Protesters Protect Green Space in Istanbul

Like here, in the USA, people have a special connection to green spaces, especially when those areas are surrounded by built up space. In the United States of America, we have taken down nearly 100% of the native forests and destroyed the ecosystem that covered the great plains, but to the uncritical eye, these agricultural lands appear to be vast swaths of green space. In spite of the fact that we do have trees covering much of the cut over area that native forests once inhabited, what has been planted to replace the original forests is nothing like what had adapted to the sites originally. I have walked miles in stands that were mono-cultures, cut out trees that were planted in straight rows, way too close together and seen areas that looked green, but were actually ecologically problematic.

The good thing about the throngs of people defending green space in Istanbul is that they have been willing to stand for what really matters to most urban dwellers, a last vestige of nature, blossoming up out of the urban landscape. In many ways, urban green space is more likely to contain a mix of trees, a variety of bushes and flowering plants. Especially this specific area, one that had been reclaimed from a developed state in the 1930s. Building back a green space after previous development has become dilapidated on the site is especially important to city dwellers. It reflects hope amongst a host of problems that can come from urbanization. Now, the government wants to step in and bulldoze the trees. The good people of Istanbul are speaking their truth to power.

The last thing most city dwellers will agree on is that the last thing they need is another commercial space, especially if it is to be built in the style of the last great era. for one thing, that is what fell down around itself from neglect before the park came into being. The elders, who remember the way things were and have found new ways of being do not wish to be reminded of the old days that can never return, rather they need a thriving cultural landscape that includes places to picnic, enjoy their families and to just breathe a bit of relatively fresh air and get out in the sun. Anyone who has spent much time in NYC (New York City) knows that the concrete and steel canyons that daily life is lived within make Central Park even more delicious to all the senses. Experiencing the shade of a tree and feeling the dappled light caressing one's face stands in stark contrast to feeling the harsh lines of shade created by the edges of buildings. Experiencing a single tulip blossom, hearing songbirds or the scent of lilac can have as much power to rejuvenate as a good meal and a nights rest. City dwellers need open space even more than those of us who are on the edge of town. Even country dwellers need a bit of untamed space in which to rejuvenate, but relativity is always in play when speaking of perspective.

The rural population may feel like they are surrounded by green space, however the "development" that they are witness to is far more subtle than a concrete block building. It is hard to get upset about bulldozing a field of scrubby brush or the field of stumps that results from clear cutting the trees. They make specially designed machines that can cut and grade a road right through the woods and the folks who run them are often oblivious to what they are destroying. Folks at the border between city and country often see the flush of new building and are loathe to stop it because on the one hand, all the new building is just giving others the same chance to enjoy their piece of the country that they have recently claimed. On the other hand, who would not want a grocery store, nail salon, convenience store, gas station or bodega just around the corner? Commerce has certain costs and we all want to buy, right? Well, no. Many of us want to have time to develop real relationships, find one another enjoying life and experiencing a bit of nature in spite of the fact that we will go back to work tomorrow.

Urbanites not only deserve, but require the healing properties provided by nature. I stand with any group or individual who stands against obliterating green space in favor of commercialism. No matter what the oligarchs decide to foist upon us, we will stand in favor of civil society, not the exploitative kind that they oversee. Frequently we find that the powers that be are always willing to pave paradise and put up a parking lot, as Joni Mitchell sang so eloquently. It is time for the people to lead and the wealthy and powerful interests (elites) that just want to pick our pockets, collect their corporate welfare and exist on the largess of taxpayers to sit down, shut up and put their collective noses in the corner. It is past time to say that we will not play their games anymore.EURONEWS

