Category: sustainable economy

Change Agents

Change Agents

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On September 23rd I was in a small jet flying to Atlanta from Asheville. We flew over Lake Julian and the coal-fired power plant. Horrendous, black piles of death lay below. Earth raped as a commodity. I was glad to be headed for Rowe, Massachusetts where I would be spending a week with Joanna Macy and many other activists and lovers of our planet.

The first night, 68 of us met with Joanna. We listened as this wise woman shared about the history of humanity’s relationship with Earth. Most humans have used Earth as a supply house and a sewer. Finally, many are beginning to see the Earth as alive, as living. After she shared this and more, each of us stated our name and something of Earth we would protect. After feeling so isolated and alone documenting the Gulf Oil Spill, it was balm to my soul to witness so many people standing up to protect a place, animal, plant…body of water, mountain, meadow.

I left that first night’s gathering feeling the sweetness and power of people uniting for the common good. And with this happy feeling I had to negotiate walking on a small, wooded roadway at night with no light. I had to use my spider-sense, my bear and cougar sense–my wild woman sense that is connected with the wet, deep darkness and rich, loamy Earth. The part of me that sees without eyes and knows from the sound of gravel or grass underfoot where I am. I later wrote, “Amidst the inky blackness, rich and deep, silver drops from dark green leaves splatter and fall to the ground. I walk between two worlds, caught in the middle between lies and truth. May I stand with an open heart and bear witness.”

There was so much I learned and experienced that week at Rowe Camp and Conference Center and there are many nuggets of wisdom that will be with me as my work at the Gulf continues. However, one particular concept stands out. John Seed, an activist who worked to protect trees in the forests of Australia, had the idea that when we stand up to protect something on Earth, it’s really that place or thing protecting itself through us. In example, “I am not Simone protecting the Gulf of Mexico, I am the Gulf of Mexico protecting itself through this piece of humanity.”

And so to all those working on the Gulf, we are united in our efforts by the Gulf of Mexico. And for all environmental efforts, it is the same. Reframing activism, in this way, shifted my thinking and helped me feel the whole of all involved in working to protect and heal our planet.

Whatever you love about Earth and are willing to stand up for, say it out loud in the context written above by John Seed. What do you notice?

Some ideas shared by Joanna: Healing the planet comes from seeing the relationships and interrelationships. Action is something I am! (Not something I do). Don’t wait for the blueprint or plan as an activist. You cannot predict the synergy that occurs when you take steps and risks. Have the courage to move out with ideas. Power is an organic outcome of synergy. Evolutionary forces are wanting to work through us.

After lunch one day I climbed a steep trail and sat on a rock at the top of a mountain and heard this: “When you are called to witness a devastation to Earth, you serve as one of a council who then reports to the whole. Tell the truth of what you see. See with your heart.” And so my work continues whether I’m reading articles on the Gulf Oil Spill and passing them on to others or on the beaches documenting the huge chunks of tar washing up or speaking with school kids.

Many times I have struggled with my reason for doing the work at the Gulf and have asked myself questions like: “Is anybody really paying attention?” “All this time and energy here and is it making a difference?” Joanna reminded us to release the need for our work to make a difference or reach people or be successful. The most important thing to do is to keep doing the work, allowing the creativity to continue to move through us. The key is simply to keep doing it.

“We are so much more than we see right now. The powers that brought us here are so powerful we cannot even imagine.” Joanna reminded us that we have help and we’re not alone. What an important message for all who are working as change agents for Earth.

What are you willing to stand up and protect?

To learn more about my work, please visit my website Turtle Island Adventures.

The Basis of Our Self-Destruction

The Basis of Our Self-Destruction

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There was a mass-murder of beautiful tigers, lions, wolves, cougars, bears and a baboon this week in Ohio. I understood that fear was the basis for destroying these beautiful and, in some cases, highly endangered animals but it seemed to me that raising a gun with bullets took only a little less effort than raising a gun with tranquilizer darts.

In my grief and horror at this needless destruction of animals in Ohio, I realized that human fear is the basis of our path of planetary destruction. We fear not having enough food, clothing, video games, electronic toys–money–and so we consume at alarming rates, at rates that are literally annihilating everything precious, everything sacred. And I’m including the human species as well.

Have you ever stopped and watched birds like pelicans feeding? Even with an abundance of food, they only take what fills their bellies. There’s no fish-bank or pantry in some posh pelican pad where catches are stored for days when there may be lack. They live so much in the present moment that there’s no stress over making sure they have more than the flock down the beach.

Kind reader, you might argue that there’s no higher brain function of reasoning and so of course pelicans and most other animals don’t project themselves out into the future. And I understand that; however, have you ever wanted the freedom to not be so consumed by your own consumption? The pelicans might have an answer to our path of self-destruction.

