We Must Protect Our Heritage

June 25, 2010

Never in the history of our country have our natural resources meant so much as they do right now. Our forests, our waters, our soil, our minerals, and our wildlife are serving a purpose so great that it makes all the years and millions spent conserving them seem infinitesimal.

Without them our economic, social, and recreational structure would soon collapse. They have meant much to us in times of peace. They will mean more during war.

We should be thankful not only that we are endowed with these priceless heritages of abundance, but that we have been able through proper management and wise use to protect and preserve them.

Let us never forget that they are treasures which cannot be measured in dollars and cents; that some of them once destroyed cannot be replaced. Protect them! Protect forests from fire, streams from pollution, soil from erosion, and wildlife from its natural enemies and starvation.

Protect and enjoy them. It is through their enjoyment that we have become a healthy outdoor-loving people—a spiritually, morally and physically strong people—a people who will sacrifice everything, even life itself, to preserve the country and the freedom which has given us so many treasured gifts.”

- Editorial from Pennsylvania Game News March 1942.

Words of wisdom from the past too often forgotten should never be part of our accepted practice. Some look to ancient scripture to inform behavior today. Many look to the writer’s who lived in times of crisis to pinpoint necessary behavior so essential for our well being as a people. Thanks Mr. Ross L. Leffler for standing up for those who did not have a voice very often.

The Gulf oil spill is speaking to us and the words of 1942 are too late. Now what? May we resolve to shift the paradigm over-night beginning with each of us in power, each with a platform, and each with a commitment to the larger good. The oil has been released; the genii is out of the bottle; it can not be put back in? Our only salvation is large scale cooperative efforts for the good of the whole. And that means – the balance of sound economics with sound ecology and our present system is not working within that framework so it must change; immediately!

Too Stupid To Notice

June 18, 2010

When you hit 90 you are entitled to be listened to carefully. Scientist James Lovelock has been a voice articulating a vision of a united self regulating organism called earth for much of his adult life. Now, at that magical number 90, he believes the human family is too stupid to save itself. I agree, and I am only 67 and 11/12th s –

There is nothing that describes us any better. We have the data. We see what is happening before our eyes. And…we continue as if nothing is the matter and all will be fine if we trust in either God or technology to save us; or both. I trust neither to save us. I trust the human who has been given a free will and a brain to use both in the time of crisis; yet we seem to use neither.

Back to the creator of the Gaia hypothesis; Sir. James Lovelock. My mentor Dr. John Seeley died at 95 – a wise and benevolent man he and I would often discuss ‘the end times’ and how that all might come about. On occasion we would introduce the possibility of nuclear holocaust and felt in the end that was unlikely. Ultimately we felt that the environments neglect would be impossible to rectify and like Lovelock felt that the unraveling of creations web of interaction and inter connectedness would make it harder and harder for the 7 billion of us to survive. We wrestled with the class 4 viruses that are carried about by the air we breathe and felt they might take a hold someplace and eradicate millions over-night, but that the earth could tolerate massive epidemics. On the other hand, sea level rise, if a catastrophic collapse of ice shelves worldwide were to occur and the sea would rise perceptively ‘over-night’ we would not be able to cope, even in the developed countries like ours. Lovelock advises building barriers already!

The realization of the macrocosm of the human family becoming increasingly stupid about what is happening is sadly reflected in many with whom I am in contact who deny the reality of the global change taking place. All I can say is that my well educated friends, all of who will continue to be my friends unless they choose to distance themselves further from me, and I am already seeing the big P in the hands of many; P for pariah!, are stupidly buying into the rhetoric that all is OK and all we have to do is keep the economic engine running and that technology will fix it all.

As a sailor I check the barometer before setting out in my 8 ft Dyer Dinghy sailing pram. The precautionary principle is second nature to anyone who hikes, sails, flies a plane, white water kayaks, hang glides, or goes outdoors when rain is forecast. In other words, we already have built into our DNA the willingness to plan and prepare so as not to be blindsided by a line squall, or running out of gas, or facing a freak snowstorm in July or rain in March in California.

Why are we so darn stupid about the big picture? The OIL SPILL may well indeed signal the end of civilization as we know it. I had no idea when I committed to writing a blog for 156 weeks that the day in December in 2012 looms as the day of prediction about the future! Please help me understand why our hubris prevents us from seeing the future.

I Love Our Flag

June 11, 2010


HARD TO WRITE ABOUT OTHER ISSUES, BUT I MUST, IN SPITE OF MY FEELINGS ABOUT THE DISASTER IN THE GULF WHICH BEGAN THE DAY OF MY 25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY; APRIL 20, 2010 – A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY, BEYOND THAT OF SOMEONE WANTING TO MARRY ME!

Flag Day – the day in 1777 that our first flag was authorized as authentically American. A day set aside to reflect upon our most iconic and ubiquitous symbol. Flown daily in front of all government installations, on the campuses of most schools, and in the front yards of homes across America, the ‘Stars and Stripes’ should be understood and its story told.

Like the Liberty Bell, the Star Spangled Banner as anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance, the history of the flag has been a story of process, change, and evolution. With its varying iterations through the years, the essential characteristics of the blue canton and the stars, combined with the 13 stripes has been the defining colors of The United States Flag. With the addition of new states, the last two being Hawaii and Alaska in 1959, our flag has gone from 13 stars, to 15, to 35, then 48 and finally 50. Along the way the dimensions were established so the proportion of length to width was consistent. In addition, the once grand flag of the battle of Ft. McHenry, the original Star Spangled Banner (with the addition of Old Glory we now have referenced the flag with its 4 most commonly used names), which has been restored is of 15 stripes. This did not work so the original 13 colonies or states became the representative number of 7 red and 6 white or 13 stripes.

