TRASH in the Jungle

Living in the jungle does lack certain modern conveniences those in the first world take for granted. WHAT would you do if there was no garbage pickup?

i have always been an ardent reducer of waste and enthusiastic recycler, but....

There is no recycling in Honduras (!!!) and garbage pickup has been spotty at best. We no longer have the luxury of recycling glass, plastic, paper or cans. We refuse to add these to the local landfill.

Most locals either toss their garbage along the side of a rural road or burn it…neither one a good option for us. We are always very vigilant about the amount of garbage we create in the first place.

Since our diet consists mainly of fresh fruits and veggies that come un-packaged from farms and markets, we compost all our kitchen scraps; reducing a fair amount of garbage right there.

We receive no mail or read newspapers or magazines, and add whatever paper or cardboard that comes into the house to the compost pile.

We avoid buying things in plastic bottles, but the inevitable errant plastic container gets washed and re-used a million ways…for our home made cleaning products, cut off and used to grow seedlings in, hold paint or varnish, the top becomes a funnel, etc.

We hold on to wide mouthed glass bottles that olives come in, using them as sprouting jars or to hold grains, seeds, herbs. For the others like olive oil and vinegar bottles, we bought a glass bottle cutter in the states and intend to make drinking glasses, hurricane lamps for candles, vases and give them to folks in the area.

To reduce daily accumulation of dog-food cans we are transitioning our pets to a diet of rice, raw meat and eggs to better their health and “weaving” the large heavy plastic bags the dry food comes in to make shopping bags and rugs. take a look at the photo above. the little change purse was made from snack wrappers found on the roadside.

We leave any rare “packaging” like blister packs at the store.

So this lack of “convenience” has morphed into a militant green solution to reduce our “garbage” to just one or two kitchen sized bags a month…which we bring into the “city” on our motorcycle and put into dumpsters.

Sometimes an inconvenience turns into a blessing.

REDUCE and REUSE….

Viva la Simple Deep Green Revolution!

done with cars.

garth and i visited 3 states in 16 days. nj, pa and iowa, visiting friends, and family. all went smooth enough and really can't express how happy i am to be back in the rainforest, with the pets, the plants, the river, the forest.

one thing i have discovered while in the states, is how DONE i feel with CARS. sure, i can appreciate the convenience of traveling from this place to that rather easily, but i dont like them. big hot stinky hunks of metal rolling on synthetic rubber, propelled by oil/gas, across paved nature, past meccas of commerce. sheesh. i'm done with the noise they make as well. the throaty growl and thrum of the motor, the twangy woosh and whine of tires on macadam...irritating as a throng of buzzing mosquitoes. don't even get me started about car alarms or horns....upsets my birth right to peace and quiet.

but stateside living is ALL about cars. fancy new cars, SUV's, huge shiny pickups that could haul cattle (in suburban NJ? sheesh)...car culture in the inth degree! we have become enslaved to metal and oil. the fumes are changing our atmosphere, we are sucking all the oil out of the earth, and it only took 60 years! look what we have done :(

we are sad, angry and depressed over this incredibly nasty, life changing , nature killing oil spill in the gulf. but truly,we are all responsible BECAUSE, everyone drives cars!

it's been 5 years since i sold my car. it was a really nice one...my LAST car. i spent a small fortune on it used. it was a fancy sporty german made thing..heavy as a whale, red convertible, heated seats, bose speakers, even in the headrest...guess i had to leave in style...get all my "car" thrill played out. DONE.

i am pretty much finished driving at this point. garth takes care of that. i'm a happy passenger. we bought a 125cc honda motorcycle that takes us from this place to that. it's tiny as "motos" go. we have called her "rosalita".

we strapped a milk crate unto the back of her...this we use to transport our groceries. you would be amazed by how much we can carry. what doesn't fit in the crate we strap to the gas tank or stuff into our back packs. often my hands are holding pipes, brooms, gutters...what ever we might need finds a way back down the long rutted, jungle road, to our home on rosalita.

