In Green We Trust

Published on January 16, 2010 in Uncategorized, discussion and green living. 1 Comment Tags: , .

This past few days it’s been jumping out at me – when did we all forget how to trust?

Americans in the 1950s with their post-war optimism seem to epitomise a kind of blind and all-encompassing trust.

You know how that was, when all technology was good and jobs were never lost.

We’re talking about a time, in popular culture at least, when anything that threatened a positive world-view was pretty much just ignored by the masses.

Please understand, however, I’m not suggesting a return to this kind of blatant ignorance, only that we pick-up on the trusting part.

Here’s how this works: trust is an essence of hope which in turn is a basis of risk.

Without trust, we can’t afford to risk success.

When, at the Copenhagen Summit last year in ‘09 a cube of images and statistics was placed floating on the water as an installation, some media noted the way these lofty and dire predictions tend to desensitise us and make us less likely to act.

Put simply, fear begets more fear and ultimately leads to inaction and a brand of futility.

Hope however, which involves no small element of trust inherently, rarely leads to less hope.

By this rationale, if we trust in the future and trust in ourselves, things will naturally improve.

If we consider the environment to be like our primary relationship, we want to talk less about our insecurities and spend more time in bed with it.

Trust the change and the change will come as long as we’re willing to do whatever it takes.

Every Man And His Blog

Published on January 8, 2010 in Uncategorized, alena and photos. 2 Comments Tags: , .

As usual, I’ll be honest with you.

The title of this post is an irresistable play on words, this is really just a chance to give you a small tour of my world so I’m less of a faceless and nameless person and more of a real one.

Hope you like it.

Green means we are what we love

Published on December 20, 2009 in Uncategorized, for the love of it and green living. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

Now is the time to put your skepticism aside, just a for a second.

It’s okay, it will still be there when you get back. Buy it a hot chocolate, give it a magazine and tell it you’ll be just be a moment.

There are a million and one blogs, articles, tv shows and books out there to tell us how to care for the environment. What many do not address is the fundamental shift in consciousness required before anyone cares to begin with.

Undeniably there is a groundswell in interest and attention on global change around environmental issues and living in a “green” or “eco” way. For this I am so grateful. What this means is that when I talk to the stranger at the cafe about my garden, or no longer using plastic bags or bottles, they don’t necessarily look at me like I’m a radical militant greenie. Great.

The thing that is often overlooked is the simple principle of love. We are what we love, not what loves us. This message comes clearly through so many life-altering films and books and parables. When someone close to us dies, we often remark about how we wished we’d said we loved them more often, spent more time, had more fun.

It’s the same with being green and caring for the environment. If we don’t love our garden, it literally will not bear fruit.

So today, for me, green means love (as it happens to also mean in many spiritual modalities and colour therapies).

I love my garden, I love trees and native animals and nice weather. It is out of that love that I can be bothered to read about how to care for the environment.

So my advice to anyone that asks would definitely be to get out there and get into it, find joy in your garden, your bushwalk, the tree outside your house and local birds, whatever tickles you pinky-green.

If we start to love the environment we live in, we will naturally want to take care of it – much as we take care of the people and things we already love in our lives.

Enough scaremongering and de-sensitising, let’s really feel the natural world and fall in love again.

Because we are what we love, tell the environment you love it, spend more time with it, and have more fun being green.

Eyes wide… open or shut?

Published on October 31, 2009 in Uncategorized and green living. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’m resisting the temptation to start this blog with a cliche. If I could let myself, I’d write that there are two types of people in the world… but I won’t. And I know it’s not true. There’s a full spectrum rainbow of people in the world, thankfully.

The temptation arises out of two conversations that happened yesterday.

The first, with a friend who lives in a part of the world that is not the city, and where much of the population lives in a ‘green’ way, or at least with some awareness of nature, was about who’s responsible for educating the masses and doing more about the environment, about the inherent dangers of relying on carbon trading to save us, and about boyfriends and how they don’t know how to recycle sometimes.

The main gyst of the conversation was lamenting how much opportunity is wasted in terms of public green-awareness out of an apparent lack of government funded education. This can be sticky and political, and anyone who knows me will tell you how little interest I have in politics.

