How You Can Help the Earth in 2010

Want to help stop global warming?
Here are a dozen simple things you can do, plus the amount of carbon dioxide you’ll save.

Change a light
Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Drive less
Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don’t drive!

Recycle more
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

Check your tires
Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!

Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by installing a low-flow showerhead (350 pounds of CO2 saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year).

Avoid products with a lot of packaging
You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

Adjust your thermostat
The simple adjustment of moving your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer could save you about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

Turn off electronic devices
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo and computer when you’re not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Try Meatless Mondays
Skipping meat one day per week would help save over 35,000 gallons of water. Cutting meat out of your diet entirely would help save 5,000 lbs of carbon emissions per year.

Unplug
Unplugging hair dryers, phone charges, toaster ovens and power cords when not in use can save up to 20% on home energy use.

--http://www.climatecrisis.net/

Spread the word!

Happy New Year!

......Hope is rising
..........Joy is abounding
................Peace is prevailing
........................and Love rains and reigns!

--(The Rev.) Patrick Rogers

Meeting the Divine

"Your soul is beautiful.

In order for your soul to become completely free,

it must meet with divinity."

--Courtesy Dahn Yoga

Hope Message

"I brought you today the flower of Tao.

"I give this flower to you.
Although there is only one flower, this is enough.


"When the moon shines upon the earth,
it is reflected in millions of lakes across the planet.
That is enough, also.
The lakes in your hearts and minds
will all reflect the beauty of this flower.

"I want you to receive this flower
not with your hands, but with your hearts.
If you receive it with your hearts,
then this one flower is plenty for all of us."

--Courtesy Dahn Yoga

Remembering Jacques Cousteau and John Denver

I'm remembering the words to the song "Calypso" that John Denver wrote in honor of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and how important both of them were during my formative years.

To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean,

to ride on the crest of a wild raging storm;

To work in the service of life and living,

in search of the answers of questions unknown;

To be part of the movement and part of the growing,

part of beginning to understand--

Aye Calypso the places you've been to,

the things that you've shown us,

the stories you tell.

Aye Calypso, I sing to your spirit,

the men who have served you so long and so well.

Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you

To light up the darkness and show us the way.

For though we are strangers in your silent world,

To live on the land we must learn from the sea

To be true as the tide and free as a wind swell,

Joyful and loving in letting it be.

Aye Calypso the places you've been to,
the things that you've shown us,
the stories you tell.
Aye Calypso, I sing to your spirit,
the men who have served you so long and so well.

Thank you, John Denver and Jacques Cousteau: you both had such a profound influence on me. It's about time I did something with all that you taught me....

Embracing Hope

In the words of Sanjayan, a scientist with The Nature Conservancy, "we in the conservation movement have done a spectacular job of demoralizing and depressing people." Unfortunately, our focus on the difficulty, the immediacy, and the extent of the challenges confronting the world's environments this century has convinced too many people that "the world is doomed."

Of course, it's not only because Earth is resilient, but also because collectively, we human beings have the intelligence and wherewithal to make fundamental changes and accomplish great things. If we decide to do so.

What we need is Hope, a belief that what we do as individuals and as a species can make a big difference. Hope that we can find common purpose in ensuring that our Earth remains not simply habitable but also beautifully diverse and life-giving.

Without hope, we wallow in resignation, admitting helplessness without ever really daring to see what we might be capable of accomplishing.

So it becomes important to publicize the good news, to make people aware of what we have done to preserve a species, to protect a natural place, to discover ways to reduce our "carbon footprint" or our impact on nature.

This is my Christmas wish: that we embrace our full human potential, put aside our helpless attitudes, and empower ourselves with Hope. And this is my Christmas gift: I commit myself to focusing on the positive, to doing whatever I can to keep Hope alive among us.

It may take some time, but if we go forward with Hope, we really will be able to accomplish the "miraculous."

Here's the link to Sanjayan's interview with David Letterman on this topic:

http://www.nature.org/magazine/winter2009/?src=m1

Prayer of Peace

Ilchi Lee presented this prayer at the Opening Ceremony of the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations on August 28th, 2000.

I offer this prayer of peace

Not to the Christian God

Nor to the Buddhist God

Nor to the Islamic God

Nor to the Jewish God

But to the God of all humanity.

For the peace that we wish for

Is Not a Christian peace

Nor a Buddhist peace

Nor an Islamic peace

Nor a Jewish peace

But a human peace

For all of us.

I offer this prayer of peace

To the God that lives within all of us

That fills us with happiness and joy

To make us whole

And help us understand life

As an expression of love for all human beings.

For no religion can be better

Than any other religion

For no truth can be truer

Than any other truth

For no nation can be bigger

Than the earth itself.

Help us all go beyond

Our small limits

And realize that we are one

That we are all from the earth.

That we are all earth people

before we are Indians, Koreans, or Americans.

God made the earth

We humans have to make it prosper

By realizing that we are of the earth

And not of any nation, race, or religion.

By knowing that we are truly one

In our spiritual heritage.

Let us now apologize

to all humanity

For the hurt that religions have caused.

So that we can heal the hurt

Let us now promise to one another

To go beyond egotism and competition

To come together as one in God.

I offer this prayer of peace

To you the almighty

To help us find you within all of us

So that we may stand proudly one day before you

As one humanity.

I offer this prayer of peace

With all my fellow earth people

For a lasting peace on earth.