We don’t open our heart and mind because we haven’t experienced the benefit of doing that. Once we have experienced the truth, there isn’t even an issue. There is no worry. The whole question of whether we are ready to open our heart and mind to the truth isn’t even a concern.
(Anam Thubten, from "How a Tomato Opened My Mind" from the current issue of Tricycle) (Tricycle’s Daily Dharma) (tricycle@tricycle.com)
We can’t be present to the Other before us, if we are closed-minded and closed-hearted. We can’t be effective in this world, relate to Earth one-on-one, bring about the needed change, if we keep our hearts and minds closed off from the new experience that is there for us to receive as a gift each moment. Paying attention, with all our senses, opens us to new possibilities, being there with welcoming heart and mind will reward us beyond our imagings.
I dreamt half my life was spent
in wonder, and never suspected.
So immersed in the moment
I forgot I was ever there.
Red-tailed hawk turning
resistance into ecstasy.
The patrolmen joking with the drunk
whose butt seemed glued to the sidewalk.
A coral quince blossom in winter,
pink as a lover's present.
And tilting my bamboo umbrella
against the warm slant
of rain, was I not a happy peasant
crossing the great bay on a bridge that began
who knows when, and will end
who knows when?
Thomas Centolella
(Views from along the Middle Way)
web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/View_45.html
in wonder, and never suspected.
So immersed in the moment
I forgot I was ever there.
Red-tailed hawk turning
resistance into ecstasy.
The patrolmen joking with the drunk
whose butt seemed glued to the sidewalk.
A coral quince blossom in winter,
pink as a lover's present.
And tilting my bamboo umbrella
against the warm slant
of rain, was I not a happy peasant
crossing the great bay on a bridge that began
who knows when, and will end
who knows when?
Thomas Centolella
(Views from along the Middle Way)
web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/View_45.html
For this posting of Whole Earth Care, I thought it would be fun to hand over the keyboard to other Members of our Virtual Community. I hope it proves to be a refreshing change and, perhaps, it might encourage you to join in on the conversation. It's easy; go to comments at the bottom of the Posting or email me at moczero@sympatico.ca .
This Week’s Suggestion:
An elderly couple in the lobby of the Mayo Clinic spotted a piano. They've been married for 62 years and he'll be 90 this year.
This Week’s Suggestion:
An elderly couple in the lobby of the Mayo Clinic spotted a piano. They've been married for 62 years and he'll be 90 this year.
Let’s do something fun and creative this week that will bring smiles to all around us.
Thank you, Gail, for sending us this lovely video.
Getting To Know Our Neighbours:
Thank you, Gail, for sending us this lovely video.
Getting To Know Our Neighbours:
Lately, I have been missing the boisterous sounds of tree frogs that I use to hear every summer before I moved away from my country home. Despite the trees around, I have not heard even a single croak from one of those little fellows here in suburbia. It worries me – where could they be?
Tree frogs are found in most countries around the world with ancestors that go back before the dinosaurs’ demise. As their name indicates, they live in trees or tall plants and bushes. They descend to the ground only to mate and spawn, and in those countries where the winters are cold, they will burrow into the earth below the trees where their bodies produce a type of glycerol that protects their body fluids and tissues from freezing.
Usually quite small, they have long hands and feet for grasping branches and leaves, and rough covered discs on their fingers and toes which have a sticky substance that aids in climbing.
Tree frogs are often hard to see as they use camouflage to protect themselves from predators – vivid greens to match surrounding leaves or a grey-brown to look like bark.
They are easiest found in the evening or early night when they start their very loud songs or calls.
It is estimated that a single tree frog can eat as many as ten thousand insects in one summer.
A Fact Or Two:
Cam wrote, “Do Laundry In Cold Water. Here are a few surprising facts.
Up to 90 per cent of the energy used in washing clothes is for heating the water.
If you wash four out of every five loads of laundry in cold water each month, you’ll save about 35 kilograms of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere.
If you wash 80 per cent of your laundry on the cold/cold cycle every year, you’ll save up to $100 or more on your energy bill. ”
Thanks, Cam.
What Can We Do?
Corine wrote: “You would be proud.
I have invested into high tech H20 bottles - metal ones.
Tree frogs are found in most countries around the world with ancestors that go back before the dinosaurs’ demise. As their name indicates, they live in trees or tall plants and bushes. They descend to the ground only to mate and spawn, and in those countries where the winters are cold, they will burrow into the earth below the trees where their bodies produce a type of glycerol that protects their body fluids and tissues from freezing.
Usually quite small, they have long hands and feet for grasping branches and leaves, and rough covered discs on their fingers and toes which have a sticky substance that aids in climbing.
Tree frogs are often hard to see as they use camouflage to protect themselves from predators – vivid greens to match surrounding leaves or a grey-brown to look like bark.
They are easiest found in the evening or early night when they start their very loud songs or calls.
It is estimated that a single tree frog can eat as many as ten thousand insects in one summer.
