Earth Day

Today is Earth Day and we are ever more closer to extinction, us and every living thing on it, from human activity and any headway we were making has come to a screeching halt in this country as our current government cares nothing for the health of the planet, promotes fossil fuels over renewables and in fact throws road blocks up to renewable energy all so his rich buddies in the fossil fuel industry can get richer. Not satisfied with stifling renewable energy sources, Trump has rescinded EPA standards for clean air and water giving industry the go ahead to dump their toxic waste in our air and waterways and removed this country from the Paris Climate Accords. If ever a species deserved to go extinct, it's us. Unfortunately, we're taking everything else with us. We are currently in the midst of the 6^th planetary mass extinction and it's driven by humans. Our oceans are dying from overfishing and pollution, our soil and fresh water is poisoned with insecticides and herbicides, our insect populations that comprise the underpinnings of a healthy planet are decimated, our food is frankenfood more chemical than natural ingredients or genetically manipulated joining bits from disparate species, our weather is getting more and more extreme while we crack the bones of the earth. I wish I could be optimistic but I fear we are past the point of no return and while some countries are committed and acting to eliminate fossil fuels and waste, most are unwilling or unable to institute the immediate and drastic changes that would be necessary to save us from ourselves, to save everything from ourselves. Woe be to us and well deserved.

Love the Mother. She's the only one we have. Treat her as if your life depends on it because it does.

Past Earth Day posts (yes, been a while since I did an Earth Day post):

2015  - our separation from the natural world is making us sick
2014 -  god forbid we should alter our behavior
2013 -  our food is poison and we wonder where all these health problems come from
2012 - we seem to have forgotten that we are not separate from nature
2011 - the plastic challenge
2010 - we are drowning in trash

a few things happened

There was the flood, which I went and checked on at Riverside Park for the last time Thursday about noon when the river was at 47.81 feet, creeping up to the sidewalk along Elm St., and then lost interest. The SW side of town did flood and I gather some people did get water in their homes this time. I don't know how many or if those troop carriers carried anyone anywhere. The Buckee's and the Nan-Ya plastic pipe plant and the Los Cukos Mexican restaurant on the river bank got water on their grounds but not in any of the buildings. It did not ever spill over into Elm which runs parallel. It crested at some time at some height and is now receding.

Besides that and obsessing over the yard all week, I went to get a bone density scan. Now that I have Medicare, I can do things like that. Not that it matters since I'm not planning to take the medication but it is good to stay on top of things. It's probably been 10 years since I last had one and yes, they say I have osteoporosis, then and still. I don't take the meds because they don't work and have heinous side effects. What those drugs do is prevent your body from breaking down old weak bone which prevents it from building up new strong bone. I'd rather have strong porous bones than weak dense ones and I do yoga for strength and flexibility. I got the results and again declined the medication. I asked for a copy of the report which said I was at high risk of a fracture but the summary further down gave a 12.5% chance of having an osteoporotic fracture in the next 10 years with a 3.1% chance of it being a hip. I'll take those odds especially since almost two years ago I fell hard on the concrete on my hip and wrist with no fractures.

And it was Earth Day on Friday. This is the first year I've missed posting on Earth Day. The theme this year (I hadn't realized it had themes) was trees. We need more trees. They are the breath of the planet. They are sentient, just like all life on Earth. I may do a belated post.

And I finally pulled out all the tomatoes and squash and beans I had planted one week before that frost in March. They stopped growing and never recovered. Five weeks in the ground after the frost, the root ball had not grown one iota. In fact the zucchini was smaller than when I planted it. I left in the peppers and the Japanese eggplant because they seemed to be recovering but now I think not. I replanted the tomatoes and the squash and beans.

And, of course, Prince died. When asked how it felt to be the greatest guitar player in the world, Eric Clapton supposedly replied, I don't know, you'll have to ask Prince.  Below:  Prince plays the blues

And a squirrel knocked the tea cup off the hanger...again and broke the saucer...again. I haven't fixed it yet since I need to find a new saucer.

And I hauled everything over to the shop and set up to photograph the magnolia leaves.  

And finally, tired of waiting on this job (yes still waiting again after having just gotten started, it's been a week and a half now), I got out my model making stuff and am making another stab at the little leaflet for the pink flower, you know, the one that turned into the alien geode. I'm making it a little different this time, flat and more stylized. I also started getting the bark waxes set up for casting.

