Change

This photo is of Don and a boatman in Ireland last summer. The inland waters were very low from extreme heat and lack of rain, We had to disembark from the boats so each boatman and a volunteer could navigate the boat through the shallows. Will the "Emerald Isle" become the "Brown Isle"?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is finalizing its report, confirming that humans have caused the greenhouse gases that are putting too much carbon into the air, and that our temperatures will continue to rise at alarming rates if emissions are not seriously curbed.

I will watch with great interest in the coming days as politicians spin the scientists’ research and conclusions. I believe the scientists. Those who created the report are not paid for their efforts.

But mostly, I want to grab this opportunity to alter my own behavior as needed to align with my view that each one of us can make a difference. Over the centuries we humans have created a separation of ourselves and nature, using up precious resources for our own purposes, giving scarcely a thought to the effects of our gargantuan consumption. I want to do my part to slow down this wildness so my grandkids (future) might have a chance to live on a decent planet.

I already have a car that burns about 35 mpg. What else can I do?

- Drive less: Plan trips ahead so unnecessary travel is eliminated or minimized.

- Recycle more and better: Landfills are a huge source of methane emission.

- Home heating & cooling: Use AC less and keep the winter heat lower. Improve insulation.
Watch for new appliances that don’t use hydroflourocarbons, especially refrigerators. Not yet available in the U.S. due to monopolies by Dupont and others who are trying to convince the regulatory that non-HFC fridges are unsafe, even though they are safe.

- Go “carbon neutral”: This means offsetting the emissions you create by contributing to green technology. For instance, when my airplane flies to Ireland in July, each passenger on the jumbo jet will use 432 kg of fuel and emit a warming equivalent of 4031 kg of CO2. Here’s a web site I’m going to study to find an investment-worthy travel offset program.

Go here to calculate your carbon emissions.

Thanks to the David Sazuki Foundation web site, which offers lots of ideas for making a difference individually.

If I’m educated, I will also be better equipped to keep my government accountable.

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Loving the farm

I don't just mean our little five acres pictured here. But "the farm" as representative of finding ways to connect with locally grown organic produce.

After reading Rauf's post about farmers in India, this week I heard a piece on NPR about a food festival in Vienna in honor of Mozart's 250th birthday (last year) called New Crowned Hope. Alice Waters of Chez Panisse joined other food experts and artists to share ideas about things like promoting local organic farming and healthy school lunch programs. Alice Waters has founded the Edible Schoolyard Project, and is an advocate of sustainable agriculture who inspires me to no end. Did you know she is the only American chef who was invited to Paris to consult on opening a restaurant at the Louvre?

I want to find out more about the Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance this spring and am determined to more consistently support locally grown organic produce and meat.

Photo of Alice Waters courtesy open agreement at Wikipedia.

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At the lake

We were at the lake New Year's weekend with my family, as many as could come from around the country. These two views of the lake were taken the same day, at different times. The top photo is from the morning stillness. The bottom photo is from the evening stillness. Dee Dee suddenly looked outside and saw the blue, bringing it to our attention (us with cameras). So Todd, Mark and I hurried out to take advantage of the blue light.

The cottage has my favorite things in nature: water and trees.

Above, the tree that fell eons ago (was I in 5th grade?) has become a "gondola branch," reshapen over the water over the years.

Below, this birch has grown up and become a lovely lady on our waterfront lawn.

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Holiday tag

I've been tagged by The Healing Room, an easy tag.

1. Grab the book closest to you.

2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence

3. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog

4. Name of the book and the author

5. Tag three people

The book closest to me is "View with a Grain of Sand," a book of poetry by Wisława Szymborska. Page 123 does not have 5 lines (ends at the 4th), so I went to page 124. The fifth sentence, and the next two are:

A jackal doesn't understand remorse.
Lions and lice don't waver in their
course.
Why should they, when they know they're
right?

I wish I had a photo of a lion, a jackal or a louse, but I don't. This photo of hardy-orange will do.

I tag Mrs. M., Mei Shile and Rauf. :D

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Farmhands

I'm reading Vilhelm Moberg's first novel The Emigrants, the first in a four-book series about Swedes who emigrated to the U.S. and the start of my research for the Story (see my last post). Currently in Moberg's book I'm reading about farmhands in Sweden, who were usually in a year-long contract. Life was brutal.

Reading books about what life was like 150 years ago creates ambivalent feelings in me. On the one hand, I long to be more connected with the earth and daily survival, pre-industrial age. But on the other, I feel grateful for inventions of convenience and human evolution that mean I don't have to spend an entire day doing laundry, or clearing stones or stumps from a field to till it, or suffer persecution because someone who is religiously zealous is spreading rumors about me.

Today Don and I spent time clearing and burning sticks that had fallen in the ice storm, and cutting and stacking wood for the wood stove. Don has a chainsaw, and we only had to do this work for a couple of hours. On the one hand, we got to be connected with the earth and daily survival. And on the other, right now I'm sitting in the family room typing on my laptop with the woodstove supplementing the heat from the gas furnace.

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A story

This is a shawl Lesley wove, and gave to me. Oh bliss.

There is a story to be told, and I'm going to tell it. It might take the rest of my life!

It's the story of four women. My grandmother, who was born to Swedish immigrants in Chicago and became a successful New York artist and designer. My mother, a brainiac New York musician who submitted everything to her minister husband, to Christ and the church. Me . . . hmm, a woman with too many creative outlets. My daughter, a child of punk rock who is becoming a New York designer. Four generations of women with creativity in their genes who face struggles within and of their generations. I started researching Swedish emigration yesterday. It has begun.

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Consciousness

Thanks to this Presence Process life continues to be interesting.

This is week 4, the week we look at pain in our life without covering it up. Physical, emotional or mental pain.

Yesterday was a doozy.

The whole day I had a splitting headache. I rarely have headaches, but when I do, I take an ibuprofen or two, and that takes care of it. In The Presence Process Michael Brown encourages us not to cover up any pain this week, but to focus on it and see it as a messenger, a friend. I obeyed, and without ibuprofen, it was a challenge to get through a day meeting with students and answering emails.

After Don left for work in the morning yesterday, I looked for my car keys for 30 minutes, including through the trash (coffee grounds and all). Nowhere. Where could I have put them? Thankfully Lesley’s car is in the garage, so Don called and re-insured it for the day, and I drove it in to work. Guess what, Don found my keys in his coat pocket at school and doesn’t even recall putting them there.

One more anomalous thing happened yesterday. Online I had ordered wild caught salmon from Alaska night before last. I always order 8 pounds in order to get free shipping. Got an email confirmation yesterday that I had ordered just one pound, and the shipping was $20. I paid far more for shipping than for the salmon. I called Alaska, and it was too late to change the order, it had been shipped!

The amazing thing yesterday is that I did not get upset about any of it. (Maybe my head hurt too much to get upset.) I don’t pat myself on the back. But I feel grateful to teachers like Michael Brown who are sharing what has worked for them to become more present.

I may get upset about something today. I don’t know. But I can feel the habit of responding and not reacting starting to take hold.

Here's a quote from Viktor Frankl: "What is to give light must endure burning."

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