earth love articles
See below for various articles and poems by earth love subscribers old and new. If you have any articles of your own you'd like to submit, email them to earth.love@hotmail.co.uk
Please note this regards submissions for the website only. Send poems by post to the usual earth love address.
FROM THE HEART OF THE WORLD
By Pamela Constantine
In December 1990, a programme of considerable environmental importance was transmitted by the BBC. Entitled THE ELDER BROTHERS' WARNING, it told of the Kogi, "a hidden civilization in northern Columbia that survived when the empires of th Incas and the Aztecs were destroyed." To quote from the Radio times, 1-7 December 1990, "The Heart of the World" is the pyramid-shaped mountain they occupy, containing every climate of the earth. Their warning is that we are changing the climate and causing the earth to die, and that is why they have decided to end four centuries of isolation. They say we must learn to respect their wisdom or perish."
Some people since have suggested the whole programme was set up by the environmentalists of that time to dramatise their message, and that, the Kogi civilisation and its priesthood of elders never really existed. What seems to me more important than the validity of the programme is the wisdom it expressed through the mouths of the Kogi, which I have attempted to embody in the poem, 'The Priests of Aluna', which has been published several times. At least in this way the message itself, which is certainly valid, continues to be passed on.
THE PRIESTS OF ALUNA
"O ninth world, evolving without compassion
Below the crossbeams of the universe,
In your unsteady hands we lay life's pattern.
Unwrap the mystery-gift and save your globe!
Nature has her commandments. Break them
And creation slowly crumbles into chaos.
And this you do who do not understand.
Observe. Respond. Be vigilant - or die!
We priests, we Kogi, dwelt in green cities
Where man and the Mother dwelt in serenity,
Without the wheel, without the written word,
Beating the rhythm with the heart of the world.
Then came younger brother, ignorant and strong,
Greedy and foolish, breaking every rule.
The peaceful were enchained who did not run,
Enslaved by those who knew not how to live."
... ... ... ... ...
The few that escaped fled to the sacred city
To hide through the ages, teaching only their own
The way to live, to be healed, to accept what is,
In their caring stewardship at one with the Mother:
Elders who knew that all that lives is blessed,
That every plant and tree has its own guardian
Who in nurturing must in turn be nourished;
That reverence is the basic law of life.
They are dwelling yet in the high and hidden city
Which modern man would seek to desecrate.
The priests also learn to live in the world of Aluna,
Visible only to the inner eye.
No worldly man can know that inward dwelling,
But their maps of thought may touch our grosser grain
Immortal gold guides man the entire journey
From outer to inner kingdom. Thus they had lived,
Dancing with this gold the dance of life,
Till younger brother came and stole the gold,
Pillaging the Mother's living body.
Now that the younger brother's world is dying,
The Kogi emerge with purpose; they still feel
Responsible for the harmony of the world.
When men despoiled their home, they drained away
The strength of the Mother. Now, from the heart of the world
They issue their warning to the space beyond,
coming down to the foot of the mountain by the ocean,
Still bobbing on the central spool of life,
Still weaving natural patterns out of chaos,
To speak to us after centuries of silence.
... ... ... ... ...
"The mountain makes the water and the cloud.
If the trees are felled, the mountain makes no water.
You have sold the clouds. But the world does not have to end
- If you are wise. You hear, but do you listen?"
... ... ... ... ...
Silently they return to their high city
And erect a barrier. We may never again
Enter their space, much less reclaim Aluna.
The bridge is closed; we only may survive
If our hearts learn to beat again with the heart of the world.
STILLNESS
By Paul Hampton
Truth comes to lean and ragged ones, silent and moveless beneath still trees; to those unbound by time and hungering only for God. It comes to the lonely, the yearning and disregarded, to hearts grown quiet at last in contemplation of small beauties and Great Good.
Out of their depths of stillness, saints and visionaries, widely separated by time and place, have arrived at strikingly similar enlightenment. It seems clear that the power of Good draws all men unto itself. "The whole of the holy life consists in fellowship with what is lovely, in association with what is lovely, in intimacy with what is lovely" says Buddha. "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" says St. Paul. Joy is to see and experience the shining patterns of Good.
Unfettered, our spirit discovers that Truth. But the fetters are strong which bind us. For all but the few - the meek, the still, the frail, courageous, holy ones - the fetters are steel. They are pride and fear. Whoever is proud seeks wealth, position, power. The coward runs from hunger, pain, death. So it is that pride and fear together precipitate struggle, tensely invading day and night, sapping strength, banishing widsom, contaminating thought, destroying peace. Therefore with Christ in the wilderness, with Buddha and the lotus flower, with the poverty of St Francis, with the humility of those who live half in another world, we come to Truth. When we have lost all, then shall all things be added unto us.
The Western World is sick. the East, as far as it apes the West, goes down with us into spiritual, and probably physical death. Driven by motives of success, possession, wealth, we have no stillness left, no knowledge of real and permanent values. We have too much and understand too little. Tension infiltrates our very souls. Daily the pace quickens. The sensitive Westerner may struggle to set aside some small space for contemplation - but will so little, by so few, ever be enough to save us? The all-enveloping noise of materialism enters even our hard-won silences, degrading their lovely and redemptive power.
We must do more, more than we have ever done - accept, at last, what truths the centuries of saints, mahatmas, mystics, poets, seekers, have so consistently shown to us. We must 'walk the talk' now, follow their truths "not only with our lips but in our lives". We must take to ourselves their poverty and humility, come to terms with their example not as some elevated and unnattainable way, but as the only way. And like them, standing away from the world, we can return - as Christ from the wilderness and saints from prayer - with new strength and new wisdom.
