TREES OF LIFE:FORESTS IN PERIL
  • home
  • Blog
  • About The Book
    • Bookstore
    • Press
  • The Author
  • Videos
  • Contact

January 30th, 2017

1/30/2017

0 Comments

 
The past couple of weeks, we have been corresponding with a member of the United Methodist Church Conference in Michigan, to consider what opportunities might exist for developing a program to communicate the importance of our natural world to our human survival, and how we might share with our indigenous people their traditional wisdom about nature. You are aware that we have been interested in finding ways to provide a somewhat different approach to environmental education for our public schools. Our thoughts have been to produce short videos that connect today's science and technology to the human element. This would be accomplished by presenting individual resources from the natural world, and by demonstrating how connected to and dependent we humans are upon these valuable resources. The goal would be to develop a greater appreciation for nature and the need for proper management of our valuable public lands. With the passage of each day, it becomes more important that our citizens understand the necessity of these valuable public lands. There is a provision, within the current controlling political party's platform, to support the transfer of federal public lands to the states. I can almost guarantee, the states would find it to their advantage to sell off these important lands to help balance the states budgets. These lands, which are critical to the future of the human species, would be lost forever and have a devastating adverse impact on our future survival.
Our recent discussions have provided much hope that we may be able to communicate these issues and concerns we have, through a documentary designed to reach our public school teachers by involving the help of our Native American brothers and sisters. We are starting to put together a plan to develop a documentary that will introduce the concerns and potential solutions we will need to institute for prolonging life on our planet. The film and video company is enthused about the potential project and has provided ideas for how to proceed and fund such a project. Everything takes time but. we are excited there may be a opportunity to work with members of our Native American society and rebuild some of the trust that we have, unfortunately, lost from past treatment of these people. By working together, we can hopefully save the traditional wisdom of living in balance with our natural world which has been passed down from generation to generation within the Native American society. Different cultures share a different relationship with their natural surroundings, and when we work together and recognize we are all equal, we can find desirable solutions to major complex problems.
The documentary appears to be a good way to convey the problem we all face and provide an understanding that together we can find reasonable ways to achieve our desired future. 
You might wonder why the United Methodist Church is involved? Since 2012 the Church has been working on several fronts to rebuild relationships with our indigenous people, lost as a result of our past treatment of these people. This project also offers an opportunity to amplify the complexity and importance of the story of creation and the responsibility we have been assigned for stewardship and care-taking of our natural world.            

0 Comments

January 15th, 2017

1/15/2017

0 Comments

 
This past week, Iris and I had the privilege of hosting four of our friends for an afternoon, where we shared our common interest in the importance of our human connection to the natural world. Each person is involved in helping to create a more in depth  appreciation for our dependence upon our natural surroundings however, each of us presented our thoughts and ideas based on their our life experiences, educational backgrounds and observations. It was a very uplifting experience, to hear how each person has been reaching out to help others realize the importance of carrying for our natural world to sustain life in the future. I personally, become emotionally energized when I think about what we could accomplish by coming together and sharing our traditional knowledge and understanding of nature and the unique relationships we share.
My forestry background and Iris's Native American heritage has combined knowledge and observation to develop, for us, a deeper concern for the connections we share with the mystery of creation . Our mission is to help other people recognize that life exists due to the connections and relationships we share within this diverse environment by focusing on my forestry experiences and and the empirical observation of our indigenous people .  We each have a responsibility of stewardship for our life sustaining natural environment! Manage we must, for our human impact has been great  but, we must manage from the heart, and understand the complex relationships that exist within each forest community!
One friend expresses his knowledge through music and teaches us there is music in nature and if we listen carefully, we can learn about people, cultures and our connections with nature. Another specializes in developing educational materials to help our youth connect with the natural world through environmental education. Our other friends have found a unique way of communicating a human connection to the natural world through their art. Their work depicts the complex relationships within nature and how even rocks are a significant component of the circle of life. Yes, even though each of us may approach our goal in a slightly different way, every part of life is connected!
I am an optimist, and truly believe that when we open our hearts and minds to the recognition that we are far more similar than different, we see the value of diversity, and come together in brotherhood and sisterhood to benefit humanity!       

0 Comments

January 03rd, 2017

1/3/2017

0 Comments

 
2017 has arrived and we are ready for a new year that  hopefully, will provide opportunities to initiate some positive moves to redeem our responsibilities in and caring for our natural world. I hope this past year you have opportunity to experience, as I have, the many ways we depend upon our natural surroundings and the human impacts we are having upon the planet. With the passing of each year, the limits of our natural resources becomes more evident.
I am in the process of doing a second edition of my book, "Trees of Life - Our Forests in Peril". I decided to re-write chapters 6 and 7 to provide more detail on the problems we face and actions that might help provide a better future for life on Earth. The past three years have provided an opportunity to read and analyze the work of several authors and scientists who are considered experts in the field of natural resource management and human connections to nature. This research has given me a deeper understanding of my concerns with current forest management, as well as magnified the importance of finding ways to live in balance with Earth.
I have come to the conclusion, that our political process is focused on the wrong environmental issue. Our media is constantly reporting on the disagreements our politicians are having over "climate change". Some argue that climate change is the dominate environmental issue while others argue, science is wrong and humans have had no impact on the changing climate conditions.  There should be no disagreement that we are experiencing changes in climate conditions world wide however, these changes are the result of other environmental issues, some natural and some human caused. 
If we are going to provide a more desirable future for life on our planet, I believe we must focus our efforts on population expansion, water quality and quantity, and deforestation. These are the issues that cause changes in our weather patterns and conditions.
Within just 35 years our world population will reach 10 BILLION! What will the impact be on the natural resources we demand from Earth? 
We are deforesting the equivalent of 20 football fields every minute, worldwide! Deforestation is a major contributor to climate change!
There is very little clean water on our planet that does not require significant purification, and aquifers are slowly drying up in some locations.
A clearly defined and accepted problem allows us to focus and work together to identify meaningful solutions! Your help is required to assist with problem definition and acceptance!   Our work for 2017 is clear!      

0 Comments

    Archives

    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.