A Fact Or Two:
Cam wrote, “Do Laundry In Cold Water. Here are a few surprising facts.
Up to 90 per cent of the energy used in washing clothes is for heating the water.
If you wash four out of every five loads of laundry in cold water each month, you’ll save about 35 kilograms of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere.
If you wash 80 per cent of your laundry on the cold/cold cycle every year, you’ll save up to $100 or more on your energy bill. ”
Thanks, Cam.
What Can We Do?
Corine wrote: “You would be proud.
I have invested into high tech H20 bottles - metal ones.
I have also started to do laundry - setting the machine to start at 0500 hrs and with me being up between 05:30 and 06:00 everyday, I drip dry most of it now, or hang it outside on a folding cloths line.
All of my light bulbs have been changed over to compacts - new smoke detectors and C02 monitor (x1), and I have recently found sub-compact flood lights - I will be installing them this weekend. There is a great solar flood light package that is now available which I will invest in next.
I also have all major electronics on monster power bars - at night I switch off the power bars to reduce the amount of phantom electricity that I am consuming.
I also have started to practice passive solar control - closing blinds and drapes - and turning on the AC when it is only completely necessary and turning it off at night if it is bearable to do so.
Down the road - more energy efficient fridge, stove and deep freezer. My washer
and dryer is very high tech and energy efficient and I certainly notice it with regards to both water and hydro consumption.
Fantastic, Corine. Mega congradulations.
And Teresa sent us the following Green Tip. I can tell you from trying it, that it works.
Recipe for a Non-Toxic Weedkiller
Into a spray bottle or bottles, cleaned and recycled from your home, add the following ingredients (You can double or triple this recipe.)
1 litre of white vinegar
¼ cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of dish detergent (Sunlight apparently works best)
Swirl gently – Do Not Shake
1 litre of white vinegar
¼ cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of dish detergent (Sunlight apparently works best)
Swirl gently – Do Not Shake
On a windlass day, spray unwanted weeds.
But remember… even “natural” weedkillers like this one will kill any plant.
So, spray carefully around trees, shrubs and other garden or bedding plants.
Thanks you, Teresa, for your contribution to the positive things we can do to be “Green”.
Media:
Articles:
But remember… even “natural” weedkillers like this one will kill any plant.
So, spray carefully around trees, shrubs and other garden or bedding plants.
Thanks you, Teresa, for your contribution to the positive things we can do to be “Green”.
Media:
Articles:
Natural World Solves Major Environmental Disaster
Now here’s something to help us be more Hope-filled about our future.
http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3788
Want to improve your cognitive functioning? Take a walk.
http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3792
Blogs:
http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3788
Want to improve your cognitive functioning? Take a walk.
http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3792
Blogs:
Helping “people create, present and appreciate art that heals our relationship with the natural world”.
http://www.greenmuseum.org/
http://www.greenmuseum.org/
Oh! And there is something else… Our friend Carole from Greece did some investigating into the report on viewing Mars this month. (See the July Whole Earth Care Posting.) Here’s what she found out.
Carole writes, “All the excitement about Mars…, well :-) oooooooooooooooo Dear Maureen! We missed this one! Darn, it’s old news.”
Carole writes, “All the excitement about Mars…, well :-) oooooooooooooooo Dear Maureen! We missed this one! Darn, it’s old news.”
She sent these comments from a website on Urban Legends.
“Original version of a widely forwarded email claiming that August 27 will bring the closest encounter between Mars and Earth in recorded history. Unfortunately, this 'once in a lifetime event' already came and went in 2003.
Comments: This is roughly accurate — or it was in 2003, at any rate, when the above message first began circulating online.
On August 27 of that year the orbital paths of Earth and Mars brought the two planets to within 34.65 million miles of one another — closer indeed than at any other time in the past 50,000 years. Though Mars never actually appeared "as large as the full moon to the naked eye" (as claimed in the email), the red planet did vividly dominate the night sky for a brief time, making 2003's close encounter a once-in-a-lifetime event indeed for astronomers, space enthusiasts, and ordinary observers alike. Nothing so spectacular is predicted for 2009.”
OPPS! But, maybe it got some of us looking up into the sky. That would be a major plus and we would have seen some other amazing sights, even if Mars was not so visible, like the August full moon, the summer constellations and the Perseids.
It’s been wonderful hearing from some of our Virtual Community Members. Their sharing of ideas, photos and green accomplishments help us all realize that we can make a difference together. It encourages us all to be present to each other and to the rest of our Earth Family.
Let’s hear from you. Share with us what “green” changes you have made. Send in your ideas, photos, comments, articles, accomplishments and discoveries. Simply email me at moczero@sympatico.ca
And don't forget to email in your questions for Katie, The Answer Lady. Just write to moczero@sympatico.ca
As an aside, I am thinking we need to make Carole our Whole Earth Care Reporter at Large… :-) What say you, Carole?
Earth Family First,
maureen
maureen
(Photos from Google Images and personal album)
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