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No Mega-Quarry Today

2012-11-24T20:26:00Z

By Sue Ellis of Key Life Journeys

A Boston Hedge Fund with over $20 billion in assets; a company buying up potato farms with the explanation they plan to be the largest potato producers in Ontario; the truth – a mega-quarry that would destroy prime farm land, the water table needed by millions of people and disrupt the lives of residents and holiday makers with earth shaking dynamite and dust; the pay-off? A few local jobs and some gravel.

This equation did not add up for many in Ontario and beyond. The Ontario Government demanded an environmental assessment. This bought time for people to act – and did they act!! Who would have thought that organizing hundreds of chefs to cook outdoors and feed thousands of people would galvanize so many.

Read my blog on Foodstock 2011 and Soupstock 2012 and see how we protested in muddy potato fields (28,000 people) and Woodbine Park in Toronto (40,000 urbanites).

On Wednesday 21^st November the Highland Companies withdrew the application for the quarry and announced they would grow potatoes. As the Globe and Mail newspaper reported -

“The hard-fought battle that had united a motley crew – farmers and urbanites, politicians and entertainers, aboriginals and top Toronto chefs – was over, for a while at least. Some of Southern Ontario’s finest farmland would no longer be transformed into a massive limestone pit.”

Ontario is in need of aggregates for infrastructure and that found in Melancthon Township, about 120 kilometres north of Toronto, is high-quality limestone, known as Amabel dolostone. The investors paid too much for the land to allow it to be used to harvest potatoes. So no one is seeing this as a permanent victory. Had not the government called for an environmental assessment, the process could not have been stalled. Legislation should be changed to make it mandatory that projects such as this must go through an environmental assessment.

Environmental assessments are taking place in Canada and the US over proposed oil pipe lines. But in the end the result will hinge on political will. Government officials are notorious for caving into strong corporate pressure. After all, these same Government officers are later rewarded with board positions on these same corporations. Why do the words “conflict of interest” and “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” come to mind?

But let us, for the moment, reflect in the knowledge that public opinion does count, that sometimes those who feel powerless, have strength beyond belief.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

Soupstock, Woodbine Park Toronto 2012

Haida Gwaii; The End of an Era on Hot Spring Island

2012-11-09T05:07:45Z

By Sue Ellis of Key Life Journeys　

The Vancouver Sun Newspaper reports a consequence of the earthquakes that started on Haida Gwaii on Saturday 27th October 2012.

"The famed hot springs of Haida Gwaii have gone dry, apparently a casualty of last week's major earthquake. Parks Canada officials at Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site said all four of the popular geothermal pools are empty. It's not yet known whether the source of underground hot water has been permanently cut off or whether the loss is temporary.

Hot springs are normally found near fault lines, such as the Queen Charlotte Fault, the site of Saturday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake. The springs are created when groundwater, heated by geothermal energy beneath the earth's surface, escapes to the surface through the cracks in the bedrock along a fault...

...The 15-hectare island is only accessible by boat, and is the destination for various sightseeing and tour companies from across the region. Three of the four pools are open to visitors to use."

We have no way of knowing if they will ever be filled again and so I feel truly blessed that I experienced them as so many have in the past.

Haida Gwaii formally known as the Queen Charlotte Islands is a magical place where one is constantly reminded that the forces of nature will not be tamed. The Haida know this. Nothing lasts forever. I have stood in the villages of Tanu and Skedans and witnessed the ancient poles and longhouses receding into the earth coated with a brilliant green moss; as it should be. I have many times looked at the "preserved" poles in the Royal Ontario Museum with the stair case built around them. If they had remained where they were originally erected, they would have long disappeared. That is the way of nature.

I spent a few hours on Hot Spring Island – the focus of the Vancouver Sun’s article – in August 2012. I sat in two of the geothermal pools and marveled at the warm waters rising from the depths of the earth. Bald eagles sat on rocks close by. The beaches were adorned with weather worn logs. Two months later the fault line moved and the escape route for the water was blocked.



The magic of the island will remain in my memory and digitally. I share some of those images. The old growth forest is one of an evolving landscape. Trees fall. They nurse the growth of other trees. The original tree disintegrates, but its presence will remain as a space and above ground roots will surround that space. The landscape is filled with mosses, lichens, fungi and huge slugs. There is an energy, there are spirits, there is life.









During the tourist season Haida Watchmen live at such sites to greet the tourist share the history. The watchmen – men and women – will live in a wooden cabin commanding a fabulous view and there will be books and photographs and examples of native crafts such as weaving from cedar bark and spruce roots. Since there are no deer on the island the Salal bushes grow tall and were bearing their berries when I was there.





The hot springs have gone. No doubt since they were sacred to the Haida, there will be a ceremony to mourn the loss. But the Haida will move on. Just as the fallen tree makes room for and provides nutrition to the new sapling, the next chapter of the story has already been created.

Soupstock 2012

2012-11-04T22:32:05Z

By Sue Ellis of key life journeys

Rhythm from a strumming guitar. The music of Jesse Cook. The location - Woodbine Park in Toronto on Sunday October 21st for Soupstock. Last year there was Foodstock held on potato farms, location for the proposed Highlands Mega Quarry. They expected 20,000 people to protest and fund raise and on a cool wet windy day 28,000 showed up. Last years blog and photos. The facts are still the same –

The Highland Companies’ has proposed a massive limestone Mega-Quarry in Melancthon Township, 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

Backed by a $25-billion Boston hedge fund, Highland proposes to blast a pit deeper than Niagara Falls from beneath a landscape of great agricultural, cultural and ecological importance.

The Mega-Quarry would permanently destroy more than 2,300 acres of the best farmland in Ontario. It would also require 600-million litres of water to be pumped out of the pit each day — in perpetuity. This water is used by up to one million Ontarians downstream.

In September 2011, after months of public outcry and media scrutiny, the Ontario government ordered that a provincial Environmental Assessment be undertaken of the proposed Mega-Quarry. This would be the first-ever Environmental Assessment of a quarry operation in the province’s history.

The province now awaits confirmation from Highland Companies whether they wish to participate in an Environmental Assessment, or to abandon the controversial project.

This year Chef Michael Stadtländer of the Canadian Chefs' Congress and the David Suzuki Foundation brought the big culinary celebration to the city and 40,000 soup lovers came. The gloriously sunny celebration was Canada’s largest-ever culinary protest. More than 200 top chefs from across North America offered a staggering array of delicious soups made from over ten thousand pounds of donated fresh local ingredients.

The sun shone, the breeze blew coolly off the lake and we were in motion. Feet walked across the park to line up at nearly 200 booths selling soup and as the music and voices of the entertainers pulsated out of the loud speakers our feet moved to the invitation. The sound rippled through the body; the feet projected it into the earth. It moved from sound waves to vibration entering the earth.

