As the ecochallenge comes to an 'end' (really....an end! Ha). I want to share a wonderful podcast from NPR: Throughline.

     For those of you not familiar to Throughline...here is their 'byline: 
                 "The past is never past. Every headline has a history. Join us every week as we go back in time to understand the present. These are stories you can feel and sounds you can see from the moments that shaped our world." 

Anyway, the below link it to their podcast from April 21st and their discussion about the making of EARTH DAY! 
Not that everyday isn't EARTH DAY!

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/08/1091840917/force-of-nature-2021

Everything that Throughline produces is wonderful, but this one especially applicable to this time of Earth. Enjoy.

What a wonderful month of reflection this has been. 
We spent the day yesterday hiking in the wildflowers on land that was given in trust to become public. It makes me consider the importance of not only getting outside, but also providing places for that to happen.
Today, we woke to a rainy, drizzly day and I will spent it in giving back to the community volunteering at our local Thrift Store which financially supports the county museum. 
Throughout the month I have thought about my plastic use and the amount of garbage we produce. We planted a small garden and beefed up our composting tools. It's been time well spent in reflection.

The second stanza of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address goes:  We give thanks to our Mother the Earth, for she gives us everything we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she still continues to care for us, just as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send thanksgiving, love, and respect. Now our minds are one. 

As we come to the end of Earth Month 2022 are our minds as one with regard to living restoratively with Mother Earth?  Another quote goes, "What we do about what we know determines who we are."  In other words, we must act upon what we have learned.  Rev angel Kyodo williams encourages us to "give half of yourself to that which transforms you."   Isn't Mother Earth transforming us daily? 

Easy?  Probably not.  Prevailing understandings are not at that level yet.  But we can be encouraged by Margaret Wheatley who says,  "Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something.  We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context."
I don't believe we'd be in this space unless we cared deeply.  So let's take risks and give of ourselves for Mother Earth.  I believe ki (A Robin Wall Kimmerer pronoun for non human beings) will help us along in that endeavor.    
 

Fill you with "gobs and gobs" of earth related quotes today.
 

The planet will never come alive for you unless your songs and stories give life to all the beings, seen and unseen, that inhabit a living Earth.
 
 - Amitav Ghosh 

 One who is obedient to nature receives the blessings of nature.
 
 - Soetsu Yanagi 

 

The single most important thing right now is to listen to the earth
 
 - Dahr Jamail 

 

Albert Einstein once wrote that in order to free ourselves from the illusion of separation, we must widen our circle of compassion “to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” 

 

“We are talking only to ourselves. We are not talking to the rivers, we are not listening to the wind and stars. We have broken the great conversation. By breaking that conversation we have shattered the universe.” ~ Thomas Berry 

The world offers itself to your imagination,
 calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
 over and over announcing your place
 in the family of things.
 
 - Mary Oliver 

 The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
 
 - Rachel Carson 

Scientists have discovered through very interesting experiments that in the field where Birch trees and Douglass fir trees are planted together they are joined underground by mycorrhizal fungi that links them and through which resources are shared.  During the warm middle of the day the Birch trees send much of their photosynthesized energy to the Douglass fir because they are more adept at creating it under those conditions.  But in the early morning and late afternoon the energy transfer shifts from the Douglass fir to the Birch.  Forest Service practices say they must be grown separately so they don’t compete for resources.  But in fact, they work collaboratively to share resources so that both thrive.   It is not the survival of the fittest in nature.   Nature is achieving its best outcomes through cooperation.

How much of what we consume, use, and do is done so for convenience sake - without regard to the outcome.  Or as Randy Woodley puts it, "All the Earth is sacred, as is every life-form inhabiting it.  It seems quite foolish that only after we have gone too far will we realize that no amount of capital gains, no extractive economic system, and no modern convenience will be worth the price that we will be forced to pay."  Extinction?

Listened to a talk last night from the founder of Sphere Solar Energy out of Seattle (installations are done anywhere in the State of Washington).  Earth Ministry hosted it.  If that is something that interests you you can use the referral form with the link included below.   Earth Ministry gets $400 for every completed residential project.  Up until Dec. 31st of this year the federal government is giving a 26% credit for the cost of an installation.  The State of Washington also has a sales tax exemption for these installations.  They install storage batteries and EV stations as well.  Part of the companies profits and expertise go to installing solar energy for financially poor people around the world.  The starter of the company grew up in Kenya and loves to teach youth about solar energy.  Solar Referral Program – Earth Ministry

Often use energy bars for hikes and nutritious snacks.  Been asking companies that make the plant based ones I love best to use home compostable wrappers.  LivBar (a different company) uses all 100% compostable wrappers made from cellulose,  They use a local Oregon manufacturer of the wrappers.  Maybe if we encourage other companies that use disposable wrappers to do the same we can make a difference.

Wrestling with her findings studying forestry management; scientist, professor and author Suzanne Simard makes this statement.  "We emphasize domination and competition in the management of trees in forests.  And crops in agricultural fields.  And stock animals on farms.  We emphasize factions instead of coalitions.  In forestry, the theory of dominance is put into practice through weeding, spacing, thinning and other methods that promote growth of the prized individuals.  In agriculture, it provides the rational for multimillion-dollar pesticide, fertilizer, and genetic programs to promote singe high-yield crops instead of diverse fields."  And her question is, "Are forests structured mainly by competition, or is cooperation as or even more important?"  And how far does that structure expand into all of the earth's systems? 

Nice to see patterns being made to use all fabric without left over fabric.