Meaning Making, Story Telling and Camp Songs

As much as we would like to think that we have modernized and become intellectual and as fully invested in "reality" as we seem to be, we make the same silly decisions time after time and allow our decision making to be informed by the same myths we have had for two centuries. We make meaning from the predominant stories that we are told day in and day out. I fancy myself a storyteller, but I frequently diverge from the formulaic story telling of the ancients. I try, most often, to craft my stories using real life events and salient observations that reflect both the things that remain the same throughput time as well as the changeable world that we find ourselves in. The "take away" message (and oh, how I hate that moniker) is not at all like take out food in a styro-trash clam shell. I might find a way to incorporate such an iconic and ubiquitous element within a story, but only to act as a placeholder for a larger picture, a deeper set of values and actors within the story. We each have the power to make our own meaning from whatever story we are told and for that matter the entire internal landscape of our minds is our responsibility. The story teller is only entrusted with the stories, civilization is based on the myths within the stories and those are eternal. the way we look at them may change, but birth, death, love, hate, joy, pain and life remain constant.

The most topical stories often reflect age old struggles between power and weakness, lovers and haters, the rich and the poor or the dreams and realities of individuals who act as stand ins for all of those elements of ourselves. How we reflect upon the stories and what we infer from them are our own part in the age old process of deciphering the ciphers. Now, the best story tellers have the power to lead us right to the precipice, where the view is expansive and the danger is great that we might plunge over the edge into madness, but also keep just enough ground under our feet that we can remain sane. As can be seen from a study of many folk tales from a variety of cultures, there has been an attempt to soften many of the messages and events that they spoke of, seemingly to avoid scaring the children. This paired with the rampant depiction of death and dismemberment that children are exposed to on television seem odd, but that perhaps is better left for another post.The myth that we operate on today seems to be the one about our own intellectual development. As greater minds than mine have said, "Our belief in the myth that human-caused climate change is debatable has been manufactured by many of the same people who told us that the scientific evidence that smoking is bad for your health was either unclear or make-believe."

The greatest story tellers have a very deep well of stories inside them. They have stories for nearly every occasion and to teach a myriad of principles that societies across the arc of time depended on as touchstones and points of reference over the ages. One of the most useful functions of the storyteller is the ability to allow us to look at upsetting or difficult data sets and make sense of them in light of a longer view. The worst story tellers, and we are facing greater and greater threats from these, distract us from what is important and hides truth from the listeners for the sake of driving us over the edge of that cliff I mentioned earlier. The words of Ozzy Osbournes "Crazy Train" come to mind. His story was designed to be a warning, though many did not understand it at the time. For some, this song has become an anthem for self-destruction, but it was a cry for sanity in the face of overwhelming craziness. Ozzy's admonition was to step off the crazy train, or a call for help to everyone to step off. Who on Earth today can't relate to that?  We are dangerously close to the edge of environmental catastrophe, social collapse, political annihilation and intellectual collapse. Whenever times get hard, it causes stress. This stress is frequently accompanied by increases in fundamentalist religious beliefs, rebirth of old stories and old myths that got us through the last period of stress. Today, we see this happening. Trouble is, myths are only helpful when everyone shares them. The world is shrinking around many facts that disprove many of the myths we based our civilizations on over the eons. If we are to grow and prosper in the future, we need to develop more inclusive stories, that allow us to grow out of dysfunctional myths of the past, band together as a cohesive crew on Spaceship Earth and move beyond the limits or "us-them" thinking.

At the risk of sounding like a Dr. Bronners Soap Bottle, "ALL ONE!" Humans are beginning to see the truth of the matter. We are all more akin to a single organism than an endless series of individuals. For some, the myht of individualism will die hard, but for those among us who have understood this for years, it comes as no surprise that the shrinking of the intellectual landscape that has been possible through the internet means that we can plainly see beyond the arc of the Earth. Events that may take place in my tiny corner of the planet are inexorably tied to things that happen in Australia, Denmark Slovenia and Bolivia. Oddly enough, even streaming a few electrons into "the cloud" can have effects worldwide. Strangely, just in the past decade or two, the myth of the butterfly's wings being able to create thunderstorms halfway around the world has been surpassed by the power of electrons which are even less discernible. The power of moving electrons has now toppled despotic leaders in several countries and the instability is growing. The patriots who fight for the souls of their countries are growing in number and strength, in Madison, Wisconsin, across the nation with the advent of the #occupy movement across the United States and in nations across the planet. what is needed is the intestinal fortitude to relinquish out-dated myths in favor of a more universal set of ideas and insights that allow us to understand our new world order and how we can affect positive change for the next seven generations.