    

Earth Day

image via: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/392798398721675108/

I heard on public radio part of a program Monday about how much time children are spending outside. They cited a study that claimed children nowadays spend only an average of 14 minutes a day outside. 14 minutes a day! Most parents specified a fear of abduction for the reason why they don't let their children play outside but research has shown that there are only a little over 100 child abductions per year as opposed to over two thousand child deaths while being in a car with their parents. Latch-key kids are told to come home, stay inside, and lock the door. When children are allowed out to play, they are bundled up in all sorts of protective gear with adults present to mediate any arguments that may come up or to immediately come to the rescue of any child in distress and yet unsupervised play is how children learn leadership skills, problem solving, develop courage and self reliance. It is how we learn to compromise and cooperate, build muscles and lean strong bodies. It is how we learn about the world.

Tuesday I saw an article on FB about how our Western culture is killing off our gut bacteria. Comparisons with indigenous peoples with no exposure to modern medicine, food, and culture show that they have 50% more ecological diversity in their microbiome. Our western guts have lost species that help metabolize carbohydrates, that act as prebiotics, that communicate with our immune system. As cultures become more 'western', they begin to lose gut bacteria species and start suffering from chronic illnesses connected to the immune system. We may be living longer but we aren't living healthy as the long list of pharmaceuticals advertized on TV points out. I've been compiling a list over the last several months...28 and counting.

Our microbiome is acquired by contact with the natural world, not by living in a sterilized environment. Certainly clean water and sanitation is important for healthy life but we develop our immune systems, especially as children, by being exposed to germs and dirt. It's not just our general health that is affected by our lack of contact with the natural world. There are microbes in the soil that have a direct effect on our feelings of well being and general contentment. We are not separate from this earth.

We have insulated ourselves from the outdoors. We make our homes air tight and sterilize them with anti-bacterials, conditioning the air so that it never varies and never lets in fresh air. We have covered the ground with concrete. We don't even let it get dark and the resultant light pollution means there are generations of people that have never seen the Milky Way.

We are animals that evolved in the natural world and yet we are trying to separate ourselves from it. We are the culprits in the largest extinction of life forms on this planet since the dinosaurs. We have poisoned our air, our water, our soil, and our food. Our oceans are full of trash. We have destroyed countless ecosystems and now the planet is heating up at an alarming rate.

What does this mean to us? We may be living longer, but as mentioned before, we are not living healthy. We suffer from depression and obesity and other chronic illnesses from the lack of nutrition in our food and contact with the earth. We have become insane with fear and hatred and suspicion.

So, on this Earth Day, go outside. Take your shoes off and walk barefoot in the dirt and grass. Plant something. Sit by a river or stream and just listen. Establish a brush pile or a wild space in your yard. Nurture nature.

You will feel so much better for it.

earth day 2014

Following up on my last post...thank you all for the wonderful comments assuring me that the universe is not that mean. I don't really believe that my little bit of magical wishing was the cause of my fall. Or even the cause of the guy backing out of his contract even though I do believe that thought is energy and the more energy put into an idea the more likely it will become manifest. But I also don't believe in coincidence all that much either though that doesn't mean the two things are connected, but you have to admit it made a good little story.

Also, there are definitely baby wrens in the bird house. The parents have been calling loudly and flying back and forth with little tidbits in their beaks.

So, today is Earth Day, the day we think about, focus on, this beautiful blue marble spinning through space. Of course, every day should be Earth Day because we are not, on the whole, doing much to preserve it. Climate change is upon us most likely propelled by human activity.

It's getting extreme folks. Bigger fiercer storms, hotter dryer summers, colder wetter and prolonged winters. We poison the water, we poison the ground, we poison the air. We poison our food. We frack, crack, the very bones of the planet to extract it's marrow. The oceans are filled with trash. The oceans! In all those weeks of trying to find that missing plane, what they found instead were masses and masses of trash.

photo by Zak Noyle

My heart bleeds.

Now they want to geoengineer the atmosphere by releasing toxic metal oxides like aluminum into the stratosphere, if they aren't already, in an effort to combat climate change.

