In a moment of syncronicity, the Earth Hour challenge on Natural Medicine, hosted by @pavanjr and @holisticmom, is published the same hour I catch this video, which appears in my Youtube suggestions. If you don't have time to watch (do - he's a mesmerising speaker) I've summarised the gist of it below. I don't have a definitive response to Natural Medicine's Lotus Love for The Earth Mother Earth Hour Challenge - just an afternoon spent in contemplation, and quite a bit of sadness.
Balin Hobbs, an eco warrior and poet that lives in Devon, UK, argues that we're realising hell on earth through our actions - we create bombs and guns, that poisons the air, the earth and the sea and basically lacks respect for each other and all the life forms that support us and the earth, rather than being parasitic. He argues that simple things like looking down and realising we're all on a big ball together rather than focusing on our boundaries and divisions. If we can 'find a way of making friends' with the whole planet, of finding a sense of belonging with the whole earth, not just the 'fear based clubs' of nation states. And we're all guilty of it - every nation has a history of war, fear and violence. Unless we start acting out of love, we just continue toward the destruction of the world so that it cannot even support life. Unless we stop acting out of greed and having money as the driving force of all our lives, we're fucked (my words). What made me weep at the end of the video is that he couldn't name anything made him happy, as he saw himself on a train headed to Auschwitz, knowing the gas ovens are at the end. Worse, he said that the moment you start thinking, you have problems. Better, he said, get a job and a mortage and a wife and a family and work your ass off to keep them.
And that's the world we live in, isn't it? Distract yourself enough that you won't have time to think about the horrors at the end of the line.
On his website, Eco Sanity, a line of his poetry reads:
Driven down roads all leading to hell,
less chance to turn as each tree we fell.
And I'm weeping now - at least my heart hurts if the tears don't literally fall - because this is the path we're on, and it's hard to see that things will change.
In Australia, like most nations, we need to think about whether investing in war or investing in renewable energy tech is going to stabilse our future. With a population that lives on the sea, we risk being drowned - sea level rises are happening four times faster than the global average. Are we doing anything about it? Not really. We're still supporting new coal mines, despite the fact we are rich in sun, land, water and wind. Yet our emissions are going up, not down. No one is doing anything brave or unpopular to address the fuckery of a climate change policy we have.
The way I feel today, Earth Hour means nothing unless you're doing earth hours - living an earth focussed life with every decision you make. But arguably, what point is it to turn the lights off for an hour if you're ordering an Amazon package from China or America, participating in the flight of planes and other transport across the seas? What point is it to go vegan when our government's answer to the climate crisis is just to expand the gas industry? What point is it to recycle when the powers that be in this country are too weak to do anything radical and simply follow the gods of the Ecomomy less they be dethroned?
It's a kind of ecogrief I'm feeling, marked by a shrug of the shoulders and a marked cynicism that comes from deep anger and feelings of ineffectiveness, of despair that humanity is capable of anything else.
And so when I think about what I can do for the Earth - what I do do for the earth, it all feels so trivial and meaningless. Make my own compost. Raise chickens, grow vegetables and cut down on food miles. Think about what I'm getting delivered and where it's coming from. Research ethical companies. Donate to people who are running strong campaigns to bring about change. Recycle - no fuck that, don't cycle in the first place - don't add to the mess at all, and refuse. Don't buy plastic water bottles or use takeaway coffee cups. Raise bees. All very noble in print. And of course, important. But I can't help but think we're all just bloody blind, and what I do means nothing in the grand illusion we're all participating in to some degree:
We all try to keep up in our need to impress
By closing our eyes to the things that depress.
So by turning our heads and refusing to see
We all are the axe man who cuts down the tree.
And by not taking action to look after life
We all are the rapist armed with the knife.
But I'm being maudlin, and that doesn't help anyone or anything.
