Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
MOTHER TREES
A forest is a community held together by tall strong mother trees who know that survival is based on helping each other. Not only do trees communicate, they are wise. We could learn about our own survival from them, especially from the grandmas and grandpas...
THE ULTIMATE BEETLE
BSA tells more about Huichol Art: Transforming A Vintage Beetle in Mexico (2010):
For this piece eight members of two Huichol families took the task to create a piece of art, seven months in the making, by using more than two million glass beads and a vintage Volkswagen as a canvas. Inspired by the designs of Francisco Bautista, a patriarch of one of the families, they incorporated their traditional indigenous theologies and cultural symbols with modern vernacular.
DANCE OF THE SPIRITS
Real-time capture by Alister Chapman of the Aurora Borealis triggered by recent solar storms.
Friday, January 27, 2012
DAMN! - DAMN! - DAMN! THE FOREST RAPERS ARE AT IT AGAIN
During my forest-defender days in Oregon we used to say that when the environmentalists achieve a victory, it's only temporary but when the industry wins it's permanent. It doesn't take rocket science to know how long it will take to regrow a 500 year-old tree.
OREGON WILD reports that the US Congress proposes to take apart hard-won forest protections to help local economies. It asks:
OREGON WILD reports that the US Congress proposes to take apart hard-won forest protections to help local economies. It asks:
ROADS AND RAINFORESTS
As Roads Spread in Rainforests, The Environmental Toll Grows
From Brazil to Borneo, new roads are being built into tropical forests at a dizzying pace, putting previously intact wilderness at risk. If we hope to preserve rainforests, a leading researcher says, new strategies must be adopted to limit the number of roads and reduce their impacts.
NASA satellite views of annual road expansion in Rondonia State Brazil 2000-2009. The distance across the view is approximately 500 kilometers or 300 miles.
From Brazil to Borneo, new roads are being built into tropical forests at a dizzying pace, putting previously intact wilderness at risk. If we hope to preserve rainforests, a leading researcher says, new strategies must be adopted to limit the number of roads and reduce their impacts.
NASA satellite views of annual road expansion in Rondonia State Brazil 2000-2009. The distance across the view is approximately 500 kilometers or 300 miles.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
IS THE SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL VISION BEING LOST IN BRAZIL?
During the last election campaign for President of Brazil the greatly esteemed eco-social theologian Leonardo Boff urged a popular front between the first-round victor, pro-development Dilma Rousseff and pro-environment Marina Silva who had garnered an amazing 20 million votes, both of whom shared common Labor Party roots.
TREEHUGGER'S DREAM
Want to live close to the earth and forests but afraid of the sacrifice? The extraordinary manifestations in the photo collection of Jason Ferguson show that it could be a dream-come-true.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEFORESTATION
The NY Times reports today: I.M.F. Reduces Estimates for Global Growth:
The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that global growth prospects had dimmed as the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone entered a “perilous new phase.” Releasing quarterly updates of three reports on the outlooks for the economy, debt and global financial stability, the fund cut its estimates of global growth this year to 3.25 percent, from the 4 percent it forecast in September...
SHAMAN SONGS FROM THE AMAZON FOREST OF ACRE
Ayahusca music recording session by the igarape at the Yawanawa Festival 2011, Acre, Brazil. This song calls the force of rapé, shuru, tobacco, and many animals of the forest. Musicians from left to right are Tuim Huni Kui, Ninawa Pai da Mata, Ninawa's brother, Thiago Moreno Maia.
TURN CHILDREN TURN
A marvelous clip by Lorena and Pafy of Ana Rosa and Ana Clara dancing at the recent birthday party of Master Counselor Luiz Mendes
Sunday, January 22, 2012
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE VIRTUAL AND THE REAL?
Lots of differences but here's one that really makes a difference...
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
THE CALLS OF THE CABOCLOS
The feast day of São Sebastião also calls for honoring the Caboclo vision of defending the forest. (re-posted from Visionshare 03 March 2011)
The term caboclo has multiple meanings in Brazil. In earliest usage during colonial times it meant friendly or "tame" Indian. Later, it came to refer to the afro-indio-european racial mix and also to the simple people who live close to the forests and rivers of Amazonia.
VIVA! SÃO SEBASTIÃO VIVA!
