Today is Blog Action Day where thousands of bloggers all over the world write about today’s very important topic – Climate Change. I’ve been a big proponent over the years of people being aware of what I’ve always called “Earth Changes” which now is referred to as “Climate Change” but they are both one and the same thing. It’s one of the major reasons I relocated – I had so many dreams telling me I have to move it was hard to ignore them after a while.
I am a professional psychic/medium (as well as other specialties) and I have been guided to learn to live my life in as self-sustainable a way as possible and have lived this way in both a rural setting and a suburban setting for the past 15 years. I’ve been an astral traveling dreamer at night my whole life and I can remember back in the‘80s having the start of my earth change dreams where I could fully recall them and wondered why I was being shown this and what was it all about? It was like fitting pieces of a puzzle together and I started tracking strange weather info in the news. Then in the early ‘90s I came across different Native American prophecies that foretold of a great time of change and upheaval starting to happen on our planet: “Turtle Island will pull into her shell” is what the Hopi have said regarding the USA (Turtle Island). They are the keepers of this ancient and very accurate prophecy. According to them, we have passed “The point of no return.”
One of my recurring dreams I’ve had over the years in my astral travels regarding earth changes is being in New York City (I am a native NYer) and looking out of an office building window down at the street below and seeing the buses driving through water that came up to their headlights. I say to a co-worker, “Why is there so much water in the streets?” and she tells me that there has been water rising around here for some time now. She obviously has gotten used to it and says, “Let’s go check out this new club after work” and I think she’s crazy and feel that we must evacuate ASAP. I get this feeling of urgency and my co-workers think I’m the strange one and go on with their life and adapting to the rising waters around them.
There have been times over the past 15 years where friends will email me photos of massive flooding going on in NY, tunnels being closed, cars submerged (my own mother’s car went under water in a parking lot from flood water). But then it all eventually returns to normal and people seem to forget until the next time. I keep watching the events escalate – a tornado touching down in Brooklyn? I don’t recall any tornadoes in the metro NY area when I was growing up!
I had a very vivid astral travel dream just a few months ago of being in Antarctica and watching a major ice shelf collapse and then all of this water came rushing out with such force. I got so upset over this and kept saying in the dream, “No more sea level rising” and heard back, “This is the way it’s going to be, due to the actions humans are taking.” Two days later, I heard on the news about a huge ice shelf collapsing in Antarctica which scientists said was unexpected and they were surprised about it.
My son, now 5.5 years old, has had some pretty interesting earth change dreams of his own already – he has given us pretty detailed descriptions (in 5 year old terms/descriptions) of being inside a volcano and it was going to erupt. He had a series of these dreams every night for about a week then they stopped. Less than a week later, there were a few volcanoes that erupted in the “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific Ocean.
From what I’ve been seeing both psychically and tracking in the news all of these years is that climate change is REAL and events are happening at an alarmingly fast pace – faster than the scientists have even predicted and mostly due to the choices and actions we humans have taken. I think by now it’s pretty impossible to ignore the increase in frequency of major traumatic climate change events like earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, rains/flooding/mudslides, extreme droughts/fires. It doesn’t mean the end of the world is coming but it does mean MAJOR CHANGE for millions, maybe billions of people many of whom will have to start over from scratch in a new location or, will cycle off the planet during a major weather event.
So what can we do? We all have to learn new skills (and yes, some you won’t like but learn them anyway), learn to adapt mentally and physically and find locations you resonate with and feel in your gut are safe areas to live/raise your family and to build community in. We all have to work together. And respect the Earth, herself. She’s going through a lot!
We who are aware of what’s going on must step up and DO SOMETHING to help both our fellow humans AND the animals that are so affected by climate change. There is still some time left to change the laws to end the abusive practices corporations are doing to the planet. Let your voices be heard by your governments! Let’s hope all countries join together to make radical shifts now to law and policy so there will be some semblance of a nice planet left for our kids to live on. As I see it, if we don’t make the changes NOW, our children are going to have to deal with MUCH worse!