And although I cry for a new kind of economy, based on love and imagining a world that doesn't use money but has love and respect as a transaction basis, I'm busy checking my Bitcoin portfolio and looking to see how fast I can get this mortgage paid.
Whilst I'm busy helping a local economy with an alternative economy based on trading skills and produce, I'm selling crap on Facebook marketplace to earn a bit of fiat.
I think of how beautiful the world was with the planes grounded during the worst of the pandemic in the same breath that I desire to jump on a plane to fulfil my desire to travel.
And I think about how we need a new education system as I busy myself working within the one we have, that raises slaves to this economy in the same way I'm helping produce those slaves: study hard, score well, go to University.
Balin is right - we close our eyes to the things that depress. Because when we don't, it's deeply, deeply depressing.
So what do I do, in light of all this? Light is a joke, of course, because I feel shrouded in darkness on this day, sick with an infection and lost in my thoughts. Thinking about it is traumatic, and devastating. I'd do better to distract myself - zone out to Netflix, perhaps, or just sleep.
But perhaps turning my thoughts toward the ball below, the sky above, and the connections between us all that is the more healthy way to live my life. If I can focus the vast majority of my actions on kindness, love, and compassion, then I'm doing the best I can for the earth. That I can control. There is happiness, in between, if we don't allow ourselves to think about what isn't being done, and instead simply focus on what can be done - living our lives as ethically and as light as possible, and with love for our fellow man despite it all.
Because if you act out of love, that could save the earth - as corny as that sounds. Think about what this means. Is buying a plastic water bottle an act of love, or an act of violence? Think about what goes into it's manufacture. Think about the resources being used to produce it. Think about who profits.
Sure, alot of the time we can't get this right all the time. Hence my moments of eco-anxiety and self blame for being a part of this human race that has been so parasitic on this beautiful spinning ball.
But maybe if we thought of all our hours as earth hours, we might just make a little difference.
Oh, to step outside of the society I'm chained to right now, and live differently. One needs courage for that. All I can do is bunny hop between the boundaries and borders that mark mainsteam economies with the sacred economies of my heart, and look at the beautiful world around me and recognise that, as Hobbs argues, that:
At the moment man’s world is imposed upon the natural world, if anything happens to man’s world it happens to the natural world, if anything happens to the natural world and happens to man’s world. The two are completely dependent upon each other and affect each other. If man can, by changing his habits, find a sustainable way of living with this planet, instead of on it, the relationship Will change from a needy parasitic lust for power, to A harmonious, loving, symbiotic, relationship.
Oneness, right?
With Love,
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmcGSZxvsXD8YbSCNAo6KWc4a9RjXyRCjWupZdPXJapkXk
Is true. We needs more Open eyes to create a Big change in our minds. Is enought the billions of $ that goverments spend in war... and military stuffs... The Hole planet is dying but if we are a little bit against the system (criptoworld cyberpunks Warriors. Like your Friend, like us in blockchain, we can make a Big difference). Only we have to still spread the world and the necesary message about peace. More love more education. More económic independence from the controlar State system. Now is the time for change everything's. Buy products eco friendly for planeta earth, plan a seed, colab with others, in harmony. Well we are part of the solution. Not the problem so, is a long path for change all but we are trying and that stuffs matters!
Blessings
It DOES matter, and your comment helped me to smile a little this afternoon. Thankyou. The fact there are cyberpunkartisticlovingwarriors like YOU in the world matters.
Yeiiii sorry the peakd don't show me this notification in the right moment! Lol i'm glad that You smile cause my post all of My Best wishes. And yes we are ecofriendlycyberpunkwarriors. The future is now! And we make the right choise. Fight for humanity. I can sleep with my clean soul every day cause this stuffs are important for all human kind. The blockchain is like the university ONU teams but better we can moves in the wave against madmax corporations that dreams to earn money with theirs distopic scenarios and they wants the human race collapse. But we are more strongest than ever and more Smarts. Only we have to unite in comunities just like that
I have a theory / cause i'm a true beliver in past lifes matters, so I think we return to have the same encounters with mostly the same people that we met in past life so, i really think that I knew in person in real life a Lot of people around here, cause we have that kind of strange conexión, its very rare cause is a worldwide comunity but, is like the same values and conex about to make a better world cause this blockchain that reunite us again speaking the same and thinking about help humanity. I mean isnt a casual stuff for me. Cause a looot of people around here feels and thinking the same stuffs. blessings
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I hear you, in many many ways.