VIVAS for São Sebastião and Oxossi and the entire band of caboclos and nature spirits of the forests of Brazil.
ONE OF THE QUICKEST VICTORIES EVER!
SOPA and PIPA postponed indefinitely after protest
@CNNMoneyTech January 20, 2012: 11:37 AM ET
Hundreds turned out for a New York protest against SOPA and PIPA, a pair of controversial anti-piracy proposals.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE HOLE, NOT THE BALL
Jason Lanier writes about the "False Ideals of the Web"
"There is an outdated brand of digital orthodoxy that ought to be retired. In this worldview, the Internet is a never-ending battle of good guys who love freedom against bad guys like old-fashioned Hollywood media moguls. The bad guys want to strengthen copyright law, and make it impossible to post anonymously copied videos and stories. Our melodrama is driven by a vision of an open Internet that has already been distorted, though not by the old industries that fear piracy."
TODAY WAS NUTS, RIGHT?
That's how Fight for the Future begins its email report of the strike against SOPA day. The results were amazing. Read the report:
GOOGLE SAYS 4.5 MILLION SIGNED ITS ANTI-SOPA PETITION IN ONE DAY
First, the story of record-breaking people power rising to defend the Internet: Google says 4.5 million signed its petition. And that's not counting all the other on-line petitions!
Here's what's at stake:
Here's what's at stake:
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
WE ARE ON STRIKE -- PLEASE JOIN
[UPDATE: WOW !!!!! Web Protests Piracy Bills, and Senators Change Course. We've got the momentum. Please keep up the pressure.]
NOTE: I have no idea how to temporarily dis-able this page, so I'll just pass along what the movement folks are doing.
Read editorial at Mashable
Join us at http://sopastrike.com/
And please contact your senators. Here is the U.S. on-line petition. Please share it widely. Or, if you prefer, here is the avaaz global petition.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
KARMA YOGA
Peter Brook's 1989 interpretation of Krishna revealing the Bhagavad Gita to Prince Arjuna (excerpt from the Mahabharata).
There's more to the story:
There's more to the story:
TRANQUILO
Tranquilo (tranquil) is a commonly used Portuguese word for feeling peaceful amidst the play of passions and pressures. The photo is from Joe Riley's Panhala page and it portrays, for me, a calm and firm moment of balance between the inner and the outer.
Monday, January 16, 2012
FOREST PRIMEVAL
Filmed in Malaysia, the narration is adapted from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad:
We Were Wanderers On A Prehistoric Earth from James W Griffiths on Vimeo.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
A BELL FOR SUNDAY (and for every day)
There are many versions of Thich Nhat Hanh's "The End Of Suffering" meditation. The one above has been my favorite. Now, there's another that has text and great cinematography. Of course, the real thing is what happens in the heart.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES
The Man Who Planted Trees from Max Urai on Vimeo.
Jean Giano's classic is not to be dismissed as a romantic myth. Science is beginning to say much the same thing. Trees make rain. Here's how:
Thursday, January 05, 2012
FOOL'S GOLD AND THE GORDIAN KNOT
Illustration by K.Y.Craft
Events of 2011 show that no matter how solid the science, some people will never accept that humans are causing global warming. So how can we cut the Gordian Knot that is manmade global warming?
by Auden Schendler, reposted from the Atlantic
One version of the myth of King Midas holds that he was not greedy. Instead, he loved his daughter so much that he longed to leave her a stable future. When given the chance, he asked for the golden touch as a way to create an endowment. But when they embraced, she turned to gold as well. In trying to protect his beloved daughter, Midas destroyed her.
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
IT DEPENDS ON YOUR POINT-OF-VIEW
"Cola para ver el final de la crisis" ("The queue to see the end of the crisis") by el silencio
I was recently having a wide-ranging email exchange about the economic and political madness of the world with my dear friend Kelpie Wilson which closed with me asking, "Is the madness part of the corrective? Or, am I drinking too much ayahuasca?" Kelpie responded, "I am amazed at how little that stuff seems to affect your mental sharpness, but only you know the answer!"
Monday, January 02, 2012
AMAZING ELEPHANT BIRTH
I am awe-struck by this video.
Life is beyond measure or description.
I want to say more but there are no words for it.
I just watch the gift
of the birth
of the breath
of the step
and feel the power of the Mother.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
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