Gaia Community: Raymond's Blog

Featured this month in Pear Magazine

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:36:26 GMT

A Return To Innocence, a chapter from my forthcoming book, Simple Brilliance, is featured this month in Pear Magazine. I'm honored that they contacted me. http://www.pearmagazine.com http://www.simplebrilliance.com What is Pear? People are moving towards an organic way of life. Perhaps we are coming full circle through the cycles of science, industry and technology back to a new and expanded focus on the natural order of things, the beautiful way things grow when there is no interference. Perhaps we are seeking ways to make our complex lives more harmonious. And perhaps you have been waiting for a magazine like PEAR, a pivot point to give voice to this movement of people's hearts and minds at this very special point in time! If so, welcome! I hope you will subscribe to and enjoy Pear Magazine Online!

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Calliote Canyon Retreat website launched

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 05:21:04 GMT

Excited to announce that we launched our website for Calliote Canyon. It's a wonderous, beautiful retreat and vacation home in Ojai,CA.

Tags: Ojai, yoga, yoga retreat, vacation rental

New Interview on my website

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:59:48 GMT

I just uploaded an audio interview I did with InspireMeToday.com
It reveals a lot about my body of work.. Simple Brilliance.
There are also two chapters from my forthcoming book for download.
There are now two: The Way of the Open Heart & A Return to Innnocence
Enjoy.

Tags: Simple Brilliance, simplicity, coaching, Ojai, HUB, Huamnaity Unites Brilliance, Real Water, quotes

Back from my hiatus

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 16:03:36 GMT

I have recently redesigned and launched my new website, Simple Brilliance.

After a hiatus for the last couple of years to pursue my own personal development, I am inspired. I have new energy and tools to share with you that have been of such benefit to me. I have found whether we are engaged or not in our work and play, a coach and mentor can give us the edge we need to live with more joy, enthusiasm and creative power.

In a short, succinct manner Simple Brilliance shares with you, from my heart, the current services I am offering as a life coach, business advisor and transformational counselor. You're welcome to call or email me for more information and a free consultation. Please pass this on to friends, family and associates if appropriate.

Also on the website is a free chapter for download from my forthcoming book, Simple Brilliance:A Conscious Approach To Re-membering and Re-Discovering Your True Nature.