It's easy to look around and see what most people are doing; the trances we get caught in... and ponder whether we're just sliding down the slippery slope to hell.
At times I have to sit back and ponder "WHO" is doing the wanting, when I say I "want" to travel the world, when I "want" a better car, when I "want" this and that. Am "I" speaking, or is my societal conditioning speaking? No easy answers...
In some places, countries are actually experiencing shrinking populations. Economists are tearing their hair out... I find myself asking whether a bit of "shrinkage" is actually a bad thing. Might it not help us become a little less consumption based?
We can all make a difference. ONE plastic water bottle not purchased is a "difference." It's challenging to forget what others are doing, and just do what we are doing. But sometimes... it's the best course of action we can take.
I'm constantly assessing this, because I hate being slave to my conditioning. Saying that, the 'I' (not the witness 'I') is a product of my upbringing, for which I am thankful. I just hate being beholden to the not so subtle messages of a consume, consume, consume world. But I like to think I'm not as much as I could be, if I didn't listen to the truth behind it, and certainly the better truth in my own heart.
I agree there wholeheartedly - there's no other choice either when our mental health is concerned~
Thanks for stopping by, it's been a while!
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.I hear you on so many of your points.
When I first moved back to England I struggled with balancing my values and trying to keep them in alignment and still do sometimes.
As they say, if we all do something and be consciously aware it will bring about change.
And Yes, approaching everything with love and kindness, not just to our fellow humans but to the animals, plants and everything else that makes this whole eco system of our mother work in synchronicity, is certainly the way forward.
Things are changing and for that I am hopeful,and in our own small way, those of us that do care celebrate earth day every day. Even if it isn't perfect.
I really enjoyed your post @riverflows.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Much love
🤗🌍🙏💚
Thankyou beautiful, appreciate the comment. You are an inspiration to me with your kindness - I hope I can spread those ripples outwards in the choices I make even if I get it wrong sometimes.
Awww thank you; as are you to me. As for those ripples, you are already spreading them. Keep on being the beautiful you that you are. 🤗😁💚
What a touching post. It mirrors my thinking so much and often I feel like I'm just whiny and complaining because of the world we live in.
I wanna call it out, tell everyone what bothers me, how I don't like the system we are born into.
I am called a negative person by people surrounding me because of naming the issues of the world. They don't wanna hear the truth, just like so many. If you name it you are negative.
Yes it is depressing me, yes I am also scared that it is too late to change it, that the powerful of the world are trying everything to avoid the necessary change cause that would mean the dictatorship of the 1% would end.
But I also wanna be hopeful that if more are joining a change can be possible.
The only possible way to save ourselves, is with love. Love for our neighbor is love for our land. But it's details like planting, raising animals, creating eco-ideas and contributing to the communities in our countries that make a huge difference. And we know that governments, instead of being supportive, are obstacles. But let's not let them discourage us or make us lose that hope that identifies us as a human being.
We are part of a resistance, and together we have achieved great changes on the planet, only the media and social media networks have been in charge of minimizing those positive changes.
It's a nice message, I am very touched to read this kind of things. I loved your pictures, they look wonderful. This was one of the best posts I have read. 💚
Thanks lovely - what a gorgeous comment. Media has a lot to account for for sure - hopefully HIVE redresses the balance a little bit.
The pictures - the first one is from near my mother in law's house in England - they call it River's Oak now (for River, insert my real name) because I always used to walk up there when I was in lockdown. The sunrise pics were from just before easter when I was doing a lot of dawn swimming.
