same as their gestures, or whether something is not quite in synch. One can sense whether something they read or see feels accurate and sound, or whether there is something amiss. Many animals can sense with a heightened capacity – with sense organs much more highly tuned to frequencies beyond those of human beings – to see, hear, detect movements and subtle alternations in the environment.

I mention the heart literally and figuratively as a metaphor. The heart is the central organ in the body – lets just talk about human beings – that is consistently circulating oxygen, nutrients and carrying away wastes throughout the body. The heart pumping station, is also by its nature generating an electromagnetic field which is larger than that produced by the brain. The heart also has a complex system of neurons, cells that are consistently transmitting information to the rest of the body. When the heart is in synch in the individual with feelings of joy and love, this invisible field expands. When an individual is more channeled into negative emotions of fear and anger, this field constricts.

Every Small Gesture Has Significance

The perception of the heart has everything to do with the health of all of the other organs of our body, of individual health in general, of the health of societies, permeating into healthy relationships with other organisms and with the health of the earth, which is an organism just as we are.

The heart is also metaphorically an organ of connection with others. Besides wonder, exuberance, joy and gratitude that a person can feel within him or herself, the words love, compassion and empathy typically imply a connection with another.

no external universe, every action we do, we do  to ourselves

And as we begin to take tiny actions that follow the logic of the heart – which knows that each act is significant – the logic of the mind of the older world begins to be replaced. This power of repetition which can physically build muscles, is what occurs mentally, neurologically. Each time you think differently, you are rewiring your brain. This concept called Neuroplasticity has to do with the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. This rewiring allows the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment.

My introduction into the wisdom of the heart probably began through readings of Deepak Chopra. A physician and author, meditation guide and founder of the Chopra Center; who introduced this awareness that has been understood for Millenia in various Eastern spiritual traditions, of the effectiveness of meditation and this connection to the vast unknown dimension of energy. Chopra has teamed more recently with Oprah Winfrey to bring this domain of the spirit, of tapping into the hidden world of energy through stillness and meditation.

I then was introduced to the practice of ‘Heart Rhythm meditation’ which purports a harmonious and healing relationship within oneself and the universe beyond, through simply aligning the rhythm of one’s breathing to the rhythm of one’s heart beat. It is a practice introduced to the West by a Sufi Hazrat inayat Khan who descended from Pashtuns, an ethnic group originally from Afghanistan and Pakistan. This meditation practice was brought to me by a certified AMA physician who understands the multidimensional healing that this practice provides – from reducing stress, to lowering blood pressure, creating a more harmonious heart rate and allowing oneself to access in this stillness, the domain of energy that stretches way beyond the physical heart and body.

It was in this meditative state that I posed questions regarding what I can do of service, which sent me through a leap of faith to Paris during the COP21 Climate talks to the Place to B, an integration of lectures, workshops, panel discussions and barrage of information sharing, attended by 600 people from 40 countries. This sharing of information about climate change and sustainable alternatives took place simultaneously with the COP21 Climate Talks. The Place to B: Place to Brief was conceived of and founded by the journalist and author Anne-Sophie Novel and the director of production Nicolas Bienvenue. They were surrounded by a team of people who coordinated the continuous flurry of learning events and entertainment, with a tremendous group of visiting presenters, entrepreneurs and activists who each delivered their scintillating information and testimonies of successes and inspirational savvy from all corners of the world. 600 people representing 40 countries arrived in Paris to participate in what the Place to B/Place to Brief offered; alternative media, a collective with presentations, speakers and workshops, panel discussions and music and yoga and meditation workshops all happening at one central location throughout the two week duration of the Climate Talks.

One of the workshops I attended was the Transformational Media Summit : Storytelling and Media for a Better World. The New Story summit was hosted by Jeremy Wickremer, co-founder of Transformational Media Initiative In his presentation, Jeremy Wickremer spoke of the fact that each of us are potentially change-agents, with the capacity to do actions that can have a big impact on the environment – our own lives, our communities and the larger environment. And that what is more potent than merely drawing up solutions from a logical methodology, is to start with the right questions, which prompts creativity in itself. Specifically, he mentioned that your intention – within the guise of a question – will often be answered. He more recently wrote in an article “Our Invisible World” about the fact that many things which steer human behavior, emotions, health, psychological and spiritual well-being have to do with the energy that lies beneath the actions. And that the common illnesses which affect modern man and the crisis of violence that threat human cultures, have to do with a disconnect. This disconnect is within our own selves, our patterns and habits of how we live our lives. There is a disconnect within ourselves, among one another and that humans have with other creatures and nature; which is presently resulting in the greatest magnitude of habitat destruction, dissemination of species and global ecological balances and health.

The biggest disharmony of all is perhaps our relationship with the natural world.