When desire is still the spirit lives. "Be still and know that I am God". We must be still. Stillness, beyond all else, is our present need. Kipling speaks for, and of, the world:-
"If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run -
Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And, which is more, you'll be a man, my son."
In reality, our need now is to lose the world and all that's in it. We must be more with angels and less with men. Away from the world we may find ourselves with God. Let the man-made minutes pass in stillness. Our purpose is without time. The things we seek are everlasting.
REVIVING THE HUMAN SPIRIT - THE ONGOING TASK
By Pamela Constantine
It is estimated that there are now literally millions of dedicated souls toiling to bring in a spiritual regeneration of the planet. Working singly or in groups, they exist in every part of the world; and although their ways of serving this task are manifold, they exist in every part of the world; and although their ways of serving in this task are manifold, they form a vast network of selfless activities for broad-scale benevolent change. For many, this is an unobtrusive, grassroots work; for others, it takes place at the front line of modern day challenges. In scope, the concern is for the whole of humanity and for each individual making up that whole, as well as embracing all life-forms and the well-being of the planet itself. The majority work with explicit intent, but others are busy fulfilling a more subtle role, notably through literature and the Arts.
In nearly every instance, this inspired impulse for spiritual regeneration, and in particular for the awakening of the true self in humanity, is not reported in the media, except for a few of the larger events which are usually only on the periphery of what is actually taking place. This is of no consequence to the dedicated ones, who know that a few wise words offered to a ready and open heart can have a more telling effect than media coverage, which is mainly concerned to entertain and not to pursue the subject in any depth. For the few words received by a ready heart in turn inspire the recipient who makes that wisdom his own and passes it on to others in their time of readiness. I have witnessed this many times and observed how the beneficial ripples continue to spread out through another and then another. There are, however, some publishers also providing for this need to know, to awake, to be inspired, to be true - a need which has been engendered over recent decades by word of mouth and many small limited editions put out by those committed to the revival of the human spirit. 'Cygnus Review' provides regular information on books from such publishers and is free. (Please mention Firebird Press if you contact them).
The truth is that as a race still experiencing the effects of a society created during humanity's childhood and prolonged adolescence, the majority of people have ceased to feel inspired by something greater than themselves and are only conscious of the difficulties and injustices of the existing state of affairs. Yet the Inspirer of All has not deserted us. Rather, we have taken a tangent route from that which was divinely intended, which was surely the building of a society in which the fostering of the individual true self and the expression of its unique gifts was meant to create a community of great accomplishment, development and beauty. And now, perversely, we feel, with less than fully-grown understanding, that we have been abandoned.
Yet the way back is there. It is always there. It is discovered by claiming and holding strongly to the true nature that we all possess, however overlaid by conditioning.
Herein lies much of today's conflict. For unless we are at peace with ourselves, we never shall have peace in the outer world. And only when we are at peace with ourselves shall we find we are again on course. Then, even the wilderness years will bear fruit, for we shall have achieved greater maturity of spirit by the very effort to bring the true self to the fore, and will know to a greater degree the loving and steadfast nature of the Inspirer of All.
A CHEF'S EYE VIEW
By Steven Saunders
Master Chef of Great Britain
I started in catering 26 years ago, inspired by my mother's home cooking and my grandfather's home-grown produce. I liked the idea of one day owning my own restaurant.
I remember the smell of the tomatoes, the taste of the first new potatoes and I wanted to be part of that excitement and create and evolve food in the UK.
So the question is, how have we evolved?
1 Well, we've found ways of intensively producing food so you don't have to wait for it to grow.
2 We've found ways to create the perfectly formed apple, tomato and potato.
3 We've found means of protecting them against diseased insects, frost and pests.
4 We've found ways around the seasons so they need not be a concern anymore.
5 We've found cheaper ways of farming, producing greater yields and now we can import and export everything and anything all year round.
6 We've discovered convenient ways of eating - packaged foods and the microwave. No need for chefs, just eat and go! 7 We've found a way of making our vegetables and fruits last longer in our fridges, so no need to shop more than once a week.
Let's look closer at this involvement:
- No-one can tell me that the eggs from my chickens at home or my own tomatoes and potatoes don't taste far better than the intensive varieties on offer.
- No-one could disagree with the flavour that the rich yellow of our egg yolks have and the non-fishy smell when these eggs are cooked or the sweet flavour of organic milk compared to the watery intensive variety.
- Perfectly formed these vegetables may be, but are aesthetics the answer? Do they taste better hydroponically produced or does the real flavour come from the rich soil, the time left in the soil and the obvious nutritional benefits from natural and slow growth. Who cares how perfect they are? At least you can eat the skin of an organic apple instead of having to peel it first.
- Is GM food an answer, or is science just interfering?
- I long for the return of seasonal produce. The first asparagus buds in April, the first baby courgettes, english strawberries, runner beans and rhubarb, brussel sprouts and parsnips at Christmas. Ingredients are much better when grown in their natural season.
- As for longer lasting vegetables - the natural way is as Mother Nature intends. Food kept for weeks has little or no nutritional value.
So why are we messing around with nature?
Convience eating (in a Chef's view) has destroyed traditional family time and home cooked local or home grown produce is unbeatable. Chefs hate the microwave. It does nothing for the flavour of food and has created a non-cooking culture of TV style dinners... People who think that onions grow on trees.
