Tag: ENVIRONMENT

Water Summer

Water Summer

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From the cool, quiet streams of the Smoky Mountains to the salty Gulf Coast, water has been ever-present in my life this season. And this summer is so much more enjoyable than last summer, where I spent weeks breathing the nasty smell of crude oil and walking in hiking boots on the beaches to avoid oiled shoreline. This year I have even fully submerged into Week’s Bay, Magnolia River, Perdido Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, bodies of water that I refused to touch last year much less put my body into.

In June I stayed with my friends Hans and Renee in Pensacola and paddled a few times–Perdido Bay, Johnson Beach, Fort Pickens. It felt weird to be on the water again, embracing the salty liquid of the Gulf, but it was time. I needed to connect with the Gulf Coast in a positive way so I could continue to heal the sadness and grief that originated with the devastation to the environment and communities along the coast. But I still wondered how much oil was really left in the water and what it was doing to the marine life and humans who interacted with it.

Even with doubts, I completely submerged myself in fun and celebration of this place of beauty. I saw flounder, rays, all kinds of fish and more jellyfish than I remember ever seeing (which made me especially careful to not fall off my board). I also paddled Mobile Bay, Week’s Bay and Magnolia River. And each one brought a sense of relief and gratitude to my weary spirit.

But the Gulf Coast isn’t the only place where I have submerged into water. I visited Lake Michigan, specifically Charlevoix and Mackinac Island. The cool, crystal-clear water of northern Lake Michigan was so delightful, so beautiful, so absolutely amazing that I vowed if the winter’s were not so extreme, I’d move there. Alas, I am a tropical gal and find Asheville winters pushing me to the brink of moving to a warm coast with salt water.

The water immersion this summer has been centered around paddle boarding. It has enriched my life and calmed my mind, as well as toned my body. And even though all this may sound corny, it really has positively changed my life. Did I really miss water that much? Has being land-locked for 16 years attributed to a sort of atrophy of my gills?

And another wonderful result of paddle boarding? I got to introduce it to my daughter and her boyfriend on Lake Charlevoix. What could be better than family, friends, wildlife, clean water and the sunshine smiling on you? I am grateful to have something that’s so simple, make such a huge impact on my life. What is impacting you in a positive ways these days?

To read about my adventures and learn about the Gulf Oil Spill visit my web site, Turtle Island Adventures.com, and check out my books. If you’ve read one (or more) I invite you to comment here.

Hope for the Earth…The “Untouchables” Start to Crumble

Hope for the Earth…The “Untouchables” Start to Crumble

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The past three mornings, while paddling my SUP board, I’ve had thoughts of hope for the Earth. A shift is occurring. Can you feel it? Excitement and joy filled me each morning as I thought of the old paradigm breaking apart to birth the new. Read on to find out why I’m feeling especially hopeful.

Mega-corporate entities seem to run our nation….maybe even the world. They dictate environmental policies, avoid paying taxes on things such as corporate jets, donate unlimited amounts of money to political candidates who will vote in their favor, tap private phones of unsuspecting citizens to get scoops, tell the USA government how many barrels of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico (not the other way around), determine which mountain top to remove for coal, ignore safety of communities…I could be here a while listing the ‘sins’ of some corporations. The point is this–corporations, with their profit-at-any-cost mind-set, are destroying the planet and anyone or anything that happens to get in their way. I’ve wondered how we move from this model of destruction and exploitation (Earth as commodity–Joanna Macy) to one of creative synergy.

I recognize the truth that what we hold in our minds, we bring into being. I was puzzled over how we could hold a collective vision of creating a better world when some of these mega corporations seem to have us all in a strangle-hold.

Enter the Rupert Murdoch empire’s struggle to stay afloat amid allegations of corruption that could destroy Mr. Murdoch’s castle, one newspaper at a time. Estimated to be worth over $7.6 BILLION, he was listed as the 13th most powerful person in the world in 2010. Owner of FOX News, the conservative television news channel that routinely (and outright) stretches the truth to undermine their liberal brothers and sisters, Mr. Murdoch is watching as CEO’s under him resign, get arrested, or worse. Illegal activities do not always go unnoticed and even corporations like Mr. Murdoch’s must abide by a moral, legal and ethical code…at some point. The breaking point seems to be when enough people say NO MORE!!