Anyone who has ever gone to summer camp knows the power of the myths that they teach, the songs and stories that get passed around the campfire. When I began to sing them and tell them, I wondered about the origins and meanings that each one conveyed. Oddly enough, the older I get, the more meaning I find in them and the more important they become. The camp I worked at, College Settlement Camps of Philadelphia, provided services for many of the most difficult children of the "City of Brotherly Love". Many of the children who come to that camp have had the hardest of lives. without security, comfort, or hope, many young people who came to our camp had handicaps that are not evident on the surface. Our programs were designed to heal some of the damage caused by poverty, malnutrition and neglect. Some of our campers only had three meals per day for two weeks each summer and for many, knowing that they were cared for took a bit of time to begin to make sense to them. Our myths were not about rugged individualism and harsh realities of the streets, but of abundance and caring for one another. It was occasionally like trying to speak Chinese to chickens, but oddly enough, pairing the same messages with compassion, love and honesty slowly began to make sense for many of our charges. Sadly, at the end of their two week respite from their harsh lifestyles, we had to turn them back over to many of the worst neighborhoods of Philly. Just as the experience helped me to find my way and my voice, I am sure that the songs and stories that we shared each night at campfire are still a peart of those people's experience. what they do with it is ultimately up to them, but at least they heard the truth once in their lives.

Wherever you are, whatever station you find yourself in, never forget the powerful act of storytelling. Sharing your stories, especially if they help us to approach the most horrible truths safely, have the power to transform culture, inspire positive growth and change that has the power to outlive us. Be careful about the stories you choose to believe and even more careful about those you choose to share. The future of humanity may depend on making the right choices today. The planet surely does, and we all depend on the abundance of a healthy planet. As has been said many times before, you may be on the right track, but you will still get run over if you do nothing. Even something as ethereal as a story can help move our culture forward. Have fun and in closing, peace, Love and pass the ammunition!

Somber Moment

Here we are again, rocked from within. The Norwegian bloodshed reflects so many stories from around our globe, We need to read and understand the language these horrors speak to the larger story of Western "Culture" if we are to head off future mayhem and chaos.The extreme levels of fear at the heart of so much hatred and misunderstanding are to be somewhat expected when so much change is taking place in such a small amount of time, but the underlying causes of these fears are being perpetrated on purpose by large media conglomerates and the money seems to  never be on the side of telling the whole story. More and more people around the planet are feeling estranged and unable to participate in meaningful ways that can shape the discussion on a number of issues. There are many alive today who remember a time when all things seemed possible. Now, it seems we have to have a focus group to wordsmith even the most innocuous documents. Lest we offend anyone, we are taught to just keep our mouths shut. Unless, of course, the person has had their tragedy paraded in front of a camera somewhere, then they can be subject to ridicule, judgement and the most vehement, unadulterated, loathing. The corporate monsters who purvey these emotionally charged events have infinitely long tentacles, to gather their imagery. The personal desolation, dislocation and desperation cannot translate through their cameras. The very act of covering these stories is to point out that we cannot fathom the level of hurt that these people, wherever they are, must overcome.

More and more, I am seeing with clarity that we are all one people. For many, many years I have understood the fiction of race. Such arbitrary distinctions make me sick. Didn't anyone ever tell you that Goddess doesn't make junk? No matter who the tragedy spotlight falls upon, it affects us all. The dozens who perished are multiplied a million-fold by transmitting the images around the globe. The youth who were targeted had not yet faced their trials on the bloody field of politics, they were entering a phase of life where their ideals could be expressed through influencing decision-making that will either help and make happy or hinder and hurt the next seven generations. The small-minded groups and parochial alliances and associations who denigrate others, especially those "others" they do not understand, need to be educated at every opportunity. Those who point cameras at those who would outright lie and make shit up on the news, should be at least fined, possibly imprisoned, and definitely have their access to the public discussion curtailed as severely as possible. Frequently, I wonder if everyone has seen the photos of Earth from space. We are on such a tiny life support system, you would think that we would all treat it better. Like a marble floating in the void, this blue and green, white and brown, red and black sphere is the be all and end all of what is available to us. We have that, and the sun. Nothing more. If we cannot find ways to abide, our species is doomed.

