Saturday, October 31, 2009

FLIGHTS OF FANCY

This is a picture of my favorite Hawaiian forest bird. The I'iwi. Gorgeous. Seeing them in the wild is so incredible. The colours are fantastic. And look at that bill!!!! Because they are so rare many people have never seen one except in a picture, including people who live here, since the Native birds fled to the high mountains as the lowland forests were cut down. If you have read my post about Old Growth forests, then you know that I began hiking with botanists when I first moved to Oahu. Besides seeing beautiful really rare plants, I started learning about the Hawaiian birds. All the forest birds seen at lower levels are "imports" from somewhere else because the Hawaiian species couldn't live on the introduced plants, and they had no immunity to mosquito viruses so they died in massive numbers. There were no mosquitoes here before people brought them. Can you imagine? (What a good idea to bring those with us!) So just like with the plants, you can come to Hawaii and never see a Hawaiian bird. Ayah. And when I discovered how few Hawaiian bird species were left in the high mountains I began a "quest" to see all the ones that still exist before any more go extinct. Sadly, another one did go extinct just a few years after I moved here and I never got to see it. It was called the Po'ouli, and lived in the remote mountains of Maui. There was only one bird left that researchers knew of, and then it died. Sigh.

My search started on Oahu with the help of a wonderful woman who knew the calls of the birds, so even if we couldn't see them she would say "oohh there is an Apapane singing over there in those trees". Then I'd scramble like crazy to try and SEE it. It was always worth it. They are so magical and beautiful! Because they are elusive and rare, it makes it even more exciting when you do get blessed with a sighting. As with the plants, some birds had evolved on each of the main islands that never made the flight to another island, so were endemic just to one place. Wow. After I'd seen the species still surviving on Oahu, I started doing "birding" trips to the other islands. During one of those trips here on Kauai I met a really generous man who took the time to tell me where to find the most rare endemics on Kauai, Maui and Big Isle. He even drew me maps!!!! Sweet. I could never have completed my quest without this gift.

So off I went with my new-found knowledge and over the course of several years and many blissful trips into the forests, I DID manage to see all the ones that are still alive. There are some phenomenal birds here! The very last on my list was on Maui, a bird called the Akohekohe, black and white speckled with a spectacular disheveled red hair piece. I was in a remote area, sitting in the dense vegetation dressed in green, doing my best imitation of a bush, and watching a huge Ohia tree covered in blossoms, their favorite food. I'd been to this area on many trips and never seen the rarest of the rare. Suddenly there it was, about 40 feet in front of me on the tree. I was freaking out (quietly) because I was so EXCITED that I finally got a glimpse, when it turned and looked at me! For a moment I thought, no it couldn't possibly see me because I am one with this bush. The bush that's shaking with excitement maybe. Well then I got my answer. IT FLEW STRAIGHT AT ME! I had to put down my binoculars because it got so close I thought it was going to land on me. Instead it landed on a branch of the bush I thought I was part of, and just stared at me. It was the sweetest moment. I couldn't breathe. Then it flew off and I burst out laughing. But wait. IT CAME BACK! And this time brought a mate!!!! Probably saying "what do you think this is???" So they both stared at me for awhile and chattered to each other before flying away. Gosh if only I could understand "bird". A brilliant final sighting to complete my quest. Now when I am hiking and see the rare ones it is like old dear friends I haven't seen in a long time.

Out of 75 forest bird species documented in the islands in the past, there are now only 8 species left on Kauai. Yes, EIGHT. Some are extremely rare and hardly ever seen, and there is a captive breeding program to try and bring back numbers on some of the ones that are the most depleted. But because the forests where they survive are still being ravaged who knows if we can save them from extinction. On Oahu there are 2 species that have begun to develop some immunity to mosquitoes since the little biters are now through all the forests there so the birds can't escape any more. For awhile the really high mountains on other islands were spared, but now new skeeter breeds are showing up even in the bird sanctuary at 6000 feet on Big Isle.

