tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81347376603533195082024-02-20T06:39:21.187-08:00Travelling With Gracebethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-91207512632853935852012-10-09T14:28:00.001-07:002012-10-09T14:29:51.833-07:00First Fruits<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here are the first fruits on our young tree tomato, known in some places as the tomarillo...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNyDtSkLhg5r0-mUDj41sqreEIBRIz70wztUZ_r9AmXlJ2lDqPFbgxgezbkgtbPsvf5hoiHxa58vvl4zerOKzvrS-FhuKvERV9vFgHUh8dAEekY13J0rrOKGIHj5B5_VGj_c18iDqAgj7I/s1600/Picture+028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNyDtSkLhg5r0-mUDj41sqreEIBRIz70wztUZ_r9AmXlJ2lDqPFbgxgezbkgtbPsvf5hoiHxa58vvl4zerOKzvrS-FhuKvERV9vFgHUh8dAEekY13J0rrOKGIHj5B5_VGj_c18iDqAgj7I/s320/Picture+028.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The graceful, big-leaved tree's starry waxy-white flowers blossomed at the end of Autumn, and the fruits grew and ripened over the long winter months. We literally waited for the fruits to fall to the ground, and then foraged for them rather than harvested. Grace discovered that she is not a fan of the tree tomato's fruits - a bit disappointing after being impressed by their smooth jewel-shaped elegance and watching their ripening in anticipation for so long. She's a great lover of real tomatoes, but of course in the muddling way that we so often name things, this tree is not actually related to the tomato family at all. So it was left to me to enjoy its unique taste sensations - a touch of sharp bitterness yielding to a soft, tropical, guava-like heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now the long cold, wet winter has finally passed, and it has been time to rejuvenate our food garden - clear the mint that has been set on food garden domination, recondition the soil with compost and worm castings, and plant new seeds and seedlings. We can look forward to spinach, celery, strawberries, Italian parsley, radishes, pumpkins, parsnips, carrots and some real tomatoes!</span>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-87879225262363659672011-05-23T13:13:00.000-07:002011-05-23T13:20:52.401-07:00The Mantis Goddess<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">On a mild Autumn Saturday afternoon, she made a jagged flight into our garden, and headed straight for my boots. I moved my feet, and she climbed up the smooth leg of my chair with some difficulty but an impressive determination...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We moved her to the safety of the flower-bed, but she was on an intriguing mission, and she wasn't that interested in safety. It is possible that Autumn is breeding time for the Mantis in our part of the world. </span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She is a queen, and a fine poseur...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She was not shy. She leapt onto the lens of my camera, a few times!...</span><br />
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Eventually, she made her way across the lawn to an ancient cypress tree, and climbed up it until we lost sight of her. A beautiful creature with a powerful energy.</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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In southern Africa, the indigenous Khoi and San people regarded the Mantis as a god...</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div></span>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-32435356222030009062011-04-21T09:25:00.000-07:002011-04-21T09:46:53.773-07:00Life goes on<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJTmDxjwnnXcjQ8aJOzLd2V7-clKCIuiCBTusyg8xoM0rpUha2cp2EJNwy709PExBy05U21562uyTQb1uRXIw_hdp7bgdvN5685HoPLw7j_N_PtdEtXFxT4pekPJFmdTPr7-svNCueMRg/s1600/Picture+081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJTmDxjwnnXcjQ8aJOzLd2V7-clKCIuiCBTusyg8xoM0rpUha2cp2EJNwy709PExBy05U21562uyTQb1uRXIw_hdp7bgdvN5685HoPLw7j_N_PtdEtXFxT4pekPJFmdTPr7-svNCueMRg/s400/Picture+081.jpg" width="300px" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Perhaps Life's greatest quality <br />
is its relentlessness</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
Life doesn't need me and it doesn't need you <br />
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A plant or an ant, will do</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><br />
I like this toughness<br />
I don't actually care that I am superfluous<br />
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I always hope </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">that Life wins<br />
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I also always hope though, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">that as a species, we might make the choices<br />
that support winning side</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">because <br />
Life is beautiful<br />
</span></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-35594903720540265602010-11-10T14:00:00.000-08:002010-11-10T14:19:09.971-08:00Riding the Waves<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7Eu-5P2d7lUphSCM-E-abQ3kDwtW5L-SfimyndIfckzD0lyaSqG_NK3eHc4fobZJ8ScXlHDWUySxB9nDZ0UnSxLxlnJAnwvkhnGXyKdXGnvSv-jFJz5tIa5Gz9ngwHyzJnQwXR1QgaMx/s1600/Picture+067.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7Eu-5P2d7lUphSCM-E-abQ3kDwtW5L-SfimyndIfckzD0lyaSqG_NK3eHc4fobZJ8ScXlHDWUySxB9nDZ0UnSxLxlnJAnwvkhnGXyKdXGnvSv-jFJz5tIa5Gz9ngwHyzJnQwXR1QgaMx/s400/Picture+067.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="left" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There are times when I feel overwhelmed</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> by the scale and pace of the destruction of Life on Earth. I get into the grip of that "too little too late" fear, and with the despair comes a deep weariness of spirit. During those times I don't want to learn anything else about the problems; I don't want to hear about another ecological disaster or ongoing struggle; I don't even want to know about another 'bright green' solution that is ever so bright but still not BIG enough to actually change things...</span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCS2K1A_Df91LE0EeP683cevCPjuRNls4xspmWws1nVQL6pfH4NkQx86DeUDo2ax0-FtI8T3JIkYCz4dMV7jaWiSXFxp64pNK50yY_uTuqo4loxYFyRKjX6xBELWqz1wt9AcqeaLz3DAwD/s1600/Picture+073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCS2K1A_Df91LE0EeP683cevCPjuRNls4xspmWws1nVQL6pfH4NkQx86DeUDo2ax0-FtI8T3JIkYCz4dMV7jaWiSXFxp64pNK50yY_uTuqo4loxYFyRKjX6xBELWqz1wt9AcqeaLz3DAwD/s400/Picture+073.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">During those times, all I want to do is curl up inside the beauty of the world, and let it be all that is... just for a little while...</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkNKoO1cOpizopbj0cNC0Vas8xXj4NJaq2sZdN2MSp69XJTbHqDqi4iMSiLApIXjUE20ep7T1BnbY_T_lK5wG_4WETmdpLyKBK1IuuD9cQYE1Ge9nSvBLEijUKHAJnHmnWcMWgj8YdDNkt/s1600/Picture+094.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkNKoO1cOpizopbj0cNC0Vas8xXj4NJaq2sZdN2MSp69XJTbHqDqi4iMSiLApIXjUE20ep7T1BnbY_T_lK5wG_4WETmdpLyKBK1IuuD9cQYE1Ge9nSvBLEijUKHAJnHmnWcMWgj8YdDNkt/s400/Picture+094.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Safe for a moment. And then, I can recognise that the despair is a reason for apathy, an excuse for carelessness. Refreshed for a moment. And then, I can acknowledge that my hope for sustainable human existence is a powerful force for creating the long future I want for my child and her children; and my despair is part of the problem! Inspired for a moment. And then, I realise I should be spending more of my time immersed in David Attenborough's TV series than reading the news!</span><br />
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</div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-81012099975134477102010-10-30T15:59:00.000-07:002010-10-31T13:16:25.907-07:00Year of the Tiger<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIjl33J23bURY0skL-E0OIegh5k1RIy1787BvQDX2siSK8_pdfh_RYhoisi4tcy8_HHTP2yyFo8TS686fbzPt7uVebQLHjzvw-ClnKO82wlXkVRIJxzvIXxNN_pBE92AqVlWyO45x8Aez9/s1600/Picture+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIjl33J23bURY0skL-E0OIegh5k1RIy1787BvQDX2siSK8_pdfh_RYhoisi4tcy8_HHTP2yyFo8TS686fbzPt7uVebQLHjzvw-ClnKO82wlXkVRIJxzvIXxNN_pBE92AqVlWyO45x8Aez9/s320/Picture+003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">2010 is the Chinese Year of the Tiger, and also the United Nation's International Year of Biodiversity. While the polar bear is a most arresting poster species of climate change, probably no other animal can fit the same role as well as the tiger when it comes to looming mass extinction and our ongoing loss of the Earth's biodiversity. Despite years of conservation funding, all sorts of legal protections and masses of blood, sweat and tears from dedicated human champions, tigers are still worse off in 2010 than they have ever been. <br />