Personally I would choose organic every time.
I've spent some time in Cuba and California experiencing the wildlife, the freshness, the flavour. I've seen unadulterated food, side streets full of locally grown produce that tastes amazing but I've also seen pigs in cages with no teeth and their tails cut off, chickens that can't stand up.
I've witnessed animal welfare issues, seen BSE, foot and mouth and Swine fever. I've seen the decline in our health, the increase in allergies, asthma, cancer etc. The decline and pollution to the environment. And the cost of cleaning it all up - the Government's stance is not 'Prevention rather than cure'. I've seen the deterioration of the taste and smells of food over the years.
Ask me which lettuce and I'll tell you. Ask me about my milk or my eggs and I'll tell you again - there is no comparison. And as for cost let us reflect for a moment that we are paying extortionate fees - the cost of cleaning up the polluted environment, and the cost of our health.
My conscience tells me to choose; safe food, free of additives and chemicals, seasonal and natural, which is organic. My logic tells me that vegetables grown in soil (rather than water) absorb more vitamins and are healthier, safer and taste better and when they are local and you know the grower personally, you can't beat that.
So what do I think about imported organic food?
65% approximately is imported at the supermarkets, but they have created a demand for organic and shown us the way - which is a good thing.
But imported also means packaged and of course travelled.
There will always be a question mark over organic food produced thousands of miles away in my opinion.
To conclude: My grandfather wasn't crazy, he grew naturally on his allotment - and he was happy and healthy. I loved the smell of naturally grown food and the flavours and when I cook I keep the food simple, clean, fresh and unadulterated. No need for sauces or expense or indeed any need for peeling most things (carrots, lemons, fruit etc.)
We need to re-educate the public and prove to them the differences between organic and non-organic and the beneficial factors - we need to re-invent the wheel because 30 years ago we did not have it all wrong!
Last year I launched Organica, the UK's first certified Organic-catering company. Next year I'm launching a range of organic healthy but fun food for kids with an accompanying book so they can cook it themselves and understand what they are eating and where it comes from. Organic isn't dead - it is only just coming alive!
The above is an extract from a speech by Steven Saunders, given in London for Sainsburys and relayed on radio stations nationwide.
Steven Saunders was named 'Young Restauranteur of the Year' in 1991. He has worked on 'Good Morning' with Anne and Nick, 'Ready Steady Cook' amongst others and still appears regularly on TV and radio. He is author of several books and also runs an organic cookery school.
Amongst various charitable causes, he is patron of the Born Free Foundation and a member of the Soil Association. Recently, the RSPB have invited Steven to write menus for a food range for them. These products will carry the RSPB logo to signify their having been grown and farmed in conservation friendly areas with an RSPB endorsed wildlife management plan. Find out more on www.stevensaunders.com and www.rspb.org.uk
Steven is also the son of Joy Saunders, poetess and regular contributor to Earth Love magazine.
COMING TO DARTMOOR
By Ronnie Goodyer
Maybe you'll come when the hazel catkins
wave the promise of autumn fruit,
or heavy frost is melted by sun
turning meadow grass to bright chandeliers.
Maybe you'll come when the bluebells and purple orchids
lead to new primroses by the wood
and hawthorn-scented air rises above the pink
of bell-heather and western gorse.
Maybe you'll come when the pearl fritillary
blows to the wild violets,
or larval clover gives birth to common blue,
opening its page-wings to green alkanet.
Maybe you'll avoid the boggy ground
where forget-me-nots thrive beside moorland streams,
yellow asphodel and St John's Wort form bright towers
and cotton-grass heads wait to fly.
Maybe you'll resist running with wild ponies,
shouting loud from granite tors,
circling with windless, weightless buzzards
and be happily unknown in the wilderness.
Maybe you'll leave in a foxglove-summer,
carrying its memory in the heart and stars,
or when heathers' perfume lies on the warm days drift
and the unicorns gather to graze...
HARMONY ACROSS THE SEAS
By Ian W Robinson
Why is war waged, over land or sea,
or in the air, for more than we can be?
Can we have peace on this beautiful shore;
harmony across the seas?
Why not have peace, no matter what is seen,
no mater who, your colour or your creed?
Can we have peace on this beautiful shore;
harmony across the seas?
Why do we kill our land, our richest stores;
our children too, the latest future born?
Can we have peace on this beautiful shore;
harmony across the seas?
Frozen tears that no sun can warm.
Alone, always alone.
Why is the blood of innocents so young
gloried up, and spread acros the land?
Can we have peace on this beautiful shore;
harmony across the seas?
Whay can't we stand and look and think and see,
reach out far; hands across the seas?
Can we have peace in this beautiful world;
harmony beyond the seas?
THE MEANDERING STREAM
By Ian W Robinson
The stream meanders along its way,
meanders slow, nowhere to go.
So the stream meanders along its way,
gentle now against the torrent of yesterday.
The angry swirl, the lashing wave
washing the land
covering the land
drowning the land
washing the sins away.
So the stream meanders along its way,
meanders slow, meandering, nowhere to go.
To heal the scars of millennia past
ignore the lives of other species
whose crime
an inconvenience to man
a plaything for man
destroyed now by man
we break this land of ours
we take this land of ours
and wonder why justice, she now demands.
So the stream meanders along its way,
meanders slow, meandering, nowhere to go.
So the stream meanders slow, nowhere to go, nowhere to go.