If I let my thoughts drift that way, it gets far too depressing. So I don't and just keep doing what I do on the farm, as best I can.
You are truly a remarkable woman and a shining example of what the world needs. I just have to THINK of you to smile.. like you say, turning thoughts to things we can do well in our lives is best course of action for our own well being, and if that's a good and ethical and loving life, then that's awesome.
Well said . Environment is not asking us to conserve her for her, but for our future generation.
When you think of all the consequences that human beings generate, in terms of global pollution and wanting to do something to be part of the change, I believe that no matter how insignificant the whole is, you should never give up on change, with love and perseverance, little by little you can be part of the change.
Natures seem to have been painted by someone with a different natural beauty scene and an environment.
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When a organism grows towards it's boundaries it will be regulated by a natural force within that will collapse it back to almost nothing . Many info on this social workings can be found in our old history . The tower of Babel as good example , or some of the stories written at he end of he big empires that ones ruled the world . We loose are ability to communicate and our individual thinking . Walking so close to each other that we synchronize and frequency couple to a conforming mass stampeding towards the and over the edge . Don't cry for the Earth , she will exist way past us humans , she knows how to regulate them , she did it many times before . Even when we pollute the Earth beyond a for us humans livable place ,...she will flourish again one day long after we are gone .
The Earth has the time , making her circles true space . Revolution , evolution , devolution ,.. and lol , yes this is in a part always bin climate driven , sort of . So to weep for mother Earth is kind of silly to me . I feel sad for the people , how blind they are , and the future they are facing during the coming part of the bigger cycle .
Be aware what path you take and what truth you speak , your whole post is one extinction rebels , and our evil 1% elite rulers , love to read , giving them more power to go on and create a dystopian dictatorship after killing of 2/3th of all humans . While there is no need to do so , for the Earth will regulate its-self one day soon .
Don't get me wrong , i wrote this comment from my savage spirit that is waiting and lurking in the hills for the city to collapse , so i can feast on there ruin's one day . I upmost respect the one that provides all , mother Earth , i don't cry for her , i respect her powers that can destroy and create . I cry for the city , and all terror it has or will go true .
Did i make sense ? ,, for i have some troubles doing that these days ,.. ;-)
I can so relate, @riverflows, and I so let myself go WAY too far down that rabbit hole as our election got inexorably closer last year.
At the same time, I had Riverside's latest studio album, Wasteland, on heavy rotation, which is an album about the changes in the world and their possible outcomes with America governed by a madman . . . and let's just say that listening repeatedly to an album about one's own nation and world self-imploding, with daily news about a criminally stupid and culpable national leader actively trying to make it all happen, is NOT a good recipe for peace of mind and good mental health.
Which is a big part of why I've disappeared from Hive of late, as I managed, despite KNOWING better, to thoroughly depress myself, to the extent that I was having trouble simply functioning, much less writing about it all. And the biggest problem is that I lost my ability, largely, to simply sleep.
I don't recommend it.
I can say that things have gotten better, and that with the criminally stupid imbecile out of office things are beginning to look a bit brighter, but we still have SO far to go.
Having a president once again who not only has empathy for others, but can actively READ and LEARN is a godsend, as is simply flatly ignoring my newsfeed for a few weeks.
And it is comforting to know that I no longer have to worry about our president playing nuclear chicken with Kim Jong Un, not to mention Iran, which depressed and distressed a LOT of people, and quite frankly it's rather nice to be back to having a rather boring president, who doesn't create a new scandal every waking hour of every day.
And equally frankly, it was lovely, since I haven't even checked on Hive recently, that literally the first story on my feed was yours, and that you're still actively posting and working to make the world a better place, albeit imperfectly as we all do. Thank you for being you, and for all you do, which I appreciate greatly.
