Earth Day

For me Earth Day is both a day of celebration of our beautiful planet, realizing all it does for us… and a time to raise awareness that we aren’t living in a void. We are a part of an amazingly intricate system that sustains our very lives…. and that environment has become seriously out of balance through our disregard of the impacts of our actions on it.

Our planet has existed for billions of years, and will continue to exist no matter how much pollution we create…. its actually our survival that is at risk…. the survival of the human race. Strong words, I know, but many people don’t realize the severity of the state we have put ourselves in, and still resist making the change to start reversing the process. It really struck home today that it isn’t the planet we need to save…. we need to save ourselves.

The good news is that we have the technology, solutions are available… we just need to raise awareness from local communities to the government level, and start making those changes happen. There are Green Guides out there to help: whether you are switching to compact fluorescent lights, using non-toxic cleaning products, installing solar panels, or calling your senator about the upcoming legislation on clean energy and climate legislation…. there’s a lot you can do, but the change begins with you

On April 22 1970, 40 years ago today the first Earth Day was celebrated across America, as millions of demonstrators, schools and local communities participated in a ‘teach-in on the environment’ that marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Its the only planet we have, won’t you join in today?

Switching from the typical fast food fare including burgers, pizza and fries to old fashioned recipes with fresh fruit and vegetables saw problem behaviors in students drop rapidly. Since instituting these changes principal Luann Coenen has consistently filed a stunning figure of zero for drop-outs, expulsions, drug and weapon-carrying, and suicide. Zero. These problem behaviors simply disappeared when a wholesome diet was introduced and the worst chemical preservatives and additives were removed. In the words of one student, “Now that I can concentrate, I think its easier to get along with people”.

The benefits to students and staff are clearly tangible, but what of the increased cost? A mere $20,000 a year to turn the problem around. As Dr. Barbara Reed Stitt, who was involved in the study, puts it: “one child arrested would cost the schools more”. Shouldn’t we put our children first on this one? I’m relieved to know that such a simple solution exists out there!

You can read more about this in an ABC report, at the Feingold Association website and just googling

“Essentially spending a few minutes each day truly relaxed and enjoying yourself is certainly good for your mental health and may improve your physical health as well.”
- Dr Karina Davidson, Columbia University Medical Center

A happy heart is a healthy heart… so it just comes down to us making sure we bring more positivity into our daily lives. Not waiting for our 2 weeks of vacation, or retirement, but really making it a priority every day. Realize what brings you happiness and make sure you include some of that every day… and enjoy the benefits as your quality of life improves

For me, Open Heart Meditation has been a wonderful technique to quickly, easily and joyfully remove whatever  negative emotions are burdening my heart and replace them with love. What brings joy to your lives?

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Ghandi (1869-1948) … politician, philosopher, spiritual leader…. a man renowned throughout history for his doctrine of nonviolent protest .. was born this day 140 years ago.

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”

Even now, as our own world is in the throes of massive change, as we continue to need to reevaluate our approches to conflict, his words carry truth for me.

“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”

Mahatma means ‘Great Soul’,  a title not lightly given, that must be earned…. the impacts of this one man’s life still fundamentally shape the world today….

“Be the change that you want to see in the world”

So much truth in that simple statement…. all change starts with us. Do we have the strength of our own convictions?

I just discovered this site: carbonfund.org, which provides really easy to use online calculators to help you calculate your carbon footprint, and offset it through a donation to them. They work with agencies to put your donation to work in off-setting the carbon you emitted through you actions, by planting trees or investing in renewable energy. A carbon offset represents a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) somewhere else, like a wind farm in Texas or a reforestation project in Nicaragua, to balance out the emissions you cannot reduce.

I put my cross-country flight into their carbon calculator….. and it was only about $8 to offset, didn’t seem like much…. but then I included radiative forcing, which includes the fact that impacts are more at higher altitude… it took it to $25! I’m not shocked at the numbers, just the real impacts that are hidden to my normal perspective…..

And then I took the opportunity to offset all of my car driving for the year…. only $27.  The crazy thing is that one trip in an airplane across the US was almost the same amount as all my driving for the whole year! Well, admittedly there’s a lot of miles in my flight, although still less than I drive in a year…. but because it only takes a matter of hours to fly, I never realized just how big my impact was!! Simply using my default measure of time, I completely underestimated my impact on the planet, and everyone on it….

I’m really grateful for this eye-opener on our true planetary impacts in daily life……. I really suggest checking the site out… and maybe taking a little corrective action now to help our beautiful planet get back on track