So what can we do? A really easy way to help endangered species is right in front of you on your computer. There are sites online where you just have to click and sponsors pay donations to different organizations. Free for you and you get to help! What could be better. If you think you don't have enough time, it literally takes 30 seconds to donate (o.k. 90 with a slow connection...). My favorite is at http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/. Click to donate is the section this link will take you to, but if you are interested, there are also amazing articles on this site. Fantastic organizations will benefit from your clicks like Nature Conservancy, Oceana, Jane Goodall Institute, and more. I have a link that comes right to my email inbox so it's really convenient. There are other causes on the same page if you want to donate to them all, and you can do it every day. So go donate right now! I'm sure the birds will thank you. Happy clicking!
Thanks for listening.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

OLD GROWTH

I have been neglecting the mountains!!!! I'm writing so much about the ocean, it's about time the mountain forests get some air time.

Did you know you can come to Hawaii and never see a Hawaiian tree? I grew up on the island of Borneo, and when I came to Hawaii for the first time and saw the coconut trees, plumeria, mango, and banana trees, it felt like "home". The very first week after I moved to Oahu I met 2 botanists who had just started a weekly hiking group to go into the forest looking for rare endangered plants. Being the Nature boy that I am it couldn't have been more perfect. So the first hike I am excitedly asking questions about the plants and trees I am seeing and was sent reeling. No, that's not Hawaiian, or that, or that or that... so what IS? Oh not until you get really high into the mountains. Pretty much everything down at sea level was brought here from somewhere else. WHAT???? Good grief. What looked like "home" to me didn't actually belong in these islands! So as we hiked higher and they began pointing out the actual Hawaiian plants and trees, I got really sad. Why are there so few and why are they only in these remote places where most people would never see them unless they climb a 2000 foot mountain? Well I learned a lot over the next 2 years hiking with that group, and saw some AMAZING wonders that very few ever get to see.

Hawaii has the dubious honour of having the largest number of endangered plants in the U.S.. Aren't we lucky? Because the islands are so remote many things evolved here that live no-where else in the world. And now because of the way we have stripped the islands and re-planted with species from other places, the endemics are dying out very quickly. Since I have been living here there are several species that the last known plant died. So unless one is hiding somewhere, that species won't ever recover from what we have done, unless it evolves again over the next 10 million years. Why are we not paying attention to this? How many people come to Hawaii and know they have not seen a Hawaiian plant? Once I discovered where they were I had to go visit them every week. I'd rush through the lowland scary alien forest, and then ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...there it is...the Old Growth. Original Hawaiian forest that has never been cut or altered. There is nothing like it on earth. And I have found in other Old Growth forests as well, like in the Cascades of Washington State, there is a feeling that is so different in a forest that has never been cut down or altered. It is POWERFUL. All forest is beautiful. But there is something about this that defies description. You feel it in your soul. They are soooooooo spectacular. Many of the Hawaiian trees are covered in flowers! After living here a few years and hiking in the Native forest every week I was back in Minnesota visiting my sister and while driving around I kept thinking "why does this look so unusual?" Then I realized, none of the trees had flowers!!!!!!!! Ah Hawaii. (don't get all uppity, Minnesota is gorgeous too...just different!)

When the Polynesians first arrived in the islands there were no fruit trees and very few edible plants. For humans anyway. The birds seemed to be doing fine! So they started planting trees like the coconuts and mangoes, and clearing areas to grow taro and other crops. I have read that the first people here had a belief that the high forests were Wao Akua, the realm of the Gods. So they left them alone and just cut down the lowland forests. But then trade began and Sandalwood was discovered in the mountains which brought a great price. This blew my mind: they BURNED the forests to get it out more easily because only the heartwood was used and it wasn't damaged by burning the outer bark. WOW. So entire forests were burned and then only the Sandalwood pulled out. Why is this o.k.? Oh ya, money. Yikes. The areas were re-planted with fast growing trees from other places because the Hawaiian trees grow too slowly! Ayah. And so the Hawaiian forests shrank. And STILL when there is a landslide in the mountains or some place that needs to be re-planted it is done with alien plants, not native. We haven't yet learned. Sigh. Then animal ranching was introduced and more forests were cut, and STILL ARE being cut. Enough already.

On the island of Kauai you can actually get to Old Growth without hiking up 2000 feet. You can drive! So if you ever visit, go up Waimea Canyon. Most people do anyway because it is so spectacular. The Hawaiian Grand Canyon. There are beautiful lookouts on the way up, so look and ohh ahhh, but keep going. Then there is the lodge at 4000 feet where they planted PINE TREES. Why, why, why. Keep going. Drive to the very end of the road, and look to the right. Close your eyes and BREATHE. This is Old Growth Hawaiian forest. Never been altered. Spine tingling. Magnificent. Plants that live no-where else on earth. Some even just on Kauai! They never made the jump to the other islands nearby. If you are a hiker there are great trails to take you deep into it's beauty.

