The author's true, exciting and serendipitous journey through the wilds of Papua New Guinea, the Himalayas, around the planet and into the heart of life guaranteed to change the way you see the world.
When the owners of our house in Coopers Beach came to visit last winter they took a walk on the beach. They remarked on how clean it was. They would have liked to bring some Omanis (they live and work in Oman) to show them how clean a New Zealand beach is. I explained that one of the reasons the beach was so clean was that there was an unofficial crew of people that regularly picked up rubbish from the beach as it washed up. It is hardly a hardship to pick up bits of plastic during a walk.
This Beach is not so Pristine
The oceans are full of plastic.
The following is a little information I’ve found on a bigger problem we all need to address.: The Trash Vortex.
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza is currently cruising into one of world’s largest trash vortexes, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes referred to as the North Pacific garbage patch, this vortex is the epicenter of a system currents and winds covering most of the North Pacific. It has become home to a familiar substance – plastic.
Every year, about 300 billion pounds of plastic is produced around the world, and only a fraction is recycled. Where does the rest end up? Well, the majority ends up in landfills, but some finds its way into our oceans. Plastic is valued for its resistance to degradation, so its life span can be hundreds of years. When plastic reaches our oceans, it eventually breaks down due to the action of the sun, wind, and currents, into small, literally bite sized pieces that wildlife confuse with food. It’s an easy mistake to make.
Trash vortex explained
The trash vortex is one of the most studied areas of plastic accumulation in our oceans. At its maximum the area can reach the size of Texas. It is made up of everything from tiny pieces of plastic debris to large ghost nets lost by the fishing industry.
As trash swirls through the world’s oceans to a handful of vortexes like this, it leaves a trail of death and destruction along its path. Plastic is often mistaken for food and has been found inside marine life of all sizes, from whales to zooplankton. It has been directly blamed for the death of a wide range of animals including albatrosses and sea turtles. While massive trash like ghost nets can ensnare and trap thousands of creatures, there are concerns that even the smallest pieces of plastic may pose a problem, as plastic often accumulates in the digestive tract, many animals essentially choke on plastic intake. Others starve to death from a lack of nutrition despite a full stomach (such as Laysen Albatross chicks).
Where does it all come from?
Only a small percentage of the trash found at sea is thought to originate there. So how does the rest of it make it out to sea? It comes from a variety of sources, from the litter you see on the streets to industrial waste. Every time it rains, pollution of all kinds washes from land into storm drains and rivers, eventually reaching the ocean. Once there, the long-lasting qualities of plastic mean that it remains in the ecosystem for decades (and potentially longer), and as more trash accumulates, our oceans and the inhabitants within them are facing a crisis.
During the year long Defending Our Oceans expedition, scientists and crew onboard the Esperanza have been sampling the world’s oceans to determine the impact and pervasiveness of plastic in the ocean environment. During this leg of the expedition, we will journey into the heart of the vortex, to assess…
What YOU Can Do:
We’re all responsible for this mess, and it will take all of us to stop it from getting worse. It’s time to completely rethink how we as a society use (or abuse) plastic. Here are some things that you can do right now:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – you’ve heard it before, but now you know what happens when you don’t. Be conscious of all that you buy, and be sure to avoid products with excessive packaging, especially in disposable products.
Demand more and better recycling facilities in your area.
Take part in local stream, river and beach cleanups – or organize one yourself. Though these don’t solve the problem, they are very effective at drawing attention to the greater problem offshore.
“In Search of Simplicity is a unique and awe-inspiring way to re-visit and even answer some of the gnawing questions we all intrinsically have about the meaning of life and our true, individual purpose on the planet. I love this book.”
“In Search of Simplicity is one of those rare literary jewels with the ability to completely and simultaneously ingratiate itself into the mind, heart and soul of the reader.”
New Zealand is not always as clean and green as the image NZ Tourism has so successfully presented to the world. Abundant orthographic rainfall and a varied and dramatic landscape have given this ‘lucky green country’ rare natural beauty. The green persists despite the best unintentional efforts to undermine it.
