Blog Action Day: SAVE OUR MOTHER

Climate Change is the theme for this year's annual BLOG ACTION DAY.

"BLOG ACTION DAY is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance."

I believe we are at a crossroads...and we must choose carefully what path we now take....

or we will not be able to continue to enjoy wild pathways like this one above which I photographed in one of the last great wilderness in North America--ALASKA.

In Alaska and Siberia the permafrost is now melting---you might think--so what? This is way North--how will it effect me? But the consequences of all the permafrost melting could have a dire impact on all of Mother Earth---because when permafrost melts it releases methane gas---a greenhouse gas 22 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. These northern frozen beat bogs (the tundra) may contain billions of tons of methane gases.....and the release of all these gases will undoubtedly effect our atmosphere and "scientists have reacted with alarm at the finding, warning that future global temperature predictions may have to be revised."

To me, this is just the tip of the iceberg---there are many other scientific documented signs that our Mother Earth is in trouble. The question is: what are we doing about this??? Are we fiddling while the Earth burns?

Here are some personal actions I have taken to preserve our resources and reduce my carbon footprint. This is not to say I do all these things everyday or that I do them perfectly, but I try my hardest to do these few actions. I invite you to join me and if you have other actions you do to reduce your impact on our Mother Earth, please leave me a comment.

1)I conserve water whenever possible : example--- shorter showers, be aware when I turn on the faucet and don't let the faucet run needlessly

2) I recycle diligently

3)I never buy water in plastic bottles, (I carry my own metal water bottle)--in fact avoid as much as possible all plastic packaging

5) Whenever possible (and sometime even when it is inconvenient) I take public transportation or walk or bike instead of driving my car

6)I try to buy nothing new--I shop for clothes and other goods at thrift stores---this has the added positive of saving me quite a bit of $$$$. I even find good paper, yarn, crafty supplies and notebooks at my fave local arts and crafts thrift store--THE EAST BAY DEPOT FOR CREATIVE REUSE if you have never been there--do go and check them out!

7)I support strong climate legislation in the US by making frequent calls or writing to my Senators

8)I buy food locally--I shop at my farmer's market and buy only in season locally grown produce, cheese, olive oil and grains

9)I make it a habit to turn off appliances--by unplugging them if necessary--- when not in use--including my computer

10) I Celebrate our Mother Earth in any way I can--from artwork to song to poetry. I believe if we all saw our Earth as our Mother and had reverence for her, we would not be despoiling her.

I do more than this--but a list of 10 seems good for now---what are you doing???

I believe--based on my life experience--that all small actions have an impact, so please do not think that our small efforts to conserve do not help--every little bit helps. A friend once told me "it is better to light one candle, than to sit in the dark"---I'm choosing to light the candle whenever I can.

Art & the Environment : Sustainability and Slow Cloth

I just found this fun website with numerous free vintage knitting images---doesn't this one just spark your imagination?

And I have a few other links I want to highlight for you all----my brother, who lives in Juneau, Alaska is a board member of a local organization ---TURNING THE TIDES : "Turning the Tides is an Alaska-based nonprofit grass-roots organization composed of citizens, students, Alaska Natives, scientists, educators and musicians who are concerned with the health of the ocean. We promote ocean-friendly practices, clean-up efforts and waste reduction through various projects." He has created a visually appealing informative short online video OCEANS OF PLASTIC The film starts and ends--fittingly enough--with Alaskan Natives drumming and singing....



Since I spent much of last year creating cloth bags for BYOB (bring your own bag)---and replaced all our plastic bag consumption with cloth bags---the trick now is to always remember to have a cloth bag with me (!)--have you noticed how often businesses try to give you a plastic bag? Anyhow, my brother tells me the cloth bag I made for him is in the video---can you spot it? Hint: it has a bright pieced quilt pattern with black and white checks.

If you read my blog often you already know I have a love for our Mother Earth, and I am concerned with the current "climate crisis" facing all of us--in fact, I consider global warming/climate crisis to be the most pressing problem we all face. Much of my artwork reflects these concerns. Just scroll down here to my Jan 6th post about my "Homage to the Trees" small quilt for an example.

I recently found this great website THE STORY OF STUFF. "The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. "

This website--and her blog--are well worth a visit, and please watch her video and pass this on....as well as a succinct recap of how our consumerism adds to environmental problems, she has many good suggestions for actions all of us can take to help heal our planet.

How does this relate to knitting and craft? ah well, check out this blog---the The Red thread Studio--Slow Cloth, New Cloth, Art Cloth. For me, a sustainable lifestyle and the concept of SLOW CLOTH all go together.

Blog Action Day

Today is BLOG ACTION DAY !

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know --although I write primarily an art and crafting blog---I care passionately about our Mother Earth and how we treat Her. You may even know that I spent the first 6 months of this year following my pledge to "buy nothing new for 6 months" which impacted my habits and thinking about cultural consumerism--and my own consumerism.