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The animal most widely regarded by humans as the most beautiful of all, endlessly evocative to poets and artists, and the epitome of wildness to many nature-lovers, remains precariously confined, in the smallest of numbers, to pitiful, isolated slivers of land; as vulnerable as ever to death by poaching humans, mostly for consumption for completely superstitious or egocentric reasons.<br />
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How can this be?<br />
<br />
In the days before I gave birth to my child, a friend came by with a pile of books she had cleared out. Amongst them was Ruth Padel's Tigers in Red Weather. I pounced on it. Here was a celebrated British poet and great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin writing of her travels through tigerlands in 2005. It was irresistible, and after my daughter was born I ignored the wisdom 'to sleep when baby sleeps', and instead lay with sleeping child in my arms as I consumed the book. While I relished the quality of the writing so much, the dismal plight of tigers hit home very hard; extra cutting when you have just brought a new life into the world. <br />
<br />
What is happening to this world?<br />
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1</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">90 countries have just reached agreement in Nagoya, Japan on 20 goals to minimise mass extinction in the next 10 years. This includes increasing the amount of protected land from 12.5% to 17%. The area of protected ocean will increase from 1% to 10%. This is being heralded as a landmark agreement. Every gain, no matter how paltry is a gain. Yes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Of course, what justifies the decimation of wildlands and the extinction of species is always "human interest". We've got to look after business first; then people, then tigers, then habitats, then eco-systems, then the Planet. We're still way short of the acknowledgement that all human interest is irrevocably embedded in Nature. There is no business on Earth without the eco-system services that sustain life. We need biology because we are biology. How much do we need to lose before we understand this? When do we look to our precious children and say it is not okay to bequeath this world of loss to them?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There are probably no more than 3000 wild tigers alive today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">At the top of their particular food chain, tigers are a measure of the health of our eco-systems. As their viable populations collapse, so millions of other species are vulnerable to collapse too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Read more: Convention on Biological Diversity <a href="http://www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/">http://www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8098540/Landmark-UN-Nagoya-biodiversity-deal-agreed-to-save-natural-world.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8098540/Landmark-UN-Nagoya-biodiversity-deal-agreed-to-save-natural-world.html</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/opinion/21iht-edlovejoy.html?_r=1">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/opinion/21iht-edlovejoy.html?_r=1</a></span>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-6809092693404689462010-10-15T09:40:00.000-07:002010-10-15T09:42:43.884-07:00Blog Action Day 2010<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The theme for Blog Action Day 2010 is water. The problems are so vast and varied, it seems the world over, wherever there is water, we're wasting it, polluting it and killing off all life in it. In comparison, the solutions being implemented seem so very small and limited. For example, it is a good idea for individuals to choose not to buy bottled water; but what would be revolutionary is if the beverage companies all committed to never bottling water again! That kind of sweeping change in consciousness would feel like the kind of triumph we are sorely missing at the moment. However, in commemoration of Blog Action Day, I don't want to be a harbinger of doom. So I am remembering this wisdom from Tom Robbins, and applying it to the waters of the world:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">This is not a quote but an accurate paraphase of the gist of the message:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">If you look at the world through one eye and see everything that is wrong; look at it then and vow to live in such a way that you change what is wrong. If you look at the world through the other eye and see the beautiful fields stretching to the majestic mountains against the backdrop of a glorious sky, know that the world is also perfect. Then open both eyes and hold these two ideas of the world in your mind's eye in perfect, dynamic balance. For if you see only out of the first eye, you will be a contributor to the darkness of the world; and if you look only out of the other eye, you will be vapid and ineffectual.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Water is in trouble and needs as much good action from us that it can get. Water is also beautiful and stupendous, glorious and life-giving, awesome and unfathomable. It will, of course, survive us; but I hope it won't have to.</span>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-70429615349376081402010-10-14T10:47:00.000-07:002010-10-14T10:52:15.347-07:00Living Wall for World Food Day<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPtPVye6qGglvE3-iUbgN5USi8otp-EzJz-orpvjZ-e2tU5-tEB68_fv0ARZwbsLPY5Qn0f0-vdZ6XU3ycjeR7BGVNAJXPUlnYmRysgYICSXdjrMGjx4QzuT3y3cBXgHyDKcw7k7NzQKa/s1600/header-plants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPtPVye6qGglvE3-iUbgN5USi8otp-EzJz-orpvjZ-e2tU5-tEB68_fv0ARZwbsLPY5Qn0f0-vdZ6XU3ycjeR7BGVNAJXPUlnYmRysgYICSXdjrMGjx4QzuT3y3cBXgHyDKcw7k7NzQKa/s320/header-plants.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This is not one of my photographs - copyright Woolies</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.woolworthslivingwall.co.za/">http://www.woolworthslivingwall.co.za/</a></span></div><div align="left" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Happy to admit my bias - I wrote the copy for this campaign. I love it.</span> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It is a wonderful virtual rendition of a permaculture design for vertical food gardening. Just a few clicks and you plant a strawberry, spinach, basil or tomato seedling on the virtual wall. For every seedling 'planted' the Woolworths Trust donates a real-life plant to an under-resourced school with a permaculture food garden. It makes a difference to food security in South Africa. Even if you don't like getting your hands dirty, you can still plant!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The 2010 theme for the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organisation's World Food Day is United Against Hunger. Plant to grow something different from food shortages and rising food prices; and the unrest it begets. It's free and fast and fun...</span></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-78017061328943594102010-10-07T03:51:00.000-07:002010-10-07T03:52:30.297-07:00Spring Antidote to Indifference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-39378891553303207362010-09-20T16:32:00.000-07:002010-09-20T16:34:41.114-07:002010 SA Blog Awards has been great<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1esteo0gZwW4bjR5WTQ5Yg82M70Gu6CKYmb6pjUR1tqlCzgRj6BZOwMWCURh1CFasNOcWbvZbd3JzrrEua0o01tfjrp1AaO6WFMUMub13BBlL8IrhN9zk4u9ALrxBSjMs5QETsg6n1VCc/s1600/Picture+232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1esteo0gZwW4bjR5WTQ5Yg82M70Gu6CKYmb6pjUR1tqlCzgRj6BZOwMWCURh1CFasNOcWbvZbd3JzrrEua0o01tfjrp1AaO6WFMUMub13BBlL8IrhN9zk4u9ALrxBSjMs5QETsg6n1VCc/s320/Picture+232.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Travelling With Grace was nominated in the Top 10 of 2010 SA Blog Awards Old Mutual Best Green category. Thank you to everyone who made nominations and voted. This has been my space to find my voice for the Travelling With Grace book project, so I have approached my blog like an author-in-training rather than a traditional blogger. It has been very inspiring that Travelling With Grace has been recognised by the SA Blog Awards, and I am grateful for the opportunity to think more expansively about the value of the blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Well done to <a href="http://www.urbansprout.co.za/">http://www.urbansprout.co.za/</a> and <a href="http://www.sprig.co.za/">http://www.sprig.co.za/</a> for making it into the final two. These are great blogs. Another finalist that is very well worth checking out is Project 90 by2030 <a href="http://www.90x2030.org.za/">http://www.90x2030.org.za/</a> . I also find a lot of value and heart at <a href="http://www.mothercityliving.co.za/">http://www.mothercityliving.co.za/</a> .