Re-Gain

The most important thing I struggle with in my life is to become peaceful with myself. War in our world begins at home. For me, I must welcome unconditional surrender, and lessen how I create my own suffering. When I embrace my shadows, and cultivate inner kindness, inner peace becomes more possible. I find that I must accept, not resist, what is true. Showing up and dealing with my issues works much better for me then avoiding them. However, knowing when it is a good time to address my inner demons is something that takes skill. Being kind with myself is a work in constant progress. Just because I feel uncomfortable does not mean I must run from things. Sometimes my cowardice comes back to haunt me. Nurturing a deeper soulful relation with myself, I will be able to become whole and happy. I can find more pleasure with my life when I find how to perform a careful examination of what truly causes me discomfort and how to best address it. This critical development is all about healing, p...

Why does conserving make a difference? If our nation is to become greener we also most become leaner. Simply put, if we wish to prosper we need to become ingenious and waste less. Every time we become thrifty we celebrate a new American Revolution. Not only are we emulating Paul Revere, the silver recycler, and George Washington, the composter, we are showing respect for all our relations as do our Native Americans. Conservation matters because new Natives now wish to renew this value, namely, that saving our land is paramount to everything we believe in. It is time we defined what tough love is, and start to insure that we take care of ourselves by being tough with ourselves. The question is, can we change our destructive consumerist patterns? Can Americans awaken to the idea that economics is about saving, not wasting things? Is it possible for conservatives and liberals to work together to lessen, not increase our waste? I believe the answer is yes. However we must go through a form...

Appreciation allows me to walk a path of tremendous love and respect. Counting my blessings becomes a gift that keeps on sustaining me. Nothing can be more rejuvenating for me than expressing gratefulness for all the ways this life has been kind to me. Just maintaining a state of gratefulness re-energizes me, and moves me to shift my attitude so that I look for the silver lining in every cloud. Instead of looking at things as a curse, I can see them as the blessing they truly are. The power of gratitude leads me to a greater sense of purpose, and a richer life. Invoking appreciation gives me a profound sense of joy, and links me with all things, filling me with a sense of harmony and well being. This harmonious connection with life awakens in me the understanding that everything in my world is only alive in the present moment. As I empty myself of ego preoccupations with the past, and concerns over the future, I am truly awake to the moment, and in such times, I find in myself a feelin...

We live in a time in which we must find greater ways to mend our souls. Healing occurs for me when I become more intimate with nature. Feeling the soft earth beneath my feet renews my soul. When I venture outside and discover the wonder of the universe, I feel more whole. Such visits into the wild both refreshes and rejuvenates my spirit. A journey into a forest under a canopy of trees or to a local watershed provides me with a growing sense of well being. Insights come to me from many non-ordinary experiences when I am in nature. I transcend ordinary perceptual boundaries. Being in nature connects me to the spirit of being. Otherwise, I am lost in a culture of affluence and effluence. In nature, I find comfort from sensing how my ancestors lived long ago. Just the simple act of digging into the ground and doing yard work while surrounded by the woods around my home does much to lessen my anxiety. Another way I find refuge in the mystery of the wild is to listen to the subtle so...

It is safe to assume Washington D.C. region now creates greater waste then anywhere in the history of our planet. Last Sunday’s Washington Post article in the Metro section, “D.C Area Outpaces Nations in Pollution,” was more than coincidental. The federal budget cycle for 2006 that day just ended and Americans have no idea to all the different ways we stimulate discarding. The Washington area not only produces more carbon dioxide than Sweden, Denmark and Finland but our government stimulates the most significant global loss of resources. For example, the District of Columbia and other government’s budgets are based on the principle of “use it or loose it.” Government must shift from this behavior of consuming more to understanding performance is measured by output over input. The fed’s are the largest consumer of goods and services in the world producing a buying power yearly exceeding 25 European Union nations. Just look at one department protecting us. The Congressional Budget office...

Tennis and revolutions have a long history. Taken on a tennis court near the Palace of Versailles during the French Revolution, "The Tennis Court Oath"(serment du jeu de paume) was a solemn collective vow by French deputies to continue to meet despite a royal prohibition to do so until a constitution had been written. Today an even more violent revolution is happening-seemingly irreversible and dramatic climate change impacts due to the human footprint upon this planet. Perhaps a newer version of "Tennis Court Oath" needs to be taken-"We swear never to separate ourselves from our connection with nature, and to reassemble whenever circumstances require, until responsible environmental best practices are enacted in the realm of tennis and fixed upon solid foundations." Our many diversions and games offer us all a playful and entertaining manner in which to respond to these challenges those future generations and we must endure. Play is an essential ...

Our country is at its greatest when we see that people are in trouble and we respond by giving a hand making our world a better place. Today we Americans are in environmental trouble and need help ourselves The time is perfect to engage in Americans of all walks to plant trees. Whether citizens wish to lessen global warming or to beautify a neighborhood, people long to show they care. What better way to bring our community together then attract people from the city, suburbs and the countryside united in planting trees for our future. Also such a campaign (i.e. Be Cool, Plant Trees ) can join groups, organizations, governments, businesses of all facets to come together celebrating that by planting trees. The results is we both enriched people an experience in saving our land and investing in our psychic well being. What better way to make this dream become real then to plant a tree. If every citizen can be offered the privilege to help the land what possibility can America...