The Vander Zaags, a Melancthon farming family

The dear earth so blatantly wasted yet so revered Greed will destroy us and the rhythm of the mission, the prayer for change, the joy of community and we were moving and passing the rhythm on. Some danced bringing their whole bodies into the expression. Others were still but feet were tapping. We communicated with our feet. We enter a contract with the outside world through the movement of our feet. We march on protest paths and we dance in community. Something primal is awakened when we use our feet to relay the message. The message of survival.

http://vimeo.com/52134058 a call for action
http://www.soupstock.ca/

Connecting with Gaia

2012-09-23T21:35:58Z

By Sue Ellis of KeyLifeJourneys

I’m suspended in space speedily, yet in slow motion, orbiting the earth. Six times in 24 hours I will complete the circumnavigation. Sometimes the passage is in darkness, sometimes a red and yellow disc highlights Gaia’s curved surface. But on other occasions all her beauty is displayed for me; all her tragedies; all her pain and all her joy. I see her snow capped peaks; her multicoloured desserts in pristine clarity. Her natural, not man made, hues are brush strokes on a massive canvas; her work sometimes applied with a pallet knife. Water is sometimes black and sometimes yellow depending on available light. Clouds sometimes hover; sometimes rise as mountains and sometimes pattern the oceans with dappled light or dark shadows.

Lake Har Us Nuur in Western Mongolia is created with a light touch, navy blue at the centre and a cool pale green where waters lap the pink and beige coast. There is the Euphrates River meandering darkly through the land of Turkey which presents as angular blocks of yellow ochre and orange. Now I’m looking down on the snow covered peaks in China where receding glaciers leave trails of silt.

I have a love reaction of awe. I come down to earth in the Distillery Historic District of Toronto where an exhibition of photographs, taken from the International Space Station by Guy Laliberté, is on display until 1st October 2012.

Proceeds from the sale of photographs and books at the Thompson Landry Gallery, go to finance the One Drop Foundation created by Laliberté. The man who brought us the magic of Cirque du Soleil is now trying to irradiate poverty by providing all Gaia’s people with access to water.

My feet walk her concrete coated earth, but for a few moments I transcended time and space and saw the abundance of Gaia, my home. But I also saw how my actions and those of others who through ignorance or greed, are destroying her greatest property – water.

On the website www.onedrop.org there is information about the water crisis.

There are two water cycles on our planet:

The first moves water from clouds to rain to oceans and back again. The second affects communities without access to water as this drags them deeper into poverty and poor health, which, in turn, makes it more difficult for them to access water.

While the first rests in the hands of nature, the second rests in ours.

Water is an inherent right, yet almost a billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion live in areas without sanitation. Worldwide solidarity is the best defense against the monopolization of this invaluable resource.

Water is life, but we continue to pollute and overexploit it, thus threatening the world’s diverse ecosystems and, therefore, access to water today and in the future…

Learning From The Crop Circles

2012-07-28T18:56:38Z

By Sue Ellis of keylifejourneys.com

With my back to Silbury hill near Averbury in Wiltshire- the largest man made mound in Europe and 2000 years old – I deposited £2 in a metal box and began walking up hill through a wheat field.

So as not to disturb any of the firmly standing crops, I walked in the tramlines –indented by the tractor wheels when the farmer was sowing the grain. It was Tuesday 19th June, 2012, just before the summer solstice. The sun shone. The breeze was warm. As I walked my head was down, watching the flint filled earth and getting used to following the narrow path. The wheat was waist high.

Suddenly a whirring sound came from the sky above me. It caught me off guard for I was embarking on a journey of discovery with all senses open. I was here to experience for myself the mystery of earth energy, cosmic forces, and heightened consciousness - or perhaps nothing more that the joy of being in rural southern England in early summer.

The whirring sound intensified and I realized I would have to look up to see from where it came. Could it truly be a UFO? Was I about to be whisked away never to tell my tale at the King’s Arms in All Cannings over dinner that evening? My eyes lifted to the blue sky and I was able to focus on a cloud of flying insects swarming above me. Rising and dropping en masse just above my head. I was thinking about protecting myself when suddenly they were gone, disappearing into the ether. It was as if they had waited until they had my full attention and then had no use for me. I continued my climb and on cresting the hill found a narrow path arcing to my left. I entered my first crop circle. For an aerial view This formation was first reported on 12th June and consisted of 5 circles around a central one, there were smaller unattached circles on the periphery and interconnecting lines.

My path led me to a circle of flattened wheat. The bent stems overlapped each other in braided waves spiraling out from the centre. Unlike the flattened wheat in the narrow circular paths, some stems were now rising to meet the sun. I was so aware that where humans had walked, they had crushes and snapped the crops. But in the large circles the flattening had not broken the stems and they could rise again. I looked closely at the bent stems that lay in patterns. Where the bend was, there was no permanent damage.

Where people had admitted to making crop circles, the traditional way is to have a board on the ground which one foot steps on. It is lifted with ropes and moved forward and the grain is pressed down with the weight of the board. But I experienced that each footstep led to a broken stem and if pressed down with a piece of wood – how could the grain lie in platted folds?

I lay down in the circle which called me and meditated. The others at the formation were doing the same. The energy, the peace, the abundance of gratitude; I looked up to the sky. The puffy white clouds made magical patterns; the sky larks and swallows high above swooped and dove for the insects they were catching.

How does one enter a crop circle? Is it as a skeptic wanting to see evidence of a man made creation or does one go to experience what is? I looked around me at the others there. The group I had come with was in contemplative pose. I looked at the strangers. Their eyes closed, some with arms outstretched, others sitting in lotus positions, sitting cross legged or lying on their backs. All were meditating in the moment. All were respecting their environment, the earth, the crops and each other’s space. For me it was to enter with the mindset that I come with to a labyrinth. Open to the discovery of the moment as I allow the outside world to drift away and come closer to the message in my soul.

The experience in my first crop circle let me know that my journey had not been in vain. To the limits of my spiritual and conscious awakening I wanted to participate and perhaps feel a shift within me. I was open to all possibilities. The group I traveled with was sensitive to energies of rock and earth and higher frequencies beyond my ken. I was in the right place to open wide and learn.　

That afternoon we visited our second crop circle. The weather was warm and still. It had been reported on 2nd June at Manton Drove near Marlborough. It was in a barley field and depicted a Polar Clock. Aerial view

The wheat field of the morning had strength about it, with the unyielding spears standing tall. As I walked towards the crop formation in this barley field the experience was of waving, flowing, yielding pliable stems which were much more easily rise to the sun after being bent. Mind you all was not softness and peace as I found out after sitting in the circle for a while. The mobile hairy strands at the end of the stalk have a habit of working their way into your socks and irritate until removed.