Both sides of the media report stories with their own bias. We tune in and swallow the hook. We collectively create our world based on what we see and hear and then….what we believe. Maybe this is a signal, a sign….a blazing star hovering over the planet…saying, “THINK FOR YOURSELVES!! Don’t believe everything you see just because it is on the news!”

Joanna Macy calls this time the Great Unraveling or the Great Turning. We are undergoing a shift from seeing the Earth as a commodity to understanding the Earth as a dynamic, living system–of which we are a part.

I’m not celebrating the crumbling of a mega-corporation; however, I am celebrating the absolute fact that even the wealthiest among us are not exempt from moral, ethical and legal codes (if enough of us say, no more!). For all the other reckless corporations…I’m sure we can think of many oil and gas companies, financial institutions and more…it’s a message: Shape up! And for those of us trying to envision a better world, we can use what Joanna Macy calls our moral imagination to see what isn’t here yet–the harmonious world we wish to create– as well as what is here–oil spills, violence, nuclear melt-downs, poisoned humans, wildlife, lands.

We CAN create a better world and it begins with our ability to use our imaginations to see this world of love, light, environmental balance, harmony, peace. We simply have to be able to envision this and recognize that the old choke-hold on our planet by mega-corporations is starting to crumble. It’s okay for the old, destructive ways to unravel. They have to go: greed, power, wealth at any cost. We can create something better. “Allow yourself to be surprised by what you can actually build within the shell of the old,” says Joanna.

This is a time of empowerment for the collective, a time of awakening and realizing that we really can develop our capacity to love life. This is not a time to remain quiet or sit in the background but rather a time to allow our voices to rattle the heavens with love for the planet, each other and all life on Mother Earth. As we build a unified vision of the positive, we will experience first-hand the shifting of paradigms. This is a wondrous time to be alive.

Waltzing with Fog

Waltzing with Fog

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My paddle sliced through the quiet, sweet water of the lake. Mountains in the distance were partially hidden by a blanket of soft, white fog. As I glided through the stillness, warm tendrils of moisture wrapped around my legs. Oh, yes. This is medicine–the healing I needed after a stressful week.

As I paddled, I reflected back through the week but the whirling fog, lifting in columns of gypsy-inspired abandon, caused me to stop the mental chatter and be present. I wanted to paddle into the middle of these phenomena and find my center while watching the walls of clouds dance around me. Yet each time I shifted course to enter the vortex, it eluded me.

Occasionally I find myself in a fog of mental and emotional debris. The past week had been one of those times and I don’t like it. Who does? Each time I paddled this week, the lake has had these amazing currents of clouds moving across the surface. It has appeared as if the entire cloud blanket was a living, breathing being moving on the lake.

My paddling meditations were not the only place I found fog. Sunrise at Clingman’s Dome in the Smoky Mountain National Park presented a most unique golden fog. My friend Jen and I left our neighborhood in Asheville at 4am to seek fog and we were gifted with a display of light and moisture-laden air that was spectacular. As I was standing on the mountain, photographing the beautiful momentary occurrence, I realized that I had been fighting the personal fog I’d been in and thus not appreciating the gift it could bring. Like the golden fog, my personal haze would pass so why stress about the experience?

This morning as I paddled into dancing cloud-beings, I chose to embrace my personal fog and appreciate the place in which I find myself rather than curse it. I like to see my path clearly, to be sure of vision and the forward motion of life but there’s nothing wrong with being in the place of inner waiting, the place of not knowing what comes next.

An hour into my paddle this morning, I looked down at the smooth surface of the water. Bits of fog were moving over the water, across my board and feet. Reflected in the mirror-like water were puffy, white clouds and blue sky. For a moment it felt as if I was riding my board in the spaciousness of the heavens. In that instant I felt something break open inside me and I felt peaceful, content to be exactly where I am in my life.

When life crowds me with choices and confusion sets in, I now know that waltzing with my fog, rather than cursing it, is the way to freedom.