In Peace,
Raymond

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Sign Sign everywhere a sign

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 17:17:46 GMT

Sign Sign everywhere a sign Sign Sign everywhere a sign Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign And the sign said anybody caught trespassing would be shot on sight So I jumped on the fence and yelled at the house, Hey! what gives you the right To put up a fence to keep me out or to keep mother nature in If God was here, he'd tell you to your face, man you're some kinda sinner (c) Five Man Electrical Band Well, this time the shoe is on the other foot. My foot. Living in the serenity and sanctity of Matilija Canyon for almost seven years now (not a long time for the residents who have called this home for decades, accepting fire and flood as part of their relationship with nature) I have been fortunate to experience life in various locations throughout the canyon. In 1999 I moved from Los Angeles, up canyon, close to the Dent House. For five years I studied the terrain, cultivated gardens, became familiar with seasons and learned of the pre-European Chumash culture and their continued devotion to this land. Since then, I have lived briefly, for one year, in the center portion of the canyon and now for the last six months given the responsibility and honor of stewarding and caregiving one of the most pristine and historical environments in the Ojai Valley. Though a "nature lover" and preserver during childhood, (in Junior High I was asked by my science instructor to join the environmental club. After school we planned eco-fairs for the campus and took field trips to places such as the landfill in the Santa Monica mountains) since moving to Ojai, I have become more immersed in the theories, methods and lifestyle of sustainability. At times failing and also celebrating my successes in sustaining land, livlihood and relationship. Ojai has become for me an important "real time" social experiment, as I experience myself and others balance nature, commerce, diversity and, at times, culture clash. The sign(s) posted on the roadside demarcate an area of the land, once public yet since 1988 rezoned as private, which fall within my stewardship. For at least three generations the families of Ojai, and visitors, have come here to take refuge during the hot summer months and take advantage of the swimming. Unfortunately, in my brief role as conservator, take advantage IS what some seem to do. Not one to enjoy policing, micro-managing, or outright harassing others, the last few months of summer left me in a quandry. How do I respect the lineage of Ojai who has enjoyed this river oasis while also protecting the land (and safety of the people) from pollution, broken glass, inebriated clumsiness, spray paint and gang activity? My solution was to make my presence known. Daily for several weeks I went down to the swimming hole and introduced myself. Something like, "Hi there, I'm Raymond and this is my backyard. I don't mind you swimming here and... could you help me clean it up, take out your trash and any other trash that others might of left. Also, if you could please park down the road since this is private property and there are no parking signs. The sheriff does come here and ticket as part of their rounds." Most of the time people were congenial, claiming they didn't see the no trespassing sign or parking sign (tee hee) and they would gladly help clean up. I thought, okay, I'll give everyone the benefit of the doubt and see if we, as a team, can take care of this portion of the property. (note: I was a bit skeptical seeing the amount of graffiti, beer bottles, McDonalds wrappers and toilet paper that was strewn about. Changes of habit could be slow going.) I bought some silver spray paint and covered over the tagging on the counties water level meter box just at the paths edge. I cleaned up debris on the roadside and broken glass on the river front. Two days later the silver paint had green "tags" on it or was etched into with a rock. A tree by the river was marked with green paint as well as large stones. There was a clear territorial power struggle ensuing. I no longer felt safe. I even carried a pint size sledge hammer with me during one visit down to the swimming hole. Living in fear was something I refused to do. Something needed to change; within and without. There were those that blamed others with racial slurs, those that claimed underage innocence, and those that simply said they would do what they want since their grandparents first brought them there when they were a kid. It's funny, or not so, how the most brawny adults turn into little children when they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar, or interpret requests as a reprimand. There is a false sense of priviledge that comes with living in an opulent country, and this gets exhibited locally as well as internationally. People do what they do because they "think" they deserve it. It doesn't matter if their actions harm others, destroy the earth or negate an agreement made. and... I have great compassion for the causes and symptoms of living in a world based on crumbling models and dysfunctional systems. I digress. I did my best to circumvent animosity and my own personal stress. Though towards the end of summer my frustration had become proportional with the heap of trash and disrespect the land and my requests were getting. I found letters from the previous owners, dating back to 1994, written to the local police and county asking for help in maintaining privacy and environmental sanity on this land. These letters were to no avail, though through my efforts I felt I was getting some consistent response and help with parking violations. It was suggested I build a gate that blocks the road since it is illegal for the county to put one up at the entrance of our road that meets Hwy. 33 An expensive propositon. Maybe I can have some influence by simply being present and enjoying the swimming as well. I noticed that the more people who brought alcohol to drink, the trashier "my backyard" became. Someone was kind enough to bring down a trashcan, but it filled up quickly and it left the responsibility to me to haul the trash up the embankment. Uh Oh, not a solution I could live with. Once a young boy came to me and said he cut his foot, I knew I needed to be more proactive. So I put a sign up, (No Alcohol, No Drugs. You May Be Asked To Leave) figuring, hey, people can have a good time without drinking and getting stoned. It's not like I've handed out an invitation to a daily backyard. By this time many people