My later research revealed that the concentric bands represented time and date lines. There is a belief that the date is August 4th 2012. If this is a warning, the Olympic Games will be on in London at that time.

I researched on the net the writings of Amuna Ra from Wiltshire. www.PleiadianRegression.co.uk . Amongst other things she channels the words of Quetzalcoatl, an entity she believes may be responsible for some crop circles. She asked him the significance of the date and reports

'Oh Amuna Ra, dear one, it is called a polar clock in your world. We send it to you to alert you to the events which will take place on this date on the Earth, for we wish to forewarn you. There will be cataclysmic events on this day, caused by terrorism. People will lose their lives, and there will be much disruption of services. These events are orchestrated to cause fear amongst you, and to distract you from the cosmic events which are also unfolding.

‘We call on you to resist the fear, and to hold to what you know and perceive as the reality of our communications. Many will need your help and clarity in this period ahead. Do not deny your own experience in our circles. When they are fresh the energy is very strong. It will heal you and awaken you to the reality of our presence and love for you human beings upon the earth.

‘You human beings have an unfortunate capacity for doubt, even when your inner experience is strong and true. This doubt is used by the dark forces to unsettle and un-nerve you. It must be resisted. Trust your own experience and speak out, dear ones, for you who experience our love and grace through the formations in the corn are much needed to spread clarity and steadfastness in the human population in the coming times.’

Quetzalcoatl, 4 June 2012, through Amuna Ra

I thought back to 911 and how quickly we all descended into the negative energies of the power of darkness. With George Bush proclaiming "if you are not for us you are against us" and indiscriminate racism rising. The rising of those energies which lead to combat, retribution, generalized hate and paranoia: those energies which block light energies of acceptance, harmony and love.

I thought of experiments done in the US where groups of people meditated and sent out intentions for peace and simultaneously the crime rates went down, rising to normal levels as soon as the meditating stopped. What if we can reduce the threat of evil by calming the hearts of those who hate?

All of us can by not giving into the negative attitude, the critical mind set, the "them and us" way of looking at life. The channeled Quetzalcoatl explained -

MEDITATION for 4 August 2012

Dearest ones, centre yourselves in your hearts and feel the Love that is there for all humankind… Feel that Love radiating out, shining out… till you are shining like a bright star, far out into the cosmos… We will see your Light, dear ones, and hear the prayers of your hearts…

Hold the world events in London and everyone connected with them in the Light of your Love… See your Love flowing out and enfolding the whole city… and call on the Star Councils of Light to send their assistance wherever it is needed… in the UK, the US, and elsewhere on your dear planet…

And rest in the peace of your hearts, dear ones… trusting that all will be done that the Power of Love and Light can bring about in your world.

We are with you always, and hold you in our love.

Then I thought of the words of Martin Luther king jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness
Only light can do that.
Hatred cannot drive out hatred
Only love can do that.

It is good to be reminded about the choices we have in the way we look at the world. Maybe our attitude is the only thing in life we really have control over.

Crop circles do not always create positive energy. Some farmers are so convinced that human pranksters are purposely jeopardizing their livelihoods that they forbid trespassers and physically destroy the formations. Indeed I stood on the hills overlooking this formation at Golden Ball Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire.

I watched the farmer with tractor, ruining the formation below me. This formation was reported on 20th June 2012. We witnessed its destruction later the same day. The farmer wrote a letter to to the cropcircleconnector.com but I can no longer find it on the website. However I located it elsewhere.

Letter to cropcircleconnector.com

We received 2 circles last night, which I see is already on your website. 　The field was sprayed yesterday evening, obviously just before it was formed. 　If the makers of this circle wish to know what products were applied, for their own health reasons, I will let them know, they will however need to get in touch with me personally on by e-mail address.
As you will know form previous years, I am not a fan of these circles, and would like to you to note on the website, that people are not welcome to enter the field. 　I would also like to add that the location of the circle is adjacent to the local primary school, an area that gets very congested at both ends of the school day.
As I have threatened before, we will mow out the circle should there be any trouble regarding circle tourists.
Further to my e-mail earlier, and having evicted a number of unwanted visitors from our second circle (2 in one night is a bit much!) we have decided we will have to destroy the circles. Please pass on our disappointment at being targeted, and make those responsible they are not welcome on our land. I'm sorry to be a bit of a killjoy, but feel it's the only option I have.

Gavin R A Davies Stowell Farms

Year after year, the same areas are the sites of new formations. These are the most watched fields in the world and one can imagine how this farmer wants to catch the perpetrators. Only the people who own up after the fact are discovered – no one seems to be caught in the act.

Some actually occur during daylight hours and within the span of a few minutes. Yet demonstrations of humans with boards and ropes do seem to take a while to complete. Since they have not been discovered during the day, imagine the skill to create formations at night with no illumination?

Whomever or whatever is the creator of the formations, I do think a message remains clear. Quetzalcoatl has some more advice for those of us who truly cherish Gaia, our earth.

She needs the energy, dear ones, also of you human beings who enter our circles in wonder and joy. Your positive and loving energy unites with what we imprint into the earth to strengthen and glorify our work. When many people come and walk in our circles and sit or lie absorbing the energies, the earth also receives what you, dear ones, give to her in your interaction with our loving energies which pulse up out of the land below you. Thus do we work together already? Those who are more conscious among you know this and align their work with us in full awareness, which greatly increases the power. We need you to fully awaken, dear human beings, and call you to work with us now in the formations on the sacred land of Gaia.

Quetzalcoatl 　 11 June 2012

It is our responsibility to walk on this earth with love and grace. If necessary, accept all mystery because who are we to think we know it all? Who are we to make assumptions about the energies that surround us and all consciousness greater than ours? We can only guess at what makes the non-humanly created crop circles.

Scientists are making discoveries every day. Some determine the stalks have been bent by microwaves; others are recording changes in electromagnetic forces; other scientists record changes in the human body after being in crop circles and still others offer anecdotal evidence of healing. The world is more complex and mysterious than those who need concrete realities to sustain them, can argue. For me the formations allow me to be open to all possibilities, awaken the soul to all messages for my growth.

I’ve just watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in London. I send out positive energies of peace and gratitude so that all who participate in good faith and assemble with them will share those energies.

The Mega Quarry Battle Has Begun

2012-05-09T15:22:57Z

By Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

Today I received an email. It needs prompt action on our part to avert a crisis. Prime agricultural land, used for growing potatoes in Ontario, is about to be turned into an aggregate mega quarry which will displace water from our precious aquifer, clog country roads leading to Georgian Bay with gravel trucks and put food growing land out of service.