Interlude
So much poison mingled with the seas
retaliation, retribution, now she takes
chemicals we breathe, instead of purest air
the atmosphere complains
guilty, innocent, we suffer just the same.
So the stream meanders along its way,
meanders slow, meandering, nowhere to go.
Will we learn?
The stream flows onwards along its way
gentle now against forgotten yesterdays
the stream meanders from yesterday
nothing to stop it on its lonely way.
Will we learn?
Can we learn?
Do we learn?
The above are songs currently being put together on CD by Ian W Robinson. Send SAE to Earth Love if you would like further information.
ESSENTIAL WILDLIFE
By Pamela Hopes
The importance of trying to save our native wildlife is essential to all our garden scenes.
Many familiar visitors are getting fewer these days as each new season changes rapidly indeed. Ponds, small or large help to protect our wildlife. Frogs, toads, dragonflies are delightful to see enjoying Nature's water buttercups. Water lilies will soon flower with the promise of returning Spring when birds begin to sing.
We can view insects floating among tight budded shrubs and flowers when Spring is in the air, often late indeed. Summertime's garden is full of herbs which will attract the small brown wild bees, making new friends with bumble bees and hoverflies. Wasps can be friendly to all our floral scene. Like humans they delight in the smells of Rosemary, Lavender, Lemon Balm. Hedge Privets, gold, green, white can always be viewed swarming in bees and hoverflies. The perfumes waft such pleasure to all our treasured wildlife, enjoyed by keen gardeners in evening's soft Summer light.
I feel very sure if we can give our thoughts to themes that will help to attract our wildlife, we may still find creatures great and small visiting our gardens each new season of our year.
Hedgehogs now awake from long winter sleep, long tenants of my secret woodland area, it's pleasing to see them reappear from nests of grass and sedge now it is springtime. Birds sing their songs of love now the air has lost winter's cold freeze.
Fluttering, small and large moths, seeking the bright lights, glimmer through the tall oak trees of my nocturnal woodland, giving added splendour to all Spring's rebirth. Shades of new greens peep and creep ever wide, brief glimpses of Spring's gentle smiles each new day, a glorious pageant of Nature's colourful gifts, Spring flowers full of designer perfumes blossoming so invitingly, a new beginning.
All these pleasant scenes full of gardens' wonderful surprises. So beautiful, the bluebells, bright they look, pearled in morning dew. Painted butterflies with coloured wings, follow the bumble bees amdist green grasshoppers jumping for joy from early morning to the close of day. Never kill a caterpillar or butterflies you will never see.
Comic planners do their best to ruin our countryside to urban waste. Most village life is destroyed by road transport. Often we find dead hedghogs or rabbits flattened by speeding transport. I pray that one day baby hedgehogs, frogs, toads, birds etc will no longer be slaughtered on our countryside tree lined roads. I also hope all the beautiful trees are still here - until I have to go.
"When Man destroys Nature, Man destroys Himself!!"
A FINE SUNNY DAY
By Pamela Hopes
You remind me of a beautiful summer day
So beautiful what more can I say
Corn still green
No longer 'ricks of hay
Such a fine sunny day.
You are so beautiful
Dainty like a rose petal
Blown by a gentle wind
When will we meet once again?
Pretty blue butterfly.
CITY WATER FROM LIMAY
By Sylvia Maclagan
This morning, I cleansed the garish make-up
that you forgot to wipe off your lips,
because you were stoned or drunk,
a loner in the silent metropolis.
You flushed me down the fauces
of pestilent labyrinths that man conceals
in a maze of urban paradoxes,
forgetful of my sacred heritage.
.
I murmur, thinking of shields of glass
refracting the noonday blaze towards parks
with rails and toilworm sprinklers.
Unreal age...
the rush and noise of city days,
when mums and lunch-hour dawdlers
unroll plastic mats or coats on grass,
to broil their skin with U.V. rays,
like sacrificial beasts on beer-can altars.
I would not go willingly into the bowels
of doomed cities, palaces, taverns,
but gravity pulls me down hollows,
with now and then a glimpse of sidewalks above,
of the shadowy homeless snoring
in a world of portals and thresholds,
legs curled mindlessly over iron gratings.
I flow past tatters, socks, foul jeans,
the smegma of mangy bodies and cats.
I hear the squeals of mating rats
like tigers climbing and falling, slinking in gutters,
leaping into my sludge to reach the sea.
I spy a yellowish glow: a wedding-ring! Yours?
Your mascara was streaked with tears. Perhaps.
Further on a shoe-sole gasps and taps
at my oily edge, and is toppled over by a toad.
Chemically treated - H20 recycled mode -
I'm dumped in resevoirs and left to brew
until breezy dawns spell hope
as I swirl into a realm of heavenly hues.
And yet - like Sisyphus - I must start over,
pushing not a rock but mammoth turbines
for city lights... and the miracle or your tap water.
Limay = that which is limpid or white (river with rapids). Sacred to the Mapuche. The Limay flows from Lake Nahuel Huapi. A giant hydroelectric dam has been built on its course. Artificial lakes now cover Mapuche villages and vast expanses of land.
Mapuche = People of the Earth.