Now, we need to see the isolation and estrangement that our society loves to dish out take it's rightful place in the annals of history. Right next to them in the dustbin of time, we need to place the male dominance bullshit, misogynistic underpinnings of the "good old boys" club and the boys will be boys crap right in there as well. These men who think that they have the answer to what the world needs are loathe to admit that the womenfolk amongst us have not had a crack at things for centuries and are only now beginning to get a small slice of their pie.  Building the culture of the future must not ever become dominated with a language of exclusion, division or identification with the hateful rhetoric of so-called "patriots", nationalists or religious zealots. The heathens typically have a much more sane approach. Learn from others, celebrate our true differences while understanding that in all of our variety, as long as we don't hurt one another, we are all entitled to respect. I think that more than anything, we need to shout from the rooftops, WE ARE ALL ONE HUMAN FAMILY!

Perhaps then, people with perverse ideas of "right" and "wrong" would get a grip, begin to understand that we are all deserving of compassion. No society is completely free from exploitation and greed, but in our lifetime, what a gift it would be to sow the seeds of cooperation and civility, not only amongst all of our own people, family and friends, neighbors and nations. We are all in this world
 together. It is high time we begin to act like it! My thoughts are with all of those who care about the future of our planet. The Norwegian tragedy points to the desperate need we all have of taking back the reigns from the powers that be and get involved locally in crafting a better world for generations to come. It is a virtual guarantee that is we all sit home, rather than taking to the streets for what we believe in, we will have far more of these sad moments to share while we become ever more addicted to the trauma of others paraded out for us to grapple with on tv.

Don't tell me what to do!!

How do we illustrate the nature of the predicament that we find ourselves in? We have already been told to do a million things that either don't make sense or work at cross purposes. In anarchy, we are left to our own devices. Rather than having other people making decisions for us, we get to experience the total freedom that libertarians get all juiced about.  The other side of that equation is that we are held to higher standards of responsibility for our own actions. If we offend or burden others with our stupid behavior, they may decide to kill or maim us. Those who do not believe in revenge would be able to forgive, while those who feel that paybacks are times one hundred would be free to act on their anti-social urges.

In a perfect world, my peaceful and humanitarian beliefs would be reflected in the way our country behaves upon a world stage. The tax dollars that I pay to kill Afghans, Libyans, Palestinians and Pakistanis would not get spent in my name. I fully believe that we have the rights and power to make decisions that reflect our will and that our country, if it remains unresponsive to my wishes should have to relinquish it's access to my funds. I should not have to pay for schools or politicians that advance the myths of any religion, nor should I have to fund activities such as carrying out the death penalty. I should be allowed to grow any plant without fear of reappraisal, not be required to accept the threat of radioactive contamination, food borne chemicals or tainted air or water courtesy of any corporate or private entity.
 Whatever we might call our current system, it seems to work as a sieve, keeping the richest among us in amongst the cream, and allowing the vast majority to slip through the cracks. The people, whose wishes and beliefs this country was founded to express have been all but forgotten in our quest to commercialize everything under our dominion. Anarchy, like communism only have a chance at working in their purest form. When we deconstruct our current culture, there may be a few parts that could be serviceable, but the vast majority of our habits, beliefs and systems reflect an utter bankruptcy that need to be scrapped if we are to have a chance at helping the majority reach the American Dream.
First of all, we need to scrap the power and control issue. The male dominance BS is part of that vestige of a past age. next, we need to protect our children from being indoctrinated into religions that pit one against another and honor their own ability to make up their minds about morality and their own humanity. While we are at it, we should get the government out of the business of telling us what is good for us. we do need some level of understanding about what is bad for us, but protecting industry from paying for the damages that their behavior result in only make them weak and stupid.
Perhaps the thing to do is to "SPREAD ANARCHY", but not because someone says to, but because it is the right thing to do. I promise to play by the absence of rules and honor your right to behave the way you feel is right, as long as it won't limit my right to do what I feel is right. If we need to start over, we can only do it one way. The best starting point is knowing in advance where we want to be and what steps can take us there the quickest with the least dislocation and trauma for the greatest number of people.