The prime grade aggregate to be mined will be needed for building projects. As I speak outside my front door, lawns, sidewalks and driveways are being torn up to allow replacement of our aging gas lines. There is a pile of wasted concrete in the next street. Asphalt will top the holes. Why are we not recycling our building materials? Why don’t we use other materials? Oh we could, but the Boston based hedge fund that is investing in this project intends to make lots of money for its investors. End of story.

I was one of the 28,000 people who went to Foodstock in October 2011 to raise funds to fight big business. Here is the link to the blog I wrote about it. Yhat preparation was for now. This is a battle between greed and sanity. The destruction of farmland is Ontario’s traditional way of “moving forward.” So many suburban housing estates sit on land that once fed us. In exchange we import food from countries that have dubious health standards; corrupt monitoring of those standards and many examples where toxic and non food elements have been added to the food.

This is our homeland – and water. Isn’t it worth defending?
Remember “"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” —Edmund Burke

Here is the appeal-

Ecologos is one of the partner organizations opposing the monster quarry proposed for Dufferin County. We need your immediate help!!

Back on September 1st the government promised that they would undertake a review of the Aggregate Resources Act. We have consistently attempted to get information on the process and when it would start, and just found out that the review will start in Toronto on Monday, May 7, 2012. Not only is the hearing taking place in Toronto (a place from which no aggregate is extracted), it is also taking place during prime planting season (virtually omitting the participation of farmers and others whose livelihoods depend on the preservation of farmland). It feels very tricky and we suspect that it is. The government has set aside just 4 short sessions to gather public input and we'd like to create a groundswell of participation to jam these sessions (there are currently only 12 hours allocated to public comment) so that they have to extend and expand the hearing. This is our chance to be heard and to share input on the future of how aggregate is extracted in this province. People wanting to voice their concerns have been asked to contact Sylvia Przezdziecki and Tamara Pomanski (their email addresses and a sample note are below). Please consider taking the time to write to them to request a chance to speak, or to voice your concerns about the destruction of farmland for aggregate. Please also consider sending this email along to your friends--our hope is to extend the hearing and to prove to the government that we can't be caught unprepared.

Sincerely,

Michael Stadtlander, President

Canadian Chefs' Congress and on behalf of the Foodstock Committee members

Committee Contact info is as follows:

Tamara Pomanski is the clerk and can be reached at:

tamara_pomanski@ontla.ola.org

Please also cc Meghan Stenson at:

meghan_stenson@ontla.ola.org

The contact phone number is the same: 416 325-3515.

Who is Joseph Kony?

2012-03-08T19:24:25Z

By Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

The question "Who Is Joseph Kony" has gone viral. Pose that question in Google and over 69 million sites will come up in answer. People are wanting to know.

Dictators and bullies seem to have great influence on our lives making us feel helpless and powerless. But the world we now live in has new rules. Social media has seen to that. We are in communication with each other. We come together, not to focus on differences but to gain strength and support for our common goals. This is exciting, this makes me hopeful. We put the power back in the will of the people rather than in the self serving directives of political parties with dubious motives and those who are dangerous in power.

We in Toronto elected a Mayor who felt that once elected he could pursue his own agenda without the consent of his council. The people rose up, the council listened to those who had elected them and now the Mayor has to learn how to listen, negotiate and compromise.

People are responding to power gone wrong with their voices, now heard and shared around the world. Let’s take the video which starts with "Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come" It was uploaded onto YouTube on 5^th March and at time of writing it has been watched by nearly 37 million people.

It can also be seen on the movement’s website.

More info at www.kony2012.com

The least we can do is watch the video. Jason Russell says we are “Shaping human history.” Seems to me we should all be involved in that. Why? Because we can.

The Winter of Our Discontent

2011-12-27T05:50:33Z

By Sue Ellis of key life journeys

In the early hours of Thursday morning the sun was stalled over the tropic of Capricorn, paused and then began moving north again. Light was returning for more moments, and in greater strength, to the northern hemisphere. In that more conscious light, I went back to St.James Park in Toronto. I had been there last the evening that Occupy Toronto had received its eviction notice.

As soon as the park had been vacated, the city explained that tax payers would have to shell out between $20,000 and $60,000 to replace the destroyed grass. Tax payer angst was raised. Immediately citizens donated money towards the reconstruction. I suggest that many donors were true believers that the voice of the Occupy movement should be heard; their questions should vibrate through the consciousness of our city/country/world.

However let's look at these relevant words uttered in 1822.

Today the rhetoric uses “the 99%” to mean the mass of people and the term “1%” to name those who controlled “this or that arrangement;” A situation that led ultimately to the 1837-38 Rebellions in Upper Canada. Those in charge were the elite members of parliament, business and church who embraced the “family compact.”(If you need a history lesson – as I did - click on family compact)

Let’s fast forward to December 2012 and newspapers announced that The Ontario Sod Growers Association would donate the sod for St. James Park and lay it. This was worth about $150,000.

“We can always use good news,” said McConnell, whose ward includes the park, temporary home of Occupy Toronto until the city ended their month-long stay Nov. 23.

“Volunteers and parks workers will lay the sod which is slated to arrive on 12 transport trailers, McConnell said.”

McConnell is the local city politician, she supported the Occupy Movement, she supported the community getting together to restore the park. On line comments trounce her photo ops. But it would appear that the generosity of the sod growing industry and the local businesses who provided coffee, food etc came from mixed motives. For many it was more about removing a scar of reality from the consciousness of the locals and ensuring fido had a very green place to deposit his excrement. I quote-

“Our goal was to rehabilitate the park in a horticulturally correct manner from the ground up, rather than let it fall to a lowest bid tender, have its scope reduced and have the end product only last a short while by a limited budget- In short, it was an opportunity to display the professional skills of landscapers and lawn & tree care professionals who work in a relatively unglamorous profession. ……Yes, the positive exposure can’t hurt (I guess an effective way to avoid that benefit would be to never do anything positive?)”

http://www.680news.com/news/local/article/307865--new-sod-being-laid-at-st-james-park

The sod growers actually did provide a good service. Their cost was over twice the City would have paid to re-sod the park. The quality of work done would ensure longevity and sustainability of the park. A money strapped City could never pay for the quality of work provided. Only the 1% could afford that quality workmanship. St.James Park reminds us of the generosity of some, and the quality of care that the majority can expect. The big divide.

