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An interesting and insightful read into the man who created the Gaia Hypothesis: James Lovelock.
[The prophet of climate change: James Lovelock]
Worth a read.
If you're not sure what the Gaia Hypothesis is, here is a link to the wikipedia page: Wikipedia: The Gaia Hypothesis.
I took my kids for a rare drive to Portobello this morning.
Portobello is a small, sleepy, beautiful harbourside village about twenty minutes outside of Dunedin. It's lovely.
The reason I took them was that Portobello is home to a fantastic playground that we name The Pirate Playground. My four-year old son is obsessed with pirates - as is my one-year old daughter. Both love to take in Pirate Talk - which involves adding a Yarrrrr! to every sentence. Very cute.
Here is a photo of the Pirate Playground:
If you haven't seen it already, take a trip over to The Breathing Earth.
It's an eye-opener. You can learn, via this simulation, how often people live and die in your country, how long it takes for your part of the world to generate 1000 tonnes of C02, and how much C02 is emitted per person per year in your country.
I found this site generated a lot of unanswered questions for me, but start by just taking the time to visit and observe for a few moments. Compare your country to other, neighbouring countries. Note that countries with similar living standards can vary hugely in the amount of carbon they produce.
For example, Australia produces 18.17 tonnes per person per year, nearly double New Zealand's 8.16 tonnes per person per year - yet both have very similar living standards.
Are Australians twice as happy? I've lived in both countries (grew up in Australia and now live in NZ) and I'd argue a solid negative.
The United States emits 19.66 tonnes per person per year, more than double the UK's 9.23 tonnes per person per year.
Are Americans twice as joyful, twice as comfortable, or half as likely to be depressed or sad or lonely or cold - or any of the other metrics most people would equate with good standard of living?
If we think that we can't get our emissions down while maintaining high living standards, these figures indicate otherwise. We need to think again. Happiness clearly isn't tied strongly to the amount of C02 we produce. Nor isn't 'standard of living' by any measure - except, perhaps, the energy companies you pay your bills to!
This is real food for thought.
What it tells us is that we all need to decide what we, as a people, want in order to be happy and fulfilled and healthy.
We need to question those who argue strongly that large cuts to emissions cannot be done while maintaining high standards of living - like Australia's Kevin Rudd, who has just argued that Australia cannot possibly manage anything above a measly 5% cut to emissions.
It is clear, to any open-minded people who look at the facts, that large cuts to carbon emissions can be achieved, that high standards of living can still be maintains despite the need for significant cuts, and that the amount of C02 we produce is not linked to how happy we are as people.
Here is a simple recipe for gluten-free, dairy-free play doh.
If you, like me, have a child on the gluten-free dairy-free diet, you've probably had problems with play doh. Kids love to eat the stuff, and ordinary wheat-based play doh presents a real problem for Mums of kids on special diets.
The simple answer is - use a standard play doh recipe, and switch the plain wheat flour for corn flour! Or, if your child has issues with corn, switch the wheat flour for rice flour! Either corn flour or rice flour work well as wheat flour substitutes. They cost a little more, the doh doesn't feel quite as nice to the touch or last as long, but it is just as functional and the kids don't mind - and you don't have to worry about your child eating the stuff!
Don't believe for a moment that you need an awkward, difficult recipe that takes ages to prepare and needs to be cooked. You don't. This simple recipe works beautifully.
Here's my recipe:
Here is a recipe for plain home made old play doh.
This is a very cheap and easy doh to make, and kids love it. In a second post, I'll offer a recipe for gluten-free play doh - an essential if you, like me, have a child on the gluten-free, dairy-free diet. But first, old-fashioned home made play doh:
Just a quick update on my chocolate-free status.
It has been over four months now, and I am still chocolate-free. Nary a nibble. Not even a lick.
I'm proud of my accomplishment, especially considering I've been doing things like make chocolate-dipped strawberries for choir. Do you know how hard it is to make chocolate dipped strawberries and not even lick your fingers? I sure do, now!
So here I am, more than a third of the way through my challenge, and I'm doing all right.
Do I want to continue after the year is up? Probably not.
Am I glad I undertook this challenge? Absolutely. I've learned that, despite all evidence my friends and family have seen over the years to the contrary, I am not ruled by my stomach. I can make decisions and stick to them - even when it comes to chocolate. I'm proud of that.
Would I do it again? If I had to. I do think that after the year is up, I probably won't eat so much chocolate as I used to. I also think I will probably limit myself to fair trade organic chocolate only.