Please take a few seconds and sign this important petition today! The sustainable agriculture community has developed a list of six names that would be appropriate choices for the new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. There is a nationwide effort underway to get as many signatures as possible on this petition that will be sent to our President-elect in the next 24 hours and time is of the essence.
An excerpt from their letter to President-elect Obama:
Today we have a nutritional and environmental deficit that is as real and as great as that of our national debt and must be addressed with forward thinking and bold, decisive action. To deal with this crisis, our next Secretary of Agriculture must work to advance a new era of sustainability in agriculture, humane husbandry, food and renewable energy production that revitalizes our nation’s soil, air and water while stimulating opportunities for new farmers to return to the land.
We believe that a new administration should address our nation’s growing health problems by promoting a children’s school lunch program that incorporates more healthy food choices, including the creation of opportunities for schools to purchase food from local sources that place a high emphasis on nutrition and sustainable farming practices. We recognize that our children’s health is our nation’s future and that currently schools are unable to meet these needs because they do not have the financial resources to invest in better food choices. We believe this reflects and is in line with your emphasis on childhood education as a child’s health and nutrition are fundamental to their academic success.
This could be a breakthrough for our organic farmers and sustainability in general if the right person is chosen to be the head of this department. We already know that Obama/Biden have a “Plan For Rural America” which I have blogged about before so now we just have to ensure there is a really great US Secretary of Agriculture chosen to make this vision a reality. Please pass this on to gather as many signatures as possible today! Spread the word! Thank you.
All of the talks I went to were extremely interesting and informative. The best one though was by the keynote speaker, L. Hunter Lovins. She is an internationally recognized expert on climate change, green development, energy efficiency, resource use, land management and “natural capitalism.” She was named Time magazine’s “Hero for the Planet” in the year 2000. She has also founded a school named Presidio School of Management where you can receive your MBA in Sustainable Management. One job that these graduates are excelling in is helping large companies to convert their corporations to become more environmentally friendly and find ways for them to save money at the same time. Others go on to work for the EPA or even start their own eco-friendly businesses.
During her presentation, she spoke to us about why it’s important to build a sustainable community. For one thing, it’s prosperous for all of the residents and you will feel secure and self-reliant. All residents will have assured supplies of water, energy, food and basic services. Being sustainable means fully valuing and enhancing all forms of capital: financial, manufactured, human and natural.
One idea that was mentioned by several speakers including Ms. Lovins was the “Triple Bottom Line – profit, protection and people.” This refers to what are the financial, environmental and social impacts of an organization, business or community? This is what we must think about when we are in the planning stages.
She talked a bit about businesses and mentioned that businesses also need to remember the most important thing which is to always start with efficiency. There will always be surprises in business but as companies are now realizing, protecting the climate is profitable! This is evidenced by Walmart who has very large sustainability goals in place and they are actively taking steps to become more green and sustainable to help their company’s bottom line as well as the planet. Since announcing this, their stock prices have gone up even in a bear market economy. I know this seems crazy that Walmart is committed to this but since they are leading the way, other large corporations will surely be following soon enough.
Ms. Lovins is also a part of the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP) which is a large group of experts working together to help find solutions to reversing the damages caused by climate change, improve our economy and our national security. A plan for our 44th president’s first 100 days in office regarding climate change has been produced and since we have now had the election a few weeks ago, we know our new president is on board with halting climate change and creating economic growth by moving forward with new technologies and greenhouse gas regulations that will help save our planet and grow our economy at the same time. A win-win for all once again.
Here is the background on what PCAP is trying to accomplish:
One of the most important challenges facing the 44th President – arguably the most important challenge – will be to quickly and effectively address the three interrelated problems of climate change, energy stability and national security.
Leading climate experts estimate that the international community has 10 years to make dramatic changes in greenhouse gas emissions if we wish to avoid the worst consequences of global warming. A similar need for action in the next decade is being created by the growing international competition for oil, the approaching peak in world petroleum production and America’s increasing dependence on oil from unstable or hostile regions. Left unaddressed, these problems may create unprecedented economic and environmental hardships and increasing global tensions.