ARCADIA
By Vincent Berquez
It had all gone before I was born
Arcane shut down
Into dark light
Before the resurrection
Of whistling pipes
Carved because to invention
Of dancing circles
Covering the body in paint
And hair with leaves of myrtle
The revolving slowdown motion
Stopped in mid-gallop
Stopped in mid-prayer
Stopped in mid-chant
Stopped before we had finished
And before I had begun
Can you hear them
Can you hear me
GLOBAL WARMING FOR BEGINNERS
By Tracy Patrick
Scientists estimate that within the next century, as a result of the release of greenhouses gases , the Earth will warm by 1 to 5 degrees Celsius. A rise of 1 degree can kill a coral reef. A 5-degree rise is catastrophic. This is no joke, neither is it the panic attack of a bunch of sandal-wearing hippies banding false claims of an environmental crisis. This is science-fact. If something is not done soon, the effect on climate change will become irreversible.
As global warming takes effect, arid zones will experience drought, and as sea levels rise, coastal areas and low-lying cities will flood affecting agriculture, economies and displacing millions.
Average global temperature is currently rising at 0.3 degrees per decade (125,000 years ago when it was only 2 degrees warmer than today, hippos inhabited the Thames Valley) and since 1990 average sea level has risen 10-20cm. It is now rising at 2.5cm per decade and it is estimated the English Channel will rise 65cm by 2050 (RSPB). Polar sea ice has shrunk 16% in the last 15 years.
A 3 degree increase in temperature would raise sea levels by up to 1.5m over the next 50-100 years. A 1m rise would flood low-lying cities like Shanghai, Cairo, Bangkok, Sydney, Hamburg, Venice. Also the agricultural deltas of Egypt, Bangladesh, India and China where most of the world's rice is grown. An 0.3m rise would flood coastal wetlands and low-lying US cities like New Orleans, New York, Boston, Atlantic City, Washington DC, Galveston, Charleston, Savannah and Miami.
Shorelines would be pushed back 30m, coastal erosion accelerated, fish killed as river temperatures rise and coral reefs cut off from adequate sunlight would die. Presently, 1/3 of the world's population and economic infrastructure is located in coastal regions.
Earth has experienced climate change before but never on such a rapid scale as now, not in all her three and a half billion-year history. To cope with change, plant and animal species normally migrate to more suitable regions. But this takes time and the sheer rate of climate change, presence of built up areas etc, means they won't be able to keep up. 100 years of global warming could kill 40% of boreal forests resulting in mass extinction. C02 released from decaying trees and increased forest fires would accelerate the problem. Our protected reserve areas would be threatened. And disease patterns will also be altered by climactic change, affecting crops and health.
Millions of people would be displaced on a scale never before seen. The next 50 to 100 years are crucial in terms of what we do to the planet.
What can be done?
Rather than plunder the planet and her resources for the sake of profit, the business community and governments must change their short-sighted views and realise good environmental policies are good business.
For example, rather than rewarding business customers with lower rates for the more energy they use, tariffs should be made higher for increased consumption. Coal fired power stations will have to be scaled down or phased out and replaced with renewable energy sources like wind, wave or solar. And communities will have to be consulted and involved.
Our homes need to be properly insulated, with thermostatically controlled radiators and double-glazing installed. A study in Glasgow found that in a significant proportion of homes, the curtains provided more insulation than the walls! Imagine the energy required to heat these homes, not to mention the bills!
Transport is the other major cause of high CO2 emissions. Local authorities, planners and business must work together to build a good public transport network, re-instating trams and using trains as an alternative to CO2 producing cars and buses. It is also not sustainable policy to keep on building more and more roads, and business must reconsider their logistics, transporting by rail or sea instead. They should consider their environmental space ie, not having empty lorries travelling when they could be loaded, and local people and services could be utilised rather than flying products all over the world for different parts of the production process.
To counteract global warming we must all change our attitudes and lifestyles. Simple acts like using low energy bulbs, switching off broadband connectors and other electrical apparatus when not in use, refraining from making unnecessary car journeys. All in all, we must reduce our carbon emissions by approximately 90% by the middle of this century.
There are still too many politicians and business interests plying misinformation, creating a warped picture for the public. We have a last chance - we can make the changes now, or leave it till tomorrow and let our children face the consequences.
Sources: The Rainforest Foundation, BBC State of the Planet series. Friends of the Earth Handbook. Nature Conservation - Peter Marren. Managing the Human Impact on the Natural Environment - Edited by Malcom Newson. Living in the Environment - G Tyler Miller Jr. Fragile Land - Auslan Cramb.
HABITAT DESTRUCTION
By Tracy Patrick
50,000 years ago mega-fauna roamed all continents. As humans migrated, the mega-fauna disappeared, now found only as museum exhibits. OUR capacity for destruction continued, and since settling down to farming, we have obliterated miles of native forests and the homes and species of many animals who lived there - bear, elk, lynx and wolf used to live in the Caledonian pine forests that covered most of Scotland.
This destruction continues unabated at an alarming rate. We may be able to forgive our ancenstors, but would they forgive us? While our lives become more convenient, with stacked supermarket shelves, mobile phones, and CD sound systems in our cars, the planet that is our home becomes increasingly degraded.
Today we are over-harvesting plants and animals faster than they can reproduce. An area the size of two football fields will disappear as I write this sentence and since 1950, half the world's rainforests have been destroyed. With modern methods, we can fish every last fish from the sea and half of new plant growth each year is harvested for one species alone - US.
Once damaged, it can take up to 100 years for an area to recover. Many indigenous species die out once their habitat is destroyed eg the Scottish crossbill is unique to the native pine forests and needs these forests to survive. Other species, when removed, can destroy an ecosystem completely. When otters were hunted from the kelp forests of the Canadian coast, sea urchins multiplied and ultimately destroyed the area. Of course, the more endangered a species, the more hunted it becomes as the price of its products rise.