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Thanks to SA Blog Awards and its sponsors for providing the opportunity.</span>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-20447175340395231062010-09-10T05:00:00.000-07:002010-09-10T14:58:19.711-07:00The Urban Foodshed<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg4PI1pNw4T-HrQZyVoPDHfKQIgJV-TxHoaFNI4rwtykCZKJp-nnLwrZA5CaPloIqUfwvK95JYCF7jtqfSVvJN26Xb_HrjMYqgBorPDjzJbb1xOX4UOcgLmP5yJ4PyUjn6ixkBLu1ZHxpf/s1600/Picture+185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg4PI1pNw4T-HrQZyVoPDHfKQIgJV-TxHoaFNI4rwtykCZKJp-nnLwrZA5CaPloIqUfwvK95JYCF7jtqfSVvJN26Xb_HrjMYqgBorPDjzJbb1xOX4UOcgLmP5yJ4PyUjn6ixkBLu1ZHxpf/s320/Picture+185.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">'Bright Lights' Swiss Chard</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It is Spring in the southern hemisphere and like most home food gardeners, I have been busy sowing and planting the summer crops. The news that the United Nation's <strong>Food and Agricultural Organisation</strong> (FAO) has called an <strong>emergency meeting</strong> to discuss another looming <strong>food crisis</strong> has given a certain edge to what is usually a peacful and satisfying pastime. Once again, global <strong>food prices</strong> are soaring, with wheat, oil-seed, sugar and meat all at unprecedented premiums. Riots, that resulted in the deaths of seven people and scores of injured others, broke out in neighbouring Mozambique this week as the government tried to hike up bread prices by 30%. </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzXhyphenhyphenMLRzabqOIeq2pHM1eAl7Vp0Yf55cUKPxwTeE4Y83x61Y7XDRhobdP-Ns1yjk3Al4utCTXH-6dmabh5xdcZGXODohBZKoqKSIOoVgIz2DXyfaKvHEz2cFB_E-AVgvDoDFgo_u5iit/s1600/Picture+243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzXhyphenhyphenMLRzabqOIeq2pHM1eAl7Vp0Yf55cUKPxwTeE4Y83x61Y7XDRhobdP-Ns1yjk3Al4utCTXH-6dmabh5xdcZGXODohBZKoqKSIOoVgIz2DXyfaKvHEz2cFB_E-AVgvDoDFgo_u5iit/s320/Picture+243.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Fava Bean flowers</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The food price surges are the result of an <strong>ever-increasing demand</strong> and a <strong>critical shortage of supply</strong>. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Weather has made a big impact on the poor harvests of the northern hemisphere. It was an unusually hot Summer over much of Europe and Asia bringing drought and wildfires. There has been unusually wet weather across Canada, and of course, the catastrophic floods in Pakistan. But, of course, the problem goes a lot deeper than the weather- a resilient food system can withstand such shocks. The bigger picture is that the <strong>global food system</strong> is far from strong and hardy; it is patently unsustainable and the need for transformation is urgent. </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMnjT14RW3Q5FiEH34qFf9f54dEd9T6HJCfChvkXTDbzb5m4p9ONXt4fiRpfFIN0WpFfKG932BCjJsCVc-ndwFX7b_nDK5fMZzkQKtaI0pbMIU7XaTYCkVG6eir2_vQvenNdHIemyW-1-Q/s1600/DSC00256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMnjT14RW3Q5FiEH34qFf9f54dEd9T6HJCfChvkXTDbzb5m4p9ONXt4fiRpfFIN0WpFfKG932BCjJsCVc-ndwFX7b_nDK5fMZzkQKtaI0pbMIU7XaTYCkVG6eir2_vQvenNdHIemyW-1-Q/s320/DSC00256.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Garden Pea</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">One of the 'bright green' ideas to facilitate this transformation is the <strong>urban foodshed</strong>. The term seems to have first been coined by W C Hedden in the 1929 book "How Great Cities Are Fed". It is analogous to a watershed, referring to the geographic areas that feed the urban population centres. Mapping the urban foodshed enables a city to answer the questions - Where is our food coming? And, how best can we enhance and protect our food system? The urban foodshed is also being increasingly used as a framework to envision <strong>local and sustainable city food systems</strong> as the antidote to global and unsustainable ones.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBIGOGmHK5u2O0wto27AUtWyxd0x5dxCsBIlBHxrKrlzHsrW3X_oRA4FpeB-MzyTj1mBB4JM5S5WrkvygQhtxaI4XyezQjdUxFY6-VZkIsp3XghzrcibmGnezrL8R6g4FJglKyC6tCIpO1/s1600/DSC00268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBIGOGmHK5u2O0wto27AUtWyxd0x5dxCsBIlBHxrKrlzHsrW3X_oRA4FpeB-MzyTj1mBB4JM5S5WrkvygQhtxaI4XyezQjdUxFY6-VZkIsp3XghzrcibmGnezrL8R6g4FJglKyC6tCIpO1/s320/DSC00268.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Strawberry flower</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Many international cities on the road to sustainability have strategies in place to to enable and strengthen local and regional food systems. A <strong>local urban foodshed</strong> is often defined as being within <strong>100 kilometres</strong> of city and the <strong>regional urban foodshed</strong> within <strong>300 kilometres</strong>. Common 2020 international goals are to have at least 25% of the food consumed in city coming from the local foodshed; and <strong>65% from the regional foodshed</strong> (which encompasses the local foodshed). The advantages of a local and sustainable urban foodshed are not least, <strong>lower food prices, local supply</strong> and <strong>reduced carbon footprint</strong>. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsO3V_O1nyVER0K0VYXaPAd_7M7Qyb8s5YKBdyEEraitWwux_MpCFS-PkihX1Nvk9QG7rsnsX02CkZFozTCzyInW0GI9JBbkNxKiqbhjDcuy8l7Ymz7vp8Qf-DUBPeZZ_FziBS2_YeoqFE/s1600/DSC00284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsO3V_O1nyVER0K0VYXaPAd_7M7Qyb8s5YKBdyEEraitWwux_MpCFS-PkihX1Nvk9QG7rsnsX02CkZFozTCzyInW0GI9JBbkNxKiqbhjDcuy8l7Ymz7vp8Qf-DUBPeZZ_FziBS2_YeoqFE/s320/DSC00284.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Rosa Tomatoes</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Growing some of our own food is an action that just about everyone can take, and many individuals are nowadays inspired to get their hands dirty. <strong><span style="color: #666666;">City food gardening</span></strong> is blooming all over the world, and not just in the suburban backyard. Urban community gardening projects abound, and city-dwellers are also growing fruit, vegetables and herbs on balconies, decks, rooftops and walls. There's a growing awareness that the city landscape can, and should be edible. Urban food gardening is no longer regarded as a hobby for the green-fingered; but for the green-minded, it is a lifestyle strategy for food security, health and sustainability.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Here you will find a useful paper, <strong>"Foodshed Analysis and its relevance to Sustainability"</strong> by CJ Peters et al 2008</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> <a href="http://www.greentechboston.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Peters_FoodshedAnalysis_2009.pdf">http://www.greentechboston.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Peters_FoodshedAnalysis_2009.pdf</a></span><br />
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</div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-41989981644091333482010-08-22T13:18:00.000-07:002010-08-23T04:11:47.560-07:00Who Needs the Healing?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIQnlF1SHGyLnLVVdS1z7rIwSOcSuEmVfLbmiqGJDfNyDbl_MOqK0OkSaVQW14jI1NmmIR1glw_yNssyyNNHVG99JD3HfYnZM3D3yfQaXITV7YI3gB3oFkg-WbjMA5K4zJV9koTaJbhQ2/s1600/DSC00185.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIQnlF1SHGyLnLVVdS1z7rIwSOcSuEmVfLbmiqGJDfNyDbl_MOqK0OkSaVQW14jI1NmmIR1glw_yNssyyNNHVG99JD3HfYnZM3D3yfQaXITV7YI3gB3oFkg-WbjMA5K4zJV9koTaJbhQ2/s320/DSC00185.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">UNTAMED is a year-long, living exhibition at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town that combines art, plants, poetry, sustainable architecture and a solar panel. It's a poignant, pressing statement designed provoke individual consciousness about our relationships to Nature.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVx9gVvGSHxjqXZCmTfe4T4VR_UNqCjLHP3A5Ycqg3N_qTM4wLDhoOr9o1C6MJUWHFYmPTfGwgjbL3OvsEEHj1GqxMqSvI0H7B5Au8auccuCz-WY5pGzn9FFvOcqGeO3h6v1tQANDE7xJm/s1600/DSC00073.