Category: Earth Healing

Two Days Before Earth Day

Two Days Before Earth Day

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Curacao…a beautiful island in the southern Caribbean

Two days before Earth Day four years ago I was underwater. The strong taste of petroleum filled my mouth with every inhale. I signaled my dive buddies to surface under the star-filled night sky. Their air was fine. I didn’t know the source of the weird taste so we submerged but I stayed rather shallow and kept the dive brief.

I remember surfacing and turning back to look over my shoulder into the dark Ocean. A wind swept across the water and I felt a chill that shook my core. It was a very ominous way to end a dive.

simonelipscomb (15)A few days later I was sitting in the Atlanta airport after the flight from Curacao and saw the footage showing Deepwater Horizon in flames. When I am in the Caribbean I unplug as much as possible so had missed the news coverage of the explosion until I was almost back to Asheville. As I sat in disbelief on the vinyl-covered seat, clarity came and I knew it was time to go home.

Years ago I had promised the Gulf that I would help but didn’t know how. I heard a very distinct reply on the inner…You will know when it’s time to come home. The summons had been given. It was time.

I tracked the oil after arriving back to my mountain home and timed my arrival on the Alabama Coast, my birth place, a few days before the brown goo arrived. I wanted to document the unspoiled marshes and shores. I could sense the menace approaching but could do nothing except be a witness.

I remember one day I had been to Fort Morgan and was driving back to my mom’s on Bon Secour Bay. I stopped by a marsh and took photographs of large, orange boom in Mobile Bay. When I got back in the car I lost it. I mean really, really lost it. I started sobbing and screaming….how could we do this to our planet? It was as if I was experiencing a panic attack for our planet. I thought that I was witnessing the beginning of the end of life as we knew it.

One day as I walked the trail to the beach at Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge, I crested the top of the trail on the dune and saw before me a crime scene. Big blobs of smelly, brown goo were scattered all along the beach. I called the 800 number to report it and stayed for what seemed hours until somebody came to document it. Tearfully I sat on the sand and not knowing what to do I started singing to the Gulf of Mexico….I prayed and asked forgiveness for all humans. But mostly I grieved. My tears fell among crude oil staining the beach.

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When the oil first came ashore it was marked with driftwood and gloves…I couldn’t help but enjoy the message this glove was giving.

simonelipscomb (13)One week each month for the first year I returned to the Gulf of Mexico and documented seven areas of beach beginning at Fort Morgan and going to Fort Pickens, Florida. I remember a day in early July when I was standing at a tidal pool watching a little fish gasp in the grip of death as the bubbling crude oil, dispersant and salt water suffocated her. I was pretty close to the end of my coping skills. After days of breathing the benzene-ridden air, dealing with heat and the horrors of what I was witnessing I literally almost lost my shit, so to speak, watching that fish die.

simonelipscomb (9)Standing with tears flowing and sobbing I heard someone call my name. It jerked me out of the spiral of grief and I saw my friend Sherry, who I hadn’t seen in years, coming toward me. She gave me a big hug and we stood for a moment. I believe God or Mother Earth…or both… sent her to me that day. She was working on a clean-up crew and just ‘happened’ to be there.

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simonelipscomb (7)My spiritual practice of meditation helped me make it through that year. My friend and teacher from England pulled me aside at a workshop almost a year after the spill and asked how I was doing. I told her how difficult it was to witness such needless destruction. She told me that there was a reason I was witnessing it and to stand firm in my love of the planet. Many friends from all over the world followed my blog posts and sent support to the Gulf and all life within and around it. If my actions could bring the truth to a few people, it was worth it.

simonelipscomb (8)The process of personal healing has been long after that year. The journey back to wholeness led me to return home permanently to the Gulf Coast. While I haven’t really understood what my role here is now, I have enjoyed each moment spent with sea turtle hatchlings, manatees, ospreys, eagles….the salt marshes and river. The very things that broke my heart and spirit have been my healers.

simonelipscomb (17)Much of what I shared during the spill and cleanup was what was happening on the beaches. The personal struggle was small compared to the ecosystem and the community of relationships within it. Yet humans, too, are a part of the community of nature. We are deeply engaged in the cycle of life whether we acknowledge it or not.

simonelipscomb (23)A week with Joanna Macy in Rowe, Massachusetts, allowed a group of thirty of us, working to make a positive difference on the planet, have a safe place to facilitate our healing and help us understand the process that is happening globally. Perhaps the most important lesson learned that week was that all of us are needed to, step-by-step, be midwives to the Great Awakening or as Joanna calls it, The Great Turning.

simonelipscomb (18)We cannot afford the luxury of turning our eyes away from the horrendous abuses humans do to the planet, to animals, to each other. We are all connected…we are one family of life surviving on a living planet.

A kid's book I created to explain the oil spill in a simple, understandable way to all ages.
A kid’s book I created to explain the oil spill in a simple, understandable way to all ages.