Yes, many companies were willingly giving back both to the Occupy Movement and to those who re-sodded the grass. The sod growers had an opportunity to promote the value of cut grass to the environment. I have no problem with the sharing of wealth and the advertising that comes with it. Now the homeless can enjoy the greenery from the park benches and watch the pigeons, squirrels and sparrow as I did amid the chimes from St.James Cathedral. However while Occupy Toronto were there, the homeless had rooves, food and dignity.

Regarding cut grass, I am removing it from my garden. It requires precious water, dangerous chemicals and electricity to cut. Of course I could use a gas mower but I think the carbon monoxide produced would outweigh the oxygen released by my blades of severed grass.

On the same webpage above, I read the rant in the comment section -

“let’s see if my conservative views get screened yet again and not allowed to be posted. Ok, the losers who occupied a piece of park for their own selfish reasons should foot the bill for the park and the damage they caused. You had no cause, and no reason to do what you did! The idiots who claim to be part of the movement are stupid and losers. Get a life, get a job and please stop milking the system.”

“You have no cause, and no reason to do what you did.” I shake my head in wonder at those whose head is in the sand; who fail to hear the message that is being carried in the wind of change.

May I suggest that everyone take a walk in the park. You can’t walk on the grass yet for the city – with city logo proclaims “Keep off – new sod.”




Take a walk in the park and stand on the path near the gazebo from which much soul searching was uttered along with the drum beats. To the east is a plinth and the bronze head of  Robert Gourlay 1778 - 1863.

Below his name are written the words-

Banished from Upper Canada in 1819 on false charges of sedition brought by the Family Compact. His writings had an impact on events leading to the 1837 rebellion.

On the north side is the inscription –

Robert Gourlay championed reform ahead of his time.

In Scotland - a vote for every man who could read and write

In England - a living wage for workers

In Canada - fair land distribution

The words on the south side are those photographed at the start of this post.

Read the history of Upper Canada and the Rebellion of the 99% led by William Lyon McKenzie – A Canadian traitor in Gourlays eyes yet Gourlay had sown the seeds of discontent when fighting the power of the Family Compact. Read about the Lower Canada rebellion against the Clique du Château, a group of wealthy families in the early 19th century in Quebec. Those in control, opposed to democracy saw themselves as Tories. The term Conservative was later coined.

One of those leaders of the Lower Canada Rebellion was Louis-Joseph Papineau.

Fast forward to 1937

The Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion or Mac-Paps were a battalion of Canadians who fought as part of the XV International Brigade on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Except for France, no other country gave a greater proportion of its population as volunteers in Spain than Canada. By summer 1937 some 1,200 Canadians were involved in the conflict and a separate battalion was formed for them in early May. Two months later it was named for William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis-Joseph Papineau, who led the 1837 Rebellions.

…. In April 1937 the Canadian government passed the Foreign Enlistment Act, outlawing participation by Canadians in foreign wars, and the Customs Act, which provided for government control over arms exports. Thus it became illegal for Canadian citizens to serve in the Spanish Civil War.

The Canadians who died in the Spanish Civil War are not included in the Books of Remembrance in the Peace Tower and their sacrifice is not commemorated on federal war memorials or in Remembrance Day services. Those who survived the war are not entitled to veterans' benefits.

Lest we forget, they were fighting against facsism because of their own convictions, not because it was politically correct. Later a world war was fought to overthow facism. But in 1937 it was not politically correct in Canada or the US to be fighting facism – after all, war machines were good for business – and provided wealth for the 1%.

Do I sound bitter? Oh perhaps some frustration about the lack of higher consciousness shown by those who only serve their own self interest. Go to the park which lies on the east side of St.James Cathedral. Sit and ponder your contribution to the world at large. Have your Christmas presents or Channuka gifts been bought from manufacturers creating Canadian jobs or from companies making bigger profits by outsourcing to other countries?

To the ranter who said of the Occupiers of St. James Park “Get a life, get a job and please stop milking the system” – for the holiday season will your gifts take people out to dinner in local restaurants or buy gift cards to coffee shops or local health spas? Did you give a donation to a local charity in the name of a loved one? Then you did your bit. You helped to create jobs. If on the otherhand you bought a gift or received one made in China – remember the person who made it does not receive the minimum wage, lives in a dormatory and works more hours a week away from their family than you would be prepared to do.

We all have a role to play in the quality of life of our neighbour. No child should live in poverty. No person should live in fear for his/her safety. Why can we not all have a roof over our head? What price dignity?

My province of Ontario and the next door neighbour of Quebec have historic precidence for the elite being self indugent at the expense of those less fortunate. As I’ve researched this post, I have become more aware of what has brought us to where we are today.

The sun is moving closer to the northern hemisphere. The light that brings new life. Take a walk in the park. The last rose of summer is still blooming near the gazebo. Ponder Gourlay’s beliefs and think about the implications of your words and actions. Which side of the next Arab spring will you be on; will there need to be another rebellion?

Foodstock Brings People Back to the Land

2011-10-27T03:06:11Z

By Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

Michael Stadtländer 's Letter to Ontario says it all. I quote part of it here -

“If you have ever seen the film Avatar, James Cameron’s story about the futuristic destruction of an alien planet’s environment by humans hungry for natural resources, you’ll be surprised to learn that such an exploitation has been proposed right in my backyard!

Highland Companies, funded by US hedge-fund Baupost Group, has purchased approximately 8,000 acres of prime farmland on either side of highway 124. They intend to dig a 2,300 acre limestone quarry, the 2nd largest in North America, that will extend 200 feet below the water table.

The proposed mega quarry threatens not only the watersheds of many rivers and the water supply to over one million Canadians, but also viable, high yield farmland in close proximity to Canada’s most dense population.

On October 16th, the Canadian Chefs' Congress, of which I’m the President, will present Foodstock, a once in a lifetime event where thousands of Canadian citizens will gather on 4 farms that did not sell to Highland Companies to celebrate local food and fresh water, and to voice their objections to this proposal.

I have invited over 70 Canadian chefs (from Nunavut to Nova Scotia to BC) to cook with ingredients from local farms, so that all who attend may taste the bounty of the land threatened by the proposed mega quarry. The day will also include a rich variety of programming with music, art and speakers.

We are constantly faced with environmental challenges and it is our responsibility, as ambassadors of the future, to work to protect our shared resources. We cannot afford to lose this farmland or allow the destruction of our fragile watersheds.”

According to the Toronto Star, the hoped for 22,000 people did show up -

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1070839--foodies-unite-en-masse-to-oppose-land-excavation

Organizers seem to think it was nearer 28,000. I was one of them. I was glad to be driving a hybrid car so no idling fumes filled the air as we crawled and stopped along highway 124 to reach the farm where the festivities were to take place. Some had chosen to park on the road’s shoulders and walk, but I got to a field parking lot. Then my friends and I crossed two fields of oozing mud and clover. That earth looked so; oh so good. I wished I had some of that in my garden. We had driven through rain to get there but as we walked to the wooded area having made our financial donation to the cause, the sun came out.