(For more information on SUP Boarding check out Three Brother’s Boards–Handcrafted, American-made and bringers of fun and adventure).

Gotta Change Our Way of Thinkin’

Gotta Change Our Way of Thinkin’

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Last week I attended the annual homeowner’s meeting in our neighborhood. All was going well until just before the meeting adjourned. A guy brought up the fact that a neighbor, who is not a member of the association was receiving the community bulletin board emails. He was irate. Another guy became irate, then another and I felt like I was watching nice, decent men transform into two-year-olds throwing a temper tantrum because two of their neighbor kids refused to join their koolaid club.

While I make light of the display, it upset me for days. The precipitating event was many years in the past but these men were holding thought forms that made it 100% real just last Sunday. I could actually see an energy shift in their faces and it was as if they were possessed by something nasty, something scary even. These are very nice guys so how could they transmute into such angry, spiteful beings?

Of course, I had to speak up….perhaps things in the past should be left there…don’t we want to create a sense of community through communicating with each other? Why such anger after so many years? It’s not like they’re getting free cable.

After recovering from the emotional outburst I witnessed and processing it within myself, I saw it as a tremendous teaching. This is exactly what happens when we refuse to change our way of thinking. The thought forms grow in strength and become more and more real.

How many times have you heard corporation CEO’s or politicians or your neighbor or even yourself say some of these things? “It’s impossible to switch from fossil fuels.” “We have to use fossil fuels.” “We can’t do without oil rigs in the Gulf.” “There’s not enough wind to make windmills useful.” “Solar is too expensive.”

I could go on but you get the drift. Each time we think these thoughts or others like them, we are literally creating a world where those statements become reality. I have heard many times that our thoughts create the reality in which we live. Group thoughts are even more powerful, as I saw last weekend.

Who are you listening to these days? What are the thoughts you repeat to yourself and others?

“Gonna change my way of thinkin,’ make myself a different set of rules. Gonna put my good foot forward, Stop being influenced by fools.” These lyrics from Bob Dylan offer something to think about…literally THINK about. We have the power–our MINDS–to begin to change this world. First we must listen to what we’re saying to ourselves and others. Then we can begin to change our way of thinkin’ and make a better world.

Salt Water and Blue Sky–Balance

Salt Water and Blue Sky–Balance

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This past week I set an intention of reconnecting with the Gulf Coast by seeking the positive, the good, the beauty here. For over a year I regularly visited seven beaches that had been affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. I needed to turn a corner in my work and embrace the beauty of the coast and the amazing ability of nature to recover from such a devastating environmental disaster.

I needed to shift my perspective and look for the positive signs of recovery while being mindful of the ongoing struggle some areas, animals and people still face on a daily basis. Last year I had little hope any marine animals, sea creatures or birdlife around the area would survive. To date, 22 sea turtle nests have been documented on Alabama beaches. Today I witnessed many osprey with young on their nests and other shorebirds that successfully raised chicks this year. In fact, I saw a baby tern hopping on the sand with his parents at Gulf Islands National Seashore and the sight of it brought back powerful memories for me.

Last year at this time I was sitting on the beach taking a break from photographing oiled beaches and saw this baby tern and baby. It gave me hope amidst much destruction. Today I was reminded, by another baby tern, that life indeed is making a tremendous effort to survive the toxic environment created by last year’s oil spill.

Over the past week I have spent hours on the water–paddling, drifting, offering prayers of gratitude for the magnificent beauty of the water, its creatures, the clear sky, the white sand. Last year I was afraid to touch the water, much less paddle out and allow it to wash over me. This shift in perspective has helped me balance grief and sadness and embrace the elements that make this area so special, so amazing.

It’s easy to get stuck in the negative spin and only see the bad. Or sometimes turn our attention away from ‘bad’ things happening to the planet and pretend they are not occurring. We must, however, find a way to be aware of what is happening environmentally, and keep a balanced perspective by looking at both the triumphs and challenges our Earth faces, that we face.

One way we can achieve this balance is by connecting with nature on a regular basis and allowing it to share the wisdom it has to impart.