This Earth Day, let us remember our connection to our magnificent planet…the Ocean, sea turtles, dolphins, whales, otters, rivers, osprey, eagles, the kid across the street, the massive oak trees and the tiniest flower. We are One.

simonelipscomb (21)The taste of petroleum in my regulator on the dive in Curacao couldn’t be explained. On an energetic level I believe I connected with the disaster happening in the Gulf of Mexico while I was in Curacao, in the southernmost island of the Caribbean. It showed me, without doubt, that I am connected to the Ocean…the One Ocean…and to all life. And so are you my friends

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To order my kid’s book on the oil spill or other books….please CLICK THIS LINK or visit Coastal Art Center in Orange Beach, AL or Page and Palette in Fairhope, AL.

Desire is the Parent of Fear

Desire is the Parent of Fear

Photograph by Jen Fraser
Photograph by Jen Fraser…Photoshop play by Simone

This was a morning of tears…intense tears welling up from the grief I carry within my heart for this planet…and all life here. Some days it nearly overwhelms me. I want to stand as a witness to what is happening but some days it is difficult. Thank goodness for small acts of kindness and love that I also bear witness to for these keep me sane, hopeful.

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…I drove by a large area that had been clear cut. Massive oaks, pines…lay in piles. I couldn’t help but scream, “ENOUGH! ENOUGH DESTRUCTION!” I’m not sure who I was screaming to…myself, the tree cutters, the developers…God?

…The other night I dreamed I was at a car dealer and kept saying, But I don’t need a new car. They kept wanting me to test drive this model or that one. I felt brainwashed and fought to stay conscious of the truth.

SimoneLipscomb (12)The biggest lie we are taught from the moment we take our first breath is that we don’t have enough. Or that the vehicle that gets a few miles on it must be replaced with a sparkling new model. Or the TV we have is four inches smaller than the new model which is also three inches thinner. Our clothes are the wrong style or the wrong color. Our hair is the wrong color. Our skin the wrong color……

SimoneLipscomb (3)Our entire society, economy, mental structure is based on making more money, having more stuff…more, more, more. The programming is so insidious that we aren’t aware that we are wired to participate in the steady but sure depletion of planetary resources. Like robots we march through our lives thinking we are not okay unless we have more stuff. We equate more with safety.

Sadly, the USA has become the model for the world in consumerism but this modus operandi comes with a great cost.

Our planet is a reflection of our mental hygiene...or lack of
Our planet is a reflection of our mental hygiene…or lack of

As a collective, our mental hygiene has gone to hell. Our emotional lives have become wastelands. We believe we are inherently flawed unless we live the ‘American dream.’ And so with our minds–our most powerful tool–we perpetuate a living hell of accumulating more stuff which creates debt and feelings of worthlessness brought about by the perpetual desire to have more stuff so that we are okay…we are safe. This mindset takes us deeper into a spiral of destruction in our personal lives and as a planetary family.

SimoneLipscomb (6)The good news is that because our minds are so powerful we have the ability to create different lives for ourselves. It supposedly takes 30 days to change a behavior. The first step is being aware of how our behaviors stem from our thoughts, our beliefs. This means we have to monitor our thoughts…what am I telling myself? That is the place to begin. Unraveling a lifetime of programming will take more than 30 days; however, the place to begin is at the beginning. Question every impulse to buy a new this…a new that. Do I need this or is this my programming creating this impulse?

SimoneLipscomb (15)It’s time to step out of the drama of the chaotic, consumer-driven world of greed and fear. When we take this step it is not a loss we will experience but a birth into a higher, more genuine quality of life. It is time to awaken from our slumber, to arise from our unconscious state and recognize our part in the destruction of our planet by supporting uncontrolled and profit-driven individuals and corporations who care for nothing but…more.

SimoneLipscomb (16)“Desire defeats its own end…desire is the parent of fear”*…when we understand this, we can release the desire for more and feel the grip of fear release the choke-hold it has on our lives. The place to begin is at the beginning.

*“Desire defeats its own ends, for it is the parent of fear.” These words were written by psychologist, teacher, artist and mystic Dion Fortune. 

 

Zipping into Spring

Zipping into Spring

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Presenting my children’s book, The Gulf Oil Spill Story, to children at Gulf Shores Elementary School.

Over the past several years I have focused on tapping into creative energy through my writing and photography with the intention of promoting planetary stewardship. Additionally I have volunteered extensively for Share the Beach, Baldwin County Extension Service Master Environmental Educator program, Wolf Bay Watershed Watch Board, and my own environmental education programs presented to schools, libraries, scout groups, bookstores and other places. These have been some of the most rewarding years of my life with the intention of giving from my heart with the hope generating love and compassion for our beautiful planet and all life here.

Photo by Gulf Adventure Center Photography Staff
Photo by Gulf Adventure Center Photography Staff

This is all wonderful and soul-enriching work and yet….there are still expenses associated with living in our society. But how does a nature-lover, compassion-promoting, environmental gal like me find a place in the working world? I’m at a point in my life where finding meaning in the work I do is an absolute must. And I think I might have discovered a really good fit.

Working as park naturalist, circa 1985. Preparing for a hay ride for campers.
Working as park naturalist, circa 1985. Preparing for a hay ride for campers.