So even though it’s true, I’ll just talk about my own approach – not to discount my friend’s opinion, which I believe to be absolutely pertinent.

My approach is to lead by example and convert the ignorant one conversation at a time. By composting, worm farming, growing vegetables and friendliness  I manage to help about one person a week (at this point in time) to be more aware.

I also spend less time re-educating older people than I do exposing kids to the realities of environmental care. It takes less to impress a six year old about worms than it does to argue with someone older and more set in their ways – plus a six year old has a greater chance of educating their parents than I do.

Sure, I still get frustrated. Another conversation I had yesterday with someone quite close to me was about how he loves to eat dead animals but he doesn’t want to see them being killed. Now, he’s a city kid, and has never had to kill anything to eat it, so his awareness is understandable… however I think its also a little dangerous. It speaks of what’s happened to us as a society in being so far away from the sources of our food that we don’t even want to know where it comes from or how it feels to get it ourselves.

I’m not judging him in any way for his opinion but it galvanises me to expose my young son to the experience of hunting before he gets too old so he will always know just how much goes into getting a steak from a beast to a table.

Without consciousness, the world could undoubtedly spin out of control but with just a little bit of awareness we can swiftly change our course. It doesn’t take much to have one less steak a week, grow one more vegetable or talk one more truth.

So keep those eyes at least squinting at the truth, even if you can’t stomach it all. You’d be amazed how much of a difference a wink at sustainability can make.

Blog Action Day ‘09: Climate change… not just a trendy topic

Published on October 15, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Today is Blog Action Day – the focus is Climate Change as the Copenhagen summit approaches.

This December the UN and countries from all over the world will sit down to discuss and hopefully finalise the follow up agreement for the post-Kyoto Protocol era.

It feels like everybody is talking about this stuff… so how do we make it a real concern, for which we can take real action, rather than just another abstract news topic?

The time for arguing about whether or not climate-change is a real concern has passed for me, so I will assume it has for you too. What I aim to present to you here is some very practical ways for you to make climate change action your own. Here are a variety of ways with varying levels of commitment that enable you to participate in this change, ways you can make a difference (be it large or small).

  1. GetUp Australia is organising a campaign to affect and influence the decision-makers that are going to Copenhagen.You can donate by clicking here. You could also simply sign up and stay informed.
  2. If you’re still not convinced, have a look at any or all of the resources to help writers (like me) who have signed up for Blog Action Day in composing our blogs. I’ve decided to pass these resources on to you wholesale, they are quality information and very accessible – click here to have a look.
  3. The Plastic Bag Story is a PDF document outlining how plastic bags hurt the world. If you haven’t seen it, let me know and I can send it to you. Most importantly, if you haven’t already done it, getting rid of plastic bags is a simple and important way you can help with climate change. Leave a comment on this blog and request the info or send me an email and I’ll pass it on.
  4. TALK ABOUT IT and keep talking about it, keep these issues in the front of people’s minds and maybe change will happen on a grander scale.

My little way of changing the world this week is to eat less meat and grow more veges.

It all helps, and it really can be that simple.

The science of predictability

Published on September 29, 2009 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Science is a massive underlying fact of our world. Scientific methods underlie much of the food that we eat, the materials that we use, the cars that we drive. Like a great big puppetmaster, science is the foundation of everything from plastics to mastics, fizzy drinks to medicine. Without science our world would be unrecognisable.

My gripe with science goes into the foundational thinking that lies beneath these undeniably useful facets of modern life. And to be clear, I love science in many ways. There is science in flower remedies, aromatherapy, permaculture… there is possibly even a science of love-making.

What concerns me, is the way the scientific method works as I understand it.

In nature, although there are rhythms and waves, there is also unpredictability. Nature is full of little accidents. Part of the great ecological mother-machine is devoted to randomness, even relies on it. If a tree falls in the forest, it becomes a feast for small animals, a home for slightly bigger ones, and eventually part of the humus (organic matter, or soil) needed for that forest to itself continue to thrive – whether we hear it or not. The cause of that tree falling would not necessarily be repeatable, nor potentially ever known.