when it rains, we wear rain gear. otherwise the sun shines on our faces, the wind blows thru our clothes, i can smell my surroundings (rainforest) and even tho it is motorized...feels much more natural. and i love the fact that we use only $5 of gas a month...A MONTH!

i certainly save on gas but i also save on my carbon footprint. this is of the utmost importance.

so this is part of our green simplicity plan. no car, we walk to places near by, use the moto for local trips over a few miles (no bicycles, dirt road too rocky and steep) and buses for places farther away and planes (sheesh) for longer journeys. maybe one day i will be done with planes. until then, we can all offset our carbon pollution by supporting www.carbonfund.org.

we must make changes to protect the future generations of all sentient beings. amen and om.

acceleration

i hung out in the hammock this afternoon, up on the "pad" by casa mango, under the trees, over rio (super dog)who slept under neath me in deep shade.

i have 3 trees that burst into blossom, wisteria like, sweet pea shaped pink flowers, looking like pastel clusters of sugared grapes. this time of year, these trees being deciduous, shed their delicate leaves, contrasting with the forever green of the tropical forest.

and so the winter fresh tropic breeze, releases the flowers and the leaves, to rain lightly down upon my leisurely smiling swingin self, while i practice inhaling liberated sweetness from the wafting pranic bouquet.

and so the leaves and flowers drift, while pairs of butterflies flit and spiral, dash and dive, another part of the air dance i behold so gladly.

and as i watch the butterflies play (as the flowers and leaves and aroma float ) i notice for the first time how they are able to accelerate. for some odd reason, i have always thought that butterflies had a certain "speed".... some slow, others fast...but it had never occurred to me until this afternoon (in the hammock, up on the pad, under the deciduous trees, over rio-sleeping super dog) that butterflies can CHANGE their speed.

and so, i watched them flit and spiral, dash and dive and then RACE away, one chasing the other, a witty flitty sprint to the other side of the property, and in a blink, out of view.

i like to think i receive messages from nature. information comes from many sources besides the tangible yang norms; books, news, media.

and as i "listen" to the frolicking butterflies this sparkling jungle afternoon, i am reminded to have fun, be joyous, dance with the flowers, and my play with friends! !

VESPERS

One of the many joys of the jungle is the evening song, the chirps, croaks, churs, trills and buzz from the infinity of insects and frogs. Rather than the melody of the day music, the evening serenade is that of percussion, rhythm, mantra and drone.

Layers of tones, sustained then broken, or tapped out like Morse Code, vibrate in my sinuses, not my ears. If I didn’t like it so much, it could be annoying, kind of driving you mad with monotony, an incessant drip. A type of noise torture.

But that is how I felt about the distant rumble and whoosh of the forever traffic, the weed whacker intrusions, and sirens of various origins of my long time suburban, now sold, Jersey shore home. Noise torture.

It's so interesting to me how people accept and tolerate this kind of pollution and invasion (add to that night lighting). These nasty noises jangle our nervous systems, and disrupt our ability to HEAR/LISTEN/THINK.

The jungle din is gorgeous and healing in comparison. And so it is Gaia's way....a soothing evening chant to lull us into rest, renewal and sweet dreams.

Surely this after dark party scene outnumbers the diurnal jungle crowd many fold. And surely, it is the pure thickness and depth of chorus that is so compelling. This is not some lone cricket, chirping for a mate in the dark corner of the summer pantry of my youth. Oh no.

Here, is a masterful opus with trillions of participants, throats inflating, legs rubbing, glowing underbellies, shadowy flight, the freaks come out at night.

peace

Greetings from a Happy eco-Warrior

Hello Friends!

after a year of living tech-free with the exception of electricity, i have finally given in and now have internet at my jungle home "Casa Verde"...this is actually amazing and one little piece of technology that i adore. SO i can begin blogging!

