Tag Archives: environment

Thoughtful Friday

Posted on by
Reply

I recently discovered some of Doug Peacock‘s books, which are truly insightful in these challenging times. He was probably Edward Abbey’s best friend and was the inspiration for Hayduke. He is still fighting for the land, the animals, and the indigenous people all over the world. I would have loved to have that part of his life. He has traveled the globe studying and writing about things we forget about and are destroying. He has a large group of like-minded friends who have championed the cause to save the earth and its plants and animals. For example, he traveled with Tom Brokaw, who was his neighbor!He recently published stories from his life travels, and so many of them hit a home run. I encourage you to read this book!

From the book Was it Worth it? From the 2020 pandemic:
“The current pandemic will not be our last plague and it is a prime symptom that our center is not holding. Our smug assumptions of the primacy of our civilization are coming apart. Humans are not in control of the world we live in. We are not in charge.” [Emphasis mine.]
[Peacock, Doug. Was It Worth It? (p. 277). Patagonia. Kindle Edition.]

On his thoughts about climate change:
–“We have not told ourselves the truth. Because it was everyone’s job, it was no one’s job.”
–“There is so much beauty in the world; all we have to do is stick around to see it. For a father who loves the Earth and finds joy in defending wild landscapes, considering our demise as a species is not a pleasant exercise. But we need to see the truth, the raw, unvarnished truth. Science and journalism water down the severity of a changing climate and pull their punches. When we try to extract the most credible science from each, we find much of it filtered through caution and timidity. There are semantic arguments that optimism and hope will color a rosier world, but how we feel about it does not change that unpolished truth. What about temperatures too hot for life on Earth? Or habitats too impaired for survival?”
–“‘That which evolves does not persist without the conditions of its genesis’ is a sentence I’ve found myself repeating monotonously throughout the decades.” [Peacock, Doug. Was It Worth It? (p. 279). Patagonia. Kindle Edition.]

Considering the current administration’s push to expand development, mining, and deforestation, as well as its efforts to push human beings further into the unspoiled natural world, it makes me ponder why the destructive lies about climate change continue to lead us to destroy the very place we live today. Will the ones who care about the future be able to stop the greed and destruction? Will this current legacy be passed on to the next generation, or can the young ones stop it? Something to think about.

Finally, Peacock stated that we need to “peer into the abyss” and think about how we behave.
“There is great joy in doing the toil of the world, fighting for wild causes, saving pieces of the magnificent natural world. There’s plenty of work; do your job with decency and an open heart. Love your brothers and sisters in all actions, in all relationships. Speak the truth. Extend your innate empathy to distant tribes and strange animals. Arm yourself with friendship and love the Earth.” [Peacock, Doug. Was It Worth It? (p. 281). Patagonia. Kindle Edition.]

So, as we go about our daily existence, let’s all take a moment to consider what is happening to the planet. Let’s pull out those eco-warrior people that we were in the past and stop being complacent. Stand up to the farmers and ranchers, as well as the developers, and bring back the “Just Say No!” slogan and apply it to insane growth and expansion into our wildest areas. If you have funds, start buying up land to save it from development and put it in a trust for all future generations, just like Peacock’s buddies have done. Ensure that future generations understand that the land held in trust by your family should never be developed. Clean up the drilling sites to stop methane leakage. And keep those crazy, burping, and farting cows off of those lands! There are better ways to raise these animals, resulting in significantly reduced methane release. There are better ways, people! Just write your congressmen and women to make a change! Recognize that we can change if we desire it. Future generations will love and remember you if you fight the good fight.

Enough said. I love you all and will continue to ask you to step up every day that I am here on this planet. Enjoy your weekend!

Celebrate and Change with Me!

Posted on by
Reply

Or: Half-Way Mark for 365 Days of Kindness Blogs
Today marks the 182nd post or the half-way mark of my endeavor to enlighten, entertain, and encourage people to keep on living life to the fullest and doing great things. Although there were a few days and weeks where I skipped posting, negating the promise to write every day, I must humbly admit that that was me being me, promising something that is often a huge grand gesture, yet, like life, is hard to deliver. But I am persevering through all the ups and downs of my life with everyone else, and continuing to do my part the best way I know how. So it may take more than a few days after that original 365-day mark (November 2024), but I hope you keep reading and sending out good vibes, love and happiness after my messages come to you unbidden.

Re-reading The Monkey Wrench Gang once again helps me understand how the cyclical thoughts on progress got us where we are today. We want convenience to get to places where we shouldn’t be going. And the big money corporations and their CEOs want to continue to get richer so they pretend that they are doing things for the public (destroying the western lands, like building roads and dams, drilling, mining, fracking, ad nauseum) making life better for us, more convenient for us, all the while hurting the earth and the environment and all of us who live in it. After all, the ads always paint a rosy picture, right? And of course we should believe those, right?

Seldom Seen Smith was right: “The river, the canyon, the desert world was always changing, from moment to moment, from miracle to miracle, within the firm reality of mother earth. River, rock, sun, blood, hunger, wings, joy—this is the real….All the rest is androgynous theosophy. All the rest is transcendental transvestite transactional scientology or whatever the fad of the day, the vogue of the week.” [Abbey, Edward. The Monkey Wrench Gang (p. 61). RosettaBooks. Kindle Edition.]

We all want the adventures from our past but in a more convenient, easier way. After all, we are getting older and can’t do those hikes like we used to. We embrace those conveniences at the detriment of those beautiful areas. But we also deny how much our climate is changing and what havoc is wreaked upon all of us. Perhaps it is just too big a problem not one for immediate resolution and that breaks us. So many of us ignore what is happening, and yet many of us are stepping up to the task. We know we can’t fix everything, but we are trying to do the best we can in our smaller environments. Every day I am thankful for all of my adventures in my younger years and what I saw. But I am also thankful for the new inventions in gear, such as better equipment, less plastic, and better shoes and backpacks for the young ones to take those adventures. We can’t give up on the new inventions, yet we have to come up with solutions to stop destroying the land for profit.

Monkey wrenching in the oldest of ideologies doesn’t work the way we think it should. Perhaps we should think of new ways to change progress, maybe purchasing lands (including the mineral rights, if possible) to protect them from the marauders. Smarter people than me are making this happen in many states. It is my hope that this way of thinking will be the new tool to protect our children and grandchildren in the future.

So my thoughts for today are these: Keep picking up trash and plastics no matter where you are and recycle, reuse, etc. You know the drill. Stop using plastics in your home. Go electric or maybe hybrid in your vehicles (I know I am in a few years!) Eat less beef (I love it and I know we are in beef country, but come on!) And grow some wonderful food items in your gardens to feed your family and others!) Stop listening to advertisements. If we can start these practices, thinking before doing, and making changes in our lives, the movement will grow and change will happen.

Keep writing your congressmen to stop granting rights to those in big oil and gas, big mining, big, well everything. Ask your congressmen to stop taking money from these corporations in order to stay in office. I know that is a hard one and many people don’t think like me, but that’s the only way we are going to stop it. Support those who support us. I know we won’t change everything, and I know we’ve heard it before, but we can keep the conversation going. At least our tiny piece of the world will be cleaner. Thank you for listening and I look forward to better times!

Love to all tonight.