Category Archives: Leadership

Birds, Leadership

We Can Do Better

Seagull

As many of you know, I love the beach.  There is something very restorative about feeling my feet in the sand, hearing the sound of the waves roll back and forth, and swimming in the ocean.  Yet I was sadly confronted with a painful reality.  I saw a beautiful seagull desperately trying to dislodge a fish hook that it had swallowed.  All I could see was a fishing line and what appeared to be blood on the bird’s beak.  While I reported the injured bird to the lifeguard and he said he would call it in, my thought was that the bird would die or starve before too long.  Please, if you fish, have the decency to recycle your fishing lines properly, and don’t throw them back in the water.  Or better yet, don’t fish.  We can do better than this, folks.  Birds don’t deserve to suffer at our hands.

Animals, Leadership

Some good news

Active panda climbing tree
  1. China’s giant pandas are no longer endangered.
  2. Renewable energy generation hit an all-time high in 2021.  The world added 290 gigawatts of renewable power production capacity, according to a recent report from the International Energy Agency.
  3. A marine-protected area around the Galapagos will be expanded by 60,000sq km (37,282 sq miles).
  4. A hole in the ozone layer is healing.  The ozone layer protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun.
  5. There is some recovery happening in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef which has been suffering from coral bleaching and storms.  Scientists are using in vitro fertilization (IVF) to regenerate the reefs.
Carbon Footprint Reduction, Leadership

Climate conference & Villains

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26 and as the Glasgow Conference, has begun.  It is being held in Glasgow, Scotland from October 31st through November 12th.  World leaders have their work cut out for them because individual countries and their citizens have not been cutting greenhouse emissions enough to avoid climate catastrophe.  Clearly said, the world needs a 55% reduction in emissions to keep the global temperature increase below 1.5°C, the limit defined by scientists as the less risky scenery for our planet and humanity’s future.

As world representatives meet at COP26 gather, it is important be aware of some of the dirty dozen climate villains as noted in a 10/27/2021 article in The Guardian newspaper.  They have worked to keep emissions high. The list includes Jamie Dimon, CEO of Chase Bank and Senator Mitch McConnell.  Check it out. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/27/climate-crisis-villains-americas-dirty-dozen

Leadership, Nature, Water

How to Fix the Fires in the West

Sugar Fire, California

As you know, California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada have been experiencing some of its worst fires this year, and the fire season has only begun.  For a very long time, I have thought that we, on the east coast, could send those states water, via pipelines.  Many people have told me that was not feasible.  I don’t believe them and was overjoyed to read that someone else has been thinking along the same lines as me.  Joseph Schulman, John Schaefer, and Henry Miller wrote an article about it entitled, “An “interstate water system” could fix the West’s water woes”. https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/an-interstate-water-system-could-fix-the-wests-water-woes They propose an interstate water system so that no part of the United States would experience water shortages and to help mitigate the wildfires racing across those lands.  The pipelines would create jobs and facilitate growth.  Let me know what you think.

Animals, Carbon Footprint Reduction, Leadership

Still Very Important

This video, from September 2014, is still very important. Dr. Jane Goodall said, “in 200 years people will look back on this particular period and say to themselves, how did those people, at that time, just allow all those amazing creatures to vanish?” She continued to say, “if we all lose hope there is no hope. Without hope people fall into apathy. There is still a lot left worth fighting for.”

Animals, Leadership, Life

Do Something Now

To say we are living in challenging times is an understatement.  We are witnessing great tragedies among us and are facing many divides.  What I would like to say is that we are all in this world together.  We may not have the same beliefs or backgrounds but we all wish to be safe, we all wish to be loved, and we all wish to have a home.  That goes for human beings and animals alike.

Fires are whipping through California destroying homes, crops, and killing animals.  COVID-19 has taken many loved ones away from us.  And artists, the ones who inspire and uplift us, are struggling to make a living and pay their rent.  I urge you to support them, as it is the painters, musicians, actors, and dancers who touch us and make us better people. 

Go buy a piece of art directly from an artist such as Donna Grande.  Her art is stunning and the link is below! Donate money to a struggling performing arts group or an animal welfare organization like the World Wildlife Fund.  Please do something  –whether you spend a dollar or $2,000.  Just make a positive difference.  Lives are in your hands.

http://www.donnagrande.com

Leadership, Life, Nature

Historic time

Anne Frank 1940

There is no doubt, we are living through a historic moment in time and our whole way of being in the world is being challenged because of COVID-19.  Some people have already lost their lives and we are all struggling to find order in the midst of the anxiety-producing situation at hand.  May we remember that kindness is a gift we can all afford to give and that nature is and can be a balm to our souls.

Ann Frank, a young Jewish girl who was forced into hiding for two years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, said it well, “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God.  Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.”