You may also have seen my posts here on creating my own grocery bags (BYOB = Bring Your Own Bag) and using recycled sweaters to create handbags. I love to see the creative ways artists and crafters use recycled materials.

Here are some of my favorite online Earth loving and environmental blogs, artists concerned with the environment, and resources ---do check them out today.

Astronomy Picture of the Day (just a daily reminder of how beautiful the universe is)

Art For Housewives (great links to many artists using recycling in their art)

Ideal Bite : "Ideas for Green Living"

Quaker Earthcare Witness

The Compact : Buy Nothing New

The Garbage Day Project

Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping (great humor!)

Step It UP!

Treehugger

Grist (environmental humor and news)

David Suzuki Foundation

There are--of course many more--and over at the Blog Action Day blog I see that they have tracked more than 5000 blogs participating and writing about the environment today--so far--(and it is only 9:30 am where I live)--POWER to the internet!

Spring Gratitudes

While out riding my bike last weekend in the early morning sun, I was suddenly overcome by the beauty of spring, and then flooded with gratitude for our Mother Earth---and the spring cycles of rebirth and resurrection---which feeds our souls. So, here is a poem from Gary Snyder which celebrates Mother Earth.

PRAYER FOR THE GREAT FAMILY
Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day---
and to her soil: rich, rare, and sweet
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Plants, the sun-facing light-changing leaf
and fine root-hairs; standing still through wind
and rain; their dance is in the flowing spiral grain
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and the silent
Owl at dawn. Breath of our song
clear spirit breeze
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets,
freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk;
self-complete, brave, and aware
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to Water: clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers;
holding and releasing; streaming through all
our bodies salty seas
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Sun: blinding pulsing light through
trunks of trees, through mists, warming caves where
bears and snakes sleep--he who wakes us--
in our minds so be it.

Gratitude to the Great Sky
who holds billions of stars--and goes beyond that--
beyond all powers, and thoughts
and yet is within us--
Grandfather space,
The Mind is his Wife.
so be it.

after a Mohawk Prayer





This is my Perpetual Calendar--which celebrates the seasons and "the Great Family" of Earth. The outer layer (with the months) turns, so the viewer may choose which animal to place at each month of the year. I used archival museum board, pen and ink, watercolors, gouache, and prisma colored pencils to create this calendar.

A National Day of Climate Action

I was so excited by this nation-wide action that I wanted to help spread the word! On the Step It Up website you will find this letter from noted environmental author Bill McKibben:

Dear Friends—

This is an invitation to help start a movement--to take one spring day and use it to reshape the future. Those of us who know that climate change is the greatest threat civilization now faces have science on our side; we have economists and policy specialists, courageous mayors and governors, engineers with cool new technology.

But we don't have a movement—the largest rally yet held in the U.S. about global warming drew a thousand people. If we're going to make the kind of change we need in the short time left us, we need something that looks like the civil rights movement, and we need it now. Changing light bulbs just isn't enough.

So pitch in. A few of us are trying to organize a nationwide day of hundreds and hundreds of rallies on April 14. We hope to have gatherings in every state, and in many of America's most iconic places: on the levees in New Orleans, on top of the melting glaciers on Mt. Rainier, even underwater on the endangered coral reefs off Key West.

We need rallies outside churches, along the tide lines in our coastal cities, in cornfields and forests and on statehouse steps.

Every group will be saying the same thing: Step it up, Congress! Enact immediate cuts in carbon emissions, and pledge an 80% reduction by 2050. No half measures, no easy compromises-the time has come to take the real actions that can stabilize our climate.

As people gather, we'll link pictures of the protests together electronically via the web-before the weekend is out, we'll have the largest protest the country has ever seen, not in numbers but in extent. From every corner of the nation we'll start to shake things up.

By its very nature, this action needs all kinds of people to help out. We can't make it happen-it has to assemble itself.

Sign up to host an action. We'll coordinate the responses, introducing you to others from your area, and give you everything you need to be a leader, from banners to press releases.

You don't have to have ever done anything like this-you're not organizing a March on Washington, just a gathering of scores or hundreds in your town or neighborhood.

We need creativity, good humor, commitment. If you are active in a campus group or a church or a local environmental group or a garden society or a bike club-or if you just saw Al Gore's movie and want to do something-then we need you now.

And by now, we mean now.

The best science tells us we have ten years to fundamentally transform our economy and lead the world in the same direction or else, in the words of NASA's Jim Hansen, we will face a "totally different planet," one infinitely sadder and less flourishing.

The recent elections have given us an opening, and polling shows most Americans know there's a problem. But the forces of inertia and business-as-usual are still in control, and only our voices, united and loud, joyful and determined, can change that reality.

Please join us.

Bill McKibben