AMPLIFY THIS!

There is magic in the air. Friends of mine have a magnificent property that is several acres nestled in the bend of a river, so they have water on 3 sides and the entire thing is forest. Once a month they invite whoever wants to come, to spend an afternoon swimming in the river, eating, singing, communing. This past week they added something powerful, a Sacred Council. It is a practice they have been doing with a core group for several years, and they decided to host one for a wider community to "seed" it and start other Councils on the island. It was so beautiful. We gathered in a circle and had a few minutes of silent meditation, and then a question was introduced and each person around the circle had a chance to speak their thoughts on that question. It was done with a "talking stick", so when you are holding the stick you are the only one speaking, and everyone else is invited to listen. Powerful. It creates so much focus. The woman introducing the question spoke of this current time being one where things are greatly amplified, and her question was this:

What would you choose to be amplified at this time?

WOW. The answers that came were so moving. Clean water, sharing community, caring for children, sacred touch, awareness of the Earth, and many more. As I listened I felt like all the things people want amplified would happen if only we could bring back a sense of the Sacredness of these things. Sacredness of water, of community, of children, of touch, of the Earth. And so when my turn came I asked that Sacredness be amplified.

How would it change our lives if we actually considered things Sacred?

If you consider the water running through your home to be Sacred, would it change what you pour down the drain?

If you consider the air you breathe to be Sacred, would it change how you pollute it?

If you consider the soil beneath your home to be Sacred, would it change what you throw into the trash bin?

If you consider other people to be Sacred, would it change the way you speak to them?

If you consider touch to be Sacred, would it change the way you touch others?

Yes. Yes it would. All of us have things we consider Sacred. But what if we began to view EVERYTHING around us as Sacred? I ask you all to stop for a moment when you are about to do something, and ask yourself if what you are about to do honors the Sacredness of whatever you are facing. That one question would transform our lives and the damaging effect we have on many things. I believe the more we treat as Sacred the more that ripples out into the rest of the world. People see us treating things as Sacred and they are inspired to do that in their own life.

Bring back the Sacred. I choose to Amplify This! YES!

What would you choose to amplify right now?

Thanks for listening.

BEST AND WORST

I GOT MY WISH!!! When I first began growing my own food a year and 1/2 ago one of my dreams was to grow more food than I can eat so I could give food to others. That dream just came true! For more than a year I was struggling to get things to grow after learning how depleted and poisoned the soil was from a century of being pineapple lands. Adding compost and fertilizer helped a little but the plants would remain stunted. I longed for a boisterous garden. So I finally gave up and bought a truckload of soil from an organic permaculture farm near here,and after transplanting the struggling plants into the new soil, in just 3 WEEKS they were so HUGE that I couldn't eat all that was coming out every day. Anyone who knows me knows how much I can eat! My new and improved garden with plenty to share. YAHOOO! Come by and get some, organic, hand grown by me from seed.

Normally I write about what we humans are doing to the planet we live on and the creatures around us, but perhaps it is time to look at what we are doing directly to ourselves. Lately I've been reading more and more on the effects of pesticides on our amazing bodies. These bodies survive so much! As we dump poisons on the plants and soil they also are creeping into our cells, and are now linked with cancer, nervous system disorders, and hormone problems among other things. In one study I read, a particular chemical pesticide caused frogs to change gender!!!! Yikes. So what is it doing in us? In our children?

The Environmental Working Group is an independent agency that analyzes about 100,000 reports from the USDA and FDA on pesticides each year. How fun! Better them than me. They then put the info into user-friendly lists for those of us that DON'T want to read all those reports. Thank you EWG! Here are some amazing and scary tidbits: the top 12 pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables contain 47 to 67 different pesticides per serving. This year celery is the number 1 most contaminated, up from number 4 last year, so pesticide use is apparently not consistent.

Below are some lists of what fruits and vegetables contain the highest and lowest amounts of chemical residue. By avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables, you can apparently lower your pesticide consumption by close to 80 percent!!!! And these tests were done AFTER the produce was power-washed by the USDA, so washing does not remove all these scary things from our food. Again, YIKES! Organic looks better and better.