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVx9gVvGSHxjqXZCmTfe4T4VR_UNqCjLHP3A5Ycqg3N_qTM4wLDhoOr9o1C6MJUWHFYmPTfGwgjbL3OvsEEHj1GqxMqSvI0H7B5Au8auccuCz-WY5pGzn9FFvOcqGeO3h6v1tQANDE7xJm/s320/DSC00073.JPG" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The spiraling, solar-powered, naturally-lit pavilion has been designed by Enrico Daffonchio. The living wall comprised of re-fashioned plastic cold-drink bottles filled with indigenous ground covers was planted by the Kirstenbosch horticulturalists.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicPj9nAUa62QlkkMKpp9azSP1LiKM04l4w98MrbtuFQGrJ3IdkrAdmS3tyudLkjBpGKf4uuvyGguqtb1GpXFpN4OTwJxPTv40rBJYbf0uDIoWVYzhmQbqdDnrOLdtTjBI0xS9B4zDHIa7J/s1600/DSC00089.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicPj9nAUa62QlkkMKpp9azSP1LiKM04l4w98MrbtuFQGrJ3IdkrAdmS3tyudLkjBpGKf4uuvyGguqtb1GpXFpN4OTwJxPTv40rBJYbf0uDIoWVYzhmQbqdDnrOLdtTjBI0xS9B4zDHIa7J/s320/DSC00089.JPG" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The sculptures are by Dylan Lewis, renowned for his animal works in bronze. Here he explores humanity's balance with Nature in a way that evokes a lost wildness, and a lost serenity. The words are by Ian McCallum, poet and psychiatrist, wilderness guide and psychological analyist probably best known for his book, Ecological Intelligence. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I rushed through UNTAMED - after an appropriately wild toddler who loved running the spiral </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and would not be tamed by the conventions of viewing an exhibition. But despite this, words by Ian McCallum jumped out at me: "We need to stop speaking about the Earth being in need of healing. The Earth does not need healing. We do."</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-RrI2lwXcbHdPXzVNr1we6aBUvm2fTOyOzyLE8Ff81FbktuWLeHg7RMxdME40bk8_2o2edj5hZexxx6n5JFZOlblYbWGKz879B1AsUJ02SyZhphmkffw4e3seWHTxzRCkI1k9luzIWk__/s1600/DSC00092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-RrI2lwXcbHdPXzVNr1we6aBUvm2fTOyOzyLE8Ff81FbktuWLeHg7RMxdME40bk8_2o2edj5hZexxx6n5JFZOlblYbWGKz879B1AsUJ02SyZhphmkffw4e3seWHTxzRCkI1k9luzIWk__/s320/DSC00092.JPG" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Because I feel so urgent about giving Nature the chance for the restoration and renewal of wildness, I often think, speak and write in terms of us 'healing the Earth'. So I really enjoyed the challenge of this statement. It's not a new idea but it is certainly has value in being revived. Mr McCallum's view is that we are pat</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">hological in our relationship to Nature. He echoes American monk, 'Earth scholar' and Deep Ecology advocate Thomas Berry who described humanity in relation to Nature as being autistic for centuries.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What they, and many other sustainable living activists, are saying is that we won't get sustainability right without addressing the fundamental problems in the way we see and relate to Nature. While we exist in a paradigm that disregards and attempts to dominate Nature; while we find the most value in Nature in terms of what we can extract from it, instead of learn about it; we will remain in opposition to the force that gives us life - eco-illiterate, pathological, unresponsive - doomed. The challenge of awakening to respect, love, appreciation, even reverence for Life - ours and all others, is an individual one.</span><br />
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</span>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-25489812799363595892010-07-14T13:28:00.000-07:002010-07-15T14:40:57.776-07:00Gardening for Resilience<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhdJMcQk6T3UzhW6sT_ZnCvSMoafr7sXLRtTMuXZ9GmihxRBv-jGkUVWYcOQTPdYyzAQzLB0spZrAZdxmNQP_uWKSVtFOs2DOh4hc2Ok4_Kjfs3MzLN3qXxnnc_-FLgxqLeR12DpzrL4jx/s1600/DSC09930.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhdJMcQk6T3UzhW6sT_ZnCvSMoafr7sXLRtTMuXZ9GmihxRBv-jGkUVWYcOQTPdYyzAQzLB0spZrAZdxmNQP_uWKSVtFOs2DOh4hc2Ok4_Kjfs3MzLN3qXxnnc_-FLgxqLeR12DpzrL4jx/s320/DSC09930.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493871362688701570" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">We have such a deeply ingrained urge to cultivate. Maybe one day they'll find a genome for it! The second last chapter of Stewart Brand's book, Whole Earth Discipline, is called: "It's All Gardening". He writes: "Ecosystem engineering is an ancient art, practiced and malpracticed by every human society since the mastery of fire. We would be fools to repeat their mistakes and just as foolish to ignore some of the brilliant practices that worked for them."</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">How should we be gardening today?<br /></span><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisv0FhFMosAi5Y9pv657d-32LS9h2jW2TOnZYxPDmek9ID5EH8iiC8CR45DiLR3iwoqoLumIaIPNDWMSVXnjIK0INOXtR_5BDvXo-dqR5cM5k8jaPOFnXjSiAVNtlI6cXjjhYhzW_O7zRf/s1600/DSC09943.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisv0FhFMosAi5Y9pv657d-32LS9h2jW2TOnZYxPDmek9ID5EH8iiC8CR45DiLR3iwoqoLumIaIPNDWMSVXnjIK0INOXtR_5BDvXo-dqR5cM5k8jaPOFnXjSiAVNtlI6cXjjhYhzW_O7zRf/s320/DSC09943.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493870498029006354" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">We are facing unprecedented challenges. The ways we choose to garden will have an impact on our resilience in the face of climate change. We should be gardening for biodiversity, for local and sustainable food, for sustainable water and for zero waste. Here's an example of a folly in my home city, Cape Town:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> - a rose garden in the showpiece Company Gardens - Why? It even gets a mention on the city's "green map". Why? The Cape Town city and environs is blessed to be home to one of the unique floral kingdoms of the world. The smallest floral kingdom in the world in terms of space but the second most diverse in terms of species - and that's second only to the Amazonian floral kingdom that spans multiple countries and continents. Why aren't we proudly growing our native flora in our showpiece urban garden? Why are we growing roses?<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUi-OYpmfgFexVknTsxZp0MY5nDYYTvFQJANHXw5gSV5Wn311HyilDNzI3GOXjJMMng6eSmXj7G4BPv0H1BC5_2r3VEDSFx2l1OTt5bbKD6AxxHTTUdfEj-62hVVrMR6WY5wfeDeDc6VfD/s320/DSC09928.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493867316929130722" /></span></span></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">It's time - let's grow for food and biodiversity. Let us plant native plants and restore our biodiversity. Let us plant for food and create an urban foodshed. Let us get off the train at the new revamped Cape Town station and pick a banana or an orange on the way to work. Let us plant an Erica or Buchu on our balcony and feed a butterfly and a bee.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71-LB6E8yba7MujKEgqtm-H_lMuZz70SpVdO-a_h57WlSsIbMO6u7HiQ6Q4NMdoY3ugymPbhUHZq9y4WqHZMkdPEWTQ49ivhdU-PQoYXYFZLdqkqv1dNSZbHqfXJIGWhY1MUKj8B0pTFX/s1600/DSC09937.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71-LB6E8yba7MujKEgqtm-H_lMuZz70SpVdO-a_h57WlSsIbMO6u7HiQ6Q4NMdoY3ugymPbhUHZq9y4WqHZMkdPEWTQ49ivhdU-PQoYXYFZLdqkqv1dNSZbHqfXJIGWhY1MUKj8B0pTFX/s320/DSC09937.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493863057286810210" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Let the landscapers give up on the hungry lawns and sterile exotic palms. Let us create food-rich, nature-rich local environments that make us strong.<br /></span><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-86789212037458004722010-06-21T01:30:00.001-07:002010-06-21T07:19:58.771-07:00Nature Play<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6jo9jXpgdEDm-M63jOyzyt6MiINXjoq4lSM8wy3MdVM_KeP6KIFvQFu_bzR0j-ALKFHaw4OUsdUxZhjySaKGEcrhHFL7r29WYjmOSb1ZSUTLyyQXGJcMbf6pyhMo3-6ZB1wc7OzjGy_la/s1600/DSC09864.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6jo9jXpgdEDm-M63jOyzyt6MiINXjoq4lSM8wy3MdVM_KeP6KIFvQFu_bzR0j-ALKFHaw4OUsdUxZhjySaKGEcrhHFL7r29WYjmOSb1ZSUTLyyQXGJcMbf6pyhMo3-6ZB1wc7OzjGy_la/s320/DSC09864.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485163205480692370" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Today's parents are beset by anxieties about providing our children with the 'right' development opportunities that will prepare them for "success". The current children of the developed world are the most over-regulated, over-organised, busiest children in human history - and some would argue, also the most limited. The greatest of these limitations is not being able to roam freely in Nature. Fear for children's safety and dwindling Nature are just two of the reasons why children of today spend far less unsupervised time outdoors than their parents did. The commercialisation of childhood is another major factor. Indoor play areas have become big business in the same way that video and TV products evermore replace a child's primary experience of the world.