by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

A lot of people are addressing a new “green” issue - the “why bother?” question that looms over our daily lives as we try to balance the status quo with needed changes, work with play, fear with faith. We don’t have much time. Change has to happen quickly or - well, big changes will be upon us quickly. Is Change something we learn to do or something that just happens? I say a lot of both.

Life is like a big jigsaw puzzle. We’ve dumped the pieces out “on the table” and at first, it feels overwhelming, even impossible to begin to put things in order. So we spend some time looking at and working with a few pieces and we’ve even fit a few small ones into place. But those few pieces aren’t enough - we have to keep going back to the pile. We are seeing a glimpse of something that is beautiful, even when there’s also something daunting about looking at all that is left in that pile. The work itself keeps us focused on the beauty - and we keep coming back for more. Some days we throw up our hands and walk out the door, but, we know we’ll be back.

We need to approach our efforts towards a more sustainable life just like this puzzle - knowing that we are working on something bigger and that the process itself is all we have. You know, something like “be here now”. It all starts by looking at and working on a few small pieces. Small, continuous work and actions matter because they lead to bigger actions, new ideas and perspective. More importantly, perhaps, is that they give us a feeling of participating in change - of living, if just slightly, outside ourselves. When this happens, we bring our innate qualities to the surface - of compassion, truth and wisdom - in other words, who we are, what we see and what we know. We are able to tap into our intuition, finding a balance between what we see outwardly and what we see outwardly - all tools to get the real work done.

Remember what we are capable of - and these wise words: “If we did all the things we were capable of doing, We would literally astound ourselves.”

— Thomas Alva Edison

“As in both yoga and life, the edge is not the point where you quit - it’s where everything happens.” Tao Oliveto

“Salvation is not what you get - it’s what you do.” Jerry Stifelman

Two years ago, Jerry contributed to a sustainable industries’ online forum asking branding agencies “how to make sustainability cool.”

Here’s what he told them~

“Sustainability IS cool. From Bo Diddley to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jack Kerouac, the young Elvis, Jimi Hendrick’s, punk DIY culture, the Merry Pranksters, Marlon Brando, and Burning Man – the essence of cool is personified by communities and sub-cultures driven by individuality and self expression. The essence of being cool is being your own damn self. The opposite of cool is forming yourself based on social influence and conformity. (No one buys a Ford Explorer or a McMansion because they’re following their heart).

And in an organic, local, ethically hip, off-the-grid world, individuality and self- expression are rampant.

by Tao Oliveto

My voice is a bit shaky today, but I’m determined to still find a way to use it to write this post.

I’m feeling stuck and baffled by the line culture has drawn, somewhere in the proverbial sand, that says something like, green is good, but talking about it isn’t. I’m frustrated by a culture that says, atta boy, keep up the good work saving our water, our air, our health and our animals - we need you out there - just please don’t tell me about it - or ask for my help. And for God’s sake, don’t preach - it’s really annoying and gets in the way of everything.

On the other hand, I’ve patiently listened to people rant and judge each other over taxes, high gas prices, being cut off in traffic or the loud music from the neighbor’s house. I’ve also listened politely while they boast about their new car, house, computer or ipod.

Yet, somehow, reacting to the ways we are all wasting our limited supplies of water, polluting energy or abusing animals and land at factory farms - is simply not acceptable. And you’d better not get too excited - in public, anyway - about that rain barrel or your reusable grocery bag…

Just today, No Impact Man wrote, “To be enviro, these days, is to be cool, ethical, caring and driven by values. And as people become aware that enviro-concerns are really human concerns, that toxins in our environment mean toxins in our bodies, and that a happier planet makes for happier people, the importance of green…is only going to increase.”

I believe this on most days. That people will begin to understand that it’s about taking care of what will all need to survive and be healthy and be willing to listen and talk to each other about Change. Not so much today - today I don’t feel so “cool” in my enviro status. I feel confused about how to walk that line between saying too much and saying too little.

The good news, as I was also reminded this morning, is that I do feel “ethical, caring and driven by values”. And I really want people to be happy and healthy.

Maybe things will be alright after all.

After burying one of my cats last weekend, just as the birth of Spring was arriving, I’ve been exploring attitudes and myths surrounding the nature of death and dying. My good friend, Greg, devoted himself to his mother’s care before losing her to brain cancer last year. I have learned a lot from his experience. Read on.

by Greg Gillette, Asheville, NC

“You will recognize that the riddle of life is to be understood through knowing the nature of death.” This quote by Rudolf Steiner is a very profound and important message, especially in today’s society, where the physical body and materialism are glorified and death is usually seen as the ultimate loss.

Regardless if you believe in more than one life or not, the simple truth is that everyone will lose their physical body and leave the earth, so why do we still fear death and rarely talk about it. Look at society and the somber dark expressions about death, the unhealthy pursuit of mass materialism and the strong push to keep people alive, artificially, when they should be free to die and move on.

Granted, experiencing the death of someone close to you is tough, but how much of what you feel is based on images and messages from society? Without death there is no life. Look to Mother Nature and who will see a constant flow of life and death, a beautiful flow of everlasting energy. The same can be said for the constant flow of life and death for us. Everyday, millions of people experience life and millions experience death.

I feel that because most of us rarely talk about death, except when someone we know dies, death is greatly feared and misunderstood. I am not advocating speaking about death all the time because you will most likely turn people away, but to bring it up from time to time and explore the mysteries of it and know that much knowledge can be gained from facing death before you actually die.