With human interference, the rate of extinction has increased 100-1000 fold. As habitat is reduced, the small islands that are left cannot sustain populations and many conservationists believe we are on the verge of a mass extinction event parallel to that of the dinosaurs.
This destruction of natural habitat is doing more damage to biodiversity than any other human activity, even pollution. And our population is increasing like never before, from two billion 100 years ago to six billion today, a thousand million being added in the last 12 years alone. It is estimated that by the next century we could easily reach 11 billion. Let's spell out the consequences of this for a moment - more fields, more buildings, more industrialisation, more loss of habitat.
Protecting wildlife means safeguarding its environment and our excessive consumption must be scaled down if we're to preserve our world. The unsustainable free-market has to be replaced altogether or regulated and controlled at political, economic and governmental levels. This must be addressed honestly or we are without doubt going to lose the Earth's biodiversity and risk our futures on the planet.
Many charities and NGOs have implemented conservation projects, raising awareness of environmental and animal-welfare issues across the globe. Without these 'sandal-wearing reactionaries', we would surely be in an even worse position. CITES monitor the movement of protected wildlife and we have protected reserve areas. But these should be a last resort. First of all, a framework must be built up within local environments and communities.
To find a global solution, the imbalance of poverty has to be addressed. It is in the interests of richer nations to help less developed countries protect their habitat by funding sustainable development and paying for the protection of forests. Restrictions must be agreed on what we can take from the planet and standards set on what we should give back. Where there is a market for a species, it must be monitored to ensure the safety and health of its population and that local communities are given a fair trade price. In many cases, where there is no real cause for a market eg. fur, people who are creating the demand, should be persuaded from these industries altogether.
We have huge power as 'consumers' that we can use to steer business and government policies in the right direction. We can make choices (vegetarian diets, for example, are more economical on land use), we can buy free range instead of caged eggs, recycle bottles and paper, buy organic, reduce our petrol consumption, lobby MPs, write articles, sign petitions to save local forests, stage boycotts. We all have an ethical and spiritual responsibility towards our fellow beings, our planet and ourselves.
One thing's for sure, the human brain has an uncanny lack of learning through repetition, so if something's worth saying once, it's worth saying again and again. It's up to us now to be innovators. To seek and provide alternatives where we can and above all, to educate ourselves and the coming generations.
Sources: Vegan Shopper, The Vegan Cookbook - Baskerville and Wakeman. The Rainforest Foundation, BBC State of the Planet series. Friends of the Earth Handbook. Nature Conservation - Peter Marren. Managing the Human Impact on the Natural Environment - Edited by Malcom Newson. Living in the Environment - G Tyler Miller Jr.
SKEDADDLING IN DEFEAT
By Etelka Marcel
O dear, o dear
or by heaven,
the ed. squeezed me
into issue twenty-seven!
Am I a bird,
a deer,
a fish?
Turn me upside down, I wish,
and what can you see?
Me and my long nose -
God only knows,
... and webbed feet?
MOUNTAIN MOON
By Julie Rutherford
Oh, how the trees sigh this night
and you, Pegasus
stand out
alone
cold spirit, cold
crosses the mountain side long is the road, long
long wandering
will I ever return?
POEM
By Julie Rutherford
Howling, the wind
tears through the trees
rain falls hard
Above,
wild geese
fly south
Solitary Crow,
in field bare
no seeds sown
for tomorrows growth
.
BOOK REVIEW
By Germaine Knight Earth Songs - a resurgence anthology of contemporary eco-poetry
Edited by Peter Abbs, Published by Green Books.
When I saw the title of this book I feared it could go either way. Would it be an inspiring and monumental addition to the poetry world or a schmaltzy collection of hippy verse? Thankfully it most definitely comes under the former category. The anthology is awe-inspiring! The poetry is lucid, though provoking, relevant and enjoyable.
The list of contributing poets is impressive, and through it I have discovered some talented contemporary poets writing about subjects that in our consumerist modern age need to be brought back to the fore.
The book itself feels like a deep journey, being divided into eight sections: Naming Gaia, Our Sick Planet, The Living World, Landscapes and Inscapes, The Home of Experience, The Ecology of Love, Weaving the Symbolic Web and The Search for Enlightenment. Within these chapters we are truly treated to 177 poems.
I find this an inspiring collection on many levels and feel sure that other poets and ecologists will also be impressed. While many of the poems may go over children's heads, there is definatley material in this book to make it exciting for teenagers and teachers of young children too. I read some of the poems to my seven-year-old daughter and was pleasantly surprised to notic that she understood, appreciated and was held captive by them, especially one of Dan Gioia's poignant contributions The End of the World.
.
LIFE IN A CEMETERY
By Cardinal Cox From the National Poetry Day in October 2005 I have held the post of Poet-in-Residence for Broadway Cemetery in Peterborough. Now I joke that while the audience might not be very responsive, at least they don't walk out, but there is a serious side to this position. As well as writing verse for events and talks organised by the Friends Group, I am trying to mark the changeing seasons in what is a wildlife refuge in the heart of a busy modern city.
The cemetery is probably typical of hundreds across the country. It was opened in mid-Victorian times as the parish churchyards filled and were closed. In turn, it has now allocated all of its' plots and only accept whose who already have land within. As one end only attracts regular visitors, so the other has been allowed to become wilder in parts. This policy has encouraged a variety of species.