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU25RN7fV0N1oPsQPirjPlggZppzPIEg3mHr3d4WCHuM1OFSHjPVPFW-NRG0V4xL8_5wiyCDMGt9Yzn5scx2JQ_bgBLwv70mh8GBLbeZl59qpmaObFo9DBo7DDuVXXRePdA79muAaF8Yuy/s320/DSC09710.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485161303761081682" /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-family:'trebuchet ms';">In his influential book, 'Last Child in the Woods', Richard Loev proposes that in fact enabling our children to play freely in Nature every day, come rain or shine, is one of the greatest things we can do to prepare them for fulfilling adult lives. He presents a vast array of studies that indicate that unstructured Nature play impacts positively on physical, cognitive and emotional development. For instance, a comparative study of pre-schoolers in Norway and Sweden showed that children in a 'green' playschool who spent most of their school time rambling outside in a natural setting had significantly better physical prowess than their counterparts who were engaged in some organised physical activity on a level playground. The Nature children, who ran and tumbled over uneven ground, climbed trees, waded in water and built forts in long grass had better muscle tone and strength, greater balance and co-ordination skills. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Physical development may be the most obvious benefit. However, Nature play is also increasingly being used with promising results as either an alternative or supplementary therapy for children diagnosed with ADHD. Parents involved in these studies report both the immediate calming affect of Nature on their children and an increased capacity to focus after Nature experiences. In a world with an increasing demand for innovation, it may also trigger the ambitions of some parents to know that studies show that children who play often in Nature show markedly greater capacities for quality creativity.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Scientist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward O. Wilson uses his "biophilia" hypothesis to argue that humans have a biological need to "affiliate with other forms of life" - that is, a physical connection to the natural world is fundamental to our individual development.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div></div></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-81175398940022116912010-06-14T02:50:00.001-07:002010-06-15T03:51:01.722-07:00Leap for Sustainability<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0gxc_d7zz5YJXIZY1xYixCQUi-vUW87catmi7kQgbPBGJXFckykDshlo17RZ5NqDwv-NsCdhfBPcSRHe38rRnIFTqRBUuNhS0AiQxChquVMJZY_EMUplaQqLZbGx6nZ2pJji4EFcC84n/s1600/DSC09690.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0gxc_d7zz5YJXIZY1xYixCQUi-vUW87catmi7kQgbPBGJXFckykDshlo17RZ5NqDwv-NsCdhfBPcSRHe38rRnIFTqRBUuNhS0AiQxChquVMJZY_EMUplaQqLZbGx6nZ2pJji4EFcC84n/s320/DSC09690.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482566986896389298" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Bright Green thinker and writer, Alex Steffen of http://www.worldchanging.com has long maintained that we cannot achieve sustainability by taking little steps. He also warns that focusing on small, simple changes can dangerously distract us from taking the necessary big leaps that the complexity of our world demands. Instead Mr Steffen urges us constantly towards consciousness of the whole system in which we are embedded, as well as high level actions on political and personal levels.<br /><br />In this article, How to Really Green Your Home, Deep Down</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><a href="http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/011094.html">http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/011094.html</a> you can watch Catherine Mohr's entertaining and smart TED talk of how she grappled with her ecological impact when she was building a new home. Its provides great insights into embodied energy and water, and shows how to take them into account.<br /></span><div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ndXsNFxlVeIPGcgNQ9RLZmW4qL61UT0szJxJIRHrcCGmIYXslmhrCAvKgChD1iGxCXjCBVIU_6IwD3UtODeksLNj36PP8-X4-aq4EGoKPlqUU5xlqp0YJpBs39dFbjd0hDt5-g2n6iEh/s1600/DSC09691.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ndXsNFxlVeIPGcgNQ9RLZmW4qL61UT0szJxJIRHrcCGmIYXslmhrCAvKgChD1iGxCXjCBVIU_6IwD3UtODeksLNj36PP8-X4-aq4EGoKPlqUU5xlqp0YJpBs39dFbjd0hDt5-g2n6iEh/s320/DSC09691.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482565690206192962" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';">For many of us, our homes represent the largest systems that we have control over, and they are therefore the most significant places where we can make an impact on sustainability. It is important to fully understand our homes in terms of processes, networks and relationships. Bits and pieces of green technologies and some 'simple' actions won't make the difference that is possible with a whole-systems understanding and approach.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-76040753265812783642010-05-31T11:22:00.001-07:002010-06-01T00:56:56.604-07:00Changes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5zFjZU1GyqEkFFQWtLaSOgEDAxGCn4bOS9ocfk7sG9fH0l6zQfR93l164uWS59-KUKNSMQxprKjzREWUYJshQrhOxXHbbeFCTSsZ0Eq1PGdxjgjC0TrlIVEkYjLHS5JLLVBWHvE2BvuWN/s1600/DSC09634.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477502221180453170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5zFjZU1GyqEkFFQWtLaSOgEDAxGCn4bOS9ocfk7sG9fH0l6zQfR93l164uWS59-KUKNSMQxprKjzREWUYJshQrhOxXHbbeFCTSsZ0Eq1PGdxjgjC0TrlIVEkYjLHS5JLLVBWHvE2BvuWN/s320/DSC09634.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I love books that change me. Reading Stewart Brand's 'Whole Earth Discipline' did that last week, and I feel invigorated. I love the way this man thinks, and how brilliantly he writes about his intelligent ideas. Once founder and editor of the famed 'Whole Earth Catalogues', Stewart Brand is also largely credited with planting the seeds of the USA environmental movement of the 70's through his button campaign demanding to see NASA's pictures of the Earth after the 1969 moon mission. For me, he has always been a person to watch. He has a knack of being on the button.<br /><br />Many serious environmentalists and Earth-Lovers felt a range of negative emotions, from disappointment to fury, when about five years ago, Stewart Brand wrote articles and gave interviews that seemed to champion the very 'Evils' that 'green' activists have long rallied against. Very controversially, he started to say that urbanisation is good, cities are green and world population is mostly likely to decline, not explode. Even worse, he started to say nuclear power is green and that genetic engineering offers valuable technologies for a greener world. Brand transformed himself unapologetically, from Saviour to Judas. I admire his bravery in much the same way as I relished Bob Dylan going electric. </span><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Still, I wasn't sure I wanted to read 'Whole Earth Discipline' when I first saw the reviews, but I am delighted that I did. It is not that I have been fully convinced by Stewart Brand's new arguments about what's 'green'. It is that he reminded me to think for myself and to freely change my mind when appropriate, when times change, when there's new information and new ways.<br /><br />There's a crucial aim at stake: to sustain human civilisation on Earth. For a long future, for our children and their future generations; that means sustaining the ecosystems and species that sustain us as well. We go hand in hand, and we all need substantial change, right now.<br /><br />We're stuck in old ways. We don't understand today's science. We're romantic when we need to be pragmatic. We're not visionary enough. We're anti-intellectual. We fight before we listen and understand. We're pessimistic, and we don't trust. We hold onto the old; scared to change our minds and be different in case we lose some kind of credibility. Sometimes, because of this, we may stand in the way of what might help us. That has to change fast. We have to change. Fast. Climate change is already here.</span></p><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></p>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-71560160555851611162010-04-22T04:44:00.000-07:002010-04-22T05:00:41.219-07:00Happy Earth Day!<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ehjSoiXviS-77V4pvFVstfroeuqocH-ujp9edpdAo4iybOqN2_menbGX7_Q9i3JxYPPAok7uXhKQND1orihpVuac78dXmDKFHAqkxV7rIjTPiJKT4twd803e8gwLGlbFQ-1f_i0zPtEe/s1600/DSC07070.