There are vast plantations of mono-cropped pine trees, serving to further acidify the already acid volcanic soils. Much of the country is planted in grass—familiar to viewers of the Lord of the Rings trilogy—and this grass is covered with animals—sheep, stock and dairy cattle mostly. In many places, certainly where we live in the Far North of the North Island, these animals are not fenced from waterways, leading to pugged and broken river and stream banks and abundant erosion. Each time we experience heavy rain our beautiful Doubtless Bay becomes temporarily brown with silt and ugly foam fringes the beaches near estuaries, evidence of pollution leaching down to the sea. This results in damaged shell fish beds and adversely affects the coastal oceanic food chain from snapper to dolphins and orcas. The fisherman is not as happy as he once was. The bay is no longer teeming with the life it had when Captain Cook arrived in 1769 and proclaimed, as legend has it, ‘Doubtless it’s a bay.’
Enter modern day Robin Hood Fred Lichtwark of Raglan Harbour Care, who recently addressed a group of local citizens concerned about the present and future state of Doubtless Bay. Fifteen years ago Raglan Harbour was in a sorry state, rated as one of the most polluted in the country. A study showed it took on average 18 hours to catch a fish.
Fred, an ex-third generation farmer, turned his attentions to the plight of the harbour after a horrendous motorcycle accident partially crippled him and he found farming and commercial fishing just too difficult. Armed with a spade instead of a bow, in the mid-90s he spearheaded the fencing of waterways to keep out stock, propagation of native species and the planting of those hardy seedlings between the new fences and the waterways.
Before
Farmers were initially reluctant to come on board but the success of Fred’s merry band on a demonstration farm in Raglan changed their minds. Something like 30% of the land was retired and stocking rates were still able to be increased. Erosion stopped, the waters cleared, and the health of the animals was restored once they stopped drinking from the very water they had been defecating in. Veterinary bills decreased and farmers made more money. The payback time was quick—just over a year.
After
The tree propagators and planters had originally been mostly unemployed (Fred referred to some as ‘government surfers’) and some, with little better to do, had been troublemakers. Now, fifteen years on Fred’s team takes great pride in their work and the Raglan police have had to let one officer go—not enough work!
The harbour is far cleaner. It and the rivers and streams feeding it have deepened and no longer turn brown with silt each time it rains. Fred exclaims, ‘I never thought I’d see clear water on low tide.’ Two fish per hour can now be caught (Fred claims he and other locals ‘in the know’ can catch their quota of snapper in an hour) and ecotourism businesses have sprung up like water-based mushrooms to take visitors to experience the dolphins, whales and diverse bird life that have returned to the area now the sea is again teeming with life.
Fred Lichtwark and the rest of the Raglan Harbour Care team have demonstrated New Zealand can truly be clean and green. Let’s hope other areas, including our beloved Far North, cotton on to Raglan’s example, get planting and fencing, and re-green this beautiful land.
For further information and startling before and after photos visit:
“In Search of Simplicity is a unique and awe-inspiring way to re-visit and even answer some of the gnawing questions we all intrinsically have about the meaning of life and our true, individual purpose on the planet. I love this book.”
“In Search of Simplicity is one of those rare literary jewels with the ability to completely and simultaneously ingratiate itself into the mind, heart and soul of the reader.”
I want to make available for listening and download two inspiring stories I have recorded: The Peace Candle and Keep on Singing. May they provide much inspiration and enjoyment.
The Peace Candle is an inspiring true story of a man living in London in the 1990s. His spontaneous recovery from leukaemia shows that with the right intention all things are possible.
Keep on Singing is the true story of the ability of a three-year-old boy’s love and song to heal his dying baby sister. I love this story.
I’ve been sharing these stories with groups for the past ten years and they never fail to reach into people’s hearts.
I’ve just changed the links. My apologies to those of you who’ve unsuccessfully attempted to listen to these stories. The server where I’d uploaded the audio changed. I’ve put them on odeo.com where I put my radio shows.
Sunday, July 26th – An excerpt from a long article by Michael Chossoduvsky, dated 7/27/09.