Amongst the plant life, there are evergreens such as holly and ivy. In spring snowdrops and primroses bloom. Amongst the graves you can find speedwells and wild strawberries. The cemetery supports one of teh largest colonies of meadow saxifrage in the country. Other members of the 150 species of flowering plants recorded here include the field scabious and moon daisy.
Animals also thrive in this area, with dragonflies visiting in summer to hunt smaller midges and the holly blue butterfly completing its life cycle on the vegetation available. Grey squirrels dart and play amonst the trees. The Friends Group have organised bat watch nights in the past in collaboration with the local Bat Group.
The cemetery isn't without its problems. The Group would like to see measure being taken (new fences, more frequent patrols etc.) to deter the nuisance of drinker, vandalism and the more serious problems associated with a few drug users.
However, I would like to encourage the readers of Earth Love to perhaps explore their own local cemeteries and graveyards, to discover not only history but also places that can be very much alive throughout the year.
.
A WINTER VISIT TO HOPILAND
By Ramona Puhuyesva The docile winds blow
Across the land and mesas
Of the Hopiland.
Bring in wood for fire and warmth
Listen to stories
Of nature told by So'oh.
Learn of Father Sky
And be touched by Mother Earth.
The stories will ring out
To leave us with Hopi pride.
Slowly clouds gather
Bringing gray skies and cool days
Now the snow arrives
Flakes of white moisture
Painting the Hopi desert
A cold visitor,
Yet We're thankful for its' given gift.
Makes land and people happy
The elements are together
Here in Hopiland,
Center of the Universe.
.
ANOTHER VISIT TO HOPILAND*
By Neal Wilgus The winds still blow
as we edge along the narrow trail,
the cliff dropping sheer just inches away.
We bring the ashes of the loved one
back to her home, as she wished.
The firewood, the stories told by So'ok,
Father Sky and Mother Earth
are with us, as always.
Cold visitors, we find the right place
and join the ashes with corn meal,
piki bread and water
to sustain her on her trip.
Then she rejoins the Hopiland
and we turn to retrace our steps.
Goodbye, old friend.
*This poem was written by Neal as a response to the previous poem of his late wife, Ramona.
.
THE !XONG HUNTER
By Dave Rowe He sat on his haunches,
His wrinkled elbows resting on dirty wrinkled knees,
Regular corrugations on his filth-flaked stomach.
His head reeled,
His throat burned,
And somewhere,
The back of his neck perhaps,
Was a semi-drunken tingling.
His lips parted slightly - that seldom indulged-in smile.
The tobacco had been dry and strong:
Good dry black vile stimulating shreds.
He was happy. A camelthorn tree. A lone inverted legless giraffe
On the arid grassy flats,
The flats of the unwanted thirstland,
Where the strong amongst beast and primitive man survive.
It was pleasantly cool in the shade
Of the irregular rough grey-brown thorny branches;
The sand was kind and cool,
Soft and fine,
Soft and fine and grey,
Misty grey -
An unfathomable uncertain shade.
His eyes, set above high cheekbones, narrowed;
Lines in the yellow-brown creased face deepened.
The horizon, the objective of those
Black bateleur-like adapted organs.
A cruel unquenchable sheet
Of white-hot metal particles ahead.
Food!
Fresh raw wild flesh.
A kill must be made!
Two paces
And he stood in the scorching midday sun again,
An insignificant primitve being
The cool shade and enjoyable pipeful
Behind his back.
That minute drop had already fallen
Into the sea of a lifetime -
Irrecoverable.
Before him
The immeasurable merciless paths.
!xong is a group of indigenous hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari Desert. The ! at the start of the word, indicates a particular click sound in the San language.
.
DESERT LORE
By Dave Rowe The first light
Saw cold grey ashes,
Empty huts,
And a blind old man. Another,
Perhaps his last day,
Lit the sky
With unseen colours.
Alone like an outcast animal.
He, being born to serve his son,
Serves him finally by dying.
The San people (Bushmen) of the Kalahari desert are currently facing removal from their traditional land areas, or the forcing of westernised ways on them, particularly by the Botswana government. See www.survival-international.org Dave Rowe
GLOBAL WARMING
By Joy Saunders They say that global warming is
the fault of all mankind,
with greenhouse gas emissions and
a power-switch to hand.
All vehicle exhausts emit
pollution every minute;
we have a battle on our hands
and must resolve to win it!
Reduce demands on energy -
no currents on stand-by;
we're all guilty of carelessness,
consumption - far too high!
As heat waves, floods and hurricanes
are induced by emissions,
we need to count the cost today -
impose worldwide decisions
to combat climate change so we
may live and love and thrive
on Earth will be a planet where
no life form can survive!
.
STEVE IRWIN
CROCODILE HUNTER
He loved all creatures large and small,
reptiles - the treacherous crocodile;
he built a wildlife hospital,
said saving life, made life worthwhile.
He was a lesson to us all -
A showman, legend, naturalist
who answered wildlife's constant call
as fearless conservationist.
His many talents could enthral
a crowd with his jocular style,
but in their eyes this man walked tall -
compassionate and versatile.
He was a lesson to us all,
a man who will be sorely missed,
who took his final curtain-call
GOSSIP DROPLETS
(The Dews of the World)
By Peter Asher
The dew's news used to inform, educate
the garden. The finch on the feeder would
pinch a quick glance at spider's advance -
simultaneously keeping an eye on breakfast
and one on the reading of this eight legged
insurrection upon a bush's neutrality in the latest
edition of morning's precipitation; reflecting views
from every correspondent part of the yard - (the yard's nation).