Aw, you are a sweetheart. I was worried about your rabbit hole! NEver a good idea - hopefully lesson learnt. You must focus on the good YOU do, all the time - not the shit that you can't control. Reading the news doesn't do anyone any good.
Absolutely true. When GWB was president, I literally got rid of cable TV, largely because I was afraid I'd get ticked off enough to throw something heavy through the TV screen, and I figured that would be a fire hazard.
Interestingly, Marek got rid of paid cable around the same time, though we had yet to meet, although he did keep BBC America and the Weather Channel.
;-)
As for now, I'm back to concentrating on science, music and art, which is a LOT healthier for my psyche. Not to mention for everyone reading my posts.
In the meantime, where do I find the Hive banner for Natural Medicine?
Thanks again. Stay awesome, my friend.
Everything's all about LOVE for peace... A short comment but meaningful. 🙂
Me parece excelente tu publicación.Debemos hacer el cambio desde adentro .Educar en valores ambientales.
Love keeps the environment in a perfect shape for all the inhabitants in it.
Well drafted piece.
Is the mouse guilty of eating the cheese or the person who leaves it unguarded? Most will blame the mouse, but few of us reflect on it and assume our guilt and responsibility. If I forgot to put the cheese away, I have to take responsibility for what happens to it later.
Our selfish thoughts prevent us from seeing beyond, we live in the present, slaves to the script that society has written for us, and we do not think about the future we will leave to our descendants. And those who do, only care about increasing their wealth to leave them in a good economic position.
We are incapable of taking what we need and keep moving forward, we always want more, if I do well with something, I exploit it to the max. That has been the training implemented over the years and the scenario has been the environment, it is unfortunate that we act for our own welfare and we are unable to give back to the planet.
As you say in your post, our relationship with the environment is symbiotic, but does mother earth benefit from that relationship? In my opinion, no, we are only harming her.
Excellent your post, very heartfelt reflections. Thank you for sharing it.
I feel you on this, on every level. I have never been the type of person who has anxiety, yet I find that the older I get the more I feel anxiety dealing with trying to find a balance between being able to enjoy things I love and feeling like part of the problems in the world.
One great example of this, is seafood consumption. I was raised on the coast, and certainly have caught my weight in seafood from the creeks, rivers, inlets, and the Atlantic ocean where I grew up in SC. Seafood is definitely one of my favorite foods...yet I no longer find that I can eat it without guilt and anxiety, except on the rare occasions I can go harvest it on the coast of my childhood home. Thanks to Fukishima I feel like the entire Pacific is full of radiation, there have been oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico so many times it seems like we must just be ingesting petroleum, and then there's the fact that everything has pop's and micro plastics (even in the smallest organisms in the Marrianna Trench), and none of that addresses the very real detriment of commercial fishing globally. For a while I tried being okay with eating commercially farm raised fish and such, but then I learned about those practices and there was no more ability to eat that without anxiety either.
Some days are easier than others, like yesterday. The top headline on the BBC World News was about the big virtual climate change summit that President Biden is holding today, where it is expected the US pledges to huge strides by the end of decade. Or Sunday, when I got to be around an entire group of diverse folks in our region who are all working in our little corners towards sustainable practices as best we can. I remind myself that it is literally impossible to live without causing death ~ just by breathing and eating we take life that we may live, that is the way of nature. And I remind myself that art and life imitate each other, and we may yet find ourselves where we can overcome, adapt, evolve, and triumph over these troubled times in humanity. The grassroots efforts, locally happening around the globe, may yet win the day through conscious awareness and diverse collaborations, to show humankind can work together and accomplish anything when we so choose. I also remind myself that the only thing we are truly risking is our own extinction, which based on my understanding of the Earth's history means there will be room for other types of life forms to be created and sustained in whole new types of ecosystems.
Thanks for not just hitting on the positive ideals that come with Earth Day. Taking a moment to acknowledge the harsh realities, is necessary to keep us solidly focused on what we are up against. The only true constant on Earth is change, and we must look at our surroundings in order to be the change we want to see in the world.