It was later in the afternoon by the time we got there so much of the food from around 100 chef’s booths had gone. But we lined up with 100s of others to have some Ontario morsel put on the plate we had brought with us. Much of the cooking was done over open flame with flapping tarps keeping the rain off. I tasted some fresh pork with an apple sauce; I loved some pulled pork in a BBQ sauce; a spicy tomato sauce- all that was left after the meat balls had gone and finally a delicate fish on a slice of while radish.

Artisans sold their works, promoters sold their anti quarry t-shirts. In the background was the sound of voices and music from the sound stage; all around the call of children playing in the woods.

The sum of around $86M had changed hands for the land and will it a choice. Food and water versus building materials. People had come from many places to stand on this land adjacent to the planned quarry having made their decision.

The story continues to unfold. And according to the Orangeville Banner. http://www.orangeville.com/news/local/article/1226868--protest-never-tasted-so-sweet Foodstock may return next year.

Other resources –

http://ndact.com/

http://www.citizensalliance.ca/

Change The Way We Do Things

2011-08-09T14:09:37Z

By Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

As the world as we know it is in crisis, the first tentative breaths of the new era are being taken. After the crash of 2008 we thought everything would change - but all society wanted to do was to restore itself to the way it was, changing non of the fundamentals.

Now we get to do it all over again – will we look for a different outcome this time?

The world is demonstrating how civilization behaves when the individual or the clan thinks of her/him/itself as a separate entity. Not part of the whole. It is a world where leadership is about power and greed, not service; a world of plunderers, not sharers.

The riots in London, North Africa and the Middle East are about inequity and poverty.

The angry voices in the US are from those who are desperately trying to keep what they possess, and in their terror are willing to crush the needs of those without power - the poor and vulnerable. It’s all about the individual. And it isn’t working.

But when the world works as a team, where ego is used in the service of others and not self, the future can blossom.

Please watch the video linked below. Then let us apply its message to all our behaviours. All our actions have consequences. Everything that we do impacts on someone else. Now is the time to do things differently. We may not get another opportunity.

http://www.godvine.com/Injury-Turns-into-Inspiration-for-One-High-School-Girl-323.html

Ancient and Modern Intertwined – Reflections on Turkey

2011-06-25T03:27:34Z

By Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

So I was out of the country for two weeks this spring, fulfilling a life long dream to wander though historic landscapes in Turkey. While there three world events occurred making me confront today’s reality. But they all became interwoven in the dream fulfilled.

Since a child, Constantinople evoked wonders and mysteries in my mind and I hoped one day I might visit the modern day Istanbul. Later in my life, once I had started traveling, I went to Greece and was enchanted by Olympia, Delphi, Mycenae, Epidaurus and Knossos. It was self evident therefore that I would be one day drawn to see Ephesus.

Sightseeing started in Ankara beginning with the delightful museum illustrating the progression of ancient Anatolian civilizations from 6,500 year BCE - Neolithic period, forward. This was followed by a visit to the Mausoleum of Ataturk, who founded the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923. For two weeks we embraced the history in between.

The next night was spent in the village of Bogazkale. Here we discovered for the first time the most common roof top item in Turkey – solar panels for heating water.

We had come to experience Hattusas, a gem on green hillsides with blossoming trees and virtually no tourists. Up until 2000 year BCE it was inhabited by the Hatti, but later merchants came and written script was created. Then it was the capital of the Hittites who were formidable conquerors through many generations.

Amid blossomed trees and wild flowers I saw the Yazılıkaya sanctuary friezes cut in the rock from around 1250 BCE. The peace, the stillness, the spirit of the place was mystical. Never again would we have ancient walls and portals to ourselves. I gazed across a hillside, an ancient world, the cradle of civilization and gave myself respite from the modern era. My travels through time had begun.

On April 29th I visited Ephesus. This city served as the Roman capital of Asia Minor, second in size only to Rome. It had been built on the site of a former Classical Greek city. Ultimately destroyed by earthquakes, its loss of commercial prowess came when the harbor silted up and once inland, had no access to the Aegean Sea.

The tourists all go to wonder at the reconstructed façade of the library of Selsus. A testament to Turkey’s strict archeological policy, no one can dig unless they also reconstruct. It is crowded in Ephesus. Most people who come to Turkey will know Istanbul and Ephesus. The cruise ships unleash thousands of tourists every day. But less visited and less dramatic are the ruins close by. The Temple of Artemis is no more than a location, a single pillar rises; a pond is close by. But it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world as listed by Antipater of Sidon; its original for him was #1.

I have seen the great pyramid of Giza, also on his list, which was a power filled experience for me. But here at this site, the jutoposition of history that I viewed on this spring day made it magical. An expedition from the British museum in 1869 dicovered artifacts from the temple’s many incarnations, and the best reside in the British Museum in London. However some other columns are found in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The back drop to the remains are the grand fortress of Selçuk on Ayasoluk Hill and the İsabey Mosque completed in 1375.

On May 1st we drove north from Kusadasi to the village of Bergama where we took taxis to the hilltop ruins of Pergamon. It was the capital of an empire founded by one of Alexander the Great’s generals. After Alexander’s death, his empire was divided up between the generals.

Our Taxi driver had no English to share but having been a migrant worker in Germany for some years he did have another language. Indeed we found many small entrepreneurs had earned their start up capital in Germany. Most archaeological digs in Turkey are from Germany or Austria. Indeed the Altar from Pergamon sits in a museum in Berlin – and they won’t give it back.

On Monday 2nd May we visited Troy where 9 cities have been discovered on top of one another. The earliest, 4000BCE, with the Bronze age inhabitants ending with the most modern era - that of Roman occupation. There is much excavation going on and again the Turks are trying to get back more artifacts taken by other countries.

That morning we left Asia behind and sailed across the Dardanelles to the European part of Turkey landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula where the Turkish army destroyed the Australian and New Zealand invaders in 1915. The Ottoman Empire ultimately was on the losing side in the First World War.

Anzac Cove

But in that war and during the creation of the modern Republic, minority groups were removed forcibly from the country. These were mainly Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. Turkey entered the modern era, like so many other emerging countries, with blood on its hands; the word genocide is often used.

From Gallipoli we headed for Istanbul and despite spring time showers of heavy rain at times, the city fulfilled all my childhood dreams.