If we begin to explore death and see it as a necessary part of life, when someone close to you dies, it will have more meaning and the transition period will be easier and perhaps, mystical and magical.

By Phil Reckard, Chapel Hill, NC

A global meditation is being called by many different people and groups during the equinox of March 20 and the Full Moon of March 21. This two-day event is roughly the midpoint of two super-dynamic global energetics “caused” by Saturn in his oppositions to Neptune over the past few years, and Prometheus (Uranus) over the next few years.

The main feature at this upcoming equinox and Full Moon is a Grand Cross on Good Friday March 21, involving the Sun and Moon (opposed each other) at right angles to the separating Mars/Pluto opposition. Usually, a Grand Cross is a challenging configuration with at least four planets “at odds” with each other - a cross-current of competing energies loaded with potential conflicts. This Grand Cross even seems to conflict with the equinox of the day before, traditionally a time to celebrate new beginnings for those of us in the northern hemisphere, signaling the start of a new growing season.

The Full Moon is exact on Friday, March 21 at 2:40 PM (EDT), but any time Thursday or Friday would be when someone somewhere in the world will be joining in this meditation, either alone or in groups.

As with any ritualized meditation, clarity of intention is essential whether we want to send or receive love, send blessings for world peace, removing barriers, getting unstuck, working for self improvement, seeking an epiphany, wanting guidance for becoming an agent for positive change, all of the above, or whatever else is on our minds. A suspension of our belief systems might also be needed as you’ll see.

Peace, joy, and love to everyone. Let’s make something very wonderful happen!!!

(Artwork in photo by Michael May)

by Tao Oliveto

I’m still thinking about death. And life. And death.

Where do I stand on hunting? That’s a tough one. I don’t like the image of it. But when I see large numbers of deer roaming through neighborhoods and lying dead on highways, I find myself grateful for the hunters that help in controlling a population that, without natural predators, can no longer control itself. When my sister, who lives in Nevada, walked out her door last year to find a bear in search of the food, I feel conflicted. Afterall, bears can break down doors as easily as we open them.

Yet, I was the kid who never recovered from the movie, “Bambi”, and still can’t watch “Babe” without sobbing. More recently, while on an Autumn hike in the mountains , I witnessed a newly killed black bear being dragged down a trail by hunters. My entire body reacted so strongly to the scene, that I took off running downhill, falling over my feet and in tears.

IS hunting the necessary balance? If so, is it simply an attempt at balancing a system which our overzealous land-hogging has messed up in the first place? Or, is it ultimately part of our story as humans? If we are carnivores, are we even obligated to be witness and participant in the process of killing the food we choose to eat? I’ve conveniently avoided these questions most of my life, being vegetarian for half of it and wistfully dreaming about birth control programs for over-populating wildlife, while hesitantly grateful for those that can pull the trigger when necessary.

Most hunters sincerely claim environmentalist status. From Sierra Magazine, “According to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Alliance, most hunters and anglers have strong conservationist leanings. A study the organization completed in January 2000 found that 83 percent of hunters and 86 percent of anglers support keeping the remaining wild areas in national forests free of roads.” This sounds like a logical, even necessary part of today’s politics.

I do believe that we cannot have it both ways. Rather than kill the wolves that mildly threaten livestock, it may have to be a considered the compromise for displacing them from a natural habitat. We cannot kill simply to support a style of living before we determine if our desired lifestyles are necessary. We are responsible for creating and maintaining some kind of natural balance before we sublimely continue our world takeover.

I have a friend, David Knight, who was raised in a family of hunters. He also happens to work in environmental law for the Nature Conservancy. His gentle nature and sweet personality always made me curious about his love of the hunt. Then one day, he told me that after he kills a deer, he wears, for that day, a cross of its blood on his forehead. My first, and only, meal of venison was with him.

The Greek goddess, Artemis, is considered the goddess of the Hunt, yet she is also considered the goddess of Childbirth and protector of the young.

There’s a lot to think about.

(Artwork in photo by Michael May)

We are a death-denying society. We don’t like to talk about it or even think much about it. Yet, we all know that death is an important part of life. Indeed, nature has a plan that includes birth, death and rebirth in equal parts. It takes a great understanding and more than what our culture can offer for us to reach this kind of faith and acceptance in the process.

My cat, Jazz, died on Saturday. He was old in cat years - 14 - yet showed no current signs of sickness. He heart just gave out. Within my sadness was the relief that he did not have prolonged suffering. There are few ways that the death of a pet can compare to that of a human loved one, yet it confronted me, once again, with the strange ways that we handle - or mishandle - death in this society.

I recently watched, “Darjeeling Limited”, a covertly thought-provoking movie and I was moved by a scene where a father prepared his son’s body for a cremation ceremony. This struck me because modern societies have moved so far away from any nature-based rituals concerning death. Instead, we send bodies to be embalmed and dressed by strangers, covering them with make-up and put into fortress-like caskets before we bury them in the ground.

Associate Professor of religion and women’s studies at Skidmore College, Mary Zeiss Stange, speaks about death in Sierra Magazine, “Our culture has a kind of schizophrenic relationship with death and dying. On the one hand, we are obsessed with youth - fearful and shocked by any idea of aging. In old age, we choose a drug and technology-filled existence over quality of life. On the other hand, we are literally and figuratively numbed and indifferent to the images of violent death we watch daily in tv and movies.”

I have hope that the wave of awareness of nature washing over the world will include new and/or old ways to help us acknowledge and handle aging and death. For I believe it holds more clues about life.

For more on aging and death, try this.