By the time the 44th President takes office, the window of opportunity to prevent these crises will be one-third gone. The people of the United States, as well as other nations, will be looking for an early indication of whether the President intends to lead the world’s largest energy-consuming and greenhouse-gas emitting nation on a responsible course of action.
To help the President launch effective Federal leadership on these issues, the University of Colorado and several partner organizations are engaging the nation’s science, policy, business and civic leaders to produce a Presidential Climate Action Plan (PCAP).
The plan will contain a broad menu of policy and program recommendations for the President, rather than advocating a particular policy. It will be announced early in 2008. During 2007-2008, the project will operate a web site that offers resource documents and background information on climate policy to assist the Presidential candidates in forming their climate-action commitments.
In summary, this whole event was very inspiring for me to attend. I am so happy that the ideals and beliefs about how my husband and I like to live our lives for the past 14 years are becoming more mainstream and widely accepted. I am really feeling optimistic even in this bad economic downturn that our country will be implementing these new environmental changes that will be beneficial for everyone on many levels. The time has come and the changes have to be permanent. We are still currently before the “point of no return” and we have to make these changes so we can keep living on this beautiful planet. Don’t you agree?
Last week I read the article, “Farmer In Chief” written by Michael Pollan. It is probably the most thorough article about our current food and agricultural system here in the U.S. and what we need to do to shift the agriculture policy to make it better. Pollan calls it his “Sun-Food Agenda” and it is written as an open letter to the next president. In my opinion, this article is simply amazing. And even better, Obama read it and even quoted from it before he was elected:
There is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy. I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollan about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it’s creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs. That’s just one sector of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board.
Willie Nelson, the musician and the president of Farm Aid, wrote a letter to Obama offering him every resource that Farm Aid has available to assist him in creating a new farm and food policy that supports a sustainable family farm system of agriculture.
From the letter:
There is broad agreement that our farm and food system needs to be drastically reworked. The good news is that the work of building an alternative to the industrial food system is well underway and Farm Aid is proud to have been a leader in this work, something we call the Good Food Movement. The Good Food Movement has grown and thrived almost entirely without the support of the federal government. However, now is the right moment for the leadership of our country to take a role in this important movement. In fact the future of our economy, our environment and our health demand it.
I am waiting to see how this all will unfold once Obama takes office. The way things are run now is clearly not working for anyone on any level anymore. This has to and will change at the policy level and thankfully we have a very aware president-elect that will make sure at least some major agricultural changes take place at that level. It’s already been shifting at the grassroots level as you can tell by the huge surge in consumers buying organic produce, pasture raised meats, attending farmer’s markets, joining CSA’s and the rising awareness of people wanting to take charge of their health starting with nutrition and knowing where their food comes from.
I especially love that he wants to make school food come more from local farmers and be of higher nutritional quality. This is going to really help the low income families who rely on this food program sometimes as their kids’ only source of calories for the day.
Bring Farms to Schools: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will support providing locally grown, healthy foods to students as a part of the school meals program. This will both reduce childhood obesity and grow vibrant rural economies, supporting community-based food systems and strengthening family farms. They will support funding for farm-to-school projects for food, labor, equipment, and staff training. They also will allow schools to give priority to local sources when ordering food. Currently the USDA prohibits schools from requesting local products during the bidding process. Finally, they will expand commodity support to include the school breakfast program as well as the school lunch program.
The farm to school program is already being initiated in one school district in my county right now and I’m hoping my school district will be next to embrace this program.
This is just so great, I’m completely excited that finally I can be happy my government has listened to We The People and will act upon what is best for it’s citizens and not the corporate greed system that has been destroying us and our planet for so long.
I can’t tell you all how happy I am that we as a nation can now move positively in a Greener direction with the election of Obama as President. He has said that one of his first initiatives after stabilizing the economic whirlwind that’s going on right now is to get alternative, sustainable technology going here so we can end our dependence on foreign oil, create millions of jobs that cannot be moved overseas and lower our carbon footprint which will basically save the planet at the same time.