Forced Vaccination under a Public Health Emergency? Multibillion Financial Bonanza for the BioTech Conglomerates
The 2005 bird flu hoax was in many regards a dress rehearsal. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic is a much larger multibillion dollar operation. A select number of biotech and pharmaceutical companies have been involved in negotiations behind closed doors with the WHO and the US Administration. Key agencies are the Atlanta based Center for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which have close ties to the pharmaceutical industry. The conflicts of interest of these agencies is brought to light in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s detailed study entitled Vaccinations: Deadly Immunity, June 2005:
“The story of how government health agencies colluded with Big Pharma to hide the risks of thimerosal from the public is a chilling case study of institutional arrogance, power and greed. I was drawn into the controversy only reluctantly. As an attorney and environmentalist who has spent years working on issues of mercury toxicity, I frequently met mothers of autistic children who were absolutely convinced that their kids had been injured by vaccines. … “The elementary grades are overwhelmed with children who have symptoms of neurological or immune-system damage,” Patti White, a school nurse, told the House Government Reform Committee in 1999. “Vaccines are supposed to be making us healthier; however, in twenty-five years of nursing I have never seen so many damaged, sick kids. Something very, very wrong is happening to our children.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Vaccinations: Deadly Immunity, June 2005.
The WHO is planning for the production of 4.9 billion dose, enough to inoculate a large share of the World’s population. Big Pharma including Baxter, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis and AstraZeneca have signed procurement contracts with some 50 governments. (Reuters, July 16, 2009). For these companies, compulsory vaccination is a highly lucrative undertaking:
“The WHO has refused to release the Minutes of a key meeting of an advisory vaccine group “packed with executives from Baxter, Novartis and Sanofi” that recommended compulsory vaccinations in the USA, Europe and other countries against the artificial H1N1 “swine flu” virus this autumn.
In an email this morning, a WHO spokesperson claimed there are no Minutes of the meeting that took place on July 7th in which guidelines on the need for worldwide vaccinations that WH0 adopted this Monday were formulated and in which Baxter and other Pharma executives participated.
Under the International Health Regulations, WHO guidelines have a binding character on all of WHO’s 194 signatory countries in the event of a pandemic emergency of the kind anticipated this autumn when the second more lethal wave of the H1N1 virus “which is bioengineered to resemble the Spanish flu virus” emerges.
On May 19th, the WHO Director General and senior officials met behind closed doors with the representatives of some 30 pharmaceutical companies.
“In a perfect world the planet’s leading pharmaceutical companies could produce 4.9 billion H1N1 swine flu vaccinations over the course of the next year. This is the World Health Organization’s latest assessment. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan met with 30 pharmaceutical companies on Tuesday and briefed reporters on a WHO plan to secure vaccinations for poor countries who lack sufficient infrastructure to fight a possible pandemic. (Digital Journal, 19 May 2009)
According to recent report in Business Week, “Wealthier countries such as the U.S. and Britain will pay just under $10 per dose, the same price for the seasonal flu vaccine. Developing countries will pay a lower price, (Business Week, July 2009). The WHO suggests that the 4.9 billion doses will not suffice and that a second inoculation will be required.
4,9 billion doses at about ten dollars ($10.00) a shot and somewhat less in the developing countries, represents a windfall profit bonanza for Big Pharma of the order of 400 billion dollars in a single year. And the WHO claims that one dose per person may not suffice…
DANGEROUS MANDATORY VACCINATIONS
Stephen Lendman covers the history behind some dangerous vaccines and how the government plans to begin some form of mandatory vaccination–probably through the public schools (another reason to leave sooner rather than later).
“Squalene was in the experimental anthrax vaccine and is believed to have been the cause of devastating autoimmune diseases and deaths for many Gulf War veterans. Now, squalene is to be an ingredient in virtually all forthcoming vaccines. At least three US federal laws should concern all Americans and suggest what may be coming – mandatory vaccinations for hyped, non-existent threats, like H1N1 (Swine Flu). Vaccines and drugs like Tamiflu endanger human health but are hugely profitable to drug company manufacturers.”
