We Are The World!

Timothy Ryan ©2011 : From The Faraway Nearby

I am a nature freak.  I once owned 42.5 acres of true wilderness in Southwest Texas.  My plans included tree houses, the conversion of eight former hunting blinds that would be accessed by artist from various disciplines.  Writers and poets would mix and match metaphor on the desk and chairs provided.  Photographers and birders would have direct line of sight to the many exotic animals crossing the property.  I imagined musicians sending their sweetest notes sailing across the seasonal creek to the hilltop beyond. The caliche ground would serve as a play scape for performance and video artists.  Storytellers could turn the campfire ring into a liar's pit, floating their words through the wooded pathways like lines of fireflies.  The field above the seasonal creek, with it's six foot high grasses and 12 foot deep roots, would ply us with their haunting tunes while dancers swirled under a full moon jam session.  The Double Blind Ranch was inspired by my love of the arts, and an abiding love of nature.  

For International Women's Day, I want to turn you on to environmental efforts you can participate in, no matter where you live.  These projects will change your life, impact research on global issues, and save the planet, without costing you one dollar, or rupee!

• If you are concerned about the plastic waste in our oceans, take the Plastic Free Challenge at My Plastic Free Life.  In 2007, Beth Terry committed herself to living plastic free.  Her latest post covers an alternative to plastic mascara tubes!  Don't think that all the product alternatives are just for those living in the United States, as Beth has an international following.  When I was participating in the challenge, I realized from reading others' post that many companies repackage their products to appeal to a particular region.  Who knows, you might help someone living in your village or city find plastic free products!  My efforts were all in preparation for my encore life in Mexico.  What a task that has been, but it isn't impossible to reduce our waste.   The challenge has made me more conscious of my own buying habits.  Now that I am walking the beach in my village, it is easier to see the damage caused by plastic waste.  Remember, I'm the woman who was horrified that Hurricane Betsy (1965) tossed her underwear all over New Orleans!   I don't know about you, but I would feel just awful shame if one of my flip flops was found in the stomach of a fish I caught from the Gulf Coast!  If this sounds improbable, you can learn more about plastics' impact on our waterways through the 5 Gyres site.  To read more about my participation in the challenge, you can visit my page on My Plastic Free Life by clicking this link.  While you are there, don't forget to check-out Beth's book, Plastic Free!

• I love games that you can play in the dark!  One of my favorites is called Picture in The Dark, where you create various themes and take Polaroid images of one another acting out the scenarios.  Try out Marlon Brando's face for a change of pace!  On March 31, 2012, 8:30 p.m. in any time zone, thousands of cities, and hundreds of countries, will be turning out their lights.  That's hundreds of millions of people participating in the largest global effort to impact global warming.  It's time for Earth Hour, a one hour event in the dark of night, which takes place around the world.  It sounds a bit whacky don't you think?  How the heck could turning off your lights for one hour impact sustainability issues? According to the International Energy Agency, the power sector is responsible for 37% of the CO2 equivalent emissions worldwide. Turning off appliances, electronics, and lighting - which make up around one third of this sector - the energy efficiency savings potential is roughly 50%!   I began hosting Earth Hour parties in 2009, three years after the first party in Australia.  Host your own Earth Hour party!  You can gather with friends around a campfire, or light a hundred candles, and play a game of Picture In The Dark.  Don't forget to post your 2012 photographs on the Earth Hour site!  For more ideas, visit the Earth Hour guide.

• Technology just blows my mind.  While I'm walking the beach of my small fishing village on the Yucatan Pennisula or dreaming in Spanish, my computer and a bunch of researchers are saving the world!  The  World Community Grid, powered by IBM, 448 partners, and volunteers like you, brings people together from across the globe to create the largest non-profit computing grid benefiting humanity. It does this by pooling surplus computer processing power.  By becoming part of the World Community Grid now, you help them reach their challenge goal of 100,000 new volunteer devices (that's our computers) by March 31, 2012.  From start to finish, the download process takes less than 10 minutes with no further commitment on your part. You have a bevy of research areas to select from - childhood cancer, malaria, and AIDS to name a few.  This is by far the easiest way to help our planet!

• When I had The Double Blind, there were two companies I researched that could help me keep that small chunk of wilderness pristine.  In fact, one of those companies took the long drive from Austin, Texas to Yucatan, Mexico.  Humble Seed, specializes in heirloom, non-GMO, non-hybrid, and organic seed varieties.  Now, why would I go to all the trouble and possible confiscation of a bunch of packaged seeds when Mexico is filled with markets offering fresh produce?  Many of the market stalls and corner stores, and almost all of the major supermarkets in my part of Mexico, are offering  fruits and vegetables purchased by Wal-Mart, who contracts with subsidiaries of Monstanto, the worlds largest corporate holder of seed companies.  This isn't a rant against corporations, just against genetically modified foods and pesticides.  Countries that have taken bold steps against GMO crops include Hungary, Peru, India, and Nepal.  GMO fields cross pollinate with non-GMO crops (organic).  Guess who brings patent infringement lawsuits to the courtrooms?  On their Facebook page, Humble Seed offers articles from other sites that provide you with gardening tips, DIY planters, information on Non-GMO efforts globally, and sustainability projects.  If you don't want to risk having your non-GMO seeds confiscated from your car or luggage, Jim Conrad of Back Yard Nature, a naturalist and environmentalist who documents extensively on the Yucatan, suggested that I have a bag of small and unique gifts to offer local small scale farmers in exchange for their heirloom seeds.  I love this idea!    

To do justice to any of these issues - plastic reduction, global warming, volunteerism, and non-gmo benefits  -  would require articles outlining in-depth how these issues are linked.  Let me hear from you.  Send links to articles, your own efforts, and ideas.  Shout-out Broads!  We can change the world by changing our own habits!

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