Since I write (and live) a mostly green, sustainable and health blog, this is one of the chief things that I have wanted to see for many years. Having been involved in this lifestyle since the mid 1990’s, I can’t tell you the heartbreak I have had over watching Bush not give a damn over the state of our planet and therefore the people and animals who have to consume the water, air and frankenfood allowed to be so polluted and denatured under his administration. I am OVERJOYED and FILLED WITH HOPE that we can actually survive now. For a while I was not too sure. I think Obama will make wise choices for each position in his administration and even Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s name is on the short list for heading up the EPA which I personally think is an excellent choice considering all the years he’s worked so hard for the environment through the NRDC. (I highly recommend you read this letter from the president of the NRDC through that link).
It gives me goosebumps to see good people that work for the greater good of all to be put in positions of power to ensure we clean up the gigantic toxic mess Bush/Cheney let happen and make our planet safer and cleaner and greener again for our children to grow up in. We do need more regulation in certain areas and many people have been working hard to get certain legislation passed such as the Kid Safe Chemicals Act, the Safe Toys Act, getting the US to sign the Kyoto Protocol, etc. This is necessary and needed to keep us and our children safe. Regulation is not a bad thing especially when corporations are getting away with murder, basically to make a profit. We are not lab rats, we are fellow citizens of the world who are being polluted on so many levels that millions of us are sick and dying, again good for the corporate drug companies to make a buck, not good for the people suffering and dying from toxic overload that causes cancer and other diseases. Obama is aware of these issues, has young children and wants to focus more on preventative medicine and good health and wants to clean this up. That is something stellar to see in a leader because preventative medicine is inexpensive and does not make much money for the drug companies.
And to be clear, I see him as a human, dealing in the world of duality just like the rest of us humans and I don’t hold him up to be a savior or anything like that. I am just so happy that a person of high intelligence, thought and caring for many different issues and is progressive and wants to do things differently and more wisely than the old and decaying ways that no longer work for us as a collective. Those ways just simply won’t work anymore. It won’t be easy, we are going into an economic depression and have to deal with getting through that chaos even with Obama as president.
When I heard “44th President” I was excited because the number 44 is a “power number” according to numerology (which is the metaphysical science of the vibration of numbers developed by Pythagoras in the sixth century BC) and the definition of the number 44 is “universal builder with insight; can institute and assist world-wide reform for the good of mankind; can manifest his postulates.” I feel Obama’s energy and soul wisdom is the right person to embody the power of this title. He is fair and balanced and listens to the advice of others who may not agree with him. That is a mark of a great leader. I know he is fulfilling his karma and will be a real unifier of humanity who is ushering in a new way for us all. And lawd knows, the entire planet is desperate for the US to go in a new direction!
Have you seen the footage of the viewing parties across the globe on our election night and the massive celebrations taking place in other countries once Obama was elected? I think that really says something and we Americans need to take note of that. The most powerful nation on earth has finally chosen a leader the people of the world feel represents the greater good for all. And I hope and pray that we all can move forward working together for this very purpose because we don’t have that much time left to keep destroying the planet without more and more dire consequences being thrust upon us all.
Last Saturday was our town’s annual Halloween Parade down Main St. Yes, I live in a town with a Main Street and seasonal parades and other fun events here. This town also has made Money magazine’s list for the 100 best places in America to live (we are in the top 50) several times, too.
Since we had just gotten back from vacation a few days earlier in the week, I had no costume for the boy and didn’t even have any time to get one before we left. My husband did make a set of foam swords this summer for them to have sword fights since Leif was obsessed with doing that with anything he could find. So, I decided to work around that. At first he was going to be a knight in shining armor but then we didn’t have time to sew a helmet and wound up making him a gold crown instead so he declared himself a king – “a good king” to be precise.
I went to the local fabric store and got him some shiny gold fabric to make a cape and I’m sure he will get a lot of use out of that since what boy doesn’t love a cape to play with? We made him a crown out of an old paperboard sign and painted it and made a shield out of cardboard. My husband painted him a coat of arms on the shield that had a nature theme – a leaf and vine, what else for King Leif?