This has been a learning experience. I'm glad I've had the chance to learn more about myself. I think it's important.
If you would like to go chocolate-free with me, here is the widget for your blog. Just copy the code in red:
Some thoughts about change.
I think everyone agrees that we are in a time of change, and that change can be frightening. Humble Garden posted the following Hopi prophecy about change, and I thought I'd like to share it with you, too:
“You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour.
And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living? What are you doing?
What are your relationships? Are you in right relation?
Where is your water? Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of
the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally.
Least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a
halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
–The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation
Change is frightening, but it can also be liberating. As Nika at Humble Garden points out, these days we're hearing plenty of End Days prophecies, and not many of them are positive.
A lot of the prophecies involve the Biblical fire and brimstone. Sounds lovely.
If you're not into religious prophecy, there's enough environmental gloom and doom to make the cheeriest of us want to slit our wrists.
And if you're into neither, the financial pages are pretty horrific at the moment. Everywhere you look, it's bad, bad, bad.
How is anyone to find inner peace and a healthy mindset in among all this?
Finding hope
In some ways, I like to think of the times we face as liberating. It is only when we are challenged that we learn what real strength we possess.
When I think on what has made me the woman I am today, it is not the easy times I've had, but all the awful things that have happened to me - and there have been more than an ordinary share's worth. I've conquered and I've coped, and more than anything that has helped make me someone I am now glad to be.
This doesn't mean that tough times are good, nor does it mean that you have to suffer to be strong - but it does mean that hard times can teach us that we are capable of more than we thought. Hard times can have a purpose, and a positive outcome, if we let them.
Waiting for salvation
Whatever your religious or philosophical beliefs, there is no point in waiting passively for salvation. Salvation doesn't come to those who wait, watching the TV or whatever in the meanwhile. Hope doesn't come to those who sit idly by. Renewing our society and finding real peace will only come with hard work, and with the willingness to reach out to one another.
The world is full of people waiting for a saviour. History has been full of people waiting for a Messiah, or a Hero (or Heroine) who never showed up. The Christians are still waiting 2000 years on. Isn't it time we stopped waiting and started building Heaven on Earth now? Looking back at the last two millenia, I'd have to say that there have been some terrible acts. We've achieved much, but done awful things as well.
And now we find ourselves with environmental damage and a society in tatters and millions suffering and famine for billions as the result of Peak Oil just around the corner - some of the worst threats humanity has ever faced. Now, more than ever, we need each other, we need action, and we need to work together, regardless of beliefs and backgrounds and faiths and races and languages.
If we are to find peace, and to create a world of which we are proud - that is just, and free, and honest, and loving - we have to do the work ourselves. We can't expect anyone else to do the work for us. Stop waiting for someone else - a saviour or whatever - to solve our problems. It is time to get off our laurels and solve our problems ourselves. As to Hopi Prophecy says, "We are the ones we’ve been waiting for."
Accepting responsibility, accepting adulthood
This realisation changes everything. Instead of being a world of waiters, and watchers - observers afraid to act and take responsibility, suddenly we are transformed into a world of people who are adult, in charge of our own destinies and salvation - and peace, if there is to be any peace, lies firmly in our own hands.
Bad things will always happen to good people, and good things will always happen to bad people. That is just the way things are. I think I am a good person, and terrible things have happened to me in my life. I don't seek answers, nor do I look for someone to blame. By accepting that some things are outside our control while realising and recognising that an awful lot of factors are very much in our own hands, we can become a powerful force for good in the world.
"We are the ones we've been waiting for"
Imagine there is no-one else. Listen to John Lennon, and imagine that we're it. Then imagine what we can do when we accept this as fact and begin to move in positive ways in our world.
Even if you believe in a mystical saviour, I am certain that He or She would not want a world of people who sat by and watched the world fall into disrepair, but instead would want a people who took up their tools, and built community, and created loving societies that cared for each other and for their earth. If you believe in a Saviour, make Him or Her proud of who you are.
And if you don't and there really is nothing but "above us only sky", then be a force for change. Create change, take up the challenge, end the time of the Lone Wolf, and create a world that is all people, living together as best we can and as best we know how, for the betterment of all, sustainably and fairly on this beautiful earth.
An American presentation. Another one well worth a well watch.
One presenter asks the question, "At what point should children and families take precedence over corporate profits?"
For me the answer is clear. At every point! We shouldn't even be asking this question.
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