Nearly 90 percent of the Washington DC metro region depends on the Potomac and its major tributary, the Shenandoah for clean drinking water . Also the Shenandoah valley supplies billions dollars in agriculture, timber, tourism and other environmental benefits. One hundred years ago we wisely established the George Washington National Forest to help preserve this watershed. According to the Chesapeake Bay clean-up estimates, well over $2 billion is needed to restore the Shenandoah River to meet clean water goals. To do this we must develop new jobs and outreach programs to meet these needs. More than 1,300 miles of rivers and streams in the Shenandoah watershed fail to meet Federal clean water standard because of excess nutrients, sediment, and other pollutants. To meet this challenge we must change our very attitude on how we do business from short term to long term profits and also account for how much we are willing to invest in the value of this watershed. ...

What life choices we make is linked to our very freedom. We, Americans must become lean and green. A green liberation movement will show us both how we must become more responsible and our ability to ecologically respond. Simply, if we engage in wholesome action that benefits all we become less imprison by our harmful habits. We now must shift from consumers to conservers entering into a green diet of lessening both our waste and waists. Yes, we must eat more GREENS! This is rabbit food not rabid food to lessen our country’s chances of HEART ATTACK. An ethic of obesity must now change to more wholesome diet for the planet. When we take care of the world we help ourselves. Since what goes around, comes around, our individual actions directly have consequences on us. Over consuming on our planet creates lots of personal and global suffering besides breaking collective heart. The results of humans overindulgence are clear. Excessive overeating can leads...

Bottle water costs as much as 15,000 times more than tap water. [1] In a report by the Beverage Recycling Institute, “Water, Water Everywhere: the Growth of Non-Carbonated Beverages in the US” notes that sales of plastic bottle water 1 liter and less increased more than 100 percent from 2002 to 2005 [2] . The bottle water segment in the worldwide beverage industry is bottled water. This universal solvent will exceed sales of milk and coffee becoming the second most consumed beverage next to soft drinks by 2004. However, this product may contain impurities and may not live up to many of the brand labels pristine sounding names. Many bottlers just use reprocessed water from municipal water supplies. Bottled water is big business. In 2002 worldwide sales of bottled water were $35 billion dollars. In 2002 the United States sold 7.7 billion dollars worth of bottled water showing an increase in sales of 11 percent from 2001. While the people think this water i...

When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.—Aldo Leopold What is true to live in America today? We are a nation of $18 trillion dollars of personal debt. In the last few years we have amounted $260 billion dollar deficit that to $1.5 trillion dollars. Also we continue to sink down further into this black hole. We live in a land where our government has subcontracted out energy, environmental, labor, health and even our voting machines to private interests. Inequality, injustice, and inhumanity seem to be the by-products of a nation that generates 18 billion tons of materials each but we are unable to measure how regrettable our nation’s greed impacts those less fortuned especially the land and its creatures. We are facing an inner form of poverty but the denial of our actions. Our very democracy is in question since our quality of life reflects are country’s inability to be fully honest with our self. Our addiction to material thing...

We may be approaching a crossroads today in the emergence of the human spirit. Those aware may question if our future is ecologically more endangered each day. Given the exponential growth of our human footprints our world’s survival depends upon sustaining life. As we become more sensitive to how delicate the carrying capacity of our eco-systems we can see a direct connection to our very soul. This is reflected by diverse spiritual and religious leaders appeal to one common universal concern- the fate of our beloved planet earth. Simply we depend on our environment to live. Everyday you see increased evidence of how people of all walks are sensitive whether our distant generations are left a legacy. Without investing in our future a pandemic of despair may erupt among the young and cause unprecedented societal problems. Developing more sustainable ways of living are becoming critical. For example European agricultural subsidies now are economically encouraging farmers to become better...

Time for Green Lights! The journey of energy independence begins with proper lighting management It is time we go look beyond just jokes about how many people it takes to change a light bulb. Lighting consumes up to 20% of our home energy and up to 30% our work electricity. Light-emitting diode (LED) is a 45 year old technology that delivers n heat output and deliver an average of 32 lumens of light, and they burn about 50 times as long as the average incandescent bulb. The Department of Energy estimates that LED lighting could reduce U.S. energy consumption by 29% by 2025, slicing $125 billion off our national energy bill in the process. Recent university research and other advancements have help LEDs to replace incandescent light bulbs in the next five to seven years. Over the last few years there has been advancements increasing the light output per chip. Once you get more light out of the chip, then the cost goes down in terms of how much light it produces. There are three major ty...

Never in human history have we faced a planetary crisis of this magnitude. Climate change is our world’s greatest form of global terrorism. Over 150,000 people each year die due to climate change events according to the World Health Organization. The National Academy of Science report on climate changes confirmed this last decade hotter than any other time in 400 years or more. Scientists are now the prophets of seriousness of climate sensitivity rising-- likely greater than 2 degree Celsius, could be as much as 5 or 6 degrees. A October 2006 British 700 page report cites if no action is taken, rising sea levels, heavier floods, and more intense droughts could displace 200 million people by the middle of this century. The report estimates that climate change will cost the equivalent of 5 to 20 percent of the global domestic product each year. Acting now to cut greenhouses gas emissions would cost about 1 percent GDP per year but only with U.S. and China’s cooperation. This report a...