Green Living & Social Activism

By PamAllah Dussault

~~~ In crossing a stream....
The mind looks for the best spot ~~~
Sometimes fretting and worrying that there are no 'ideal' spots to cross ~~~

By Abigail Morgan Prout

I am building a home of belonging
from repurposed intention
mossy grey pounded shoreline
tall black sway forests
of fir, damp cedar, alder

By Radha Paula Neilson

Like the sunrise, springtime marks a new beginning as sprouts emerge from the earth and the land turns green. The spring of 2004 marked my new beginning when I moved to a piece of property above the Kootenay river and the community of Shore Acres. Surrounded by tall cedar and fir trees, I had room to wander and to witness the wonder of the natural world. The land pulled me in and held me. Seventeen years later I have merged with the creatures and the landscape. Place is part of identity.

By Maboud Swierkosz

I was wandering in the garden and noticed a large sunflower plant. In our area there is a variety of sunflowers that have multiple flowering four-inch blooms from top to bottom. There are many smaller yellow sunflowers scattered throughout the height of the plant. It is very different from the traditional sunflower of having one big head that grows so heavy that it bends and bows lower and lower towards the ground as the seeds become heavier.

 by Hamida Sandy Susut

Many of us search for ways to sustain Mother Earth, to make a difference in the climate crisis facing us and to act in reciprocity with the natural world. Murshid S.A.M. guides us in our service by his example.

Inana Calero Acaba de Estrenar Consejo de Abuelas de Colombia: Hilando Saberes Ancestrales

Inspiradas en el Consejo de las 13 Abuelas del Mundo, varias abuelas colombianas se han unido en un consejo nacional formado por guardianas de la tradición de diferentes etnias y pueblos originarios, así com algunas abuelas mestizas, como es el caso de Fiba Sylvia Murillo, Mentor Senior que está ahí representando el linaje de las Danzas de Paz Universal, y Ana Majida Hoyos también mentora DPU, quien representa al movimiento de ecoaldeas. Este video contiene una cosecha de la sabiduría de la tierra y el mensaje de las abuelas y fue filmado por Inana, una adolescente que creció en medio de os retiros de DPU en la Atlantida.

By Carlos Rojas

It is urgent for our species' future to understand the role of architects in today's world and transform it.

As architects we propose and decide the materials and processes that make up our habitat. We design the boldest impact on the planet: human settlements. We design and propose the most important expenditure and relevant object in families' lives: their homes. We shape relations and spaces that sustain our species, materializing and reinforcing the social and economic structures of our cultures.

Earth Day video created by Matin Alfredo Salazar of Ecuador. To view the video, click here. To expand the video, click on the small square in the bottom right corner of the picture next to the volume icon..

Here is a link to The New Story. There is small icon with CC on the bottom right toolbar of the video, make sure that is selected to see the subtitles. 

by Khabira Candace Holt

An early memory from before I turned four: my family was driving from our home in Yakima, WA, to Portland, OR, to visit my aunt and her new baby boy. We had my six-month old sister, so all would have a chance to meet these little ones. But it was not to be, on that Memorial Day weekend, May, 1948. As we neared Portland on a hill above the Columbia River we looked down to see a town flooded in dark brown water. There was no entry into the Portland area, so we turned back for a long ride home.

By Anahata Iradah

It was only when I became a resident of the small countryside town of Hogansville, Georgia, USA that I finally had the time and space to have chickens. My journey with my chicks has been both inspiring and alarming!

I initially got started with five hens, or so I thought. Two of the initial flock turned out to be boys, and from small beginnings my flock of 100 plus chickens has arisen. I study every day to understand the art of chicken keeping more deeply, and in the beginning, I had an on-line teacher, Patricia Foreman, who wrote a great book called “City Chicks”. I am now in year three or four of my studies.

By Hakima Betty Lou Chaika

When my husband and I set out on a pilgrimage, I write my hopes and intentions for the trip, but the actual theme of the pilgrimage often emerges during the journey. My hopes for this second visit to our Anishinaabe-Ojibwe cousins on the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) reservation in northern Wisconsin were to deepen our relationships with all our relatives - with our human family, with the plants and animals, and with the land and waters of this beloved place. I wanted to broaden my experience of the culture of our tribe and learn more about their lifeways, both material and spiritual.

Vakil Forest Shomer has made a living harvesting native seeds from the wild in a sustainable manner for 25 years. Many of the seeds are planted to control erosion, to provide flowers for pollinators, to restore habitats, and to replant forests. He is one of the few master seedmen in the US. To view the "Master Wild Seedman" video, please click here.

by Hakima Betty Lou Chaika

My husband and I have known for some time, ever since we received notice from the BIA and a genealogy chart, that he is descended from Ojibwe people on his father’s side, but we didn’t realize he had any close relatives on the reservation until recently through DNA testing. We contacted his cousins Lori and her mother, Sylvia, and arranged to meet them and to go with them to the annual Honor the Earth Powwow at the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation near Hayward, Wisconsin.

by Karuna Teresa Foudriat

Our Purpose and Vision

The Long Spoon Collective works to create a way of life that meets needs while nourishing the systems that sustain us.

We are responding to the intertwined problems of climate chaos, the economic inequality inherent in our globalized capitalist economic system, ecological devastation, and our spiritual alienation from the other members of earth’s community.

by Mary Hansel

There is no greater scripture than nature, for nature is life itself – Hazrat Inayat Khan

Following in the steps of mystics and artists long inspired by nature, designers of the human-made world are taking inspiration from nature in ever growing numbers as well. Biomimics are learning from prairies to grow food sustainably and studying the geometry of schools of fish to optimize energy capture in wind farms. Other examples include modeling the spiral growth principle of pine trees to reduce material use in plastic bottles, and fashioning the nose of a high-speed train in Japan after a kingfisher’s beak to improve efficiency and reduce noise.

The Evolution of an Experiment in Grounded Community by Ann "Freya" Kreilkamp

For nearly two decades I have “known,” both intuitively and via mystic literature, that whatever is going on Above is also going on Below; and more, that whatever is happening on the Outside is reflected on the Inside — and vice versa. But not until my dear husband Jeff — whom I’ll never forget dancing in his Sufi skirt at a December Lava Hot Springs DUP gathering in Idaho — suddenly died, in January 2003, did I realize an opportunity to put into practice, in a much more grounded manner, this anguished understanding.

Jeff had bequeathed me his entire legacy.