This first list is the top 12 most important to avoid or buy organic, in order of most pesticides to least:

Celery
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Blueberries
Nectarines
Sweet bell peppers
Spinach,Kale and Collard Greens
Cherries
Potatoes
Grapes
Lettuce

Now we get a friendlier list. The ones that have the LEAST amount of pesticides, starting with the best and going down from there:

Onions
Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Mango
Sweet peas
Asparagus
Kiwi fruit
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet potatoes
Sweet onions

So besides having compassion for the soil and water, I ask you to have compassion for your very own body, and CHANGE this onslaught of chemical poisons in your bloodstream. Better for you AND the planet. Win, win. YES!

Thanks for listening, and making new choices.

MY VERY OWN SPILL

Last night I was watching a news report about the oil spill in the Gulf, with film footage of divers in Hazmat suits that went right into the mess to see how shocking it really is from IN the water. The fish's perspective. The chemicals they are spraying on the oil have now blended with it to create an entirely new toxic entity and no-one knows what the environmental impact of this new creation will be. WOW.

I found myself reflecting on all the millions of people watching that news clip, who react with horror and compassion for all the creatures being poisoned. And then they get up and go take a shower or wash the dishes, and toxic chemicals flow down the drain from their very own spill. Every single person who watches that horror in the Gulf and then pours products into the waterways that are not biodegradable is creating a spill of their own. But do we ever think about that? There are millions of gallons of oil and chemical dispersant in the Gulf, but BILLIONS of people every day all over the world use detergent or shampoo or fabric softener or soap that contains chemicals that are toxic to creatures in the water. If people felt the same horror and compassion as they wash their clothes with something like Tide, as they have when they hear about the Gulf, this world would be a very different place.

I know people who have SO much love and compassion for Nature and all the blessings she bestows, and yet when I go into their bathroom to wash my hands, there is the soap with toxic chemicals on the sink. How many of you reading this still have "regular" soap in your bathrooms, kitchens and laundry rooms? But I bet every single one of you is horrified at the oil spill in the ocean. Where is the disconnect? Why do we care SO much about something that is poisoning the water down in the Gulf, and not a whit for what is poisoning the water from our very own home? Our very own toxic spills. Every day, many times a day. It is time to personalize this horror and compassion. To bring it right in front us as we reach for the detergent, and CONNECT to the creatures that are about to be dumped on. If you still have things in your home that go down the drain that are full of chemicals, please take all that reaction you have to the tragedy in the Gulf and USE it to transform your own spill. We don't need BILLIONS of personal toxic spills every single day. This is something we can change TODAY.

My mother, God bless her, is really trying to shift into all products that do no harm, and I get to hear her trials about how hard that is! Right now my parents are in the woods in Northern Wisconsin where they don't have many options for stores to search in, and sadly, many stores don't carry bio-degradable products at all. So if you are in a place with only one grocery store and a Wal-Mart that has NO environmentally safe products, what do you do? The fact that these stores have HUNDREDS of soaps and not ONE that is safe for our waterways is a sad testament to how many people are still unconscious about the importance of these daily choices. We have created a society where the option to do no harm is not even available in some places! Again, WOW. How did we get to this place? I still dream of a day when EVERY store you walk into has ONLY products that do no harm so you can't buy toxic chemicals even if you want to!!!!! Imagine THAT world. Then live that world in your choices.

May this horrific event in the Gulf that everyone is conscious of be a miraculous catalyst to make us conscious of our OWN contribution to the waters near our homes. And may the Waters forgive us for all the poisons we are continuing to wash down the drains in our very own spills.

Thanks for listening, and making new choices.

SMALL BUT MIGHTY

Can you say A D O R A B L E??? This is the latest addition to the Larsens family, and I was the one blessed with discovering the baby only a few hours after it was born! YAY! I almost stepped on the placenta in the sand. It was born right underneath a tree at the South end of my favorite beach, where the rancher has not yet cut the trees down. And this small creature might have the power to stop this man from destroying more wilderness to turn it into cattle pasture. He can't continue saying there are no Endangered Species on the property when there is a seal pup nursing right there! So finally the agencies that are supposed to be protecting this conservation area may be forced to rescind the permit because of this small but mighty warrior. YAY! There is at last a hearing this Thursday with the board of the DLNR, and this pup gets the final word.