The scientific method however relies on two basic principles.  For something to be scientifically valid it must come from an experiment that complies with certain rules. The two most important rules are that the experiment must be able to be replicated, and that the results are measurable. What this means is that if a process is to be truly scientific it must be able to be repeated to show similar results.

This translates to be a process that often does not allow for the randomness of life.

If results are different in a small percentage of cases, this can be written off. If results are different in a large number of cases then the experiment’s results are inconclusive and the scientific method has worked its magic and pretty much neutered the idea.

So what about the quark? Experiments on the quark, the most basic and universal fabric of everything, have proven that the intention of the experimenter affects its behaviour. If the investigating party expects the quark to zig, it zigs. If they expect it to zag, it zags.

You see, the one great thing that’s largely absent from science and the scientific method is us. Our nature, and our intentions have a fundamental affect on the way the world is.

And thus, we and our nature make our lives extremely unpredictable – thank goodness.

And so it is that any one of us could make a decision to eat 10% less meat, thus reducing the amount of land and resources needed to keep us alive, and leaving some for someone else that needs it more.

Or we could reduce, re-use and recyle.

Or we could grow a plant, and maybe a little food for ourselves.

With these small things, we may just change the world in a surprising way.

Permaculture

Published on September 8, 2009 in Uncategorized and permaculture. 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

At the launch of Permaculture Sydney South a few weeks ago I was moved to tears by the gentle yet committed words of Geoff Lawton, an established and renowned permaculture practitioner. It was so heartening to see over 300 people come to the Leichhardt local town hall for the event with their plates of food, healthy attitudes and large helpings of joy and enthusiasm.

People ask me what permaculture is quite often and it’s a tricky one to answer considering it’s such a simple idea.  Permaculture is both a way of life and a way of designing. It approaches any interwoven system (like businesses, ecosystems, or gardens for example), generates little to zero waste products, and  incorporates or integrates any diverse existing elements.

Permaculture is inclusive and has wide-reaching potential.

The old saying goes that any problem not just HAS a solution, but IS a solution in permaculture.

That is, say if you had too many snails it means you don’t have enough ducks. The key to preventing the situation of the ducks becoming another problem is good consideration, planning and design.

Permaculture is about setting up a simple system to allow nature to come in with all its complexities and work its magic.

When Geoff Lawton spoke at the launch of Permaculture Sydney South (which merges Permaculture East, Inner West and South together into one large umbrella group) he inspired me deeply.

Geoff spoke of diversity and integration, of experiencing “time quality” instead of being “time poor” – and how much do you hear the words “I just don’t have enough time” these days?

Permaculture in essence encourages community, sustainability and learning.

Geoff Lawton is contracted to design the landscape of a new city in Abu Dhabi that will be completely sustainable. It’s called Masdar City and will have no fossil fuelled cars for its population of 40,000 but instead will provide public use of 18,000 solar powered and magnetic cars. Watch the video, it will astound you – see below – and click here for an article about the Sydney-based designers. Construction has already begun with stringent and thorough energy audits to continue throughout the project. The first thing constructed was the power plant to maximise energy efficiency during construction using mainly solar and wind power.

There’s many ways to find out more about permaculture.

Tafe runs a once-weekly course based on its principles at Maroubra Bay Public School, contact me to find out more (or just leave a comment here).

Permaculture design courses are run all over Australia and the world, you could use Google to find one closest to you. And Permaculture East are a fantastic group for the eastern area of Sydney, you can find out more by contacting me. Just leave me a comment (I see them all) and I’ll contact you back.

Green means / pictures

Published on September 4, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Parachute of broken things

Published on August 25, 2009 in Uncategorized and alena. 5 Comments Tags: , , .

Having long subscribed to the idea that life experience is crucial to creativity, and that sometimes I’ve needed to fall apart in order to put myself back together in another way, this quote here unsurprisingly really floats my boat.

“I have woven a parachute out of everything broken” William Stafford

And this is how poetry can reach inside of us and pull something out in a different way.

Much of the time I have thought about my past as somewhat shameful and derisive. And surely, to some, it has been that way.