I saw the Hagia Sophia. The first church on the site was dedicated in 360 as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal Basilica. On the fourth Crusade, Hagia Sophia was ransacked by the Latin Christians and many materials and important relics were taken to museums in the West. With the Latin occupation of Constantinople between 1204 and 1261, the church became a Roman Catholic cathedral. In 1261, Byzantines captured Constantinople again.

The Ottoman Turks invaded in 1453 and took over the country. Christianity was out and Islam was in. The mosaics and frescoes of this amazing church were plastered over and banners declaring the words of Allah went up. In 1935 it was opened as a museum; paint and plaster had been removed so that some of the awe inspiring artwork is arrayed alongside the Islamic elements. Outside, minarets rise from the four corners and from around the world, all come to marvel.

Susan Ellis in Istanbul

But what about the interweaving of modern realities?

Following the visit to Ephesus (Greco – Roman era) we stopped by a roadside restaurant for lunch. As we sat down we noticed a large screen TV. It was just before 1pm Turkish time. In London England it is 11am and we watched Kate Middleton walk down the aisle of Westminster Abbey and walk out as the Duchess of Cambridge. The commentary was by some very excited Turks. Later at our hotel room in Kusadasi we turned on the BBC World News and with English comments watch the balcony kiss. Next day the hotel lobby had copies of three different Turkish newspapers and all have front page coverage of the Royal wedding.

Modern day Turkey is thriving. It has long wanted to be part of the EU. Major players in Europe have no interest. I should imagine that with the current state of Europe’s economy, no country in its right mind would want to get involved. I believe that Turkey’s role in world politics should be as a neutral balancer between the west and the east. Today we see Turkey is supporting pro-democracy movements in Islamic countries, treating the wounded from Libya and accepting refugees from Syria. However Turkey must tread carefully. The Ottoman Empire had periods of behaving rather badly and nations have long memories. We will leave aside the Crusades in this discussion because all sides behaved rather badly then in the name of god. Turkey should bide its time and be a welcoming safe tourist destination.

On Sunday May 1st we were visiting ruins of Pergamon from which site relics have been removed and live in Germany.

That evening we were on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles looking across at Gallipoli. The Allies underestimated the Turks. The Ottoman army did not have the numbers, training, firepower and Winston Churchill thought capturing Constantinople would be a piece of cake. The cemeteries there attest to the fact that to people in power, life is cheap. With no questions asked you should be expected to sacrifice your life for someone else’s dream.

In Pakistan that day, 1st May 2011, Osama Bin Ladin was assassinated. A man driven by bitterness and anger for the way those in power treat other people. First it was towards the people in power in his native Saudi Arabia and then the Americans and the West. As part of the War on Terror the Americans and British occupied Baghdad. A city of history, a city of priceless artifacts, perhaps 100km from the site of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, another of the seven wonders of the ancient world. During the bombing of Iraq, UNESCO informed the powers of the location of heritage sites and asked for protection for the treasures in the Museum in Baghdad. Workers at the museum pleaded with the soldiers on the ground to protect the artifacts from looting. History repeats itself. And would you believe that some of the priceless treasures from that museum have found their way into American Museums?

On Monday 2nd we drove to Istanbul. The next day we visited the Hagia Sophia, Sultanahmet Mosque (the Blue mosque) and the Grand Bazaar. It was all a dream come true. Our wonderful, Turkish guide traveled with us for the whole two weeks had indicated that it would be a sign of respect if we women would put on a head scarf while inside mosques. We did. But so many other tourists didn’t. How can we ever expect others to respect us and our customs if we refuse to reciprocate? Are we so ethnocentric that we have to prove our differences and assumed superiority? Get over it, life is too short. I didn’t have a choice in 1977 when in Iran. I had to rent a full length black chador outside the mosque or shrine, or I couldn’t enter. There is no way we can negotiate respect for western traditions if we flaunt some sense of grandeur when we are in the countries of others.

But before heading out to see Istanbul that day I turned on my computer. It was around midnight of the preceding night, Toronto time. I read the news. Harper had won the election. The Canadian Conservatives had won a majority. Life in Canada would never be the same again. The balance of power had shifted. Hard fought ideological rights would be in jeopardy. A compassionate Canada would be firmly in the hands of corporate power.

Between leaving Canada on 22nd April and returning on 5th May, the world has shifted and I have shifted. I had walked through 6,000 years of civilization. In Turkey I had left a country that was building a future; a country that had made many enemies but was trying to reconcile with its neighbors. I would like to think we learn from the past; that we can live in the present and not keep regurgitating yesterday’s drama.

But my idealism always gets smacked down. On my return to Canada I visited my accountant to pick up my income tax forms. I told him I’d just come back from Turkey and had had an amazing experience. "I shall never go there." He said. "I’m Greek."

Turn the Lights Out and Think About Tomorrow

2011-03-19T19:23:00Z

By
Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

It has been many months since I last recorded on this blog. Oh I have written in my caregiver blog the story of my friend dying of cancer who wished to stay at home till the end. But my last entry here was a story of crisis of faith and trust; A facing of truth about our democracy and freedom. My innocence destroyed when confronted by police during a peaceful rally at the time, in Toronto, of the G20 gathering. Since then many have clamored around the Middle East and North Africa for democracy and freedom and have faced the might of those in power. That power with an agenda and no ear for the proletariat.

I write now because we are approaching Earth Hour on 26 March . Maybe this year it truly is the time for us to take an hour without the comforts electricity supplies and ponder what is really important. With Libya and Japan so much in our minds we must pause and look at the consequences of our behavior; The fall out from our greed and selfishness. But before I talk about Earth Hour let me present you part of this week’s blog by Lynn McTaggart. She is the author of "The Field" and "The Intention Experiment" – two books which opened my eyes to so much. It would appear I have a new book to read as she has now completed "The Bond."

Survival of the fairest
By Lynn McTaggart
Friday, 18 March, 2011

As most of you know, for two years, I have been holed away, writing a new book, The Bond. Now that it’s done, I want to tell you a little about this project and why I wrote this book.　　

All of us now sense that we have reached the end of something. Since the millennium, commentators of every variety have been trying to get a handle on the collective significance of the continuous crises besetting us in modern times: banking crises, terrorist crises, sovereign-debt crises, climate-change crises, energy crises, food crises, ecological crises, manmade and otherwise.

"The world as we know it is going down," a Wall Street broker told reporters in September 2008, after Lehman Brothers collapsed and Morgan Stanley threatened to follow suit. It is the "end of capitalism as we know it," declared filmmaker Michael Moore, when American auto giants General Motors filed for bankruptcy.　　

It is the end of our dependence on fossil fuel, announced President Barack Obama, about the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion. It is the end of nature, wrote Bill McKibbin in his book of the same name. It is the end of oil, wrote journalist Paul Roberts in his book of the same names. It is the end of food because it is the end of oil, declared Roberts in his follow-up book. With various Japanese reactors poised for a meltdown, it is the end of nuclear power.