Why Ignorance is Becoming Popular

For the past several generations there has been a push toward reducing politics, education and public discourse to a common denominator. I'm not trying to bamboozle you with math, but there is a problem with using this approach when dealing with human beings. Imagine for a moment having to teach a group of students. This takes place every day in our great country. I asked my daughter to think about percentages the other day. My question to her was, "When you look at your day objectively, how much is spent on the three main things that you do there? Then to help her to think about it I told her that learning is what she's there for, waiting around to learn, switching classes, getting everyone on the same page and preparing to learn is usually part of the day, and hanging out with friends, talking with other students and thinking about boys sometimes takes up a large part of the day as well. Her analysis was 10% learning, 20% hanging out with friends and talking about boys, and 70% of her day is filled with getting ready to learn!

In our case, this was an excellent jumping off point for a deeper conversation about how the school system meets her needs, leads to her education and what characteristics make for the best teachers. She was able to identify a single teacher who commanded rather than demanded respect and therefore is able to teach much more effectively. Her estimate was that in the well-run science class, that one teacher turned those percentages around. Out of all of her classes she could only identify one where students were challenged, stimulated and inspired. The things she had learned in just the first month of school was respectable. We talked about the scientific method, how that same rigorous analytical style has a place in the humanities as well as the sciences and how many people have a hard time following through the process of learning because they don't know the way to assess the information and claims that are made by others.

We continued to talk for over an hour about this one science class as well as another class that was "pretty good", where the percentages were more evenly split. As my daughter talked, I began to understand that the difference between history and pre-history was a perfect place in time for her to be studying. Because in her way, she is between ages as well. Sometimes when we feel out of place, it is good to know that different ways of being in the world are out there and that one's culture has gone through tumultuous change before and that your changes are shared.

We may see the predominant culture as overly sexualized, consumerist and full of terrible messages for our youth, but taking the time to discuss my daughter's world tells me that parts of her experience may be edgy and different than how I grew to learn about the world, but in time she will have to confront many of the same difficulties and issues. How she sees herself fitting into the world is more important to me than what specific things she is exposed to. Lady Gaga, the endless advertising, especially in this election year and the litany of hate speech that masquerades as patriotism are things that I have to deal with, so why shouldn't I be man enough to tell her about how I get through the day with my morals and ethics intact? I'm pretty sure that if I didn't appreciate her intellect, it would atrophy.

I was trained as a teacher and couldn't sell out my profession by practicing in the terrible environment that exists out there today. I have seen teachers totally dominated by just two children who acted out. Twenty-six others had to sit idly by as she harangued and cajoled these two boys. I have begun to realize the terrible waste of humanity that is absorbed by the commercial break. Two hour movies become three hour ones, American Football, whose clock is only one hour and actual playing time just a matter of half that or less, can run over three hours. Perhaps we are being bred to only do a few minutes of work per day, and to think even less, but I for one, want to continue to use my intellectual gifts. They say that no one is ready to hear an answer until they formulate a question. I fear that far too many of us are told all day long what to think, how to make sense of the world, and what to get upset about that we forget that we are the ones who are supposed to be finding the answers and practicing the art of seeing the world as it is. Lord and Lady love us if we ever give that responsibility over to another!