We humans are small compared to many creatures on Earth, and we also are mighty, but what have we used that might for? We have the dubious distinction of being the only creatures on Earth that have poisoned all the things we ourselves need for survival: our air, our water, and our soil. What became of our wisdom while we were doing this? And will we now decide to use our might to RESTORE the air and water and soil? The oil pouring into the Gulf right now is a perfect example. We use our technology to poison the ocean, but where is the technology to STOP poisoning the ocean???? They still have not stopped the outflow and every day it brings more death to the creatures in the area. Then they spray the slick with toxic chemicals to try and disperse it. WOW. The rig itself was really small in the vastness of the Gulf, but the area it is polluting is HUGE. This is how we use our might. And when you pull up to the pump to fill your gas tank do you think about the consequences that are occurring right now? WE are the ones keeping that flow going. Since the spill occurred 27 new drilling projects have been approved! Why? Because we demand more and more oil for our lives. It is time to change our demands.

There is a small percentage of the world population that is now aware that we are doing harm. Sadly, among those that have become aware, an even smaller percentage is committed to STOP doing harm in every way possible. But I must believe that this small group is mighty. That the sheer power of LOVE for the Earth and her creatures by this small group will somehow be HEARD by the billions of people who are not yet looking at what they are doing, and by those who are aware and not acting. We need to turn around what is coming.

There is a campaign that has begun for a global shift in the next 4 years. The premise is that we have to shift our way of life in 4 years or we pass the point of being able to turn things around. It is at http://www.fouryearsgo.org/ The advertising firm behind the campaign is the same one that did the Nike "Just Do It" and Lance Armstrong "Live Strong" campaigns, both of which were wildly successful in motivating millions. So perhaps that mighty power will work for this as well. It is heartening to know that a firm whose business it is to engage millions of people worldwide, is now using that power to help the Earth. YAY! May this be even more successful than their other campaigns. And may they get people to really LOOK at the consequences of our habits. The change has to start now if we are going to be transformed in 4 years. We may not even have that long. Please, start now.

Thanks for listening.

HOME

This stunning jewel is one of the windows into the core of our home, this Earth. There is SO much we don't know about our spectacular planet, that is essential to all of life, including ours. "HOME" is an AMAZING film that has been created to show miracles of life on Earth and what we "wise humans" are doing to it. The link is below. PLEASE take the time to watch this film. It begins with this invitation: "Listen carefully to this extraordinary story, which is yours, and decide what you want to do with it." There is really important information that we all need to hear, magnificently told with breathtaking photography, covering MANY issues we need to know about. It is feature length, an hour and 1/2, so curl up in a comfy spot, get some popcorn (organic of course), and click the link below. Be prepared for some shock and awe. I have learned a lot about the state of our world recently, but this film taught me even more. Not only is the photography phenomenally beautiful, but whoever wrote the script is a poet. Listen to the beauty of these words:

"This is the new measure of time. Our world's clock now beats to the rhythm of indefatigable machines tapping into the pocket of sunlight. (oil) The whole planet is attentive to these metronomes of our hopes and illusions."

"Everywhere machines dig, bore and rip from the Earth the pieces of stars buried in its depths since its creation." (minerals)

"They are the only natural element in perpetual movement toward the sky." (trees)

Please, please make time to watch this film. We need to know what we are doing to our HOME.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
Thanks for listening, and watching.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

How did you celebrate today? (you can tell me in the comments section below) Since I moved to Kauai 2 years ago my life has pretty much become Earth Day every day. Besides working in my garden, taking out the compost, swimming in the ocean, pup-sitting for the new seal pup (YAY), doing my trash pick-up, and going online to click to donate at http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/ , I wanted to do something unusual. So I decided to plant some trees! It was not entirely altruistic though, as I planted papaya trees so I can EAT them! It felt really good to put a tree in the ground. Very different from all the veggie seeds I plant in my garden.