Amidst the shame and guilt around things I could have done better, there is also an awareness of my own responsibility for the way things have been. My history, though at times shady, has given me a unique and shiny attitude to how things are now.

I vividly recall making a deal with the devil and inviting difficult and dark experiences into my life with full awareness of the risk  because (somewhat naively) I was ambitious, wanted to be an artist or a writer, and felt that my middle class upbringing was not interesting enough to fuel this ambition.

Growing up I read biographies and followed life stories. Those of the people I really admired universally involved some kind of deep and soulful suffering or tragedy: think Virginia Woolf (depressed and suicidal), Nelson Mandela (imprisoned for most of his life), William Burroughs (shot his own wife, addicted), River Phoenix (addicted, died on the street outside the Viper Room).

Ok so River was just gorgeous actually, but you get my point.

From this haphazard research I concluded that unless you can make yourself a ‘parachute out of everything broken’ as William Stafford so eloquently suggested, you will surely fall to your death with or without leaving something inspirational and beautiful behind you.

So I’m weaving my little heart out – I’m threading my bad behaviour to my guilt, and I’m sewing a patch of selfishness onto my scrap of fear. It’s really coming along nicely.

And it’s going to be one hell of a parachute.

Bittersweet choices

Published on August 10, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , .

It’s a world of opposites. The bitter and the sweet, the dark and the light, the green and the red.

I’ve been reading a book called “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Victor E Frankl. It was originally published in German in 1946.  When it was first translated to English it was called “From Death Camp to Existentialism”.

Now we all know that it’s not what happens, it’s how you respond and what meaning you give it that matters most.  What sets this book apart is its total authenticity.  Victor Frankl has lived, he is a walking testament to his own theory that purpose and meaning and suffering make a person what they are. In fact, he goes so far as to indicate that they are necessary for a satisfying and happy life. We need both  joy and suffering to have meaning. We need the opposites, just as life is based on a system of positive and negative charges, and the universe on the same.

Ultimately we have a choice how we live – and every day we make a spiritual choice with our beliefs and behaviours that in turn alters our experience of life.

“In attempting this psychological presentation and a psychopathological explanation of the typical characterisation of a [concentration] camp inmate I may give the impression that the human being is completely and unavoidably influenced by his surroundings… But what about human liberty? Is there no spiritual freedom in regard to behaviour and reaction to any given surroundings?

“.. The experience of camp life shows that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.

“…everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
“…Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of the camp influences alone.
“…It is this spiritual freedom – which cannot be taken away – that makes life meaningful and purposeful.
“..The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross gives him ample opportunity  – even under the most difficult circumstances – to add a deeper meaning to his life”

Applying this to my day to day life, I make authenticity and truth my idols. And I’m not the only one.

There’s a trend towards eco-labelling that is often misleading, which can cause more harm than good to any brand. (To be branded a liar is an undesirable marketing outcome to say the least – it’s potentially irreparable in terms of good will and customer loyalty.)  See here for an online article on false and misleading eco-labelling.

Of course the reality is that most people won’t look beyond the label, and truly who has time to investigate anything these days?

Similarly with carbon-trading, how authentic is this as an idea?

For a light-hearted approach to this topic see ‘What is Cheat Offsetting?’

“What is cheat offsetting?
When you cheat on your partner you add to the heartbreak, pain and jealousy in the atmosphere.
Cheatneutral offsets your cheating by funding someone else to be faithful and NOT cheat. This neutralises the pain and unhappy emotion and leaves you with a clear conscience.
Can I offset all my cheating?
First you should look at ways of reducing your cheating. Once you’ve done this you can use Cheatneutral to offset the remaining, unavoidable cheating.”

So how to reconcile the beauty of Victor Frankl’s message with the sometimes corrupt world in which we live? How do we live according to spiritual choices in a life that requires us to ‘play the game’ and hopefully win?

We make choices with heart and soul.

We read the labels, the small print, between the lines.

We accept and rejoice and suffer and accept and rejoice and suffer, regardless what life throws at us and how well we can catch.

And we live with the consequences in the sunshine and in the rain, the red and the green, the bitter and the sweet… because we need both to truly and meaningfully live.