A word about the new look of this blog...

My good friend, Thom Ayres, was kind enough to redesign this blog
from what it was when I started it in 2009, finding and then reworking
just the right photograph to visually convey what I hope to do with this page.

You can see some of Thom's photography here (s t i l l e d l i f e) and his music (Arcanta).
Visit Arcanta on Facebook to follow Thom's current music projects.

I am very blessed to have this talented and generous person for a friend.

Myth Busting

Chicago CR 07312013. Photo by Gabriel Zurita Holder / Photoshop by Lilia Villa

  
Humans put a man on the moon, cured smallpox, and created a computer that can fit in your pocket. 

Deniers claim it’s too hard to build a clean energy future, but that’s a myth you and I can destroy.     

~ Al Gore



I attended a three-day Climate Reality training earlier this month and officially joined a global movement of volunteers who are determined to get us all talking about solutions to the Climate Crisis. Former Vice President Al Gore led the training and started out the morning referencing Mahatma Gandhi’s term – Satyagraha. Gandhi based his entire life’s work around this term - loosely translated it means "insistence on truth’ or ‘Truth Force’. This word is a combination of two Sanskrit words that Gandhi linked together.

Gandhi wrote:

I have also called it love-force or soul-force. In the application of satyagraha, I discovered in the earliest stages that pursuit of truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one’s opponent but that he must be weaned from error by patience and compassion. For what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent, but on oneself.

That term was at the core of his non-violent actions that changed the British Empire and gained India her independence. 

And so our training began with the insistence that we tell others about Climate Change with kindness, patience, and to always tell the truth. If we do not know the answer, we must say so and get the up to date information back to whoever asked the question.

I am not, as many of you know, a climate scientist or a specialist of any kind. I am a human, like you, living on this planet. I, like you, have a role to play here addressing this issue. And I am 100% convinced that we must act together to solve this problem starting now - if you haven’t personally started already.

We thought nothing of the Admiral

Image from Giffy Giffington

We thought nothing of the Admiral
As it flitted here and yon.
Multiple sightings were
Uncommon to none.
I watched it sipping nectar
From my creeping charlie grass.
And noted that no neighbors
Cheered them on as I did. Alas

Why is the Admiral here
I wondered as I drank in the view.
Why are there so many now
And before there were so few?
One friend said ‘Climate Change’
In a doleful tone.
“The migration is off,
They are confused
And arrived here
All too soon.”

I wonder though
If there is not some greater plan at work?
I have no doubt it’s Climate trouble,
From that I will not shirk.
The Admiral – a remarkable flyer
She very well may be
But I suspect she is also a harbinger
of the all new and glorious
Insect Empire. 
 
(Written while observing the premature migration of Admiral butterflies through Northern Illinois
in March 2012 due to the unusual summer-like heat wave that spring.)

~ Monica N. Jenkins
© Copyright 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Things to Do Today

Had an opportunity to deliver the sermon on Sunday, August 11, 2013 at the Unitarian Universalist church I attend. The sermon was titled: Satyagraha 'Truth Force' and our Climate Reality and it being only 23 minutes long was just a taste of the presentation I was trained to give early this summer with the Climate Reality Project (more on that in a later post.)

Here is an excerpt from my sermon on what we can do now as individuals:

Are we conserving water? If we need to water our lawns and gardens – do we do it early in the morning rather than in the full heat of the day? Do we use tap water rather than bottled water which drains our aquifers and/or other people’s aquifers? Do we use a rain barrel to collect water to use in our gardens?

Are we conscious of the chemicals we use on ourselves and in our homes? Are we aware of what chemicals go down our drains or filter thru our lawns to our aquifers? Read the labels! Be very aware of Green Washing – if the bottle is green and there is Green in the title – if can still be very very bad for the environment. The Environmental Working Group is a great online resource to use to find out the actual ingredients in products we use AND they also provide links to the research that say which ingredients are not so good for us or the environment.  

Do we buy local whenever possible? Making local purchases your first choice reduces the amount of transportation and the loss of other diminishing resources needed to bring the item to your doorstep. 

Can we reduce the plastic in our lives? Plastic is made of petroleum – glass is good. Cotton is good. Many of us are already using cotton bags when we grocery shop – let’s do that more. We already know there are great containers available – metal and glass - to carry water and other beverages with us rather than buying it in plastic bottles – let’s do that. Storing food in glass is better than plastic anyway as it avoids the plastic poisoning we now know happens with that.  

Can we use public transportation more? Can we walk or ride our bikes more?  

Can we unplug our electronics that run when we are not in the room or at least at night while we sleep? Those battery charging things we leave in our wall sockets that we use for our phones? They are using electricity when they are plugged in. Unplug those.  

If you have an investment portfolio, have you divested from the oil, gas and coal companies? If you only have a 401K and can’t really control the investment bundles that are among the choices – can you call your investment brokerage firm or speak with your contact there and tell them that you personally would like to see an option that supports renewables or that intentionally avoids the oil, gas and coal industries? 

When we come across climate change related articles – read them. It’s important to know what’s going on. Share that information with family and friends. Talk about it. It’s important we all work to break the silence on this issue. This silence on climate change was likened a few times in our training to having an alcoholic parent in the home. Everyone knows it’s a problem but no one talks about it because you know that there will be a ‘blow up’. We need to stage several small interventions I think and get us collectively past this reluctance to say that this issue scares us and we need start doing something about it. 

We will feel better taking action – that’s how this works.

What's the Point?

Photo Credit: Thom Ayres (image17dn)

This blog will highlight practical, everyday solutions to living sustainably. I'll be sharing various actions that we can take as individuals right now (or as soon as you move away from your computer!) to address the climate crisis. Of course some of these actions will require thought and planning and even organizing people where you live. There will also be reports posted here of what others are doing in the United States and abroad regarding issues of a climate in flux, global warming, peak oil, and alternative forms of energy. My hope is that you will tell me of your own ideas, efforts, and groups you belong to that are making a positive impact, so that I can share them with all who visit here.

The Green Road

The climate crisis is here, it is of our making, and like all crises, it is not patiently awaiting our decision to act. Unfortunately, it will not wait for those arriving late to the problem, for those falsely reassured by the environmental profiteers. Meanwhile, as this debate rages, the Earth's atmosphere is trapping more carbon, the polar icecaps are melting, and the millions of species we share this globe with are more than a little adversely affected. Their lives are becoming more and more out of sync with the seasons and many of these beloved species are disappearing at an alarming rate per year.

I know. Let's do something about this. Starting now.