The dews of the world, folded between the fore-arms
of business leaves, carried insights as to what was happening
locally, for any short sighted insect that cared to inspect
a drop of copy at close quarters. Butterflies got their lies
out of it - presented in gossip droplets they'd alight nearby,
full of untruths some creatures assume are fact that other bugs
put out as tracts; scrawling acts to deceive the reading predator.
Seasonal floral facets, cabbage patch opinions - lettuce to the editor
who'd often prune from the house - nothing would be too small
to be excluded from the columns of the dews of the world.
But then - increasingly - biased rags began to appear printed
on the lips of bottles posted to four corners of the garden.
The old open impress of the dew press on things gave way
to technology; new ways informing of certain alternate life styles
the modern yard should aspire to. And the grass and the flowers
began to be moved more by larger cans than
the tidy universal lens of the dew's cameraman.
HUNTING FOR MOUSES
By Peter Asher
Two small hands
clutching the bed -
Spread edge...
That's the call one makes -
Skies full of clearly visiible
Stars, (and ferocious Mars
With its spaceships just waiting
To come get us)...
That's the pounce one takes -
Like a picture book's swooping
From off the bed
Whilst chasing a tousled
Head's musings
Scurrying through the window.
Barn owl nights they were -
When somewhere out there
One must be hunting for mouses.
STEAM WHISTLE
By Peter Asher
Wind.
Direction. Snick and
Something inside each
Shakes a kind of dice
Tugs a kind of string
Some thing that is
Forever House Martin gang -
Gaffer, reaches, signals break-time's over
Throws another six for luck
And look - thousands
Of sea miles laid down
For railway lines
Rolling feathers forwards.
FOOD FOR THE NEXT DECADE
By Rasik Bhadresa
Although there is more, we have less. Food that is. Although there is more choice, we are constantly bombarded into making poorer choices. Economic reasons have for too long controlled the purse strings of almost every Mary, Harry and Barry. What this means is that people choose the cheapest options which you can guarantee have left behind unsavoury tales of pesticide-use, genetic modification, battery-farming, other intensive practices, miles and kilometres of land and air miles, and poorly paid parents in developing countries who still find it difficult to pay school fees for their children and whose living conditions still equate medieval life in Europe. Even worse, in its wake follow the class of get-rich-quicklies. Ethics have been replaced by the product, product design and marketing.
So don’t be surprised if your ‘super (?) market’ trolley contains pure and white salt, sugar and bread, carrots which might as well have been cloned, equal-sized tomatoes that glisten but taste of pulp, ‘farm-fresh’ broccoli and round lettuce which look perfect from having been sprayed with a chemical cocktail, milk in a plastic carton which continues to impart plasticisers, biscuits and chocolates that contain hydrogenated fats and pesticide residues, a chicken (without giblets and debeaked no doubt) that had been cooped up with four others for its short life while being fattened up with growth promoters, and a lot of packaging that will further add to our burgeoning landfills. But this is only a small trolley. Multiply this by 100 and this is how much each person may consume in ‘one’ year. We might as well have multiplied the problem by 100. We did not evolve into Homo sapiens so that in the third millennium, we end up with food which our own ancestors would have turned down as junk.
The whole way we think about food has to change. At the beginning of the decade we need risk takers and this must include bankers, farmers, food manufacturers, advisors, food wholesalers and retailers, restaurateurs and above all competent forward-thinking politicians - every one of them prepared to see the sense in growing, producing and preparing food in environmentally sensitive ways for local markets with human and animal welfare at the forefront. Consumers must vote with their feet. Our work places are the worst culprits of bad practice. All across the country, in offices, factories, schools, colleges and hospitals most of the food served is the cheapest that is available (‘We have to keep our costs down,’ they whimper). Changes can only take place if the people who eat there demand better quality, environmentally and health friendly foods. Unlike some of our European neighbours, we British think of food (however, gradually things are changing) only as a source of fuel, not something to enjoy. Public attitude must change. This is where the revolution must start. The post-war priorities to produce lots of cheap food quickly must simply end. We are still overproducing.
A worthy starting point is to acknowledge our mistakes. Only then can we hope to shape the changes. Take pesticide-use for example. Firm ‘brain-washing’ allows farmers and gardeners to destroy pests and weeds - so called to lower their status and make it excusable to kill them. Beneficial bystanders also get wiped out and deadly residues enter the human food chain. If a permanent candy-pink dye was added to a spray, you may well end up with a ‘pink’ cucumber on your plate. Appetising? If we can’t stop poisoning the earth, how are we to stop poisoning our lives?
Isn’t it time to be creative and to put more effort into fashioning new better (GM-free!) varieties, organic and rotational farming, companion planting and biological control? Why can’t more people grow their own vegetables and keep chickens? It is also time to extend direct-selling, farmers’ markets and box schemes. The government must take the lead in all this and support the much needed change from intensive practices to extensive organic farming. On a bright note, it has to be said that changes are afoot. More and more people are being attracted to organic produce.
What I would really want to sit down to each day of the year would be a meal where the origin of each and every ingredient has been traced back to an organic and as local a source as possible. To celebrate a birthday, an anniversary, a sip of local, organic sparkling wine would do me just fine.
earth love, PO Box 11219, Paisley, PA1 2WH
Please remember to include SAE when submitting poems.