Air

Many people today feel alienated from one another, Red vs. Blue states and counties, racial and religious divisions, choice and sexuality. We even argue over science, like climate and vaccines. No matter our politics, race, religion, or gender identity, everyone breathes the same air. We are breathing the same recycled oxygen atoms once breathed by our ancestors. Air also connects everyone to life on Earth. Animals, bugs, plants and trees breathe the same air that we do. We need to protect forests and preserve ecosystems that absorb carbon and release…

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Pt. Reyes

I am very disappointed with the horrible decision to continue the status quo at Point Reyes.  The ranch leases were supposed to expire decades ago, but now they are being extended, despite the degraded land, polluted creeks and seashore, and trash dumps on public land. Instead of protecting our environment and wildlife, a duty that NPS is entrusted with, the decision will keep damaging the environment at Pt. Reyes, and keep killing the rare elk. The vast majority of the people who commented demanded that the leases be ended.  But…

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A Tale of Gaia the Great

The Greeks had a place and a story for everything in the world. Gaia, the Goddess of Earth, was in charge of all. She created her husband, Uranus, the God of the Sky. She also, clever woman that she was – and is – created Pontus, the Sea. In early times, in all cultures, Gaia in one name or another—is in charge.  There were, of course, many invasions of the system she commanded. Men learned early to throw bombs of fire and bring hills and mountains to their knees. We…

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Gaia

We live on a wonderful planet that has air and water, plants and animals big and microscopic. Mother Earth, or Gaia, has been worshipped for millennia in many forms with different names. The fertility goddess, she represents life giving birth, growing crops, and the bounty of nature. Gaia supports life with a thin layer of soil and atmosphere between solid rock and outer space. Gaia breathes in and out each day and season in various ways. Plants and animals both breathe what the other exhales. Life is connected by our…

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Children Take the Lead

Many in the US adult community were startled to hear that a 16-year-old girl from Norway was on a sailboat to speak before the UN. “What was this kid all about?”  People asked each other as she came into the New York harbor. When this youth named Greta Thunberg gave them a walloping speech at the United Nations about “stealing” her dreams, she was so right on.  The whole world sat up and took notice. When Time Magazine made Greta the “Person of the Year,” the media started to scramble…

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End Violence

Jerusalem, “God’s City of Peace,” is yet again at the center of the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.  The fight goes back fifty-five or seventy-five or thousands of years, depending on who’s counting.  Both sides want their families to live in peace.  Palestinians and Jews must stop fighting, talk to each other and compromise, and end the occupation of Palestine.  They must learn to peacefully live side by side as equals in either one nation or in two states.    We are brothers and sisters, or at least distant cousins,…

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Outside in Nature

The pandemic has forced most of us to stay home in one lockdown after another. Exceptions were made for essential work, or buying groceries, or going for a short walk with or without a dog.   My daily walk on a fire road to open space feels like freedom from the prison of my apartment.  Breathing fresh air, basking in sunshine and exercising my body helps me physically, spiritually and even emotionally with happiness inducing endorphins, views and hawks.  Many of us have discovered the priceless value of getting out into…

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No Room at the Inns

I bought a boat when I left my marriage, 20 years ago. It was a creaky, soggy Delta River Boat.  My kids, ages 16 and 7, and I lived on it for a year and a half. Which means two winters. The dock we were on was wobbly. It was sea worm food. Many people that lived on our dock were often struggling to get food of their own. Our lives were shaky – literally and figuratively.  The boat never had a really working bilge pump. But there was always a…

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