So how do we preserve what is left of Old Growth? If you read a previous blog about animal agriculture you already know that is the biggest contributor to forests being cut down. But there are many other reasons as well, so here is another thing you can do: buy re-cycled paper everything. I have read that there is enough paper already in the world that we never need to cut another tree again EVER. Wouldn't that be EXCITING???!!!! Can you imagine no more forests threatened EVER? Wow. That is if we are willing to use what is already in circulation. It means putting paper products in the recycling instead of the garbage, ALL of them, and then when you buy, look for re-cycled. They have everything now made from paper already in circulation, you just have to look. Paper napkins, plates, towels, toilet paper, office paper, the whole shebang. (is that a word?) If you can't get to a health food store pretty much all the major chains carry re-cycled products now. Usually just one brand in a sea of "new trees cut down" brands, but they are starting. Supply and demand. The more people that buy re-cycled the more they will supply. So be one of the people to create a demand for re-using paper! And when you visit Old Growth you can know you did your part to help keep it alive. YES!
Thanks for listening.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

LOVE SONG

Three love moments with Nature, and a song...

I was diving out in Waimea bay on Oahu one day and heard this LOUD haunting sound. Popped up to the surface to look around for what might be causing it. Didn't see anything. Dove again, there it is again. Popped up a second time. Still no-one nearby. Dove a third time and suddenly the gates of perception opened: WHALE SONG!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh My Word. How can I describe the thrill that ran through my blood to every corner of my body? I couldn't hold my breath long enough to stay down and listen for the hours I wanted to. (I was free diving without a tank) Scientists don't know why they sing. WHO CARES??? Because they CAN! And it will transform anyone who gets to feel it in their bloodstream. That's why they do it. They are healing the underwater world with sound.

One rainy day with no-one on the beach I was getting into the water, and there was a sweet honu (Hawaiian sea turtle) in just knee deep water looking at me. I thanked it for saying hello, but it just sat there looking at me, and then suddenly turned in the water to "show" me a huge hook in it's left shoulder with a line trailing about 2 feet long. AYAH! "Do you want me to try and get it out?" It just sat there. ( I like to think animals can understand me...) "I've never done this before. It's going to hurt." So I took hold of the hook to see how deeply embedded it was and it wouldn't budge. PAIN. It looked at me as if to say "you really don't know what you are doing, do you", and swam off. Right in that moment a jet ski came by. There are NO jet skis in this area ever! On the side is written: Ocean Rescue. Are you kidding me? So I flag him down and tell him about the turtle with the hook and he says normally he travels with pliers to cut them out but didn't have them with him, and drives off. What? Not ready to give up I get out of the water and call Turtle Rescue. Yes that really is their name. You know what they told me? "We don't do IN WATER rescue".!!!! WHAT??? These are "in water" creatures! Good grief. The hook, she says, will work it's way out, but the line is the danger because it can tangle on coral and they drown because they are air breathers. And she warns me, you mustn't try to help it because they can bite your finger off. Ayah. This turtle wants help. So I go home and get my wire cutters, all the time sending it thoughts that I am coming back and I will be prepared. Heaven smiled and said yes. I went back and it came to me in the exact same spot! Just looking at me. I showed it the pliers and said "SEE! This time I'm ready!!!". It turned and put it's shoulder right in front of me just like before and, clip. The line is cut off at the base. YES! I was so over the moon excited! "I know the hook feels horrible, but it will eventually be expelled, and that I couldn't do without ripping your shoulder." It looked at me one last time, and swam gently away. I still have the fishing line.

The other night I was doing yoga on the beach at night under the stars (ahhhhhhhhhhhh), and as my gaze fell upon the water there were....fireflies? In the water? I rushed to the waters edge, and no, I am not imagining this. There it is again. And again. Gorgeous little luminescent flashes under water! There is some small creature that flashes light like a firefly. No idea what they are. So I sat down in the water's edge and suddenly had bursts of light on my thighs, my stomach, my arms. Squeals of delight. From me that is. Nature always has some new thrill. May she continue to bless us.