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462928007206332642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ehjSoiXviS-77V4pvFVstfroeuqocH-ujp9edpdAo4iybOqN2_menbGX7_Q9i3JxYPPAok7uXhKQND1orihpVuac78dXmDKFHAqkxV7rIjTPiJKT4twd803e8gwLGlbFQ-1f_i0zPtEe/s320/DSC07070.JPG" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">The Song<br /></span></strong><br />The song of the small bird was a dream of a world inside me.<br />Sweet, clear notes drew attention to the vastness of possibilities<br />I could inhabit.<br />Each possibility had its own skin and they could all fit me perfectly.<br />I was free to choose, to try on, to go out,<br />to come back and to change…<br /><br />The song of the small bird could be heard through<br />the branches and leaves of very big, very old trees.<br />It had a purity that could be heard best by the heart.<br />It told of a place of peace and quiet,<br />a home of blessed, wordless stillness,<br />a temple of knowing and being full of Oneself,<br />without any limitations at all…<br /><br />From the song came bones from the sky and hair on the water.<br />There was blood in the veins of the leaves of grass<br />and under the bark of the living forest.<br />Mushrooms loved the song.<br />Flowers mimicked its sweetness and offered it up in nectar<br />to the brown velvet butterflies that came to sip.<br />I could breathe in the song; smooth and fine.<br />Soon, all of us in the garden came to be the song<br />in different and wonderful ways.<br />All the same, our molecules could now dance and sing<br />a new way of being that was abundant and hopeful,<br />and very satisfying.<br /><br /><br />I love this message from Earth Charter International:</span></div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnGcf0mRZ98">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnGcf0mRZ98</a></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">It starts with One... Transform yourself...</span></div><div align="center"></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-65782687806311732982010-02-14T13:10:00.000-08:002010-03-24T13:01:18.219-07:00The Old Oak and The Kingdom of Mushroom<div><div><div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438212532049050642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQVQ-WctMXhSBl1DOfzOoE7OISqW2reZCYhObMRtcpvRcqO9s9W22JGlc04zp8mIM1tQhNHAAFwrI8yjOeCwFMieJMdAeMva2d_5bFILirYwPZ1KFCwJzSqN3xa1jm85UEj9w7d195_FCN/s320/DSC09097.JPG" border="0" /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5tdqWDS8kFOETcogcvf5z_72gVrX2r48ZDLCM4sNga8nUK1IO4Mx9HWJzJW8VcCnOb7G68Rz5huY1ESofpJcCG6rFDqIQqcN2fBo_tBCi5ucw0BQ_YCvBwmMIa4ifJ1Qb_So_HGuNUB_l/s1600-h/DSC09100.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438216546929886802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5tdqWDS8kFOETcogcvf5z_72gVrX2r48ZDLCM4sNga8nUK1IO4Mx9HWJzJW8VcCnOb7G68Rz5huY1ESofpJcCG6rFDqIQqcN2fBo_tBCi5ucw0BQ_YCvBwmMIa4ifJ1Qb_So_HGuNUB_l/s320/DSC09100.JPG" border="0" /></a> <div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438215588434741858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjDLxFNN5ZPYwYCT9gCZPXIJqb7RkmY6bixKn-QQPtKpMZ7Z5vRQPQjePRFcYBcBxLN6xm4TumaYioA1VMfCuM-Ab4Icf1bwSXG5H8puyemenmzE0AyHRxUBnWqfm3Ejy80yOj39ucaxNs/s320/DSC09099.JPG" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438219789078070162" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTvHU_k431Vlg1AKwmr04800OisoIVziZrDlnrtdj1L6tVm2i8owMfVstnm93vZx789Fq8fyW_pKOpuRbVb5571ZUmq9Hq5K2iKkVJ6AVvjoNBLYl_xK830S9sITI0DsrT3MXDIcrDvgwy/s320/DSC09101.JPG" border="0" /> <div></div></div></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438220951369482754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rKBUbPlaNi8GTXP5YrOqDsPnJACujw6jmFYWquMljTa885QHWCylLJ-mrsWlIpJbDFW8jC8jKBF8q-Orxr0g8_wloHtMkZJk3RY8oj4uVkvAPvpIM00cksyrMtV-jjpxsU0XrSWq8Ume/s320/DSC09107.JPG" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438222113097651490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9sxwlg8xLKt6ylKZLLIZxf3JZhNRk8lBWLlK528mh3Y0THREHznr1gbdg8K7gWX7HqCMfQGgRw-g_GHGDG3R082hnuSxsNsjcYt_o_cxEvw871KHpXHUL60FQ6YalZbDVQd-eCpstpMi/s320/DSC09118.JPG" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438211495561020962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK5NUvbDC_B231ZN-rR1CNW3io8zExPcD-CkI8QGa7qerMO2mmGeAIaXk9oC7RN0CI9Ce-eEsXzneHQBGZzBBqu0ZCUoCl8M56MC1OyxEu6Fw_YGUQwYPnc8TOCtQn4P1HnAmqSwEgpW9I/s320/DSC09095.JPG" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438223904925200674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXZSbH4EXTTs042eu7su8pdRisxD3FfVFY24lO7kbkUpNHK2JZJoz47YaOlDUkDs7-nrxG395QiuLah29EtK3nzzMMu0Qya2D1hHk9voDS91vHAimYnisYnkeLlfOWpp0OXgAOIDeoK7Cm/s320/DSC09123.JPG" border="0" /> </div><div><br /><div><div><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-65792859880348603372010-01-28T00:46:00.000-08:002010-04-22T06:40:01.398-07:00The Biomimic's Worldview<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigH8k8i7qN5StKOnPIwpCbFZLNNX4rvn6a54btW09xwnNHu6q7N5NTLBRjCHok16J2QB-OPlfkYfc84JJ6pwFAEZxul67TOAdSSYhsCUQxLcckWd2aiDPovqPlKiW_Y693lwQ33OZ_EI8U/s1600-h/DSC07515.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431753419878064914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigH8k8i7qN5StKOnPIwpCbFZLNNX4rvn6a54btW09xwnNHu6q7N5NTLBRjCHok16J2QB-OPlfkYfc84JJ6pwFAEZxul67TOAdSSYhsCUQxLcckWd2aiDPovqPlKiW_Y693lwQ33OZ_EI8U/s320/DSC07515.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Described as both a science and an art, the field of Biomimicry offers much more than practices and processes for the innovation of a sustainable global human community. The shift to relating to Nature as our Model, Mentor and Measure offers us something we really need right now - the choice of a new, sane and hopeful worldview.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Biomimics are changing the way we do things by asking questions about how Nature does things, and then emulating the genius of Life's designs. It's hard to argue with the rationale - Life has 3.8 billion years of experience of sorting out what works and what doesn't, what lasts and what doesn't.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">In contrast, the human species has had much less than even one blip's worth of experience in finding sustainable solutions to Life's challenges on Earth. The human 'genius' that we've become so enamoured with is ridiculous in comparison. </span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">In the face of a teeming mass of sustainability problems, we might well find that investing our energies in the myriad of well-proven, long-term solutions offered by Nature is a chance to make the first monumental display of our actual intelligence.<br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76xcsy462kMQuBBf0O-mnXLbngFBPbAkeP-rGjiygn4gd4p5Mzo_mBuw0W7cJJZ8cHY3RpV5L-6lZ7tDjfTRv3nFRAoP6R-2MGQ8GyUiqrfA-IeBnZqPkdJzeSTYR3zaIhdhxi5G_FWgt/s1600-h/DSC07522.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431711992000875954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76xcsy462kMQuBBf0O-mnXLbngFBPbAkeP-rGjiygn4gd4p5Mzo_mBuw0W7cJJZ8cHY3RpV5L-6lZ7tDjfTRv3nFRAoP6R-2MGQ8GyUiqrfA-IeBnZqPkdJzeSTYR3zaIhdhxi5G_FWgt/s320/DSC07522.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">As we learn of more and more ways that Biomimicry is being used to develop new, sustainable human products, processes and systems, we are also gaining insight into the Biomimic's worldview. It is a substantial shift from the stress and pessimism of delusion into the calm, optimism of reality. It provides us with a new story of ourselves and our place in the Community of Life on Earth.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">With Nature in the respected role of Model, Mentor and Measure we align ourselves with the truth that we are but one, short-lived species amongst multi-millions, over billions of years. It calls on us to reassess our fond perceptions of our "success" as a species. It gives us another perspective on the attitude that just because, for a nanosecond in the history of Life on Earth, we colonized just about everywhere and held the fate of so many other species in our hands, that we are extraordinarily powerful. Extraordinarily stupid might be closer to the mark!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">At this point, all our technological genius has failed to make us independent of arable soil, fresh water and clean air. In fact, our technologies have increased our dependence on Earth by fostering addictions to other non-renewable, finite resources such as oil; all the while severely depleting and degrading the stocks of land, water and air. </span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">We are as deeply embedded in the biosphere as we have ever been. Like any other species, if we push past Nature's limits we will fail.