there's no place like home

Really enjoyed Trent's report on our wasteful ways with food, and Colin's on Peak Oil and how hard it's going to be to break our addiction before "the well-oiled machine runs dry." The bottom line in both cases seems to be:

We have too much to be pessimistic about, but I reiterate and "second" Stewart Brand's repudiation of cultural pessimism. The Summer Reading challenge, again: 

Read Blessed Unrest and try to sustain a pessimistic mood, I dare you.

I'm pretty sure you can't, especially if you pass the “Where You At” bio-regional quiz and prepare to expand your sense of home. There's no place like it.

wolves

Meghan's report raised our consciousness on the need to protect and preserve wildlife, wolves in particular. They were just knocked off the endangered species list last week. The defenders.org site she recommends looks to be an excellent resource.

There are at least 10 Reasons We Need Wolves... 

And we recall Eagle Man's wolf chapter, "One Among Many":

Wolf is a misunderstood animal. Yes, it is a predator; but, as I must remind my two-legged friends ,we are too... Like wolf scouts, those of us who know the dangers ahead must take responsibility for warning and teaching others. Those of us who see the signs of environmental imbalances on Mother Earth must not be silent as if we were one alone... Like wolves, we must work together to survive...

Live long and prosper

Really enjoyed Kevin's report on the "Aryan" people of Northern India, but remain wary of what appears to be their insular, xenophobic attitude towards "outsiders."

The point of my post this morning, and remarks in class, was to endorse the Cajete/Sagan convergence: "we are all related" means we're a single species, sharing the starstuff that composes all our molecules, and at last aware that our cultural differences are cosmically insignificant.

But who can blame these gentle people, whose way of life so beautifully ties them to their place and their tradition, for resisting "contamination" from the auslanders?

On the other hand: one person's contamination is another's growth opportunity. IDIC, you know? "Infinite diversity from infinite combinations." We're going to have to be pluralists, to live long-term on this rock.

interdependence

Spring Break's history, time to get on back to school. I'm ready!

Tomorrow we commence a new book & author in Native Wisdom class, Greg Cajete's Native Science. Can't wait.

"true cost of coal"

Colin's report on the destructive impact of the coal economy in Appalachia was terrific.

Discover the beehive collective here... explore the mural here...

In 2008, the Beehive Design Collective allied with Appalachian grassroots organizers fighting Mountain Top Removal Coal Mining, a highly destructive practice that blasts ancient mountains into toxic moonscapes to fuel the ever-growing global demand for electricity. This graphic reflects the complexity of the struggles for land, livelihood, and self-determination playing out in Appalachia, while honoring the tremdendous history of organized resistance and the courage of communities living in the shadow of Big Coal. Learn more...

and scroll down to check out the Appalachian Mountaintop Removal & Iron Eyes Cody videos. (We got the sound back in 202, STUDENTS, remind me if you want to see them on Wednesday.)

respect

Does this sentimentalize, mythologize, or patronize? For some of us, back around the time of the first Earth Day, it galvanized and mobilized...

earthships

Earthships, "built to utilize the available local resources, especially energy from the Sun," make a terrific sustainability statement-- in perfect harmony with the native wisdom that we ought to make our container boxes as seamless, green, & light as can be. Harrison told us about them in NW today. 


We need lots more of  'em, including a campus demonstration project. And if you can't own, maybe you can rent...

Buffalo Calf Woman

Here's a great message, from the legendary Lakota teacher of humility. But, does it really have to be "channeled"?