I believe the Earth can heal
Hear Her cry both far and near
I believe that we must feel
In our hearts, the call so clear

Heal the Earth
Bring back the Sacred
Feel the Earth
In all you do
Heal the Earth
What God created
A sense of Holy
We must renew

I believe we need a way
To bring back love for all God made
I believe it's time to say
Let's change this price that Nature's paid

In our lives we've moved away
From feeling pain as Nature fades
In our lives, with each new day
Choose to restore and not degrade

Heal the Earth
Bring back the Sacred
Feel the Earth
In all you do
Heal the Earth
What God created
A sense of Holy
We must renew.

Thanks for listening.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

YOUNG WISDOM

This weekend was such a wild juxtaposition of sadness and joy. After the horrific news at the meeting Friday morning about Larsens being ravaged, I went to a 2 day bar mitzvah celebration for the son of a dear friend of mine. So full of love and delight, singing, dancing, laughing, even vegan food, because the entire family believes in caring for the earth! Wow. I discovered his grandmother is an environmental writer and his aunt has a book published on endangered species. Incredible to be surrounded by such consciousness of what is happening to the planet we all live on. Give me more of that!!!!!

The Rabbi of course had words to say and they were fascinating and hilarious! A bar mitzvah marks the move from childhood into adulthood. But he said rather than leave childhood behind, we want to take the beautiful things from childhood with us into adulthood. A child has a purity and singular focus that we lose as adults when we compartmentalize. They are 100% in what they are feeling, without judging themselves or questioning if they should be feeling it. He said they are "un-adulterated"!!!!! That made me laugh out loud. I've never heard the word used that way before. Brilliant. There is wisdom to listen to when a child sees something and feels moved by it. Purity of focus.

This young man who the bar mitzvah was for, is amazing. Only 13, and transitioning to becoming an adult, he spoke with such wisdom and beauty at the ceremony. I was so moved I asked if I could post part of his speech. He said yes! Listen to his words. They are gorgeous!

"The name of this week’s Torah reading is “Bereishis”, which means “In the beginning”.
Indeed, a Bar-Mitzvah is a beginning.
Yes, it is the end of one stage of life, childhood, and the start of a new stage, adulthood.
It is this transition we are celebrating today.
There is one particular verse in this week’s Torah-reading that is very meaningful in this regard.
The story being told is that of Adam, the very first human being, in the Garden of Eden.
What was the purpose of man’s being placed in this most unique place?
Says the Torah: “to work the land and protect it”.
This implies two forms of work, both pro-active and defensive.
1) “To work it” – means to nurture and develop it further.
2) “To protect it” – implies securing it from negative elements that may harm or ruin it.
All of our life is divided in these two categories of positive and negative.
There are constructive methods and destructive methods.
Similarly in Torah we find that all Mitzvot are divided into two general categories:
(a) Those which enhance and increase our relationship with Hashem and bring goodness to the world, and (b) Those which may damage our unique quality and harm us, or the world.

Adam was not merely planting and weeding, harvesting and tilling. He was no simple gardener in Eden. This was a spiritual calling to “protect” the world from evil and to also “work” by increasing goodness and positivity.

And this is the message I take for my life, as I become Bar-Mitzvah, a man of responsibility.
To both “work” the land, my own “land”, my character and personality, by developing, by growing, by doing good to others; and at the same time, to be aware and cautious not to do harm to others, to “protect” my land, my behavior, from becoming hazardous or negative.

As I become Bar-Mitzvah I am aware both of the tremendous privilege and of the responsibility.
I too, like Adam, live in a garden.
I too, like Adam, am charged with the unique role of “working and protecting” this garden.

I pray that I am given the strength to fulfill my role in this world, by doing good and preventing evil. That I follow in the pathways of my ancestors who shined great light, the light of Torah & Mitzvot, the light of Hashem – into our world."

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! THIRTEEN YEARS OLD, PEOPLE! YAY! I told you he was amazing. And what kind of earth are we going to leave him to work with? We've got to start NOW to do ALL we can to stop doing harm. These children deserve a place to live that is not poisoned and desecrated. Let's not put off changing our habits. The planet won't be the same place when he is 18 if we don't. If you don't want to do it for yourself or the planet or God, then do it for the kids coming behind you. Say YES! YES! YES!
Thanks for listening.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

SAVING LARSENS

Oh my dear readers, I need your help. My favorite place in the entire world is threatened with being altered in a horrific way. Please send all the love you can possibly muster to a wilderness on Kauai. Here is what is unfolding:

Look at the picture of the beach at the top of this page. That is Larsens on the N.E. side of the island of Kauai. My favorite place in the world. Now imagine it with no forest any more and cows wandering down to the edge of the sand. Ayah! The reef has been protected a long time because there is no development above the beach, so it is still relatively ALIVE, and gorgeous! The man who runs a cattle ranch on the lands above has just applied for a permit to cut the forest and run his cattle pasture to 110 feet from the sand!!!!!!!! WOW. Who thinks this is a good idea? Maybe Burger King does. It will be unthinkable how this will change the place if it is allowed to happen. All the run-off from the forest gone, and the cow feces covering the sand and the reef. BLEAGH!

There have been lots of phone calls and emails flying around from those of us wanting to protect it, and the other day an actual meeting with the cattle rancher. Guess how that went? People were SO upset and he was SO uncaring. The county and state who would issue the permits are being silent. There was a county guy at the meeting. When a question was asked about the native Hawaiian trees that were already illegally cut before the rancher applied for a permit, the rancher simply lied and said he had not cut any trees! The county guy who had taken pictures of the cut tree stumps simply stood there and said nothing. So something is going on. Maybe he is paid off. Who knows. But we need a miracle now to save this place because it looks like those in government who could save it are going to just stand by. Unbelievable.

So here is the other thing you can do, besides sending love to save this place. Look at your meat consumption. If you think eating a hamburger thousands of miles away does not contribute to this destruction, think again. Meat is shipped all over the world now, so nothing is local any more, unless you buy it right from the farm. We do not need more cattle land in this world, we need more forest. But people think they need so much meat every single day and the demand continues to grow as the population grows, so more and more forests are cut to farm cattle, and pigs and chickens and sheep, and grow the grain to feed them. And if you think free range doesn't do damage, it does. That is what they are cutting down the forest above Larsens for, free range cattle.

Here are some statistics to "chew" on: Animal waste is 130 times the waste of humans in this country each year! Yikes. The Environmental Protection Agency states that animal agriculture runoff is the single largest source of water pollution in rivers and streams in the U.S., and all of that goes to the ocean. Seventy percent of the grain grown in the U.S. goes to feed livestock. SEVENTY! Do you know how many hungry people we could feed with all that land to grow things? It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce ONE pound of meat. So do you give somebody one steak or a 2 month supply of grain or other food? From the same land. Forested land is being cleared every single day to "grow" more meat. In Central America ranching has destroyed more rainforest than any other activity. It's madness. Have you heard enough yet??? We have got to LOOK at how our eating habits are changing this world. It's not just a slab in saran wrap at the store, or in a bun at a drive through. There are HUGE consequences to get that slab there. And now this cutting of forests for animal pasture is no longer something I have just read about happening somewhere else. It is happening right here in my little microcosm on this magnificent island.

So as ever, I beg you to please be one of the people who cares enough to DO something. Make different choices that are not going to harm another place. Start connecting the dots from your own life to what is happening in other parts of the world. It really is all connected. And I look forward to telling you Larsens has been SAVED!!!!!! Hold that thought.
Thanks for listening.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

PURE JOY

"Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because we build cars and buildings and start wars etc., and all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish and play around. Dolphins believe that they are smarter for exactly the same reasons." (Douglas Adams)

That quote made me laugh out loud. If you ever get a chance to swim with a pod of wild dolphins...DO IT! They are one of the treasures on this earth that not many get to experience. When I first moved to Oahu I heard about a bay called Makua where the pods come and just play regularly, and people are able to swim with them. I got so excited by the prospect and went several times but they were never there. And then one magical day I pulled up in front of the bay and there were all these fins slicing the water just a short distance from shore (looking an awful lot like movies of shark fins...), and these are the Hawaiian Spinners so they jump from the water and twist as many times as they can before they splash back in! Pure joy. So I excitedly threw on my gear and began swimming hard and fast, my heart jumping out of my body. Suddenly I thought wait a minute, should I be scared? I'm all alone in deep water, not a soul on the beach (normally I love that!), swimming into a pod of fish (I know,mammals) that are way bigger than me, and there are about 50 of them. hmmmm. And then a moment I will always cherish. I heard them. This exquisite ringing that I felt in my core. I wasn't scared any more. As I swam closer and I finally saw the first few, an extraordinary peace washed over me. They simply emanate peace. I stopped swimming, and the next 2 HOURS were spent in one of the more blissful states of my entire life. They welcomed me in. Swimming up to me and looking in my eyes, playing rambunctiously all around me, the babies nestled at their mother's side, pressing bellies against each other and rolling over and over. A little bit of heaven.