were "regulars" and knew this was private property. Within one week both signs were maliciously torn down. I say maliciously because they were intentionally ripped up and left underneath the tree where I had posted them. I asked myself, "How do I change this behavior? Who am I Being that might be causing this? What can I do so I stop feeling like this is a war? Me against them." I decided to just distance myself for awhile and see if I could just not care as much. A little bit of "out of site, out of mind". This gave my stress level a little reprieve until... the screaming, splashing and even fire cracker noise continued to wake me and destroy my quiet mornings. Here I was living in paradise and strung out by the actions of people who"pave paradise and put up a parking lot", i.e are disconnected from how their actions affect the world around them. A classic and local example of how our consumer culture has caused so much separation from nature, separation from the knowing that "if I leave my trash here, it will go downstream in the rains, choke off wildlife habitat, pollute the water that people pump wells from and cause harm in ways I may not even know about." Not to mention the pain in the *ss this was all becoming for me. I decided to take on the role that I laughingly and begrudgingly called "the benevolent dictator or the mad shaman of Matilija." I did my best to educate, swam naked in the swimming hole (since it was my private yard anyway) hoping it would scare people off...NOT, picked trash up and piled it up along the river bank so it was easy for others to carry out, wrote warning parking citations and left them on windshields, politely asked and yelled for cars to be moved, explained directly that there was no alcohol or drugs allowed, asked people specifically to leave for not respecting this. As the heat of summer continued so did my challenge and my willfulness to create peace and understanding in this situation, as well as doing my best to have some behavioral modification stick, on myself as well. I decided to pile a heap of rocks at the entrance of the narrow path that led down to the swimming hole. I taped a sign to the largest one that said "Private Property. No Public Use." I rode my bike back to my safe abode behind the large fence that separates the living area from the road. Literally, ten minutes later, I hear loud shouting coming from the river again. I feel my blood and heart racing as I gun my car down to where I had built the barrier and posted the sign. There were three teens down there. I told them to come up and out and bring the stones up the path with them. They said they didn't push the rocks down and defied my request. I watched and lingered behind as they left. I found my crumpled sign, my words from the "benevolent dictator." I rebuilt the mini-monolith, bigger stronger, and posted the sign back up; "Private Property. No Public Use." I drove back up the road for lunch. I lie relaxed, on the outdoor swing, feeling the hot breeze in the shade, full and content from my mid-afternoon repast. What? A young girls voice screaming! and again! I storm to my car, open the gate, and race to the monolithic site, MY monolithic legacy. It's demolished like the temples in Tibet, the water table in Afghanistan, the deer chomped fig tree in my garden. I careen down the embankment to the river, the sacred swimming hole, and there an entire family of four (plus friends) is lounging on the rocks. The little girl, in her naivete and her life preserver, floating in the small manmade pond. "Did you read the sign?" "We've been coming here since I was a little boy", says the father completely ignoring my question. "I blocked the path and put the sign up for a reason?" I say. "Who are you?" "Raymond, I live here." "I didn't know this was private?" "Well, considering there are three signs up...?" At this point the he tried to schmooze me; to try and convince me to allow them to stay. It was being laid on thick. Amidst the little daughters screams of delight and the guilty countenances of onlooking friends, I disgustingly say (with an afterthought of noticing how judgemental I was being) " Why is it that people in America feel so privledged that they just do whatever they want?" My statement is greeted with blank stares and just a hint of comprehension. I ask them to leave and to please take up their trash and more if they see any laying around. I waited as they left, carting out their refuse yet leaving the small pile of trash that I had collected and left at the base of the path. This was the final event of my first summer here on this land. An initiation of sorts to the energy it attracts, the flora, wildlife and people that make this their (habit)at and my own personal journey to find balance between my anger and my grace; my gentleman and my warrior; my teacher and my diplomat. I'm relieved the cooler weather has depopulated the river near and part of my home. As I think about Matilija Dam being deconstructed and possible properties being determined eminent domain, (def.- the power of the federal or state government to take private property for a public purpose, in exchange for payment of fair market value, even if the property owner objects.) I question my own beliefs about the injustices of declaring public forest land as private. After my experience this summer, maybe local private ownership is one of the ways to protect and keep the land uncompromised. When you are an owner, with a sense of possession, (albeit an inaccurate sense of possession) there is more at stake and a sense of belonging to the land. Maybe "the public" doesn't know, anymore, how to sustain paradise; how to recreate lightly in fragile ecosystems. Maybe it is wise to wait until there is more environmental awareness about our local terrain. I walk the rivers and streams in our beautiful valley and sing to the hearts of those who paint the stones, litter the trails and remain numb to the destruction. I also sing songs to those who remain steadfast and strong with their convictions in the face of over growth in the Ojai community. It is their integrity and action that are planting the true seeds of growth in our valley. I share one last anecdote. As I was asking a group of about twenty highschool students to leave the property, two young women walked up to me. They said they were from Matilija Junior High and were taking pictures for a class project. I inquired what it was about. They said it was a report on the pollution of the river and the need to take care of it. May their inspiration spark in the hearts of others and be the promise of our valleys future.

