Published on Mar 18, 2013
Welcome to the Wilderness Society!! Our valued staff and members share their stories about the Wilderness Society and their reasons for protecting the Australian environment and wilderness.
“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.” Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), leader of Indian Nationalism and promoter of nonviolent civil disobedience
Publishe by The European Nature Trust, February 2014
“When one ugs at a single Living thing in nature one finds it attached to the rest of the world.” John Muir (1838-1914), Scottish-American naturalist, writer and environmentalist
Editor’s note: This evening we celebrate Valentine’s Day by demonstrating our love and concern for planet Earth. Directions for linking your post are at the bottom of this evening’s post.
How many of you are aware of your carbon footprint?
HERE is a handy-dandy calculator for those of you who don’t know but would like to.
How many of you consciously try to make less of an impact on the amount of things you consume and the subsequent amount of trash you generate?
HERE is an easy sheet to fill out to get a general idea. Of course, it takes a bit of work to sort the things you throw out in one day.
Being aware of it is enough to give anyone pause in this day and age. The amount is staggering. Truly. Unfortunately, there is just no getting away from trash. Every person creates some, and those of us fortunate enough to live in non third-world countries (hell-bent on rampant consumerism) produce more of it than others. A LOT more of it. Recycling is great and I encourage anyone and everyone to do what you can! But it’s not enough; there is SO much more that needs to be done!
Do you know about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? How about the North Atlantic Garbage Patch? Well, guess what? These aren’t the only ones. There are FIVE of these “islands” between the U.S. and Japan! These are basically gigantic islands of plastic and man-made debris waste that have collected over the years from both land-based and sea-based human pollution. The one in the Pacific alone is estimated as twice the size of Texas with a mass of roughly 100 million tons. Think about that number for a minute: 100 million TONS. And it gets larger every year.
Captain Moore’s Description of the
North Pacific Garbage Patch:
“It was and is a thin plastic soup, a soup lightly seasoned with plastic flakes, bulked out here and there with ‘dumplings’: buoys, net clumps, floats, crates, and other macro debris.”
– A quote from the book,
Plastic Ocean, by Captain Charles Moore
“Remember, plastic doesn’t biodegrade, it only gets broken down into smaller and smaller bits of plastic, and if you’re in the Pacific it all ends up getting pushed into this massive floating garbage pile. ” – Planetgreen.discovery.com
Are you upset yet? Angry? Are you more aware now?
In June, I will be joining with the Ocean Conservancy to do my best to be “trash free” for 30 days. It won’t be easy and I probably won’t succeed 100%. But I’m going to try. I invite all of you to join with me and take the Trash-Free Challenge. 🙂
Here are some things you can start doing NOW to help keep your trash out of the ocean(s). For those of you already doing your part, THANK YOU!!! 😀 I believe in the power of 1+1 into infinity = anything is possible. Together, we can all make a difference. It’s the only planet we’ve got…there is no “Plan”-et B. It starts with you and me.