That was the first of many times spent with them. When my little sister came to visit she said of all the things I had spoken of, that was what she most wanted to do. So off we went and because she has a spiritual power all her own, the pod was there to greet us. We geared up and began swimming out, but it had never occurred to me that swimming in deep ocean water for someone that never does that, might be difficult! So part way out she had to stop, and said with great sadness she couldn't go any further. "But the dolphins are right there, just a little further!" "No, I really can't." "Well is it o.k. if I keep going?" "Yes." O.K., don't hate me people. I wasn't abandoning my sister in the middle of the ocean! It really was a short distance and I could still call to her to check and see if she was alright. (The lovely thing about salt water is it will just hold you up so you don't sink if you stop swimming.) Once I got to the pod I was urging her to come just a little further, they are right underneath me! She said later she was so disappointed in herself having come that far, but she really couldn't go further, and suddenly thought "but they could come to me!" And I kid you not, they did. As a pod they turned and swam straight to her and she got to have my transcendent experience for herself. Pure joy. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

I have read that dolphins are wildly intelligent and can communicate telepathically, and of course with their sonar. We really don't know how extraordinary these creatures may be. So I did an experiment. One time when I was with them, there was a bunch of what looked like strips of plastic wafting on the bottom in the currents. It was way too deep for me to dive and get it, and you know how much I wanted to! So I decided to "ask" for their help. I simply thought "if you bring that up to the surface, I'll take it out of the ocean." And you already know what happened next. They would dive down and scoop up plastic strips draping it on their side flippers, swim to the surface to drop it off, and go get more. I was simultaneously over the moon ecstatic, and dumbfounded. We have no idea how intelligent they are. They may very well be smarter than us. And able to communicate in ways we only dream of.

I've also read recently what a profound effect they have on children with autism. It is astounding. Just being in the water with them somehow shifts the firing in the brains of the children so that the autism is lessened. That is so beautiful! We have so much to learn from these creatures.

So guess what we are doing to honour them? By now you know, it's Daniel's blog so there is going to be something about how we are altering things, and not in a good way! Sigh. New research has discovered human made chemicals in these animals!!!!! Not just one. A list, from PCB's to antibacterial agents in soap, toothpaste, deodorants, pesticides, prescription drugs and more. If you want to read about it, google "chemicals in dolphins". They are now linked to disrupting reproductive organs, among other things. So if you wash your hands with "regular" chemical laden soap, you may affect a dolphin's ability to have a baby. That is nuts. What are we doing? Do we really want to leave this kind of a mark on creatures we share this planet with? Of course not. But how do we stop it now? We just start. We didn't know the harm we were doing. Now we do. So from now on we do it differently. We've got to start using products that do not cause harm. And pray the damage will be forgiven somehow. But not enough people know, and not enough people that DO know are doing things differently. That shocks and saddens me. Once people find out and still make the choice to harm. How is that possible? So that is the real shift that needs to take place. The majority needs to help and not harm. Every single day. Please be one of the people that begins to form a new majority. It CAN happen, but only if everyone who discovers what we are doing is willing to change the legacy they leave. And talk about what you have learned so more will know. It's been a long road getting to where we are with doing so much harm, but it needs to be a short and swift road back to treating the world as sacred. And who knows, maybe the dolphins can actually help if we ask! I know they will thank us.
Thanks for listening, and doing your part to shift this!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

SEEING

Fasten your seat belts dear readers, we're in for a bumpy ride. This blog is intense. My blog mentor says everyone is allowed to do a rant once in awhile! This began as an email to someone very dear to me who is willing to listen when I am feeling pain about our world, but I decided to put it up as a blog since I'm doing this now. Nothing pretty in this one. I promise you there will be again in the next one. If you are someone that can handle looking at difficult realizations, then read on. Forgive me in advance if it's too much information.

Sometimes seeing what is going on sucks. Watching an avalanche and there is absolutely nothing you can do except watch as it destroys things. That's what it felt like yesterday.

