Please go see this important film.
Some Good News
One day I was walking home from work and was feeling the heat, it was 96 degrees Fahrenheit. As I continued on my path past the park I was carefully looking for the geese and their goslings. Based on my previous sightings, I knew there were at least two pairs of parents and six goslings. I was concerned about them becoming dehydrated or burning their webbed feet on the black asphalt. After a few minutes I was relieved to see four goslings sitting right next to the lower basin of the park water fountain with their parents protectively watching them. I made sure the basin was filled with some fresh water and then turned around to discover someone had left a container filled with water in the middle of the walkway. There were the other two goslings and their parents. What a relief. I felt so happy that I was not the only one thinking of the animals. And I even had a renewed sense of humanity’s goodness.
I took a photo of the goslings next to the fountain while one of them was staring up at me. Hopefully, you like it. Animals are so much like us; they need water and food, and a safe place to live. With that in mind, I thank you for making the world a better place by your actions, and for taking care of the animal kingdom. Our actions, be they little or big, make such a difference. And I am betting you feel really good when you do something for someone or something outside of yourself.
President Donald Trump versus President John F. Kennedy
Today President Trump decided to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord. He did so because he believes that the accord imposes “draconian financial” and other burdens on the country and because he believes it would “kill jobs” and cause lost revenues. When I heard him speak I was greatly saddened. He said he is fulfilling his “solemn duty to protect America and its citizens”. He is not protecting us; in fact, his decision puts all of us at great risk! Proven scientific evidence is clear, climate change is real and climate related disasters are occurring at every turn.
Trump’s decision has caused angst among Republicans, Democrats, members of his own staff, global leaders, corporate heads, and families. So I shall repeat the words of President John F. Kennedy, ”ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Each one of us must stand up and do what is right for children and animals. We must reduce our carbon footprints. We must call our elected officials and urge them to support wind and solar energy. We must be leaders in our own way and help protect the very planet we call home. As I have said before, I urge you to make a positive difference in the world. Time is of the essence.
100 Things You Can Do To Cut & Reverse Global Warming
Many of you are concerned about global warming and how it affects you and your family. A new book, “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming” by Paul Hawken looks at what can be done to stop it and even reverse it.
As many of you know, there are 406ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. That number should be 350ppm. Some of the most effective solutions to cutting carbon include educating girls in the developing world, so that they have fewer children, and reducing food waste. Reducing food waste would save 70 gigatons of carbon emissions. Another solution is for people to eat less meat and choose plant-based diets instead. If everyone ate a vegan diet the world would cut emissions by 70%.
Other solutions involve scaling up solar farms, growing trees on pastures where cows graze, and managing refrigerant (the chemicals used in refrigerant have a much higher global warming effect than carbon dioxide).
Of critical importance is also your role with regard to politics. Anna Goldstein served as a research fellow for the book and said, “The role of individual citizens in policymaking is to show our policymakers that you care, and not just that you care a little bit, or that you’re worried a little bit, but that it’s a strong motivator.”
I encourage you to read the book and find out about the other 93 solutions.
Your World Depends On It!
In the words of one of someone I admire and respect, former Vice President Al Gore, “Fight Like Your World Depends On It!”
Don’t Miss Your Chance
Hello Everyone. Please don’t miss your chance to stand up in support of science and the environment.
This year there are two important marches. The “March for Science” will be held on April 22nd which is Earth Day, and the “People’s Climate March” will be held on April 29th. The marches will be in Washington, DC and there will be sister marches across the United States and in the rest of the world.
Remember, children and animals are counting on you!
For more information please click on the links below or get in touch with your local community organizers. Thank you.
Blue Feet and Coming Together?
As many of you know, we live in interesting times. In the United States, and in Europe, there are deep divisions in society and people are either strongly against or strongly for certain politicians. Nationalism, anger, fear, and distrust are evident and so is great despair. Yet there is also courage being shown by numerous women and men, and a sense of faith that we can heal the rifts which divide us.
Let us come together. Let us not be torn apart by hated. We need to protect and harbor one another. We also need to protect our air, our land, our water and our wildlife. Let us not be distracted by illusion and destruction. Let us hold steadfast in this critical time. Let us stand up for justice and peace. Let us protect this beautiful Earth and all of its inhabitants.
May you be reminded of each person’s and each animal’s uniqueness as you look at the photo of these two booty birds with their blue feet. Let your voice be heard today. There is courage and consequence even in the smallest positive action. I believe in a livable future for our children and the animals of this world. I believe in positive change. And I believe in you.
I Bet You Did Not Know You Can Help Save This
Please watch this video and see what you can save. Simply by looking at a product label and choosing not to buy snack foods (cookies, chips, peanut butter, etc.) or beauty products made with palm oil, you can help save orangutans and many other precious forest creatures. Thank you!
Truth and the Gift of Rachel Carson
I just watched a beautiful television program (link below) about the life of Rachel Carson. Carson was born in 1907 and died in 1964. She was a marine biologist, conservationist and gifted writer who is credited with advancing the environmental movement. Her books, “The Sea Around Us”, “The Edge of the Sea” and “The Silent Spring” inspire us with their beauty, courage and insight. She wrote, “To understand the shore, it is not enough to catalog its life. Understanding comes only when, standing on a beach, we can sense the long rhythms of earth and sea that sculptured its land-forms and produced the rock and sand of which it is composed; when we can sense with the eye and ear of the mind the surge of life beating always at its shores – blindly, inexorably pressing for a foothold. ”
With those words in mind, I wonder, how we live in a world where fake news proliferates and people feel it is okay to lie and treat others poorly. I wonder if we will bequeath a frightening future to our children because many feel it is okay to destroy the planet for profit. It is time to speak the truth. And it is time to protect our precious environment.
Sadly, Carson’s words are still appropriate today. “We still talk in terms of conquest. We still haven’t become mature enough to think of ourselves as only a tiny part of a vast and incredible universe. Man’s attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.”
Rachel Carson was not afraid to speak up. We can do the same and also make one of her wishes come true. It was, “If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.”
Program link: http://www.pbs.org/video/2365935530/
This New Year
As we enter this new year may we enter it with grace and courage. And may we enter it in good health and with hearts full of compassion. So much has changed and happened in these last months and years. I see it in myself, I see it in others, I see it in the world, and I see it in nature. This much is obvious, change spares no one or no thing.
My vision is that we come together to mend our differences and see things through another person’s eyes. My vision is that we treat each other with kindness and without cruelty. My vision is that we all live in peace and without violence. Greater it is to uplift one another rather than tear one another apart. Climate change and the destruction of nature and its precious habitat is one of our supreme challenges. We can mitigate climate change, preserve nature and protect the amazing animal kingdom. Yet we must come to terms with our own selfishness and greed.
Let us be better than we were. Let us be lights for all of the children and animals of the world. Let us go forth together, and in goodness.