From time immemorial, the ones among us who were educated have had status, butter to go with our bread so to speak and all the good things that society has had to offer. Before the Crusades, Constantinople had running water, sanitation, libraries and spas to pamper the educated classes. Our Christian forefathers from Western Europe tore down their infrastructure and burned the greatest libraries of the world. For our part, when we just recently attacked the cradle of civilization twice, we did the same, turning an advanced culture, that we did not understand back into a third world nation. If the culture we live in cannot learn, why should the individuals within the culture be required to? The fable that we are telling ourselves seems to be about creating viable scenarios that leave us victims, in a hostile world. In fables of old, at least, we were allowed to feel that we might one day triumph through adversity by using our cunning, or strength, intellect or faithfulness to moral values. now that is all being called into question. Cunning looks more like another Bernie Madoff scheme, strength has become spineless drone attacks and nukes. Intellect is suspect and it seems that moral values are a mask for hate and lies. Even things that are necessary and good for us are suspiciously tainted, like the apples with Alar or our water which comes from contaminated sources. They also say, "Ignorance is bliss.", so who wouldn't like a little of that from time to time?

Good Bye Oz, There's No Place Like Home

When our perception of perfection is warped by Disney and the future that we have been led to believe in consists of everything being made of either stainless steel or chrome, it becomes harder and harder to sell a vision of human proportions and meeting the needs of more people with less negative impact on the planet. The tenets of those who believe in Servoglobe, a land of hyper futuristic elegance, technodrome, immaculately planned urban oasies without smog or smoke and Emerald Cities upon Emerald Cities at regular intervals across the vast plane of Eden-like silvaculture, and punctuated by hundred story greenhouses full of aquaculture and hydroponic veggies, require us all to participate in a culture that cannot be created through any of the social systems that we have available to us.

To make their visions come true, we will need to cooperate rather than compete, give unconditionally and truly love one another. Considering recent trends this seems highly unlikely. Not to be a naysayer, hey, I'm for peace love and understanding as much as the next guy. However, I cannot foresee a time or place that relegates cities of today to the waste bin of history. I cannot fathom who might finance these crystal cities that are efficient and clean. The guys with all the money are dirty to the core. Coal, oil, gas and all the infrastructural tools and materials are born in the heart of a beast. The beast of fossil fuel exploitation, corporate welfare, incalculable throughput and externalities that bite us all in the proverbial hinder.

Getting things right involves several critical steps toward enlightenment that may just win the day. Women reclaiming their power and the corresponding rebirth of the
Goddess will be a great first step. Doing this in a culture that virtually worships Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga will be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack the size of The Moon, without using a magnet. we can however make inroads to this end by teaching our young girls that they are worthy of love, respect and admiration simply for being themselves, not for being what they think men want. I recently came across a great list of things that only women can do and it made me think, how is it that men have bamboozled everyone into thinking that they should be in charge of our world and that they are worth more per hour than their female counterparts.

I place my bets on a different sort of future, one that is real and rough around the edges. One that adapts to environment rather than subjugating it further. Evey home that I have owned got what I call my home energy makeover. It involves upgrading basic services to be both energy efficient and conservative in as many ways as possible. Each home that I have owned used between thirty and fifty percent less energy and resources when I sold it than it did when I bought it. The savings would be even more dramatic if I were not living right at the poverty line. We need to turn our imaginations and reverence back to the Sun. If we could just teach the "majority" that the Christ myth was plagiarized from previous cultures, pointing out the fact that the Christ child is just a stand-in for the Sun, perhaps we could dispose of all the baggage that comes from the Christian religions. Politics aside, there are very few reasons for the myth to continue. I'm sure the time will come when we will understand the heinous beliefs that spawned the Christian sects, but for now we just need to realize that they were imposed on all of our pagan ancestors. It is our birthright to reconnect with all of our gods and godesses, to feel them in our lives and to recognize them in the cleft of a ridge, or the forking streams that lead to high ground.