I was starting to work on the blog about how being caught up in the moment can stop us from looking at the consequences of our action, and I was trying to pussyfoot around so I wouldn't offend anyone when what I really wanted to do was shake people and yell WE'VE GOT TO STOP KILLING! NOW!!!!!! I had just read several new reports on the rate of extinction going berserk because of the way we are stripping this planet and it is now up to one new species going extinct EVERY THREE HOURS! What??? The avalanche. And there seems to be no way to get people to really LOOK at how they are contributing to this. I drove by store after store on my way through town where people were happily buying and buying and buying, with no thought to what that is doing in the world. They want a pair of jeans that makes their butt look cute. Do they think about the rainforest being cut to grow cotton? Do they think about the pesticides going into the soil and water? Do they think about the factories spewing into the air? Of course not. Cute butt or one species every 3 hours, and cute butt wins. Over and over every day by the millions. And then they stop at Starbucks for a Latte. Do they think about the forests cut? Do they think about the pesticides? Do they think about the factories spewing? Of course not. They go home happy in their cute jeans sipping their Latte. One species every three hours. Gone. And this avalanche is only going to grow unless people suddenly en masse wake up and LOOK at what they are doing. The consequences of every single thing they do in a day. How can that happen? No-one wants to see themselves as causing harm so they just say it's not that bad, or it's not true, or it's not just them, or a million other excuses so they don't have to really look at what is happening and how they are contributing. So the avalanche continues un-abated. I want a cute butt just like everyone else, but at what cost? Wiping out other species? We've got to start seeing what we are doing. And here's the thing: I HAVE actually seen species disappear since I have lived here! It's not just happening in the jungles being cut down in Indonesia and South America to grow things for us to buy. It's happening right here in front of my eyes, on this beautiful island. So how can I pussyfoot around and try not to offend people? Me saying "please consider if you are willing" isn't going to kick anybody in the butt to make a change TODAY. And we all need to be kicked in the butt so we can see how desperate this is. I include myself in all this. I try every day to LOOK at my impact on the earth and do something about it, like driving to town while I'm thinking all this! Ayah.

Then comes a phone call about the guy who shot and killed a Hawaiian monk seal a few months ago that was one of the pregnant moms coming to Larsens to have her pup. His trial finally came up and guess what? He got off with just a 25 dollar fine! And this is an endangered species some of us are trying to save and there are only 40 left on this island!!!!! 25 bucks. Because he simply lied and said he was shooting into the air to scare it off and it was an accident. Someone I know did the necropsy. It was shot twice directly into it's body from 2 different sides. He actually shot 4 times and kept shooting till it was dead. But he said he was not shooting at it, so in spite of the evidence all he had to pay was an administration fee. Meanwhile every day I am just one of many people out there trying to keep the new pups from harm, but someone can just walk up and shoot one and there are no consequences. Unbelievable. How does this happen? How has the taking of sacred life become so inconsequential?

Then with all that shock and sadness I drove to my voice lesson to prepare for the concert I'm singing in. Bad move! I tried to just be fresh and open but my heart was cracking in half. Ayah. And it all seemed so trite after what I had just been experiencing. Who cares if I lift my larynx on my high notes. Is it going to save some creature's life? Of course not. That's where I got to in my despair. Not pretty.

So I went to my favorite place in the world and lay on the beach under the moon and wept for her, for the sea, for the trees, for the sand, for my people. I am part of this human race that is no longer paying attention. We are so far outside of seeing how we affect the earth I don't know if it's even possible to turn things around. How do you stop an avalanche? Of course I won't stop trying. I have to do everything I can possibly think of. But it seems so huge and unstoppable. That's where I was last night, and I didn't have the strength to write about it. Today is a new day and I know I just have to keep going. Keep trying to educate. Keep doing all I can myself to have a small footprint. Keep begging people to make different choices. And keep learning.............Thanks for listening, even when it's harsh.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