Actually, he points out four laws: The Project BioShield Act of 2004, The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, and The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act and The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA). Together they provide immunity from tort liability for vaccine makers and drug companies and grant excessively broad emergency powers to the federal government that can easily be construed to include mandatory quarantines and vaccinations.
Lendman says they are “written in a way that doesn’t adequately protect citizens against the misuse of the tremendous powers that it would grant in an emergency. (It’s) replete with civil liberties problems. It goes well beyond bioterrorism (with) an overbroad definition of ‘public health emergency that may be anything a local or national authority declares for any reason with no conclusive evidence for proof.” Adverse Vaccination Effects on Gulf War Troops: “Before deploying to the Persian Gulf in 1990 – 91 (and thereafter to the present), all US troops got a standard series of inoculations against infectious diseases – the same ones given to all US citizens traveling to the region. After arriving, 150,000 also got anthrax vaccinations and 8000 botulinum toxoid ones even though concerns were raised about adverse long-term health consequences.
“Military personnel usually get multiple vaccinations. [The politicized] National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM) studied their effects but didn’t prove or disprove any long-term adverse effects. However several independent studies of British Gulf War veterans found some link between multiple vaccinations and later health problems.
“Gary Matsumoto is a New York-based award-winning investigative journalist. His 2004 book, ‘Vaccine A: The Covert Government Experiment That’s Killing Our Soldiers–And Why GI’s Are Only The First Victims’took sharp issue with IOM results and the Pentagon’s denial of Gulf War syndrome.
“Investigating the shadowy vaccination development world, he discovered US military-employed doctors and scientists conducted secret medical experiments on US citizens in violation of the Nuremberg Code and fundamental medical ethics.
“According to Matsumoto, the Pentagon violated these and other standards, betrayed the troops, and the fundamental duty of military and civilian leaders to protect them. Since at least 1987, biowarfare development trumped the welfare of tens of thousands of GIs used as human guinea pigs for inoculation with experimental unlicensed anthrax vaccines containing squalene – an oil-based adjuvant (claimed to enhance immunity) known for decades to cause severe autoimmune diseases in lab animals, yet administered involuntarily without disclosure of its harmful effects to human health. Matsumoto wrote:
“Other research shows that squalene is the experimental anthrax vaccine ingredient that caused devastating autoimmune diseases and deaths for many Gulf War veterans from the US, UK, and Australia, yet it continues in use today and for new vaccines development in labs. There’s a ‘close match between the squalene-induced diseases in animals and those observed in humans injected with this oil: rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus.’
“Matsumoto says that ‘the real problem with using squalene (isn’t) that it mimics a molecule found in the body; it is the same molecule. So what American scientists conceived as a vaccine booster (or what’s now being developed in labs) was another ‘nano-bomb,’ instigating chronic, unpredictable and debilitating disease. When the NIH….argued that squalene would be safe because it is native to the body, just the opposite was true,’ and, of course, still is. ‘Squalene’s natural presence in the body made it one of the most dangerous molecules ever injected into man’ and using it in vaccines is outlandish and criminal.
“‘The immune system ‘see(s) and recognizes it as an oil molecule native to the body. Squalene is not just a molecule found in a knee or elbow – it is found throughout the nervous system and the brain.’ When injected in the body, the immune system attacks it as an enemy to be eliminated. Eating and digesting squalene isn’t a problem. But injecting it ‘galvanize(s) the immune system into attacking it, which can produce self-destructive cross reactions against the same molecule in the places where it occurs naturally in the body – and where it is critical to the health of the nervous system.’ Once self-destruction begins, it doesn’t stop as the body keeps making the molecule that the immune system is trained to attack and destroy.”
Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body.
― Cicero
The following words were recently sent to me by my dear friend, Elan Sunstar. I don’t know the source but I think you’ll agree they have tremendous relevance today.
ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder, has gotten a lot of attention over the last few decades. More and more children are being diagnosed with the disorder, along with many adults. Yet there is another disorder that is even more pervasive and dangerous, and which exacts our society a far greater cost: Spiritual Deficit Disorder.