Two days ago I heard about a huge school of sharks that had been finned in a nature preserve off the coast of Columbia. People came into the protected waters and caught hundreds of sharks, cut their fins off and dropped them back overboard still alive and doomed to die. All for the Asian market demand for shark fin soup. Murdered for an unnecessary delicacy. I wept for those sharks and for the tigers, lions, cougars, bears and baboon….but mostly I grieved the ignorance and apathy that so many humans continue to exhibit toward each other, animal species and Earth itself.

A Carrie Newcomer song came to mind and I share part of it with you, dear reader and offer a nudge of encouragement and gratitude for your compassion and love shared with all life.

“I heard an owl call last night
Homeless and confused,
I stood naked and bewildered
By the evil people do.

Upon a hill there is a terrible sign
That tells the story of what darkness waits
When we leave the light behind.

I am a voice calling out
Across the great divide.
I am only one person
That feels they have to try.

Light every candle that you can
For we need some light to see.
In the face of deepest loss,
Treat each other tenderly.

The arms of God will gather in
Every sparrow that falls,
And makes no separation
Just fiercely loves us all.”

“The arms of God will gather in, every sparrow that falls; And makes no separation, just fiercely loves us all.”

To find out more about my work, to order one of my books on the relationship we have with nature, please visit Turtle Island Adventures.

Dream or Prophecy?

Dream or Prophecy?

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I awakened at 5am with the strangest dream of my life. This blog is about the relationship of humans and nature and ultimately, the dream is about that. I feel strongly compelled to share it as is recorded verbatim from my journal….here goes.

In the dream….“I went to a bank with my husband and three employees were very forceful about taking my money and putting it into a retirement account they recommended. I refused and two men, on the way out of the bank, grabbed us and tried to inject us with syringes filled with some white-pink thick substance. They got my husband on the first try. I escaped twice but on the third try they got me as well. The substance in the syringe made us helpless to refuse whatever they wanted. They separated us so we would fight less. They took us to some sort of facility where they regularly injected us until we were totally under their control. Over time I realized what was happening and became aware but pretended to still be brainwashed. Secretly I was planning to help release everyone from their bondage. The bank was keeping people brainwashed and hostage and taking all their money, having it diverted from personal accounts to these ‘retirement’ accounts. They had power over us because they kept us separate from those we loved on the inside and outside.”

Dream continued, “As time went by I saw others, just a few, who worked there, keeping us in this brainwashed bondage. I would look into their eyes and know if I could trust them. If their heart was evident in their gaze it was easy to see. If not, I’d quickly glance away so they wouldn’t suspect I was aware, awake and trying to start an internal revolution to free us all. For the ones who were awake and had hearts of compassion, I would whisper things like–‘you know this is wrong’ and ‘help us end this madness.’

And more dream….One day, enough of us decided to overthrow the system. Outside authorities came, knights of honor in present day time. Inside we fought back until all the gates were opened. Those still confused and ‘asleep’ and unaware were being helped. I was working to find records of what they did to people. Each person had a card with their photo, assets and how they’d been brainwashed. I grabbed handfuls as evidence and also to help deprogram those still under the bank’s sick spell.

Dream continues….I saw a line of people being shuffled out and my husband was there. They had been using him for physical labor, working him to death. He didn’t recognize me or know me but followed me when I approached him. He, like so many others, was completely under their spell.

During the chaos of breaking free and simultaneously being rescued, I awakened (physically) and got out my journal to write all of this exactly as it happened in the dream. My commentary follows.

I think this is what is happening to us in the world. We are brainwashed by banks and corporations to give them our money which they use for their own gain–to get richer and richer at any cost. Our financial system, our economy is the root cause of inequality, injustice, pollution, war, famine…..our economy and the ‘gain as much as possible at any cost’ mentality threatens to annihilate all life on our planet. Until we become aware and stop blindly accepting doses of the poison they feed our minds, we are slaves to a system that ultimately is failing everyone, everything.

After this dream, I feel inspired to call for an internal revolution of awareness and awakening so that we become the masters of our own lives and our economy can shift from one that takes and takes and leaves only poison for us and the planet, to an economy that operates on the principles of life-sustaining practices. Joanna Macy says this, “Dire predictions notwithstanding, we can still act to ensure a livable world. It is crucial that we know this: we can meet our needs without destroying our life-support system….To choose life means to build a life-sustaining society. ‘A sustainable society is one that satisfies its needs without jeopardizing the prospects of future generations.'” (Last quote by Lester Brown). A life-sustaining society operates within the carrying capacity of its life-support system, regional and planetary, both in the resources it consumes and the wastes it produces.”

What kind of world do you want? It is a choice each of us makes every day by the choices we make.

This is what it looks like when profit-at-any-cost rules our world. I believe we can do better. What about you?

To order my books on nature including adventures in nature, photography and children’s books, please visit my website, Turtle Island Adventures.

© Simone Lipscomb 2023