</span> <p></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431776813810360034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSJihBUMdQ1ezFPZSqgdF_EmzOkI0ADrYF1LmCh9MuDUkNEhoueLxDW2Uq9L-6cvRLk0Nj24qw2O1YpjuwslIZnUl15U0T0thBTzVg1iPl6ipLx7K5EwSd5GpWBeZfuTqoNYyZlwwl4iW/s320/DSC07562.JPG" border="0" /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">In an illuminating conversation with founder of the Biomimicry Institute, Janine Benyus, which can be found here </span><a href="http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/what-do-you-mean-by-the-term-biomimicry.html">http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/what-do-you-mean-by-the-term-biomimicry.html</a> - <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">she talks about the need for our species to evolve from a pioneering, weed-like niche to filling the ecological role of a mature, hardwood forest. Key to this will be our capacity to respectfully adhere to Life's Principles in everything that we do from now on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Eco-literacy underpins our success in creating a sustainable world. We have to understand how Life works before we can know our limits. When we live within Nature's limits we will shift harmoniously into optimising our eco-system by being a participant in creating conditions conducive to more Life. Biomimicry invites us as individuals to get out into Nature, to start learning, and be inspired...</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Find out more about Biomimicry at:</span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><br /><a title="blocked::http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/" href="http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/">http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/</a><br /><a title="blocked::http://www.asknature.org/" href="http://www.asknature.org/">http://www.asknature.org/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Read: </span>Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus<br /></p>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-56029677335946256992010-01-16T11:13:00.000-08:002010-01-16T11:32:58.292-08:00Beauty<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaqO8MDYEHw3LNNAdtNcWKz-GjNYNKYORxPtDM81RWg1L44RD4s1-7ALXfKFTuv_2_SsoVJL0q3_Bi5xIWyQuHkWOuI1PTZBpUe66Ljh8ZmngIQb1jpEH66yP62XegzxYYICDM2FkhsnFV/s1600-h/DSC08270.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427418896289987426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaqO8MDYEHw3LNNAdtNcWKz-GjNYNKYORxPtDM81RWg1L44RD4s1-7ALXfKFTuv_2_SsoVJL0q3_Bi5xIWyQuHkWOuI1PTZBpUe66Ljh8ZmngIQb1jpEH66yP62XegzxYYICDM2FkhsnFV/s320/DSC08270.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Let Beauty speak for itself<br /><br /></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Let your love of Beauty<br /><br />be absolutely innocent and silent<br /><br /></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Let your awe </span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><br />be a strong, honest, grave and unknown prayer<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">for Beauty's own Eternity<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">For the sake of nothing at all<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">But Beauty<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-21542647379265562992010-01-14T12:32:00.000-08:002010-01-14T12:48:19.797-08:00Our Goose<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIzBDRzhS68WXGEs7-jdGwhMYUOJzTUjL4DutyUK6dNfWttKawOP4lb9DLCDOBDgHjoOTJab3H8ctdOlVQquFnfxT_6jyDcIZuOEi1o7jn-SqbJzDa7f5OEV6AJaFgSmf7CrnUESZP4Tjc/s1600-h/DSC08458.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426698082154546562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIzBDRzhS68WXGEs7-jdGwhMYUOJzTUjL4DutyUK6dNfWttKawOP4lb9DLCDOBDgHjoOTJab3H8ctdOlVQquFnfxT_6jyDcIZuOEi1o7jn-SqbJzDa7f5OEV6AJaFgSmf7CrnUESZP4Tjc/s320/DSC08458.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>Our Goose</strong><br /><br />On top of the ridge<br />overlooking the road<br />From the sheer height<br />of a stark old pine tree<br />Against the sharpness<br />of today’s blue sky<br /><br />The Egyptian Goose stands alone<br />on a thick black branch<br />inelegant<br />honking for its mate…<br /><br />In our sheltered valley garden<br />we can hear it loudly<br />and know<br />it’s inevitable<br />goose shape<br /><br />On the road<br />a smash of feathers<br />and bloody speed<br /><br />The rising sun<br />turns the leaves gold<br />the shell of a Cicada<br />clings to the Comfrey<br />as if we could heal Change<br /></div></span><div align="center"></div><p></p><p></p><p></p><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-27893422610442562272010-01-09T11:48:00.001-08:002010-01-10T11:31:10.418-08:00Knowing Your Name<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXhHXb-Bm20iqldNYpKaQAhjGx-paaWlLtsIMZgR7a4-7f8SfIEgKGPQ9vNwI6_qmLUqBL3UDaKfsDMV3uM2EAvOT9tfPRn78XImTZGUBWFzh6kwqOgPtln5dEllTvkP9W2FY_CrStFj6/s1600-h/DSC08796.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424830173796379746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXhHXb-Bm20iqldNYpKaQAhjGx-paaWlLtsIMZgR7a4-7f8SfIEgKGPQ9vNwI6_qmLUqBL3UDaKfsDMV3uM2EAvOT9tfPRn78XImTZGUBWFzh6kwqOgPtln5dEllTvkP9W2FY_CrStFj6/s320/DSC08796.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This is a photo of the blossoming of South African tree, Dais cotinifolia, the Pompon tree, in the southern Summer of 2010...<br /></span><br /><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I have been reading Richard Loev's great book, The Last Child in the Woods. He recorded a quote of a child who went on a Nature walk and learnt the names of trees and plants and birds that had always been around him, but he didn't know. The boy said that after learning the names he felt like he had made new friends, for Life...</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">This ancedote made me smile. For surely, every gardener, bird-watcher, Earth-activist and naturalist has experienced this very same thing. When we know the name of another living thing - something changes for the better, forever...</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Our experience of the community of Life expands and enhances with every new friend that we make. Our capacity for knowing names/making friends is infinite -an abundance that could surely banish the loneliness of the world, for Life...</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></p>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-77439813938199183832010-01-01T11:17:00.000-08:002010-01-01T11:37:09.518-08:00A Good Start<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3FiskEzm9uwNwmiLQLXmggxuvjx7204k2mYK-PVRRmQQHOvLGcJ10kpGZ402l96RijSlFsWDq9zHKSnc2YenFSbAUskJsqlUIeW-rj1Kd8GtnFXVp9YYEcv1T9SR8nKGjp-8YTJNR2PaC/s1600-h/DSC08679.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421853689724526274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3FiskEzm9uwNwmiLQLXmggxuvjx7204k2mYK-PVRRmQQHOvLGcJ10kpGZ402l96RijSlFsWDq9zHKSnc2YenFSbAUskJsqlUIeW-rj1Kd8GtnFXVp9YYEcv1T9SR8nKGjp-8YTJNR2PaC/s320/DSC08679.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I never imagined </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">the possibility </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">of the passion </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">of reptiles...</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">But I saw it - </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">in its glory </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">and its ridiculousness...</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Funny and sweet, </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">intense and hopeful...</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Rude, uncomfortable,</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">and powerful...</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />Really, </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">not at all different </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">from us warm-blooded animals...<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Just </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Life begetting Life...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Thank goodness!</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-40703608609430119462009-11-22T10:41:00.001-08:002009-11-22T11:14:23.172-08:00All Systems Thinking<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinyNRdm_Mbr5NEemZgAmdldab1tdvDCdZ6ZYJqJRDlhdUCcKSWC7CV-4b39sTNw1D8oF8KjkwIKJelY9gYi1fMhKeJ2JQNJSt9bKe1ksfGxrrGeduJrvSkmW0rDrPbVPG0Qk8v_RSnqVIu/s1600/DSC08090.