Symptoms of SDD include resistance to awakening in the morning, boredom with work, absence of passion, irritability, fatigue, chronic low-level diseases. inclination to soft or hard addictions, a sense of lack of direction and meaning, self-numbing in front of a television or computer screen, hypnosis from watching the news followed by depression, insatiable need to acquire more stuff, and pursuing relationship partners with no lasting or rewarding results.
Experts report that far more of the population may suffer from SDD than appearances would indicate, and some of the people who claim or appear to be the happiest may in their private moments be the emptiest of joy.
While medical officials are not aware of a cure for SDD (and many are not even aware of the disease) it had been reported by non-traditional healing practitioners that a number of remedies have been tried and proven. They include: stepping away from the computer, getting into nature, taking long deep breaths of fresh air, spending time with people you enjoy rather than those you feel obligated to be with, choosing a career that allows you to express your passion, speaking your truth to those close to you, working less, playing more, avoiding the news or talk of it, laughing at will, and serious lovemaking.
Members of SDDA meet at twelve-step groups to share their stories of how they were addicted to the fear until they realized the spirit inside them gave them more reward than anything outside them. If you suffer from SDD it is recommended that you get help immediately.
What do you do, or can you do, to reconnect with your spirit and revitalize your life?
I am a spiritual being at my core, nourished and sustained by life and love.
“In Search of Simplicity is a unique and awe-inspiring way to re-visit and even answer some of the gnawing questions we all intrinsically have about the meaning of life and our true, individual purpose on the planet. I love this book.”
“In Search of Simplicity is one of those rare literary jewels with the ability to completely and simultaneously ingratiate itself into the mind, heart and soul of the reader.”
I thoroughly enjoyed our talk today on Spirit Quest Radio when Karen Kinsey interviewed me about my life and the story behind In Search of Simplicity. We touched on finding your life’s purpose and living it, simplicity of living and the beauty and magic of synchronicity. Karen’s weekly program is called MetaStories and it airs live every Monday at 4pm PST. See the Spirit Quest website for the archived show and more great programming.
Lucia’s away for five weeks in the Netherlands at present, leaving Asha and me at home. The photos below were taken in January of Asha and me at Cape Reinga, the very top of New Zealand where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. It’s a magical place.
Here’s some additional information I just received by email from a friend:
Green School, Bali: An international school rooted in holistic education & environmental stewardship
Green School opens on 1 September 2008 for children in Preschool and Kindergarten through Year 8 with students and faculty from Bali and 16 countries around the world. Here in Bali, Indonesia, we are building a new school where Western and Indonesian students can learn together to become more curious and more passionate about their education and our planet.
Green School’s beautiful eight-hectare, environmentally sustainable campus in Sibang Kaja is bisected by the Ayung River, on whose western bank are the School’s classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and kitchens. Aquaculture ponds, organic vegetable gardens, edible mazes, and permacultural gardens are interspersed throughout the vast campus, which is built entirely of low-impact and environmentally conscious materials such as bamboo, alang-alang grass, and traditional Balinese mud walls.
For energy supplies, we are experimenting with micro-hydro power generation as well as producing methane from cow manure to fuel stoves and developing a gasification unit that will use rice husks and other organic materials to produce electricity.
Green School’s curriculum combines demanding academic content taught through a holistic approach that aims to inspire and enhance all of a child’s capacities. The School’s Learning Village, for example, gives students a chance to apply lessons to specific disciplines and real business situations, making abstract ideas come to practical life. Students are involved in everything from manufacturing their own chocolate to helping manage the organic fields, bamboo plantations, and rice paddies that are integral to the campus.
We are inviting you to get involved. Write a story about Green School, help sponsor a local child, or let others know about this vision for education that can make a real difference in the world. We appreciate each and every member of our extended community who share these beliefs and want to help leave the world a better place.
Visit our website www.greenschool.org for more information on who we are and what we have to offer.
