-
ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE -
Hi Doshin,
Thanks for the heads up on David Attenborough’s Perfect Planet series. I watched the first episode on volcanoes this evening. It’s all so beautifully shot!
Loved seeing the bears enjoying their caviar!! Was a bit shocked by the vampire finches though...
Totally agree with Sir David’s assertion that people must stop producing so much carbon in order to rebalance the planet. One big solution to this would be if there were not so many people. Another campaign that Attenborough is a part of https://populationmatters.org/
Cheers & big gasshos,
Guy
sat todayLast edited by Guy Malkerson; 01-05-2021, 08:57 AM.Comment
-
Guy,
I am awaiting for the show to come to US so I may enjoy it. I share your concern of population growth.
Doshin
StComment
-
Hi Doshin,
I think you’ll enjoy the series when it gets stateside. It is quality and reminiscent of the Jataka Tales – at least what I’ve seen so far. Looking forward to watching more.
My partner Liz likes watching ice skating and we settled down to watch another show on British TV (this time on ITV so it might be available stateside???) with Torville and Dean where they headed to Alaska to do some wild ice skating. I was surprised by the heavy environmental angle of it.
The show was like a travelogue where the two former Olympians tried find some ice to do their Bolero number on. Due to climate change, conditions were too warm almost everywhere. Lots of insights from the local folk about climate change and a very revealing conversation with an Inuit fellow about how houses in his birthplace are collapsing due to climate change were quite revealing.
His community have always lived on an island that was protected by frozen ice flows from the sea. However, now those ice flows are melting and the sea is pounding their island home, causing erosion. This means that houses are actually tumbling down over steep banks. Change is coming quickly there now and they may have to evacuate. This is not an isolated incident. Many island communities around the globe have seen their homes disappear under the sea recently.
Here’s a bit about that show https://www.itv.com/news/2020-12-28/...climate-change
Gassho,
Guy
Sat todayComment
-
It’s tree planting season in the northern hemisphere. Late winter to early spring is the optimum time. This is one of the most positive actions we can take to help the planet. Yesterday my partner Liz (who I care for) and I planted a mulberry, which is local to these parts. Lots of fun! It’s very rewarding as over the years you can watch it grow. Where would Zhou zhou have been without his trees in the garden? Zen would’ve been shorted some grand koans certainly
Here’s a video on how to plant a potted tree that looks pretty good to me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYmgrw0PgLU
They do lots of extra stuff in the video like adding a dike. I’ve never done that. Also, they seem to want to water it a lot! I live in England where it seems to rain a little bit (or a lot a bit lately) every day. Watering is super important when you first get a tree in the ground but unless we get a few weeks with no rain, we don’t water them after the initial planting here and they seem to do just fine.
Gassho,
Guy
Sat TodayComment
-
Guy,
Small things make a big difference!
Doshin
StComment
-
Butterflies declining in Western United State
Doshin
StComment
-
Hi Doshin,Butterflies declining in Western United State
Doshin
St
That is sad but not surprising. Here in Bristol we have a place called butterfly junction that has been reduced and neglected for the last couple of years while a road was being built through part of it. We're just getting back to working on it and putting butterfly friendly plants back in, cutting back the ivy that is over growing on the site, etc. Pesticides are a big problem. We don't use them at all.
A future hope would be for many places to be rewilded for butterfly habitats...
Gassho,
Guy
Sat today - LAHComment
-
“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.”Aldo Leopold
The above occurred a hundred years ago near where I live. I have quoted him before in this thread and thought it fitting to do again because I attended several Zoom talks this past week about Aldo and agreed to be on a Board for folks who are establishing an Aldo Leopold library at the gateway to the Also Leopold Wilderness (Jundo you may recall as I pointed this region out as we drove through it) where this realization took place. Aldo was one of the most influential conservationist of the last Century.
The Zoom talks focused on social justice and diversity in the land ethic attributed to Aldo’s writings. A good perspective, long over due.
Those who would like to learn about Aldo (my first connection to interdependence) there is a documentary available on Vimeo named Fierce Green Fire.
Doshin
StLast edited by Doshin; 03-14-2021, 05:14 PM.Comment
-
Japan just recorded its earliest cherry blossom bloom in 1,200 years. Scientists warn it's a symptom of the larger climate crisis
Gasshom J
STLahALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLEComment
-
In Texas too. My wife and I walk each day, and we have noticed that the Bradford Pear trees blossomed early. And that Japanese Maples are much more vivid.
Gassho
Meishin
STLahComment
-
This winter I watched ground squirrels and chipmunks visit my bird feeders without ever disappearing for what I assumed was their usual hibernation cycle. It gave me pause....as a wildlife biologist I was trained not to make assumptions but a question now lingers for me. But I have a hypothesis that maybe has already been answered which resides in the literature in some deep corner of an academic library.
Doshin
StComment
-
Earthrise
In 1968 I watched as Apollo 8 left the Earth’s orbit headed for the moon. They were told to document their journey with photos but never instructed to look back towards their home and take photos. They were focused on their destination. Yet when they circled the moon they saw on the horizon the Earth begin to rise. Its colors and beauty were a stark contrast to the barren and apparently lifeless landscape of the moon below them. A beacon of life in a vast and dark universe
50 years later those three astronauts, the first to see the earth in its wholeness, reflected on that perspective in a short film. You can watch the film “Earthrise” on Vimeo and pause to embrace the Interdependence of all sentient beings. From my perspective there is no practice greater than nurturing that interdependence It is precious that we are here and that realization was evident as the first humans viewed Earth as they circled a lunar object so far away but yet so very close.
That iconic photo is credited with propelling the environmental movement that led to the first Earth Day.
Enjoy Earth Day and give Metta for us all.
Doshin
StLast edited by Doshin; 04-20-2021, 12:38 PM.Comment
-
Lovely, Doshin! Thank you, and Happy Earth Day!
To add to that, I would like to share some words written by the American astronaut Tom Stafford, who flew on Apollo 10, on looking at the earth from space:
"The white twisted clouds and the endless shades of blue in the ocean
make the hum of the spacecraft systems, the radio chatter, even your
own breathing disappear. There is no cold or wind or smell to tell you
that you are connected to Earth. You have an almost dispassionate platform
- remote, Olympian and yet so moving that you can hardly believe how
emotionally attached you are to those rough patterns shifting steadily below."
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-Comment
Comment