Sustainable Living: How Do We Achieve It? Where Do We Begin?

Niánn Emerson Chase

I was blessed to live in Sedona (in north-central Arizona) for more than twenty years before moving to the Tubac/Tumacácori area in southern Arizona where I am even more blessed. Sedona is a lovely town of much natural and architectural beauty, a town of red rocks silhouetted against an intensely blue sky, rising above gated communities of perfectly landscaped properties adjoining bright green, manicured golf courses. (Of course there are many ungated neighborhoods too.)  It is true, that the town of Sedona gives the impression of being an oasis in a high desert. Though most of the residents and approximately three million annual tourists appreciate the natural majesty of the red rock land, people often cling more to the human-made amenities that abound there. In their daily lives residents and visitors alike can get lost in the "culture" of Sedona, almost ignoring the more subtle gifts offered within the intricate web of life in the natural world. (more…)

Ecology goes behind bars

Interview with Nalini Nadkarni
by Jason Francis

Nadkarni, founder of the Sustainability in Prisons Project, discusses the benefits of engaging prisoners in projects that research and foster sustainable living.  Reproduced courtesy Share International magazine March 2013

The Sustainability in Prisons Project has been bringing science and nature into prisons since 2004. The organization conducts ecological research and conserves biodiversity by building partnerships with scientists, inmates, prison staff, students and community partners. Their focus is on reducing the environmental, economic and human costs of prisons by inspiring and teaching sustainable practices. Dr Nalini Nadkarni, the group's founder, received her PhD in forest ecology at the University of Washington and is widely recognized as an expert in the field. She currently teaches at the University of Utah. Jason Francis interviewed Dr Nadkarni for Share International. (more…)

Citizens Climate Lobby - creating the political will for a sustainable climate

Interview with Marshall Saunders

by Cher Gilmore

An interview with CCL founder Marshall Saunders, who discusses his mission to empower everyday people to exercise their personal and political power in the cause of saving planet Earth.  January/February 2013

Marshall Saunders, a retired real estate broker, founded Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) in October 2007. According to the group's website, CCL "trains volunteers to speak powerfully to their elected officials, the media and their local communities in order to inspire members of Congress to be leaders and spokespersons for a sustainable climate. CCL volunteers meet with their members of Congress, launch letter-writing campaigns, write letters to the editor and op-ed pieces, and generate editorials to promote a sustainable climate."

As of December 2012, CCL had citizens lobbying teams in 72 US cities and 10 in Canada. CCL's volunteers have had 848 meetings with their Congressional representatives in the last three years to discuss the problem of climate change and legislative solutions such as a revenue-neutral carbon tax, and have had over 1,000 newspaper articles, letters to the editor, and opinion pieces published.

Cher Gilmore interviewed Marshall Saunders for Share International. (more…)

The Power of Natural Attraction Ecology

How to Benefit from the Restorative Miracles of Nature that We Learn to Disregard

by Michael J. Cohen, Ph.D.
Project NatureConnect Program Director, Akamai University, Hilo, Hawaii.

When I was a child a magician visited our elementary school and explained that he was going to perform a miracle: "Miraculously, I am going to make something from nothing," he said. He first rolled up his sleeves, then opened wide both his hands and twisted them so we could see them, back and front. He asked us if we recognized that that they were bare and empty. We agreed. They were. No doubt about it. The others and I, including our teacher, saw this with our own eyes. (more…)

The Invisible War

by Gabriel of Urantia

The second in a series of 3 articles in relationship to The Deterioration of The Earth and all its Systems—Climatic, Resources, Food, Economic, and Consciousness

For those in the Occupy movement or any activist who is trying to make change in the system about anything, they can no longer ignore what is happening to the planet and all of its systems, including civilization as a whole. They cannot ignore any longer the spiritual aspect or the Spiritualution movement that is taking place all over the earth, even if the people themselves—who are crying out for change—do not even know they are in the Spiritualution movement, because millions of them are in the Spiritualution movement nonetheless. (more…)

The Economics of Wellbeing

by Bruce Nixon - Free PDF download available (see below)

The purpose of an economy should be the wellbeing of all. We’re all interdependent, humans and other life on the planet. People everywhere share the same need for love, happiness, security, good work, freedom, community and involvement in decisions affecting them. Everyone deserves the opportunity to live a healthy and fulfilling life. Today, this is far from being the case. (more…)

The Cost of Compromise and the Need for Change Agents

by Niánn Emerson Chase

Recently I had a conversation with someone who works for a corporation that is striving to control seed production and other agricultural farming methods worldwide, which would destroy all other avenues and alternatives of agriculture that include organic and more sustainable, effective methods of growing food for people. This individual stated that he was so grateful that he still had his job, a job he has had for fifteen years.

I asked this man what his thoughts were on the controversy about the lack of ethical practices of the company he works for. His face had a blank look on it; he did not understand why I was asking the question. I informed him of what I generally knew of this particular corporation and my concerns for what it represented, which was contradictive of values of truly sustainable practices that take into consideration the natural world systems, healthy human cultures, and the overall well-being of humans and the bioregions in which they live. I went on to point out that this corporation and others like it are destructive of that which is in divine pattern and truly sustainable for the planetary web of life that is now endangered by the practices and policies of these unethical, profit-only-motivated companies. (more…)

This Earth Day: Adopt a New Paradigm

by Catriona MacGregor

Three Things That You Can Do to Transform the Planet and Your Life

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.
-Marcel Proust

In this age of scientific triumph, our daily connection with the Earth has diminished alarmingly. We are cut off from nature, separate from the animals and plants that surround us, making us strangers in our own home. We miss the subtle changes in the wind, the calls of birds, the smell of the fragrant Earth beneath our feet, the wonder of seeing the brilliant stars in the night sky, and the peace that pervades from a deep tranquil pool of water. We spend more time indoors or commuting, leaving little time for deep inner journeys or quiet walks in the woods even though who we are and what we are—the very root of our identity—is best defined in relation to nature and other living things. (more…)

Light at the End of the Tunnel: A Survival Plan for the Human Species

a book review by Gerard Aartsen

In his book, former Canadian Defense Minister Paul Hellyer calls for a truer, broader view of reality, one which embraces the fact of our interplanetary brotherhood of humanity, and acknowledges the serious threats to human survival on planet Earth. Published here courtesy of  Share International magazine.

Former Canadian defence minister Paul Hellyer instantly rose to fame within the circles of disclosure and exopolitics activists when he declared, in a speech at the Exopolitics Toronto Symposium in September 2005, that "UFOs are as real as the airplanes flying overhead'' and that "the veil of secrecy must be lifted''. (more…)

Earth Vision Nature Writing Contest

DO YOU LOVE NATURE?

nasastockphotos.com

If so, enter the Earth Vision Nature Writing Contest - short fiction, creative non-fiction, poetic prose, or poetry

First Prize $500 ~ Two Second Prizes of $100 each ~ Entry fee $12 (US)

Entries are now invited for the Earth Vision 2010 Nature Writing contest. The deadline for receipt of entries falls on October 15 2010. The EV nature writing contest is held to support the cause of writing on the subject of nature and deep ecology. Any outstanding proceeds support the Earth Vision project. (more…)