Daniel Goleman is the psychologist, science journalist and author of “Emotional Intelligence”. He posits that non-cognitive skills can matter as much as a person’s I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) for workplace success in “Working with Emotional Intelligence”. In 2007, Goleman wrote about “Social Intelligence” and in 2009, “Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything

So called ‘primitive people’, without having had the use of technological tools that more ‘advanced’ civilizations have had at their disposal and for their distraction, have had thousands of years of penetration into the invisible world that the modern Western world has only been starting to grasp is in the last 50 years. And with the spiritual and emotional well-being deficit that modern man has come to feel, this dis-ease of the human spirit, disconnect with oneself, growing obesity, growing psychological disorders and reliance on quick-fixes such as pharmaceuticals, and growing disharmony and feelings of isolation, have reached towards and cherished many ancient traditions that have evolved in the Eastern World to ease their dis-ease and treat their disharmony with something more than a quick fix of treating the symptoms instead of the disorder. They have reached towards practices of meditation, yoga, t’ai chi and walking into nature and silence, with a visceral understanding that these practices have short and long term benefits.

Listening to Intuition is the Wisdom of the Heart.

There is so much we can do, and we do have the ability to consciously act towards sustainability.

Many little voices make a tremendous noise, and many little gestures, create big changes.

We Do Have the Means | Living Harmoniously with the Planet | Salt-water Powered Cars

Collective Evolution’s article on salt-water generated fuel.

“It works just like a hydrogen fuel cell except that the liquid used for storing energy is saltwater.”

nanoFlowCell, SaltWater fuel conversion

nanoFlowCell SaltWater fuel conversion

“In this case the liquid (saltwater) passes through a membrane in between the two tanks, creating an electric charge. This electricity is then stored and distributed by super capacitors. The four electric motors in the car are fed electricity which makes it run. The car carries the water in two 200-litre tanks, which in one sitting will allow drivers to travel up to 373 miles (600km).

We’ve got major plans, and not just within the automobile industry. The potential of the NanoFlowcell technology and its applications is much greater, especially in terms of domestic energy supplies as well as in maritime, rail and aviation technology.

All cars should be required to be made from this type, or other similar types of clean green energy.

Scientists at the U.S Naval Research Laboratory have developed a technology to recover carbon dioxide and hydrogen from seawater and convert it into a liquid hydrocarbon fuel. This could be a tremendous breakthrough and eliminate the need for old ways of generating fuel.”

Golly gee, if the U.S. Navy can break-up from their addiction to fossil fuels, so can all of us!

U.S. Navy produces fuel from Seawater

U.S. Navy produces fuel from Seawater

Navy’s new fuel process: Extracting carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2) from seawater to produce liquid hydrocarbon fuel.

Why did they bother investigating this? Because “in Fiscal year 2011, the U.S. Navy Military Sea Lift Command, the primary supplier of fuel and oil to the U.S. Navy fleet, delivered nearly 600 million gallons of fuel to Navy vessels underway, operating 15 fleet replenishment oilers around the globe.”

“A catalytic converter extracts carbon dioxide and hydrogen from water and converts the gases into liquid hydrocarbons at a 92 percent efficiency rate, and the resulting fuel can be used in ships’ existing engines.”

carbon capture skid, NRL, Navy Research Laboratory

carbon capture skid at (NRL) Navy Research Laboratory

 

 

Research chemist, Heather D. Willhauer, NRL

Research chemist Heather D. Willhauer NRL

“It’s remarkable how Barack Obama has constantly pointed out that we will be using oil, gas and coal for the next twenty years, and that we don’t have the technology to lift our dependence off of these resources.

 

Those who are looking into it can clearly see that this simply isn’t true. We have the means to live in ways that are more harmonious with the planet and all beings on it.” Not to mention, a plethora of jobs can be created to implement this at all levels.

Calling: all workers in the industries of coal, mining, petroleum… > there are other income opportunities out there!

Yes, We Can, well that is, Yes, the U.S. Navy CAN covert seawater to fuel.

We need to pull away from coal, petroleum and all other dirty, non-renewable processes and invest our insights, energies and integrity into supporting clean, renewable energies.

“It’s just another example of the many ways of generating energy that are now available that could end our dependence on fossil fuels. These new, clean green ways of generating energy have been around for decades, so why are we always talking about them without ever implementing them?”

It just so happens that those with undivided interest and ownership in coal and fossil fuel as well as their dirty derivative industries are anonymously pouring huge amounts of money into disinformation campaigns regarding Global Warming and its main culprits. This article from the Guardian talks about the secretive donors who gave US climate denial groups $125m over three years.

the Earth is not Responsible for Global Warming

The Earth is not Responsible for Global Warming – Earth has no barcode

Thomas Berry, Dreamer of the Earth: The Spiritual Ecology co-author of “The Universe Story” writes, “The natural world itself is the primary economic reality, the primary educator, the primary governance, the primary technologist, the primary healer, the primary presence of the sacred, the primary moral value“.

It is in the best interest of all – humans and all other life forms on Earth. And for financial reasons, companies and individuals who have divested their stocks and bonds in fossil fuel companies have outperformed…

This article from the Guardian points out that the real danger is not the kayaktivists, but Shell.

Why is this important? Because the beautiful and fantastic display of the diversity of life that have taken millions of years to evolve to their unique spectacular natures, is what ROCKS about our planet Earth: Living together intimately and harmoniously with the diversity of the entire biosphere is the reason and the beauty of this planet. No other reason, except for the fact that we are all related and interdependent and of this earth. Our heaven is right here on earth. It is the Earth and its myriad of life – the biosphere and the geosphere – that is sacred and needs our protection.