For those who take stock in the Mayan Long Count calendar and the apocalyptic significance of 2012, it is the beginning of the end of the world.　

The beginning in the ending
But the crises we face on many fronts are symptomatic of a deeper problem, with more potential repercussions than those of any single cataclysmic event. They are simply a measure of the vast disparity between our definition of ourselves and our truest essence.

For hundreds of years we have acted against nature by ignoring our essential connectedness and defining ourselves as separate from our world. We’ve reached the point where we can no longer live according to this false view of who we really are.　

What’s ending the story we’ve been told up until now about who we are and how we’re supposed to live — and in this ending lies the only path to a better future.

Living a lie
As I began researching and studying the latest discoveries in a vast array of disciplines—general biology, physics, zoology, psychology, botany, anthropology, astronomy, chronobiology, and cultural history—the more it became clear to me that the lives we’ve chosen to lead are not consistent with who we really are.

A new understanding is emerging from the laboratories of the most cutting-edge physicists, biologists, and psychologists that challenges the very way we conceive of ourselves. Frontier scientists in every field have all found evidence that individuals are far less individual than we thought they were.

The space between things
Between the smallest particles of our being, between our body and our environment, between ourselves and all of the people with whom we are in contact, between every member of every societal cluster, there is a Bond — a connection so integral and profound that there is no longer a clear demarcation between the end of one thing and the beginning of another.

The world essentially operates, not through the activity of individual things, but in the connection between them — in a sense, in the space between things.

What’s more, these new discoveries in physics and biology demonstrate that we are in crises because we are living a lie. All living things succeed and prosper not through competition, but only when they see themselves as part of a greater whole.

We succeed only because we share, we care and we’re fair.

Rather than a will to dominate, the essential impulse of all of life is a will to connect.

The competitive paradigm
Nevertheless, our paradigm for living has been built upon the premise that competition is the essential calling card of existence. Every modern recipe in our lives has been drawn from our interpretation of life as individual and solitary struggle, with every-man-for-himself competition an inherent part of the business of living.　

Our entire Western economic model is built on the notion that competition in a free-market economy is essential to drive excellence and prosperity.

In our relationships, we extol our inherent right to individual happiness and self-expression above all else. We educate our young by encouraging them to compete and excel over their peers. The currency of most modern two-cars-in-every-garage neighborhoods is comparison and one-ups-manship.　

The world, as Woody Allen once put it, "is one big cafeteria."

Outdated rules
The crises we have faced on every front have occurred precisely because we are operating according to an outdated set of rules.

The competitive impulse that is now a major part of our self-definition and that forms the undercurrent of all our lives is the same mindset that has created every one of the large global crises now threatening to destroy us. If we can recover wholeness in our lives – in our relationships, our neighborhoods, our societies, in my view, we will begin to heal our world.

In writing this book, I had an audacious mission: to rewrite the scientific story you’ve been told about who you are plus offer you detailed blueprint of how to live in harmony with it.

I wanted to help establish a very different set of rules from the ones we currently live by.

In fact, the only truth is the space between us—the Bond — which means that we must share and recover wholeness in our lives if we are to survive and flourish.　

A new blueprint
It was clear to me that need to perceive the world differently, relate to others differently, organize ourselves — our friendships and neighborhoods, our towns and cities — differently. We need to change our fundamental purpose on earth as something more than one based on struggle and domination.　

We must look at our lives from an entirely different perspective, a larger vantage point, to notice the connections that tie us all together.
continued at http://www.theintentionexperiment.com/survival-of-the-fairest.htm

When the astronauts first saw the blue planet from outer space they were changed and the way they perceived Earth in all its fragility was changed forever. What will it take for us all to change directions? What must happen for us to understand that earth is not a stockpile of stuff for us to plunder, but part of the ecosystem that gives us life? Earth will adapt and change and will go on providing a habitat for living organisms but it may not be an environment conducive to the continued reproduction of our species. Lynn McTaggart has started the dialogue, not to save the planet, but to save us from extinction.

I remember when I was young, reading the novel by Nevil Shute. It was called "On the Beach." Set in Australia, the inhabitants waited as a cloud of radioactivity from nuclear bombs glided over the Pacific to kills the world’s last inhabitants. Published in 1957 it was a futuristic apocalyptic novel. Is the future now? If we had a measured time left on this earth, would we change our behaviour?

This is why Earth day is so important this year. We have some decisions to make. Do we continue with the concept that it is "every person for him/herself" and "top dog" has the right to privilege? Or do we answer a yearning inside of us to be part of the whole? Do we long for the fall of the tyrant Gadhafi without the loss of any more blood or do we continue to support dictators because it is good for business? But are we celebrating the desire of Egypt and Tunisia to experience democracy and freedom yet failing to notice that the leaders of democratic free countries are looking somewhat more like tyrants? Leading a minority government in Canada our Prime Minister closes the door to debate, turns a deaf ear to opposition. The opposition party in the US is advocating the same behaviour - every person for him/herself" and "top dog" has the right to privilege.

There are many of us who know we are part of the whole. We feel in our cells our connectedness to all things, visible and invisible. We are conscious that all our actions will have an effect on something else. Those of us who try to be responsible, conscious and compassionate also know our strength comes from being in community. We are part of Lynn McTaggart’s "bond."

I now quote from the Canadian World Wildlife Fund website. But if you come from a different country why not Google Earth Hour 2011 and you can look at 8,380,000 different references. This is what belonging to a community is all about.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change.

Only a year later on March 29, 2008 and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome's Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour. Canada shone above the rest with almost half the adult population participating. About 10 million people in more than 150 cities from coast-to-coast switched off their lights. People in cities across Canada held candlelight dinners, enjoyed time with friends and family or went on walks.

On March 28, 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world's largest global climate change initiative.

Earth Hour 2010 became the biggest Earth Hour ever reaching 1.3 billion people. On March 27, 2010, a record 128 countries and territories united across the globe making it the largest voluntary action ever witnessed. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Asia Pacific to Europe and Africa to the Americas switched off. People across the world from all walks of life turned off their lights and came together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common - our planet. Once again, over 10 million of Canadians took part in all provinces and territories, turning out the lights in over 300 cities and towns.

Earth Hour 2011 will take place on Saturday, March 26 at 8:30PM (local time). It will continue to be a call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. A call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the global journey to a sustainable future.

Turn your lights out on Saturday March 26 at 8:30PM (local time) and join in community. Consciously become part of the whole. Don’t compete with it, don’t dominate it – share it, honour it, love it. Let’s create a different tomorrow.