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Ojai Day Fire Update

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 18:00:42 GMT

I live in Ojai, CA where the Day Fire has been burning the wilderness for a couple of weeks now. One of our local community, Tyler Suchman, who started the Ojai Post has been instrumental in deciminating information about the fire's status. Here is the latest report and make sure to visit Ojai Post for current, up to date information. Ojai Fire Watch: Day Fire - 9/24 Sunday Thread DAY FIRE RESOURCE PAGE [[Update: 6:26pm] Weather - NWS / Ojai (5:59 report) Fire Weather Warning - Red Flag Warning Is Cancelled...The National Weather Service in Los Angeles / Oxnard has cancelled the red flag warnings. [As of: 5:12pm] VC Sheriff's Dept (12:40pm report) All precautionary and recommended evacuations are still in effect. All road closures are still in effect for non-residents. All four evacuation shelters are still open and available to evacuees. Pine Mountain Club is no longer available for animal sheltering/evacuation. At 12:30 p.m., a DC-10 dropped 12,000 gallons of fire retardant on the Nordoff Ridge (this was the first useage of this plane in an ACTUAL fire), over an area that is 3/8 to 3/4 of a mile wide. 127,500 acres have been affected by the Day Fire, which is 40% contained at this time. Currently there are over 3,200 fire personnel, and over 45 aircraft (32 helicopters, 8 air tankers, 4 air attack craft, 1 DC-10) battling the fire. [ed.note: two days ago we had a report that the DC-10 was not being used because of bureaucratic red tape. Looks like the paperwork got done.] [Update: 2:58pm] KVTA.com has some interesting new info on the DC-10 Jumbo Jet. [Update: 4:01pm] blogger Mark Storer reports that the DC-10 was previously used to effectively fight a July Yucca Valley fire. [Update: 4:04pm] a 3:55pm VCSD update announces the Santa Paula Meeting, already covered below. [Update: 5:12pm] a 5:00pm VCSD update announces: "Sheriff's Officials have been in contact with Ojai Unified School District officials. Assessments are currently being made about the possibility of school closures for tomorrow (09/25/06). We will post the decision here as soon as it is confirmed." [No Change In Status: 4:58pm] VC Fire Dept (10:35am report) Fire Engine Strike Teams are currently on-scene for structure protection in the Upper Ojai area. Reports have been received of visible flames to the east. There is a Recommended Evacuation along highway 150 from Upper Ojai - Sulphur Mountain Rd. area to Steckel Park area. Fire is currently being seen at the top of Topa Topa Bluffs and adjacent mountain areas but has not gone over. It is firmly established in the head of the Santa Paula Creek and is working its way downslope toward the mouth of the creek. Erratic winds may cause unpredictable fire behavior. Fire personnel are on-scene. (read more at the VCFD page... [in Spanish]) [No Change In Status: 4:58pm] Forest Service / Inciweb.org: (8:42am report) Size: 127,569 acres, Containment: 40 percent, Cost: $33,685,016, Line to Build: 59 miles. Weather Conditions: Red Flag warning in effect through 6 pm tonight, for strong offshore winds and low humidity. Full report after the jump... [Update: 6:39pm] OUSD (5:45pm report) "The fire department has made excellent progress in pushing the Day Fire off of the Topa Topa ridge today. As of this afternoon, the fire appears to be moving away from Upper Ojai. The fire department has downgraded the evacuation to "precautionary" (6 hours notice) instead of the "recommended" (3 hours notice) that had been in place for Upper Ojai. Highway 150 will remain closed tomorrow. Because the fire department is anticipating heavy fire vehicle traffic on Highway 150, they have requested that we close Summit School and ask parents to stay off of the road as much as possible. This will allow our fire fighters to do their job much more efficiently. Summit School will be open on Tuesday, September 26 unless the fire situation changes. So to summarize, although the danger has lessened, we are closing Summit School to assist in reducing traffic on Highway 150 tomorrow. Stay home and read a good book! All other bus routes for high school and junior high students in the Upper Ojai are expected to be running tomorrow." [New: 1:52pm] Santa Paula Community Meeting on the Day Fire When: Monday, September 25, at 6:30 p.m. Where: Santa Paula Community Center, 530 West Main Street, Santa Paula Fire and law enforcement officials will update residents on the status and strategies for containment of the Day Fire. For further information contact: Ventura Co. Fire Info. Center at (805) 388-4276 Los Padres NF Fire Info. Center at (805) 961-5770 News Story 10:03am AP: Firefighters Face Hot, Dry Winds One of the "spot" blazes burned about 7,000 acres in the canyons above Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula along Highway 150, about 75 miles north of Los Angeles. The campus was evacuated late Saturday. Plumes of reddish smoke were visible as students raced between dorms gathering books and clothing. Charlie Kaiser, 20, walked to his car carrying a surfboard wrapped in a blanket and several books. "If we get Monday off, I want to go surfing," Kaiser said. Recent Photo: 10:10am photo courtesy of Ginny in Upper Ojai who writes: The smoke is blowing toward Dennison, so you folks in Ojai should start seeing action soon Oil Fields Reader Kira asks: Where are the Sespe oil fields in relation to Ojai? How close is the fire to them? What do the officials expect if the fire reaches the oil fields? Could we see uncontrollable fire burning for long periods of time? [Update: 3:09pm] reader mk answers: the Sespe Oil Fields are just north of Filmore. They burned over during the Piru Fire a couple years ago. They might be shut down, but I wouldn't expect long term oil fires. [Update: 4:12pm] Vacuum: Still no mention of the Day Fire, no resource links, nothing from our elected officials: Elton Gallegly, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Audra Strickland, nor the City of Ojai(!) Thank you to the Ojai community for passing the word around and contributing in the comments and via email. Additional updates and questions should be directed to: tyler -at- ojaipost dot com. Shout out to our hosting provider, Digital Housing, which is doing a great job keeping this site humming under an increasingly heavy load. And a big tip of our community hat to the 3,200 men and women who are working incredibly hard to save our local towns. Their efforts are invaluable, and we owe them our deep gratitude. If you see fire workers, officials and other personnel around Ojai, take a moment to let them know that they are doing a great job (unless they are lugging a hose through your backyard - just let them do their thing). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Information Update Los Padres/Angeles National Forest Phone: (805) 961-5770 September 24, 2006, 6:00 a.m Fire Name: Day Fire Date and Time of Fire Start: September 4, 2006 at 1:55 p.m. Location: Los Padres National Forest, Angeles National Forest, Sespe Wilderness Kind of Fuels: Heavy mixed brush with scattered timber Cause: Day Fire was human-caused, resulting from a member of the public burning a small amount of material within the Los Padres National Forest. The investigation is ongoing. Size: 127,569 acres Containment: 40 percent Cost: $33,685,016 Line to Build: 59 miles Weather Conditions: Red Flag warning in effect through 6 pm tonight, for strong offshore winds and low humidity. Expect East winds of 20-30 mph w/gusts to 45 this morning, decreasing this afternoon. Max temps – Valleys: 80-92. Ridgetops: 60-69. Min. RH – 5-15% above 3000’ / 15-25% below. Winds–Valley: 4-8 mph – gusts 20 mph. Ridgetops: 20-30 mph – gusts to 45 mph. Fire Behavior: Santa Ana winds surfaced 10:00 Saturday and fire crossed over Piru Creek near Alamo Creek.May spot across north side again due to wind eddies in canyon bottom. Fire is established at head of Santa Paula Creek, working downslope towards the mouth of the creek. Agency Jurisdiction: US Forest Service, Los Padres National Forest, Ventura County Fire. Agencies Involved: U.S. Forest Service, Los Angeles County Fire, California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection, Bureau of Land Management, California Highway Patrol, Ventura County Fire, National Weather Service, Santa Barbara County Fire, Cal-Trans, and many assisting agencies. Incident Commanders: Mike Dietrich / George Custer Equipment and Personnel: 73 Hand crews 28 Helicopters 44 Dozers 270 Engines 500 Overhead 45 Water tenders Total Number of Personnel: 3,237 Threatened: Residences and commercial buildings; recreational campsites; water quality due to post-fire debris flows; electric transmission lines and gas pipelines; cell phone and radio communications; Sespe Condor Sanctuary; arroyo toad, California red-legged frog, and Sespe River steelhead habitat. Structures Destroyed: One Structures Threatened: 2049 Injuries: One [ed.note: 10news.com is reporting that its a bee sting (!)] Evacuations: Recommended evacuation notice for Ojai – Sulphur Mt. Rd to Steckel Park along Hwy 150. Precautionary evacuation orders in effect for the areas of Hwy 33 from Rose Valley Rd to Lockwood Valley Rd./Hwy 150 Santa Paula to Thatcher School/Lockwood Valley Rd from Hwy 33 to Frazier Mt. Park Rd. Shelters at Nordhoff High School in Ojai/Sacred Heart Church-Ventura/Santa Paula Community Ctr. Animal evacuations:Call 1-888-223-7387 Special Information: Hwy. 33 is closed northbound at Wheeler Gorge after the tunnels, southbound at Lockwood Valley Rd. Lockwood Valley Road is closed at Lake of the Woods Hwy 150, Mupu to Reeves RD. See website for national forest closure information.