The yellow brick road leads to Oz on one end, and Munchkin Land on the other, but to truly learn, grow, and progress we need to take what the Munchkins and Oz can teach us and make it real in our lives. We all have the power of innocence that we can wield against our oppressors. Some will, in their own way use their intellect to question the obvious holes in the logic of capitalists and "consumers" We are all capable of loving one another, doing not only what may be deemed right or good but what is best. In my vision of the future, human needs will be met by humans, not robots or gleaming structures. We will still need to warm food, gather at the hearth for warmth, comfort and find a place in our community, active and participating. Transforming culture may be the hardest work we will ever do, but we are currently unable to understand the benefits that will flow from changing a basic premise that our current culture is based on, that is the theory of lack. In truth, nature is endlessly abundant if we just learn how to see it. As long as we perpetrate our human understanding on all that we see, instead of being open to the wonder of it all, we will continue to constrain reality into an unreal facsimile loosely based on the real thing.

Patriotism: Religion of the Soil

Patriotism has been referred to as the "Religion of the Soil". We do have a mystic relationship with local microbes. After all, we mutually exchange gasses with the same "local" air. We rely on their existence, inhabiting all the spaces around and some within us. Without bacteria, fungi, and primary decomposers, we would drown in waste. In a single handful of living, healthy soil, billions of relationships weave a complex web of life. It is time for us to have a true worshipful attitude toward soil. Earth is a daunting concept to many of us. The sheer scale of our planet trumps our imaginations from grasping the entire globe. Think locally can likewise boggle our ability to appreciate, the full complexity, overwhelming our imaginations. We have virtually sterilized much of our part of North America, leading to much less diversity of species, and far fewer organisms overall.
Imagine, intact forest, towering eighty to over one hundred feet. In this matrix are many thousands of individual plants, a myriad of creatures, living just on the bark of the several hundred trees per acre! Add in the thousands of insects that would inhabit a single dead tree...You can see that in short order, we would find billions of organisms, then trillions. Truly mind boggling. Now, remember the last parking area that you saw. Not only is there a minute area on which life to exist, but the conditions over the entire area are at odds with any sort of ecologic system. We can reclaim paved areas, we just need the will, and respect for the soil that it deserves. The desolation that has been rolled, like dice, out upon the landscape can be reclaimed. By the simple act of respect, for the land, the soil, and our "need" to civilize and control nature on this most basic level.
Our fresh air depends on other living things, our food, many of our clothes, our homes, our very ability to make a living, depends on the Mother, Earth. The earth's systems have developed over millennia to be perfectly suited to their locale. Ours is to find a way to encourage the unity of complexity in and amongst the inhabitants of every thimbleful of soil that we can. We need to develop ways to add verticality to our landscape as well. Trees, vines, herbs and flowers all multiply the area that is available for life to thrive in and on. Profusion of life is the rule rather than the exception in nature. If we are to survive as a species, we need to fit ourselves to the web rather than trying to make it bend to us.
Today, we only got to plant a few trees, but each one made a huge impact on the local landscape. these were larger, specimen trees, and relatively tower above what had been there before. Shade, even dappled shade reduces extremes of both temperature, humidity and wind. This in turn encourages a wider variety of life-forms who add their energetic spin to the vortecies of life. all beings imbibe and sanctify Earth, Air and Water, and through the furnace of metabolism, and harvesting solar energy, Fire. Every organism also brings to the equation Spirit. The will to survive is at the root of all life. Although it has been suggested that the death drive is equal to the drive to life, I see quite the opposite. The death drive is almost always aberrant. Think of the Kamakazi Squirrels, who run under your tires, deer in the headlights, and teenagers for that matter. If they were like that all the time, the species would have died out long ago. We can strive for incremental change to have lasting affects. What we can do now is better than what we hope to do in the future. That being said, each of the trees that we planted to day has a high probability of outliving me. What better way to serve the next seven generations!
Please plant a tree as soon as you can, and if you would like us to plant a tree with your blessings, send donations to ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. 1445 Porlier Street, Green Bay, WI 54301-3334