Gulf Adventure Center in Gulf State Park is in my old stomping grounds. As an outdoor recreation administrator and resource manager fresh out from college, I worked in Gulf State Park as the naturalist. In fact, I worked summers during high school and college there and walked into the naturalist position. It was the first professional leap into environmental education.

Photograph by Gulf Adventure Center photography staff.
Photograph by Gulf Adventure Center photography staff.

When an opportunity to work as a zip line guide came to me, I felt I had to give it a try. It was the ideal location, coming full-circle to my roots as an environmental educator, it was active and adventurous, and it presented an opportunity to empower people. The training provided me with an opportunity to get a feel for the job and now that I’m working as a guide, it is proving to fulfill my desire to do something that has meaning.

Photograph by Gulf Adventure Center photography staff
Photograph by Gulf Adventure Center photography staff

Yesterday a wonderful family went on a trip with another guide and me. I witnessed and assisted as the mom worked through a bit of fear to a point where she was comfortable and having fun zipping from tower to tower. Being outdoors, celebrating sunshine and family, the beautiful views of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Shelby, dolphins leaping and playing made for a perfect trip.

Helping people have fun outdoors and get physically active is awesome! It’s hard work, it doesn’t pay six figures, but every day I am there, I have an opportunity to make a positive difference in people’s lives and promote environmental education and stewardship in a fun way.

SimoneLipscomb (3)In the short time I’ve been there I’ve zipped the course in pouring rain, wind, sunshine and every time it has been great. I hope to see some of you there and if not there at some other place outdoors. We’ll celebrate the beauty of our planet together!

Children…Our Hope

Children…Our Hope

simonelipscomb (11)Tonight I spoke to my local community’s cub scout group. We gathered at the St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel in Magnolia Springs and I shared a video presentation I produced on endangered species of the Alabama coast…specifically sea turtles and manatees.

The boys and parent/leaders were attentive and asked questions and showed a genuine and engaged interest in the message I brought them. It always makes my heart sing to participate in these programs. But it was the closing of their meeting that deeply touched me.

simonelipscomb (14)One of the boys was asked to close with reverence and he offered a prayer. First, he expressed gratitude for the sea turtles and manatees and other animals. Then he spoke of gratitude for our beautiful world. He was thankful for me being able to come and share with them. And finally…well, admittedly I was so deeply touched by his prayerful expression of love and gratitude for nature and our planet and animals that I lost the last bit of what he was saying.

turtle bwVolunteering doesn’t offer financial rewards but having the opportunity to share video footage, still photographs and personal stories of encounters with sea turtles and manatees with children eager to learn and willing to engage with awe of our planet gives me hope. Honestly there are days when I read the news and see the horrible ways humans treat each other, animals, land, plants, the ocean and other water and I feel despair. But this night, I came away with profound hope and that is pure gold to me.

swimmingOn days when we experience sadness, grief, despair and even anger over what’s happening to our beloved planet and all life here, I think the best way to balance those feelings is to pass along our love for the planet to those willing to listen…and especially to children, our hope.

Everyday Miracles

Everyday Miracles

The moist, warm earth yielded easily as my fingers pushed into it to create a home for each new plant…kale, mustard, brussel sprouts, cilantro and oregano. Nearby neighbors of broccoli, rosemary and strawberries welcomed the new garden dwellers.

simonelipscomb (20)I’m not much of a vegetable gardener but rather find flowers to be my ‘thing.’ But there’s a yearning within me to make the connection between earth and food so I grow a few veggies and some fruit. The energetic connection of soil, sunlight, water, plant and human is alchemical. To think that my body is nourished by plants grown in my yard, under my care is really quite miraculous. I’d rather consume the colors of flowers…they delight me so….but thus far I haven’t learned to survive on flower power.

Osprey...image taken in Florida last winter
Osprey…image taken in Florida last winter

It was a wild day on the river. Turkey buzzards covered boathouses and trees far upriver…and then gathered in great numbers and rode thermals. The osprey couple was mating as I paddled past them. I cheered them on. The great blue heron couple has a nest in the same pine tree as last year. Pelicans continue to hunt far upriver for fish…come to think of it I haven’t seen many fish lately.

Some kind soul must have heard me last Sunday morning using a hand saw to cut a tunnel through the downed tree over the river…heard me grunting, possibly spouting a few colorful words…have you ever sawed standing up on a paddle board?? Much to my delight someone had cut a proper stand-up passage through the downed maple tree with a chain saw. That was a great surprise.

1796451_10152251956134214_1100857510_nIt was another great afternoon of music at The Frog Pond. Guitar deliciousness…oh, MY! Bill Kirchen, Will Kimbrough, Webb Wilder, Corky Hughes, Grayson Capps and Luther Womble. Lovely music and folks.

SimoneLipscomb (3)In reflecting back on the past few days it feels really good to see spring coming and colder weather backing off a bit. Wildlife is dancing with the season and I’m finding my way to have more contact with nature, to practice cherishing the earth and all things wild as a daily spiritual practice. Life goes on and somehow I find my place in it…and feel such gratitude for everyday miracles.