It turned out to be a very inexpensive, fast, homemade costume out of mostly stuff we had on hand including the paints. And he loves it!
Good King Leif
The King and his good friend, the Knight
The King and his good friend, the Obama-supporting Cow.
The King got tired and decided to hitch a ride upon his noble steed, aka Daddy.
Another favorite thing he has been really into this past week was a temporary tattoo we got at our local democrat office of Obama on a postage stamp. He wanted it on his belly and loved showing it off. I took many shots of his cute belly:
On Halloween, we plan on going to our rec center’s huge annual Halloween carnival that has lots of fun carnival games for little kids, several bouncy houses and a spooky boat ride across the large pool. The pool area is dimly lit and there are still more places in there to play games and win prizes. In another room, they bring in small animals for a petting zoo. We’ve gone the past 2 years and he just loves it. Yet another great thing this town does for the children that live here and all of the events are free.
After that, he likes to go trick or treating with his Dad and loves the idea of getting things from people even though he really does not like candy (I know, strange) but that is probably because we don’t eat candy or any products with high fructose corn syrup in them so he just doesn’t like the taste. I buy him these organic, naturally sweetened lollipops which he loves so I give him those instead of the candy he collects. I am trying to get him a Unicef box so he can collect money for Unicef instead of candy he (or we) won’t eat.
I hope you all have a very happy and safe Halloween with your kiddies!
This is pretty cool. I just saw this video on the Huffington Post and read the article and basically, this democrat, Eric Hirschberg, filmed these life long republicans explaining why they are breaking with their party and voting for Obama. It’s so interesting to hear them explain their points of view. If you go to www.ConservativesForChange.com you can see more videos.
I just returned home from a much needed week long break we took to see my friends and family in NY for a friend’s wedding. It was awesome. There truly is nothing like hanging out with old friends and in NY, I have many that I keep in touch with. As much as I love living in CO, it always makes me so sad to leave everyone at the end of my trip. Each day I woke up and I didn’t care about what was going on in the world and instead I saw many different people and we just laughed so much, ate great ethnic (vegan) food, played with all of the kids (my son just loved that) and just got to hang out and be me. My son got to see and understand more about his mama on this trip now that he’s a bit older and he got to play with so many cousins and friend’s children and spent quality time with my aunt who babysat him while we were at the wedding.
One of my friends who was the maid of honor gave a beautiful toast and at one point said, look around the room, see how many people (the bride) is still close with for more than 25 years. (I have been friends with the bride for 28 years already). She said this is because of the kind of character she has and the quality person that she is. I agree. The old, enduring relationships are with the kind of people that are there for you, know all about you and how you have evolved as a person over time and love you regardless of it all. This is such a rare and beautiful thing because as it is with any relationship, it takes some work and effort to maintain.
Our last day there we drove into NYC and took my son to see the new dinosaur exhibit at the natural history museum, went to Central Park then met my uncle for dinner at a restaurant I’ve been dying to go to – Pure Food and Wine. It is a gourmet raw vegan restaurant and the food was amazing – we all liked it and I have new ideas of things to try to re-create here at home. The highlight of the whole meal had to be the dessert – 3 different raw vegan ice creams. Oh.My.God. They do have a $2,000 ice cream machine in the kitchen which makes it come out like gelato. One was an ice cream cone with chocolate ice cream dipped in a hardened shell of raw chocolate, the other was a pistachio ice cream sandwich dipped in the same raw chocolate shell and the third one we tried was a chai tea ice cream pop covered in the raw chocolate shell. All so good and the ice cream sandwich tasted like marzipan which is one of my favorite desserts so I had to ask what the ingredients were and the waiter told me that it was really the Italian almond flour in the cookie part that gave it that flavor. I am so trying this at home soon! My son, Mr. Picky ate a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dinner. I figured at least it’s all healthy ingredients since he wouldn’t eat anything else on the menu. He loved it and loved the other ice creams for dessert, too. Now I need to get a good ice cream maker since I only have the REI roll it on the floor kind of ice cream maker you use for camping. Not the same.