Contact: Meliana Salim Marketing & Public Relations Manager meliana@greenschool.org
Much of my work—in writing, in public speaking, in workshops and even on the radio—is about encouraging people to fulfil their unique missions in life. Michael Jackson left behind an amazing legacy of music. Heal the Worldis still one of my favourite songs. It continues to fire me up when I listen to it. Michael Jackson fulfilled his mission. Have you fulfilled yours?
I love the words from the back of Richard Bach’s beautiful little book, Illusions, ‘Here’s a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.’
Each of us is here for a reason and a season. With rare exceptions, we don’t know when the season is up. So there is no better time than now to reflect on whether you have completed the work you came here to do. Have you fulfilled your divine mission?
Are you living the life you deeply long for? Are you being the change you want to see in the world? In living by society’s conventions have you closed off some unique dream you might have or can you finally shed that conditioning and truly live the life you deeply long for? Does it really matter what anyone else thinks?
Have you resolved any longstanding negativity you may feel towards any other person or towards yourself? These feelings ultimately only harm you and rob you of perfect health and unlimited creative energy.
Have you fulfilled every wish you have deeply held or at least have you released any wish that is no longer relevant, without a trace of regret?
Have you contacted the loved ones—mother or father, son or daughter, sister or brother or old friend—you have taken for granted and told them how much you love them?
Have life’s knocks and tragedies closed off your heart or can you, as Oriah Mountain Dreamer so eloquently wrote, ‘..stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the moon, “Yes.”’
There are those who know and do not do. Be one who knows and does. In doing so you free up the unlimited energy of inner peace and you shine ever more brightly. And remember, such actions are in no way selfish. Your example and your shining allow and inspire others to do the same. That’s why we’re here. Go for it. Fulfil your mission and live your legacy. ‘Heal the world we live in. Save it for our children.’
Over my years of teaching nutrition I have never tired of sharing the story Pottenger’s Cats. I feel it has important implications for our times. The following version is an excerpt from the book I am working on now:
Dr. Francis M. Pottenger Jr., like Weston Price before him, was alarmed at the increase in processed foods in the American diet and devised an experiment to study this trend. Also, like Price, he funded his own research. This is significant because it allowed him to set up the experiment as he liked and to interpret the findings in an impartial way. As I said earlier, this is rare in the largely industry-funded science of modern times.
He studied the adrenal glands of cats, setting up control groups fed 2/3 raw meat, 1/3 raw milk and cod liver oil and test groups fed 2/3 cooked meat, 1/3 pasteurized milk and cod liver oil.
The control group of cats remained the same throughout the duration of the study with each successive generation being equally healthy and birthing healthy offspring that lived to old age free of disease.
The test group of cats was another story. Miscarriages were common: 25% in the first generation and 70% in the second. The cats were irritable and experienced a high incidence of allergies, sickness and skeletal deformities. The first generation of offspring developed degenerative diseases such as arteriosclerosis, diabetes and cancer later in their lifespan.
The next generation developed these same diseases earlier in their lifespan, what we might call middle age.
The third generation cats experienced these debilitating conditions early in their lifespan or were born with them. The third generation kittens were so degenerate that none survived the sixth month of life and couldn’t reproduce. There was no fourth generation.
I find these results staggering and of great importance as they mirror the health issues of modern society. How often do young couples today find it difficult to conceive? How often is a young child diagnosed with cancer or heart disease today? In days gone by such diseases were almost unheard of in children.
Pottenger’s findings would indicate that each successive generation of humans fed on a diet high in fast foods and processed products inherits weakened genetic material from their parents and a greater likelihood of developing degenerative diseases earlier in life.
Having suffered from hay fever and eczema from early childhood, I was like a third generation cat in Pottenger’s experiment and I was determined to ‘right the wrong’ and turn around a trend that would only lead to increasing health concerns and dental issues for my children.
Pottenger found that he could reverse the health deterioration in the test cats but it took a full three generations to do so. I wondered if it would take that long in humans.
The author's true, exciting and serendipitous journey through the wilds of Papua New Guinea, the Himalayas, around the planet and into the heart of life guaranteed to change the way you see the world.