From Squidoo.com:
From the Ocean Conservancy site:
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Reduce your carbon “finprint.” Our ocean is on the front lines of climate change — absorbing half the carbon dioxide we’ve pumped into the atmosphere. Use mass transit, carpool, and find other ways to reduce your carbon footprint. |
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Take only pictures. Choose vacation spots working to protect endangered sea animals. When snorkeling or diving, take pictures and tell stories but never stand on coral reefs or touch the marine life. |
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Be a green boater. Protect the boating experience along with the ocean. A little spill makes a big difference; be especially careful with oil, gasoline, solvents, and sewage. Bring your trash back to shore. Join Ocean Conservancy’s green boating program Good Mate. |
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Ask for sustainable seafood. Let chefs, wait-staff, and the folks behind your fish counter know that sustainable seafood is important to you. |
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Sign up for Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. Volunteers remove trash from beaches and shorelines, and data collected by these citizen-scientists help inform solutions that keep trash out of our ocean in the first place. |
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Reduce. Since packaging materials account for much of the trash we generate, they provide a good opportunity for reducing waste. Consider items with less, reusable, or recyclable packaging. |
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Reuse. More than 60 percent of the litter collected during the 2009 International Coastal Cleanup consisted of disposable items. Choose reusable shopping bags, coffee mugs, and food containers. |
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Recycle. If you can’t reuse it, recycle it. Check online with your local government to see what you can and can’t give back, and recycle everything possible. |
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Prevent contaminated runoff. No matter where you live, the ocean is downstream. Don’t use chemical fertilizers and pesticides on your lawn. On the driveway, avoid harmful cleaning products, and take proper care of spilled oil. |
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Vote Blue. Urge your elected representatives to support ocean-friendly policies that protect our ocean. Stay informed through e-alerts from Ocean Conservancy and share your passion at facebook.com/oceanconservancy and twitter.com/OurOcean |
© 2014, essay, Corina Ravenscraft, illustration, Ursula Vernon All rights reserved
About dragonkatet Regarding the blog name, Dragon’s Dreams ~ The name comes from my love-affairs with both Dragons and Dreams (capital Ds). It’s another extension of who I am, a facet for expression; a place and way to reach other like-minded, creative individuals. I post a lot of poetry and images that fascinate or move me, because that’s my favorite way to view the world. I post about things important to me and the world in which we live, try to champion extra important political, societal and environmental issues, etc. Sometimes I wax philosophical, because it’s also a place where I always seem to learn about myself, too, by interacting with some of the brightest minds, souls and hearts out there. It’s all about ‘connection(s)’ and I don’t mean “net-working” with people for personal gain, but rather, the expansion of the 4 L’s: Light, Love, Laughter, Learning.We invite you to join your voices with Corina and the other members of The Bardo Group by linking one of your own post’s on nature and its beauties, environmental protection, animal welfare (which is Earth welfare too), global warming and so on. The work can be anything essay, video, music video, poem, photography, photo essay, art or craft. At the bottom of this post you will find Mister Linky. Click on it to paste in the url to your post. It does not have to be a new or recent post, just one that is in the spirit of this event. Jamie will visit and comment and we hope that you will all visit one another to comment and support and connect. Thank you!
World Peace and Prayer Day
June 20 -23, 2013
Live Oak Campground Santa Ynez
Chief Arvol Looking Horse –Spiritual Leader for the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Sioux Nations invites all to join him in an annual international interfaith gathering. There is also a continued prayer in their homelands, while he gathers June 20 – 23 in ancestral Chumash territory, at Live Oak Camp in the Santa Ynez Valley. The public is invited to attend, free of charge, for all or part of the four-day gathering.
Chief Looking Horse is the 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, who is committed to helping “All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer” to fulfill the joining of nations in pursuit of peace through the honoring of sacred sites. He began the WPPD gathering in 1996 to help the healing of Mother Earth, after the birth of a white buffalo calf indicated a time of global crisis – according to Lakota prophesy. It has been held every year since, on June 21. WPPD is hosted in places of continued need of environmental protection. Now in its 18th year in collaboration with local people and spiritual leaders of all faiths, who are responding to the attention of the importance of Mother Earth and her sacred sites. It began as a prayer held in the four directions of Turtle Island. Beginning in the Black Hills, a.k.a “Heart Of Everything That Is” and grew to be held on every continent that continues today.
On Thursday June 20th a sacred fire will be lit and kept alive for four days. We understand the sacred fire is Universal to all Cultures. Invited speakers and First Nations People will speak about the environmental issues and the importance of protecting sacred sites. Earth Education and art making for children and adults will include puppet making and an ephemeral art piece that will cumulate in a closing message from the children. A full listing of each day’s events can be found at http://www.worldpeaceandprayerday.com
WPPD is organized every year by volunteers and funded entirely by donations. Contributions can be made by visiting:http://www.worldpeaceandprayerday.com
Announcement via Michael Watson (Dreaming the World and Into the Bardo) and by RAVEN REDBONE
Photo credit ! Chumash art on the walls of Painted Cave in the mountains above Santa Barbara by Doc Searls on his Flickr site under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 2.0 Generic license.
The BeZine 