Opening Our Eyes

The Opening of Eyes
That day I saw beneath dark clouds
The passing light over the water
And I heard the voice of the world speak out
I knew then as I have before
Life is no passing memory of what has been
Nor the remaining pages of a great book
Waiting to be read
It is the opening of eyes long closed
It is the vision of far off things
Seen for the silence they hold
It is the heart after years of secret conversing
Speaking out loud in the clear air
It is Moses in the desert fallen to his knees
Before the lit bush
It is the man throwing away his shoes
As if to enter heaven and finding himself astonished
Opened at last
Fallen in love
With Solid Ground
by David Whyte


The big word around these days is "Economy". Like the words ecosystems, ecology and eco-concerns, economy starts with "eco"...mmm. It seems "eco" comes from the Greek oikos meaning house, home or habitat, "nomy" is from the Greek root -nomia which relates to law, distribute and manage. From this, I deduce that economy should be about managing our home, our habitat. But, I don't think that's what our governments or the big businesses have in mind. I see this present "Economic Crisis" as an opportunity, a chance to think outside the box, a wonderful and timely possibility to listen to the voice of Earth. This moment in time is perfect to pause, to give thought to how we live our lives and whether we want to chose life and health and belonging over frenetic consumption, destruction of Earth and unchecked greed.

This Week's Suggestion

Just notice the garbage collecting in your home, as you walk your neighbourhood and ride to various destinations. Garbage is everywhere - on the streets, in parks and on front lawns, falling out of garbage bins, all around the school yards, along the ditches and sides of highways. Notice the plastic bags hanging from the trees, empty bottles and beer cans thrown to the side of walkways, chocolate bar wrappers and potatoe chip bags caught in bushes. Think about where all of this garbage will end up and how it harms plants, birds and animals that get caught in it, ingest it. How it harms Earth. How it harms us. How it affects our sense of beauty.

Getting To Know Our Neighbours

If you wonder out into the woods, at this time of the year, late in the evening, you might be lucky to hear the clashing of antlers or the eerie and wonderful rut calls of the white tailed bucks. White-tailed deer are the most numerous of North American large animals. Easily identified when running away from danger, they lift their brown tails to display the "flag" - the white underside of their broad 1 foot tails. These deer live in forests and bush where food is plentiful and they are sheltered from storms and deep snow.
Only bucks, or male deer, grow antlers each year. Antlers start as two bony knobs in early spring and by late summer are fully grown and covered in "velvet", a hairy skin. The velvet will then peel off and by January, the antlers are shed. Breeding occurs in the last weeks of November, after mock battles between the bucks.
Does give birth to one or two fawns usually in late spring. The doe will never abandon her baby, but will leave the fawn alone in a protected place while foraging at a distance, returning to suckle at intervals. Fawns have no scent and are well camouflaged with their spotted coats. If you ever happen upon a fawn, leave it untouched. By touching it, the human scent is transferred to the fawn, making it vulnerable to predators, and the scent may also scare away its mother. Does and fawns can often be seen together in small groups, once the fawns are strong enough to run and keep up with their mothers. These groups will wander together throughout the rest of the year looking for food, resting and playing; the does taking turns as sentinel for the little herd.

A Fact or Two
It seems that Canada is one of the highest waster of water in the world. It is estimated that Canadians use 120 litres per capita of water a day. Three-quarters of home water use takes place in the bathroom and the toilet is responsible for approximately 28% of that water. Yet, Canada has developed the most water efficient toilet in the world. Besides water, the toilet is responsible for other eco-concerns. Most toilet paper is made from 100% virgin fibre. This bathroom product comes from the destruction of large areas of old growth forests, mostly in Canada. Old growth forests are vital to maintaining life on Earth. They are often referred to as Earth's lungs. Chlorine is used to bleach the virgin pulp. This process produces the release of numerous chemicals into the environment. One such chemical is dioxin, a known carcinogen. The chemical cleaners used to clean toilets are hazardous, recognized irritants and potential carcinogens and proven to disrupt wildlife reproduction.

What Can We Do?
Put on gloves, grab a bag and spend 5 minutes (...only 5 minutes) this week picking up the garbage in your neighbourhood. Discard the contents of the bag into the appropriate recycle bins -radical, eh!
Refuse to buy 100% virgin pulp toilet paper. Look for paper products that are from non-chlorine bleached recycled paper.
Use environmentally friendly toilet cleaners.

Media
TV:
For hope and inspiration, watch,
Eden at the End of the World- Patagonia - Saturday, November 22 at 7:00 p.m. on TVO
Galapagos - Sunday, November 23 at 7:00 p.m. on TVO

Books:
Arriving at your own Door, 108 lessons in Mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Email Magazine:
The winter edition of Green Magazine is now out. Some great ideas to be garnered.
Green Living Magazine http://magazine.greenlivingonline.com/greenliving/2008winter/

Internet:
http://www.eartheasy.com/live_water_saving.htm
25 suggestions to make your home healthier, eco-sensitive and economical

Radio:
Spend a few moments listening to this PBS News Report
http://www-tc.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2008/11/13/20081113_plastic.mp3

Weeks fly by!
Once again, I urge you to join us by clicking on FOLLOWERS on the left side of the blog this week and follow the directions into our virtual community. The site is secure and no one can send you spam or any of the other nasty stuff out there through the blog. Likewise, I don't have access to your information.
Some of you have wanted to leave comments on the blog, but have had trouble. I really encourage you to do this to start a community conversation. But like with FOLLOWERS, you need to have an email address and password. Once you are in, it's easy to go back, edit, add, whatever.

The following are instructions as to how to leave comments. I'm learning along with a lot of you.
My faithful Techies explained the How To's (sort of) like this.

• Go to the top of the blog and click onto Sign In, then go back to the blog and scroll down to the bottom of this week's posting.
• You will see "0 comments" in pale beige/orange (beside it is an envelope with an arrow). Click on "comments" and type in your comments in the large box on the right hand side of the page.
• Type in the word verification to prove you are a person and not Spam, etc.
• If you have a Google/Blogger account, click on the green dot to the left of the word Google, type in your email as your username and then your email password.
• If you don't have a Google/Blogger account the click on the green dot to the left of Open ID and chose the icon that relates to you, i.e. AOl.
• Then click on Publish I'm reassured that if you don't have an account, creating one will not compromise you in any way.

Well, I hope I haven't confused you completely. Next week, Fran, one of our community members, will start the virtual community's conversation with her poetry and art. Looking forward to meeting you out there in cyberspace.

maureen