I love our flag. Have flown it my whole life as I was taught by my maternal grandfather during the Second World War to raise and fold and present the flag properly at an early age. Now it is my turn to teach the grand kids and flag etiquette is part of passing on a tradition that became incorporated into my life through experience. I do not worship or wrap myself in the flag however. What I worship are the values the flag stands for. I will fight for freedom, liberty, justice – the desecration of these is much more important to me than the desecration of the flag itself; much more!

Bees and Butterflies

HARD TO WRITE ABOUT
ANYTHING OTHER THAN
THE WORST DISASTER
EVER TO BEFALL THE
HUMAN AND NON HUMAN
FAMILY SINCE THE EXTINCTION
OF THE DINOSAURS – BUT I MUST!

The West Virginia coal miner’s life is tough by any standards. Yet, a miner’s best friend is a small little bird called a canary. Here is a beautiful little creature that unwillingly may sacrifice his/her life in order that a coal miner might have life another day. The phrase ‘the canary in the coal mine’ has now been adopted by our culture to reference something that indicates something else about to occur. It is a primitive early warning system, but it works. Now there are much more sophisticated sensors in mines and canaries are no longer sacrificed.

I do not know a lot about bugs, have never been particularly fond of the crawling kind, but do know a little about bees and butterflies and what I know is disturbing.

Perhaps the two most important living creatures in the whole of the earth they will signal trouble ahead before it happens. A canary tries to escape the gas fumes but can not because it is caged allowing the coal miner to free himself from the dangerous build up of gases in the mine. A bee comes back to home when all is well, but now with colony collapse disorder affecting bees worldwide the entire food production system is in jeopardy because the food we consume is often dependent upon the bee for pollination. In the agricultural heartland of California where 80% of all the almonds are grown there is a mounting level of anxiety because the 3 million bees required to keep the almond trees producing are harder and harder to come by.

Historically bees were symbols of diligence and eloquence. Their work ethic is unparalleled, their loyalty legendary, and the sounds they make communicate in the natural world across geographic boundaries. Besides the honey which is the nectar of the gods, they are essential in the balance of life.

The butterfly, for our ancestors, represented an unconscious attraction to the light as well as new birth, resurrection, and a fresh start. My encounter with the blue morpha butterfly of Costa Rica, on a path to the Rincon de la Viejo Volcano, represented for me a turning point in my life. The magnificent blue creature, as large as a bird, danced in the forest light in front of me after I had been threatened and surrounded by an angry troop of monkeys. Not one for superstitions, I recognized the butterfly came along to teach me.

Thus, the bee and the butterfly are rabbi’s, teachers from creation; elevated to a status of mentor so that we mortals may learn from their story.

Spring has Sprung and So Has A Leak

May 21, 2010


Growing up in New England had many advantages, and a few challenges. Winter seemed to go on forever, yet the snow meant sledding down the hills of Short Hills, and the freezing temperatures signaled time to sharpen the skates for a bit of pick up hockey on South Pond. However, as the months dragged along spring was a time of the crocus popping through the hard ground and the forsythia beginning to bloom and our spirits were lifted. New birth, new smells, new energy – all seemed to be associated with spring in New Jersey and Connecticut. I miss the transition from winter to spring.

Around the globe millions of people look for the signs of new beginnings. War torn nations yearn for a time of peace. Countries ravaged by tsunamis or earthquakes awaken to each day with a huge weight on their shoulders. Environmental degradation signals fear for the future, and the signs of increasing global refugees on the move yearly means that fewer and fewer have a spring to anticipate.

….and now as spring moves into summer the hurricane season approaches and the oil spill dominates my thinking. A hurricane would push the oil throughout the gulf and miles of wetlands would be choked to death. Life as the gulf states know it would be altered forever because you can not clean up wetlands; period! Once again we await the movement of the oil into the Gulf Stream – hitting that climate regulating current might prove that our giant pond’s shorelines are not exempt and that the unintended consequences of our un-regulated hubris might be oil on Nantucket in the near future.

We got a clue to the un-intended consequences of lack of foresight by leaders when a fellow named Hosea wrote: “The land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; and even the fish of the sea are taken away.” This was written by the Old Testament prophet who saw the proverbial handwriting on the wall.

“The land mourns” - Haiti, Chili, Indonesia, Congo, USSR – to name a few places where the land has been so degraded by human and so-called natural disasters.

“…all who dwell in it languish” – the plight of the people in Haiti, the whole of the African Continent, the Amazonian basin dwellers; just to name a few who suffer no spring and no hope

“…and also the beasts of the field” - scientists warn of declining species, the loss of bio-diversity and the extinction potential of some of the great animals of creation – look at the African Elephant, the black rhino, the tiger, and the grand gorillas to name a few.

‘…and the birds of the air” – air pollution, chemical fertilization and pesticides, and habitat destruction, and illegal trade in endangered birds are limiting the freest most diverse and beautiful peaceful creatures on the planet.

‘…and even the fish of the sea are taken away.” - all major fish populations are in decline around the globe – from Georges Banks and the prolific cod to the brackish waters of the Amazon and the spawning giant bluefin the alarm has sounded. To lose the protein of the sea is to lose our fight for survival…and now the Gulf catastrophe…

Why do we hold such anger in our hearts towards creation, the gifts that sustain and nourish us, to let this happen? Maybe we need a little more resurrection power that comes through celebrating spring and working to make spring work for the rest of the world at the same time shifting our strategies so that tomorrow’s generations may have at least a fighting chance of a healthy life. Oil deep, yes very deep in the ground under the sea should be left alone for we humans are not smart enough to manage it when it gets loose from its millions of years home. As the saying goes; the cat is out of the bag, and it is our fault; now what do we do?