What can you do? There is plenty that you can do, right now! The Ecological Buddhism website offers you a whole gamut of solutions in every arena; with guidance regarding Renewable Energy, Sustainable Economy, Deep Ecology & Ecopsychology, Energy Efficiency, Activism, Behavior & Communication and the Game Changers!

The National Wildlife Federation can help to guide you, advocating about Clean Energy and Climate Solutions.

National Wildlife Federation What We Do Get out of Dirty Energy

“Whether it be Solar, Free Energy (zero-point), Converting Seawater, {Wind, or Wave technology}, it’s clear we can do better than we are doing now.”

Do it! – divest in dirty and invest in clean & renewable – for your kids and for all other creatures with whom we share our planet Earth.

Why bother? As the authors of “Ecobuddhism and the wisdom of the psyche – The Universe Story” unveil. “We are a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects”. Here are some excerpts from the “The Universe Story” of Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry.

“That our western civilization should be the principal cause of such extensive damage to the planet is so difficult a truth for us to absorb that our society in general is presently in a state of shock and denial, or disbelief…Our western addiction to commercial-industrial progress as our basic referent for reality and value, is becoming an all-pervasive attitude throughout the various peoples and cultures of the Earth.”

Not a neural toxin, but an attitude and understanding deficiency!

“Efforts to present the full reality of the situation are being met generally with intense opposition, an opposition due to the subservience of our religious, educational and professional establishments to our industrial culture….the Ecozoic Era requires a comprehensive human consensus away from what we’ve been brainwashed into beholding as true; i.e. Manufactured Consent – The Political Economy of the Mass Media – a non-fiction book written by by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky in 1988

¡ Reiterating! The authors of “The Universe Story” state that “The natural world itself is the primary economic reality, the primary educator, the primary governance, the primary technologist, the primary healer, the primary presence of the sacred, the primary moral value.”

Ecotherapy: Healing Ourselves, Healing the Earth.

The most dangerous animal.

The most dangerous animal, by its side a Great White shark swims peacefully.

What Humans Currently Do | Excerpts from “The Universe Story”

Our Solar System arose 4.5 Billion years ago. The Earth has evolved – through a series of transformations – to even enable life to form.

From the beginning, as our universe continues to evolve in its cosmogenesis, intelligent intent is present – at all levels > towards differentiation, autopoiesis and communion.

NASA image, Cygnus Loop, Supernova Stellar Explosion, 15,000 years ago

NASA image Cygnus Loop Supernova Stellar Explosion 15,000 years ago

 

Excerpts from the authors

Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry of “The Universe Story”

Ecological Buddhism – A Buddhist Response to Global Warming

Presently, the human race enters the The Ecozoic Era.

Brian Swimme is one of the main people with whom to study, to understand the cosmological shift necessary to a new cosmology.

 

 

“As the natural world recedes in its diversity and abundance, so the human finds itself impoverished in its economic resources, its imaginative powers, its human sensitivities and in significant aspects of its intellectual intuitions.”

Devastation of Rainforest

Davastation of a Rainforest

 

Here’s a link to the footage of Forest Heroes from a drone of the devastation of a rainforest: Astra’s forest destruction in Indonesia.

 

“The pathos is that we are presently deliberately terminating the most awesome splendor that the planet has yet attained. We are extinguishing the rainforests, the most luxuriant life system of the entire planet, at the rate of an acre each second of each day. Each year we are destroying a rainforest area the size of Oklahoma.

Throughout the planet we are not only extinguishing present forms of life, yet also eliminating the very conditions for the renewal of life in some of its more elaborate forms.

We have moved from such evils as suicide, homicide, and genocide, to biocide and geocide, the killing of the life systems of the planet and the severe degradation if not the killing of the planet itself. We have moved from simple physical assault on the planet, to disturbance of the chemical balance of the planet through our petrochemical industries, to questionable manipulation of the genetic constitution of the living being of the planet by our genetic engineering, to the radioactive wasting of the planet through our nuclear industries.”

Bird sanctuary, Gulf Petrochemicals Industries Co.

Bird sanctuary at Gulf Petrochemicals Industries Co.

 

Ironically, this image of a bird sanctuary at Gulf Petrochemicals Industries Co., is courtesy of the president of the Petro company. A public relations blog on how hunky dory everything is, with the company sitting on top of a fragile ecosystem.

 

 

“That human well-being could be achieved by diminishing the well being of the Earth, that a rising Gross Domestic Product could ignore the declining Gross Earth Product, is the basic flaw in the Wonderland Myth.”

momgoesgreen.com:my-thoughts-on-the-gulf-oil-spill

momgoesgreen.com:my-thoughts-on-the-gulf-oil-spill

 

 

“These centuries of “progress” are now ending with increasing stress for the human is final evidence that;

what humans do to the outer world they do to their own interior world.

 

! Next Blog ¡ What we humans need to do in our emerging Echoic Era, to allow the paradigm shift in our conscious awareness to emerge.

We are Earth> Occupy the Planet!