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407000860511714930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinyNRdm_Mbr5NEemZgAmdldab1tdvDCdZ6ZYJqJRDlhdUCcKSWC7CV-4b39sTNw1D8oF8KjkwIKJelY9gYi1fMhKeJ2JQNJSt9bKe1ksfGxrrGeduJrvSkmW0rDrPbVPG0Qk8v_RSnqVIu/s320/DSC08090.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I love, and often think about that old story to explain systems-thinking - that a butterfly languidly flaps its wings in a hot, tropical Rainforest of South America, setting in motion an energy that ripples across the world and, amongst other things, results in the hat flying sharply off the head of a man on a cold, blustery Oxford Street, London.<br /><br /></span><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Every time, it makes me think about my own smile. If I smile now, and send out a ripple of smiling energy, might a husband in Malawi hug his wife? Might a child in Ethiopia eat a meal? Might a grandmother in India enjoy a belly laugh? Might a girl in Cambodia get a scholarship to finish school?<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Who knows the power of my smile?<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I remember that every time I love Life - every time I admire a flower, delight at a stick insect, save a worm, plant a tree, stop and acknowledge a squirrel, regard a mushroom as special, feel lucky and excited because I saw a whale - I am sending out a ripple that encourages more Life somewhere on this extraordinary planet, in some extraordinary way.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></p><p></p><p></p>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-24849812018803133982009-11-14T09:18:00.001-08:002009-11-15T08:00:13.785-08:00Love Tiger<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmmwb1-N2QfVm5zFn5Ovc_SbOS1OFQLxBs-gp98l0IRXWtk80mm3ei6HZt-Jj_JUZFw52E2GJPrSCwW58NYIpB7P9rHxpcGaldPTjA2sWdY5o_5xRr-FlrX-32B-WdviONZF-al79qjmu/s1600-h/DSC06814.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404012531115588722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmmwb1-N2QfVm5zFn5Ovc_SbOS1OFQLxBs-gp98l0IRXWtk80mm3ei6HZt-Jj_JUZFw52E2GJPrSCwW58NYIpB7P9rHxpcGaldPTjA2sWdY5o_5xRr-FlrX-32B-WdviONZF-al79qjmu/s320/DSC06814.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I close my eyes and sink into a green world. Dark and light greens, untouchable greens and the furry greens of mosses under my fingertips. Across my entertainment of leaves and grasses, of vegetable, meteor and verdant seaweed, flashes a powerful amber light – on and off, so that I conjure up a tiger.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">As I receive this tiger, my heart starts to hurt instantly, my head rolls images of hunting and desiccated skins, hunger and deforestation, desparate claws and cruel traps. Decimated populations hit like bullets. Disappearing sub-species puncture the lining of my stomach.<br /><br />Wait...<br /><br />I want to stop this roll. I do not want to share in the extinction of the Tiger I love.<br /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I am so weary of thinking of great tigers with despair. What I really want is to be unequivocably thrilled to my bone marrow by Tiger. What I really want is for wild tigers to recover, restore and thrive again. What I really want to do is fill each and every wild tiger still holding onto to Life with my great love for them. I want them to feel my gratitude for their against-all-odds existence in their own cells, in their precious DNA. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />I want to be a light for the long future of wild tigers. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Now. I just thought that thought. I just filled wild tigers with all my love. Love Tiger. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Maybe a mother tiger just slipped away past a poacher; maybe a conservation officer just won a small battle against urgent villagers, maybe a logging company just turned away from a big, bad deal.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I love the black and amber with its white flashes rippling through the green of my mind. I am grateful. I am love. I am hope. I am Tiger.<br /></span></div>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134737660353319508.post-79251186048772990212009-11-09T13:18:00.000-08:002010-01-27T12:09:03.432-08:00Family Nature<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMryIkCgB3XEAamZ2XcEhdjg7Rk4YRZySDKh77R1xu0FI1Hgwx-ckzP6CpMuH4Vu1PQh1l6ctvoi0FJowIOFz1bt_UMhyE5_Mnp2kqByjDPtQiZSvsqQkG5-5JpYICTVRol5gaWBFqYRSb/s1600-h/DSC08053.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402217341092417794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMryIkCgB3XEAamZ2XcEhdjg7Rk4YRZySDKh77R1xu0FI1Hgwx-ckzP6CpMuH4Vu1PQh1l6ctvoi0FJowIOFz1bt_UMhyE5_Mnp2kqByjDPtQiZSvsqQkG5-5JpYICTVRol5gaWBFqYRSb/s320/DSC08053.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">In his U.S.A best-selling book, "Last Child in the Woods", Richard Louv coined the term 'Nature Deficit Disorder' (NDD) and inspired an international movement to reconnect children with Nature. Mr Louv highlighted concerns that resonated intuitively with multitudes of today's parents - that children disconnected from the Natural World are children at risk. The consumerist society takes their children for walks in shopping malls instead of the mountains. It provides passive entertainment with children sitting still, indoors, absorbed on screens - instead of running, climbing, swimming, slipping and sliding outside in woods, streams, meadows and trees. It substitutes 'Animal Planet' for real-life encounters with wild-living birds and beetles, porcupines and caracals. In crucial ways, the child of this consumerist world is a child raised in a special kind of poverty who manifests real and long-lasting symptoms of its disadvantage. </span><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402218560585547842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGh1vW6tBKymOq0hKDvTq4I8ytxq_Nl1_J535MuT0YJfgNvRUQjuRQl1aQ1q-XJxgjQjgy-UDeuAtysEiaHlUmLqr5iuaJJ7y6Pk4NX9lU-3pA_0BrxpDHokz-3Pz_TfsokStq-6EcBZcg/s320/DSC08056.JPG" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There's an abundance of research that tells us what we know anyway - Nature is good for human beings. We understand and connect to the wild and wordless essence of ourselves when we deeply and truly experience the greater wild and wordless context of our World. There is no possible virtual, technological solution to meet this need. To provide our children with opportunities for this essential part of whole human development, we have to get them outside into the Natural World - often.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">It is arguable, that this generation of children needs this more than any other - they are facing unprecedented environmental challenges in their lifetimes. We cannot expect them to grow into adults responsible for sustainable living and sustainable human development if we are raising them in conditions conducive to Nature Deficit Disorder. </span><br /><p></p><p></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402219848993673186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihxwuqdc3_uBkHc9wJ9x86l2z-kxZIer5FfACVqClD3cQCC_DfXR8hb6vrM7exwAVlPlFWgLcOozf4ags_pd7mKkvO_6kPRa3GUzBxK8LuKPPNkVtrAZNz17hLn_98kr9ZHX76-ufmupsS/s320/DSC08038.JPG" border="0" /></p><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It is this realisation that is motivating mothers, fathers, grandparents, neighbours, environmental educationalists, non profit organisations, businesses and governments to organise and support formal and informal groups, clubs, networks and programmes that involve families in Nature walks, hikes, camps, adventures and holidays. Being in Nature, experiencing wild places, observing and connecting with all aspects of the Life around us is increasingly recognised as a vital part of family well-being. It is not something that parents can leave up to schools. As role models, as the nurturers of our children's development, we need to be actively fostering their connection to Nature on a daily basis. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Big picture ideas, support and connections can be found at: </span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Children and Nature Network - <a href="http://www.childrenandnature.org/">http://www.childrenandnature.org/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">More about Richard Louv and "Last Child in the Woods" at: <a href="http://richardlouv.com/">http://richardlouv.com/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I love this stunning Cape Town-based initiative: </span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://www.kidsofnature.org/">http://www.kidsofnature.org/</a></span></p><p></p>bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13720127789845544057noreply@blogger.com0