Hiding behind technology

I have been thinking the last two days about how some humans hide behind technology.

It seems that by surrounding ourselves with machines and gadgets, that we are hiding the fact that we are living beings just like cougars, hummingbirds or monkeys.

Did you feel a tinge of some emotions or feeling when you read the last sentence? I have tinges of that uncomfortableness. And being uncomfortable is uncomfortable.

For some, being human is an embarrassment. Something to run from or deny. It is seen as something base and undesirable.

Perhaps, this is why some people work so hard to distance themselves from the natural world and a natural lifestyle.

If you have seen Avatar, could you live in a beautiful, abundant world, in a manner which contributed to that abundance? How would do you imagine living?

I realized something about permaculture. It is the same insanity in a new deceptive clothing.
every permaculture manual I have read promotes bringing together useful plants from all over the world to create a food garden for humans and their domestic animals.

The main problem with this is it introduces new alien (possibly invasive) plants into the ecosystem. It robs the native insects, birds and butterflies for food. It creates a sterile landscape.

I am sure when the developer of Western permaculture looked on the native homegarden of various indigenous people, particularly Africa, Southeast Asia and South America, they thought they could do better.

They probably thought they could do better by not being limiting the permaculture garden to indigenous plants like the original homegardens. Westerners utilize the vast globalness of trade and capitalism to bring together plants form all over the world. And therein lies the problem.

Gathering together from all over the world doesn't create a working ecosystem. It creates a mish-mash. Plants form Korea, South Africa, and Mexico probably can not be eaten by indigenous insects. The insects can not be eaten by the birds, and animals population are starved.

Don't believe me? Douglas Tallamy explains the connection between indigenous insects and plants in Bringing Nature Home.

I suspect if I point this out to permaculture advocates I would meet with resistance and negativity. I just hope they would think about it.

speckled mourning dove

speckled mourning dove, originally uploaded by donnallong.

This speckled Morning Dove sits on the raised vegetable bed in the garden. At first I thought it was diseased or had bald spots.

I have never seen a speckled Mourning Dove before. It is speckled all over.

leaf in the snow

leaf in the snow, originally uploaded by donnallong.

This photo is part of my ongoing series of seeing beauty of at my feet.

It is the juxtaposition of textures pleases me.

The icy crunchiness of the snow, the dry crack-liness of the leaf and the soft mushiness of the dark shriveled leaf is fascinating in its quiet presence.

Avatar and the Golden Rule

I saw the film Avatar for the second time. This time in 3-D. It is an excellent, excellent movie.

I don't want to spoil the movie for those who have not seen it, but the environmental message is clear.

Live so your land is abundant and you won't need to go and take someone's stuff. Do unto others what you want done to you. You can go to bed with a clear conscious. And we won't have to pay for mistakes or the sins of our ancestors. Our children can live in abundance, harmony and peace.

It is time for some folks to simply grow up. We have to change the way we live. And I don't mean all this "green shopping" nonsense either. Pleasure shopping and over consuming is just plain greed. How much stuff do we really need?

Some of my favorite quotes from Avatar:

"You will live with us and learn our ways. We will see if your insanity can be cured." - The clan leader Mo'at to Jake Sully

"Go back to your dying world." - Jake Sully to the Sky People in his rally of the Navi

If we meet people like the Navi, Earth's corporations and money-chasers would be plotting and scheming to take over their world, just as they plotted and schemed here on Earth.

Let's take away their power and diminish their influence and size. Practice frugality.

A new year, a new decade

This past decade went by so fast.

I wonder what the new decade will bring?

Will climate change be even more prevalent? Will our way of life change from the overindulgent, ridiculousness we have been living for many years now?

I have resigned myself to the fact that we missed the window of opportunity to stop climate change.  I am in adaptation mode now.

How do I help my family to adapt to the changes that are here and are coming?

I suspect that many of us are beginning to ask ourselves just that question.


Happy New Year and Peace to All on Earth.

They need us. Tree huggers save the world.

It seems to me that the planet destroyers, need us, the environmental realists, to save them from themselves.

If it wasn't for us tree huggers, the air would be too foul to breathe, the water too polluted to drink, and the soil too depleted to grow food.

These planet destroyers folks seem to be incapable of understanding and accepting their total dependence on the Earth. That kind of thinking will get them wiped out.

Is their inability to think in realistic terms, cognitive? Are their brains unable to process the concept of needing the Earth for their very survival?

Or is it learned. Is it cultural, philosophical, religious beliefs or political ideology?

Their thinking has created these beliefs. And in turn they have been shaped by the beliefs.

So, in thinking about their inabilitities in evolutionary terms, they would die out because they would be unable to adapt to environmental circumstances.

Will they be able to adapt to the environmental and climate changes that are coming?

They haven't so far. The changes they have had to make so far have been mandatory.

Who are the planet destoryers to criticize and ridule us, when they can't get a firm grasp on reality?