God forbid we should just alter our behavior. But we won't. We won't because human beings have the ability to adapt. While we are destroying a vibrant diverse ecosystem (we are currently in the middle of one of earth's great extinctions fueled by human activity) we are, at the same time, adapting to it as this new scenario of Easter Island suggests.

What a sad diminished future we face.

But change is still possible if we will just give up this notion that whatever we want is good, that we can do away with whatever bothers us to no ill effect.

The simple re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone Park, for instance, completely changed a degraded and denuded ecosystem in just a few years into one that was healthy and thriving.

While most of us don't have the power to make big changes, we do have the power to make changes in our personal environment.

Refuse, reuse, repair, recycle.

Don't use poisons...herbicides and pesticides also kill the good things.

Grow a garden and support organic farmers.

Plant flowers, especially milkweed, for our butterflies and bees.

Don't kill something just because you can because that creature has an important job.

Provide a water source for birds.

Keep a bit of wild space if you can.

Go green.

earth day

I try to make every day earth day. It is, after all, the only planet we've got and we rely on it for our sustenance...our water, our food, the very air we breathe. So why, are we as a nation, doing our best to destroy it?

I take that back. That's not fair. There are many many people like me doing their best to save it, to nurture it, to counteract the unrestrained greed that poisons our water, land, and air.

Not satisfied with poisoning the three basic elements, the greed of Big Business is now poisoning our food. I'm referring to genetically modified food crops. These GMOs have been genetically altered to contain pesticides and herbicides, to exude pesticides and herbicides. The idea was that if the plants could fight off the weeds and insects that feed on them, farmers would have to use less herbicides and pesticides. Unfortunately, the exact opposite is happening. Nature, as she will, has evolved weeds and bugs that are resistant to these GMOs. Farmers are having to use more, not less, poisons in their fields.

So now, not only is our food awash in poison, it contains poison.

Monsanto, the company that brought us Agent Orange, while not the only company involved in this, is the main mover behind GMOs. They will tell you that GMOs are perfectly safe but they are lying. They have infiltrated the FDA so that the government agency tasked with the responsibility to protect the food supply now turns a blind eye toward GMOs. But the fact is, GMOs are not safe. They are killing us slowly.

There are so many independent studies out there showing the long term effects of consuming GMO foods including but not limited to accelerated aging, massive tumors, infertility, obesity, and organ damage. A recent study showed that nutritionally, GMOs are severely lacking.

These GMOs have been in our food supply for 20 years and they did it without telling anyone, without conducting long term studies, and burying any evidence that showed they were not safe. Nearly all of this country's corn (88%), cotton (90%) and soybeans (94%) are genetically modified. You can pretty much guarantee that any packaged food that contains corn or soy products sold in this country, unless it is labeled organic or non-GMO, contains these foods.

I urge everyone to educate themselves. Many countries have banned GMOs or limit their use or require labeling at the very least. Unfortunately, the United States is not one of them.

If these foods and the pesticides and herbicides are so safe, why are they wearing bio-suits?

Do an internet search with these search terms: what are the long term effects of eating GMO foods.

At the very least, ask yourself, if GMO foods are so safe, why the companies that engineer them and those that use them in their products are spending millions of dollars to prevent labeling in this country. There are already over 40 countries that ban them, require labeling, or restrict them in some form or other but the United States is not one of them.

The best way to avoid GMOs is to avoid any processed or pre-packaged food. Eat and cook fresh but be aware that GMO fresh corn and zucchini squash is on the market. Grow as much of your own food as you can. Buy organic and non-GMO labeled foods as often as possible. I know how hard that can be because as a working artist, my income often does not allow for organic foods but anyone can cook from fresh and even growing the least amount of food for yourself helps.

And start reading the labels if you don't already do so. See how many of the listed ingredients are food and how many are chemicals, how many forms of sugar are in every product. If the chemicals out number the food, it's not food. Sugar is not food. Because, if this goes unrestrained, our children will not have any grandchildren. Already we are seeing more food allergies, more autism, more cancer, more infertility, more obesity, more diabetes.

If you want to become active or just keep abreast of the situation, visit these FB pages and visit their websites:

Occupy Monsanto

Organic Consumers Association

Millions Against Monsanto

GMO Free USA

Eat Deets