Forty years ago this day was officially declared as Earth Day to bring awareness to what was already happening in the severe altering of this beautiful planet we all live on. Since that first Earth Day, we have managed to continue altering the Earth more than in all the thousands of years of previously recorded history! Somehow the message of the first day fell on deaf ears for the majority of the world. The things we were doing then to harm the planet we are now doing even more of. How did this happen? Part of it is simply population. In the last 40 years the Earth's people have gone from 3.7 billion to 6.8 billion!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes you read that right. In just 40 years. It took thousands of years to get to 3 billion, but only 40 years to add another 3 billion. WOW. There is no way the planet can keep up with this kind of growth and demand on her resources.

So how do we turn this around? I don't know. But I do know that every single one of those 6.8 billion has choices to make and every single one of us either helps or harms every day. We don't have an option of stepping out of the picture. There is no other planet to move to when we use this one up. So my prayer is that a WILD majority will magically appear that is conscious of how we are altering our home, and that we can shift this avalanche we have set in motion. By the next Earth Day it needs to be an every day thing in people's lives to care for her, not just once a year.

I leave you with an Earth Day haiku:

Let's choose to restore.

Heal the Earth in ALL you do.

In EVERY day.

Let it be so.

Thanks for listening.

FOR THE BIRDS

A new wildlife experience always fills me with ecstasy, and I got one today! I was sitting on the cliffs eating my lunch and watching the whales (I know, I have a hard life...), and heard a quiet thunk behind me. Turned to find myself face to face with a HUGE Laysan Albatross just a few feet from me! These are GORGEOUS and enormous birds. It's like having a bald eagle land on your dinner table. Didn't seem interested in my lunch, but just sat there looking at me. Then another flew in and landed right by the first one, and they began the crazy fun dancing that they do. They bob in opposition, clack their bills at each other, stick their necks straight up and squeak, and shake their heads manically like we would do if we were really cold. HILARIOUS! I just stayed still, squealing quietly with delight, and they didn't seem to care that I was only a few feet away. They are spectacular up close, with the painting around their eyes like an Egyptian Goddess, and their enormous wing span of 6 FEET! They probably could have carried me off, except that they have webbed feet. Hard to grab things with.

These are remarkable birds. They spend half their life at sea, and come to land in the winter to have their chicks, and some nest on the cliffs around Larsens. So they are there every day right now, soaring magnificently, and sometimes buzzing really low over my head! During the summer they go to sea and can stay there floating around for 6 MONTHS! Apparently they have a joint in their wings they can lock in place which allows them to sleep while the air currents just carry them around. Imagine going to sleep near Hawaii and waking up by Japan! Hmmm, where am I this morning?

Flying back from a trip to Oahu just now, I went by a display in the Kauai airport about albatross including a picture of the contents of an albatross stomach from an autopsy. It showed a huge pile of human debris including cigarette lighters and glass and all forms of plastic. What looks like a beautiful mosaic at the top of this paragraph is a picture of the contents of ONE dead bird's stomach. These birds are dying because they ingest so much of our human trash and can't digest it so eventually their stomachs are full and they starve because there is no room for actual food. Wow. Our gift for the birds. And what are we doing about?

How many of you took my challenge to try and get through an entire day without throwing out any trash? And if you made it through one day did you try for more? I'd love to hear your experiences with that. One friend said when she tried it she was astounded at how many times during the day she had something in her hand about to be tossed and wondered what she could do with it besides put it in the landfill. She even started saving bottle caps that can't be recycled to be used as counters and craft items at her son's preschool. Sweet! Be creative in generating less trash! The less we throw out, the less that winds up in the stomach of a magnificent bird soaring over the ocean. We are connected more than we ever realize. We make a difference in the lives of creatures even if we never see them in person. Once you actually make the connection, it changes how you look at everything you do in your day. It ALL has consequences for some other part of Creation. The biggest challenge becomes "how can I stop harming completely?" I don't know if it is even possible in the world we have created in the last fifty years, but I'd like to see how close I can get. These creatures that are SO beautiful don't deserve what we are giving them. So please join me in seeing how close we can get to doing no harm.

Thanks for listening.