The other great thing for me about being in NY is that it’s a very liberal state and that makes me feel right at home. CO is a “purple” state so there is more opportunity to encounter others with a much more conservative viewpoint on every single issue out there – even ones like my current congresswoman voted for that hinder support for low income children in my own town which makes me so sad for them and disgusted by her (she’s done many other actions I don’t like, either). Good thing she’s up for re-election and hopefully she won’t be back to do more damage.
On our plane ride home, there was a current issue of Rolling Stone Magazine left behind so I was psyched to read it since I don’t normally read that mag and of course, there is a big political article in it (many, many details) about “The Real John McCain.” I’ve read a lot about both candidates over the past few months and just like I pick my friends, I want to choose my candidate on the content of their character and their integrity. This article goes into detail with facts from his biography, interviews he’s given to the press over the years as well as interviews the journalist did with his fellow POW’s and other military personnel – even info about the Reagan’s viewpoint on his actions which was surprising to me. I highly recommend you check out this article as it’s the best one I’ve read about him, bar none: http://www.rollingstone.com
I really hope we can rebuild our country and focus again on the people of this country and taking care of us all so we can become a strong nation again. We are looking and acting pretty wounded right now out in the world especially because of what’s happened to our economy. We who live here are lucky to live here, it is a great nation and I am fully aware of that from having lived abroad in other countries.
I am hoping we all will elect the president that understands that and wants to help rebuild us as strong people first. I want my son to have opportunities for good health care and education that won’t cost us an arm and a leg to provide it for him and better laws to get rid of putting special interest groups first over what is safe for him (and us) to ingest and breathe in. If we had that, we wouldn’t have to go look up in the Skin Deep website about products we use on our bodies to see if the unregulated chemicals in the products we buy are safe for us or not or have a need for the Safe Toys Act or the noxious toxins that are allowed to be put into our air and dumped into our water supply, or injected into our food supply – even through the factory farm animals most people eat everyday, etc. We need an overhaul of so many systems to help us become a strong and healthy nation and the tides are finally turning where enough people are aware of and care about these issues now.
As Suze Orman always says, “People first, then money, then things.” I really hope we get the opportunity to finally put all Americans first instead of continuously catering to the greed of the corporations and the wealthiest 1% of Americans. If we don’t focus on the people, I think we will see lots more devastation and death with increasing global warming catastrophies doing a number on this planet as well as a bankrupt financial system and extreme amounts of homelessness and poverty all over America and the world, too since we’d be in the midst of a global depression. Yeah, happy thoughts, I know. I hope all of my American readers will take all of this into consideration when choosing who to vote for. There really is only one logical choice who will put the people first and if you don’t believe me, be sure to read the above article.
I feel all beings need to be treated compassionately and culled humanely if you eat them. If you live in California, please vote YES on Prop. 2 – the humane treatment of factory farm animals. It seems insane that we even have to vote on this. I hope all states adopt legislation regarding eradicating the cruel and inhumane treatment of factory farm animals. Not able to barely move, turn around or spread their wings is cruel and we would never do this to our pets so why do we do this to other animals?
The NY Times gave a full endorsement of Prop 2 last week. Here is an excerpt that was posted on Vegan.com:
You will never in your life, on any topic, see a newspaper editorial give stronger support to a ballot initiative than this endorsement of Proposition 2 appearing in today’s New York Times. The first and last paragraphs:
The goal of the California Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act — Proposition 2 on the state’s November ballot — sounds extremely modest. It would ban the confinement of animals in a way that keeps them from being able to stand, sit, lie down, turn around and extend their limbs. The fact that such fundamental decencies have to be forced upon factory farming says a lot about its horrors. We urge California voters to pass Proposition 2. We urge every state to enact similar laws…
To a California voter still undecided on Proposition 2, we say simply, imagine being confined in the voting booth for life. Would you vote for the right to be able to sit down and turn around and raise your arms? Link
You need to watch this short video about a man who could be our next leader and the crazy raging temper he’s got. Do we need someone irrational (again) leading our country? So many of his peers went on record to attest to his rage and irrational behavior and several are on this video. Scary stuff.