Happy Earth Day today and every day, @riverflows!
I loved your publication!!!
The initial reflection of Balín Hopps certainly shows a stark reality that is very discouraging, however I feel that we cannot carry that burden of sadness because unfortunately it escapes our hands to take responsibility for a sleeping collective.
This does not mean that we will evade our responsibilities, or ignore them. All our actions have consequences and I think that acting from conscience, doing the right thing and contributing value every day with our actions is what we must do and what is most important.
Being congruent, as you say, is also key. How can we generate more awareness in this regard in the community? What are we lacking to achieve this‽ Is it perhaps a matter of ignorance?
I mean, I recycle and take care of the planet but I still shop on Amazon, very good point, it really made me think that there is still a long way to go to raise awareness.
Finally I think your last words are a gem, and it's a great summary of this reflections:
Wonderfull!!! 😍
Reading this post certainly had its effect on me, but it was certainly worth it. (Though I couldn't bring myself to watch that video too.)
That poem reminded me a lot of a Hungarian poem about being a bunch of fish caught in a net. By trying to get free, each one is tightening the ropes on the bodies of all others... until they all end up on the fisherman's table.
As much as they pushed my buttons, I thoroughly enjoyed the futility of the massive efforts of composting, growing food, reducing waste, etc. all of which takes considerable effort, compared to the flick of a finger simplicity of governments and corporations extending gas contracts. Makes me nauseated!
A few years ago (just before getting on Hive, actually) I felt much stronger about these things. Then this feeling started growing in me that we may actually not make it. I mean, even with the most constrained and focussed efforts we may not prevent the ultimate destruction that has been set in motion... when we were children... or even before? So Netflix may not be such a bad option after all. Or your garden. Not as a part of some grand solution for the future, but simply a place to make you feel good today. And yes, even the tire wall that I build may in the end just stand there, not supporting anything, but while I was doing it, I had a chance to work on my tan and my muscles.
I think it was @mountainjewel (wonder what she's up to these days) telling me around the time of my bike trip that perhaps our purpose here is not to save the earth, but to witness its destruction. Bleak as it sounds, it actually made me feel less tense about the wildfires I saw.
This brought so many things to mind. I was going to write them, but there was so much, I'm putting it in a post instead. What I will add here, which doesn't really fit there, is what you say about the two faced feeling with wanting to escape the system, but continually contributing to it, because how else to you survive?
I have read a few stories about people who spent years earning high incomes in jobs that were destructive to either the environment or other people and suddenly coming to a realisation that this isn't what they want to be doing, it's what they thought they were supposed to do, because you're suppressed to be successful, aren't you?
So they've quit their job and bought a homestead with all that money they've made. While it's great that they've had this epiphany, part of me can't help but seethe over the fact that they can only afford to do that through the ill gotten gains in the first place. Those of us who never went that path to start with are lucky if we can even consider getting a mortgage for a place. Then we need to continue in that workforce, we may not be fully aligned with, in order to pay back that mortgage. Catch 22 all around, in the end.
The video left me speechless, is sad how humanity in general have been killing the planet just to get richer. For years I've heard that we have to make a change or damage will be irreversible, but I don't find much support to movements and initiatives to help he planet... Or so I thought, just by this challenge I realized there are many of us who act according to our possibilities.
I feel your ecogrief! It is especially painful when you see it happening in your own backyard.
I'm in agreement with you that it is by making changes in ourselves, acting out of love, that will have the rippling effects of going out into the world and make for a more peaceful and harmonious world!
May peace and harmony prevail in this world even if only one bit at a time!
As, yes, small ripples MATTER. Much love to you, who create your own beautiful ripples.
hello, love is a very important topic, now that you mention it, it is the engine that drives us, to understand our neighbors, friends, family, and to feel love will allow us to take care of the planet. We must teach our daughters to love and respect nature.