Let me start with Gratitude to Gaia. For those of you unfamiliar with this term...it was coined by James Lovelock an independent earth scientist from England.

The Gaia hypothesis, first put forth in the mid-1960s, and published in book form in 1975, explores the idea that the life of earth functions as a single organism which actually defines and maintains conditions necessary for its survival. Disclaiming the conventional belief that living matter reacts passively in the face of threats to its existence, Lovelock argues that the earth's living matter - air, ocean, and land surfaces - forms a complex system which has the capacity to keep our planet a fit place for life. Lovelock's predictions have already begun to hold true and Gaia (the name of the ancient Greek Goddess of the Earth) has dramatically altered the way scientists view evolution and the environment. Gaia is "the body/mind"...we are just wee cells, some cancerous, some healthy. (which are you?)

In this supreme attitude of gratitude to OUR MOTHER, I launch this blog and encourage your responses and ideas for a new heaven on earth. I in turn will give you mine.

Spread the word

The Sanskrit word ahimsa and it’s meaning was perhaps first publicized to the modern world at large by Gandhi, during his historic non-violent protest movement in India against the English in 1944.

It has been long forgotten in the public’s mind over the last 60 plus years as global attention deficit disorder has infected the masses. It’s not on TV, who remembers, who cares?

It is time to boldly resurrect it.
For every reason.

Modern Yoga students who have studied Patangali’s Yoga Sutras and the eightfold path know ahimsa is the first premise of yogic philosophy. Without it, yoga-union cannot be realized.

Ahimsa means non-harming. Anyone who has attended a church, mosque or temple also has been exposed to this basic and seemingly universal agreement towards living peacefully on our planet.“Thou shall not kill” is a commandment in all world religions. Murder is punishable by law everywhere. We get this.

Yet “ahimsa” goes so much deeper and is a far subtler idea. “Non-harming” addresses our personal approach to life, our thoughts, the way we speak, eat, work, play, consume, buy, the whole shebang.

We all know that killing your neighbor is bad, but not everyone grasps the same concept when it comes to cows, chickens, pigs or fish (or even an ants). Thankfully there is always room for improvement, greater awareness and refinement on the path towards oneness and planetary healing.

Practicing ahisma promises to bring us to a greater sense of personal peace, and the more, (literally) the merrier! As my understanding grows, I resonate with the marriage of ahimsa and my life long commitment to our environment. Do not harm.

I used to be “green” because I loved nature and considered myself an environmentalist. All well and good, however, arguable by those with different agendas and ideas (like my dear father employed by Exxon)

But ahimsa is un-arguable; we all intrinsically “get this”.

Through ahimsa, I only use one light at a time, unplug devices not in use, line dry my clothes, walk or bike whenever possible, get off all junk mail lists, recycle everything possible, consider the source of anything I buy, refuse packaging and plastic bags, take 2 minute cool showers with non chemical soap and shampoo, make my own tooth paste and plant based cleaning supplies, eat raw and vegan…. a deep green ahimsic approach to life and conservationalism.

Ahimsa deepens my relationship and stewardship of Gaia.

The concept of Ahimsa supports and nourishes our efforts to take excellent care of ourselves, each other, and our world. Once this idea is firmly planted in our hearts and minds, we no longer have the luxury to argue for or justify our less than deep green lifestyles.

I find it encouraging to learn that “right wingers” such as Christian Groups are now promoting “creation care” and that the Pope has installed solar panels for the Vatican…. we are “getting it”. Do not harm~ AHIMSA.

Our Global Community NEEDS to evolve. I can not force change. However, I can visualize it, live my life as an example, boldly share my ideas with everyone I meet and take the “bottom up” approach. We can create the tipping point of recognition, understanding, commitment, therefore action, healing and repair.

Time to get busy. Spread the word!

"Look deep into Nature, you will understand everything" ~Einstein"