NEW LIFE

One of the complete joys of my new Kauai life has been "pup sitting"! Seal pups that is. This picture is one of "my" babies born this spring. They are ADORABLE! Cute, cute, cute. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is on the brink of extinction, with only 40 left on this island and even less on the other main islands, so every new life is precious. I am part of a group that sets up shifts to try and protect the pups when they are born. These seals are one of the most graceful things you will ever see in the water, and one of the most lumbering awkward things you will ever see on land! They are air breathing mammals, and although most of their life is in the water, the moms come ashore to have their pups, just one a year, and are extremely vulnerable while they are nursing as that happens only on the beach and not in the water. They used to have no land predators so it was completely safe, but now there are humans (insert scary music), with their dogs (even scarier music, like jaws). People like to walk their dogs on the beach off leash and we have had seal pups ripped apart by them. And if the mom gets chased off sometimes she doesn't come back and the seal pup gets abandoned. Two years ago there was a pup that was abandoned and it wasn't found in time and died. So we "pup sit" to help keep them alive. This spring there were 3 PUPS born at "my" beach!!!!!!!! The first was born in March and then 2 more in June, so there was steady nursing going on every day for 4 months. It was so amazing to have that as a daily part of my life, watching a wild animal rear it's young. Magic. Teaching them to swim, to feed on something other than milk. The pups go from 25 pounds at birth to 150 pounds in 6 weeks!!!!!! That is some GOOD milk! These seals were completely hunted out of the main Hawaiian islands but a small population survived up in the uninhabited islands north of here, and they are now starting to return to the main islands. Yay! Sadly not everyone wants them to return. It astounds me, but some people actually WANT them to go extinct and still kill them even though there are so few left. Two were shot this spring right here on Kauai. Wow. So when we are out there with the new pups trying to protect them with signs and enclosures and talking with people, some of it gets hostile. Yikes.

Every day after my swim I walk the several miles of wild coastline picking up trash. It washes up from the sea every single day,and sometimes people come to enjoy the beach and leave their trash behind on the sand. I've never understood that. Come to a beautiful place and dump on it? hmmm. I dream of one day not seeing any.... There are days when there is very little that washes up, but I have learned that is only because the waves aren't big. Good grief. On the high surf days there is so much I can't pick it all up. How does it all get there? It's that "all water leads to the ocean" thing again. Every scrap thrown by the roadside, everything in a river, all the stuff washed off in our homes, it all gets carried down into the ocean. Even inland, the rivers carry it to the sea eventually. There is a place in the Pacific Ocean that is all garbage collected by currents that is estimated between the size of Texas and the size of the continental U.S.! Wrap your mind around that for a moment. If you want to know more, google "great Pacific garbage patch". Lovely name. So why do I pick up trash when there is so much in the ocean and I am only one person? I'd like to make a difference to help, no matter how small, I have a dream of beaches with no trash, but also because I have seen my beloved Monk Seals try to eat this stuff and it is pure poison to them. It's horrifying to watch them get a piece of trash and start to put it in their mouth. I'm the frantic parent: DON'T PUT THAT IN YOUR MOUTH! But of course I can't run up and grab it out of their jaws. They are wild animals!

Plastic is one of those lovely human inventions that Nature doesn't recognize or know how to deal with. There have been dead sea creatures that have had autopsies to see why they died and their stomachs are full of plastic that they can't digest. Wow. Here is the thing about plastic: it NEVER goes away. Every bit of plastic ever made is still on this earth! WHAT????? Yes. It gets smaller and smaller, but never becomes part of the earth or water again. It remains something foreign. Since Nature is amazing at coming up with ways to deal with all the stuff we dump on her, I'm hoping she will invent something that eats plastic! Might be something scary though. Like cockroaches, but with giant jaws to chew.(more scary music...this blog needs a music video!) So what can we do in the meantime while we hope for some plastic eating scary creature to evolve? LOOK at every single thing you use and throw away that is plastic, and see how you can use less and throw less. If you haven't done this before it will astound you. EVERYTHING is plastic now! I read an article by an archaeologist that said when scientists are digging thousands of years from now they will find a layer in the earth that is only plastic and declare "we found evidence of the Plastic People"! Funny, but not. Even this computer I am typing on is covered in the stuff! The plastic we throw away never all makes it to the landfill to become a layer in the earth for some scientist to find centuries from now. Here in the islands the landfill is less than a mile from the water anyway, and plastic floats! Any big wind or rain and off it goes on an adventure, looking for an innocent Monk Seal or turtle or seabird (scary music again). And if you have ever watched a garbage truck you know that stuff blows out of it all the time, and then finds a roadside drain to go down. Even if you live thousands of miles away, your plastic may have been washed into the great Pacific garbage patch through some river to the sea. Humbling to think about. And even if you never get to see a baby monk seal, they thank you for doing your part to change this plastic onslaught in the sea, and you may have helped bring back a species from extinction.
Thanks for listening.