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Hands shown to emit light

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 02:36:02 GMT

Hands shown to emit light By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Human hands glow, but fingernails release the most light, according to a recent study that found all parts of the hand emit detectable levels of light. The findings support prior research that suggested most living things, including plants, release light. Since disease and illness appear to affect the strength and pattern of the glow, the discovery might lead to less-invasive ways of diagnosing patients. Mitsuo Hiramatsu, a scientist at the Central Research Laboratory at Hamamatsu Photonics in Japan, who led the research, told Discovery News that the hands are not the only parts of the body that shine light by releasing photons, or tiny, energized increments of light. "Not only the hands, but also the forehead and bottoms of our feet emit photons," Hiramatsu said, and added that in terms of hands "the presence of photons means that our hands are producing light all of the time." The light is invisible to the naked eye, so Hiramatsu and his team used a powerful photon counter to "see"it. The detector found that fingernails release 60 photons, fingers release 40 and the palms are the dimmest of all, with 20 photons measured. The findings are published in the current Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. Hiramatsu is not certain why fingernails light up more than the other parts of the hand, but he said, "It may be because of the optical window property of fingernails," meaning that the fingernail works somewhat like a prism to scatter light. To find out what might be creating the light in the first place, he and colleague Kimitsugu Nakamura had test subjects hold plastic bottles full of hot or cold water before their hand photons were measured. The researchers also pumped nitrogen or oxygen gas into the dark box where the individuals placed their hands as they were being analyzed. Warm temperatures increased the release of photons, as did the introduction of oxygen. Rubbing mineral oil over the hands also heightened light levels. Based on those results, the scientists theorize the light "is a kind of chemiluminescence," a luminescence based on chemical reactions, such as those that make fireflies glow. The researchers believe 40 percent of the light results from the chemical reaction that constantly occurs as our hand skin reacts with oxygen. Since mineral oil, which permeates into the skin, heightens the light, they also now think 60 percent of the glow may result from chemical reactions that take place inside the skin. Fritz-Albert Popp, a leading world expert on biologically related photons at The International Institute of Biophysics in Germany, agrees with the findings and was not surprised by them. Popp told Discovery News, "One may find clear correlations to kind and degree (type and severity) of diseases." Popp and his team believe the light from the forehead and the hands pulses out with the same basic rhythms, but that these pulses become irregular in unhealthy people. A study he conducted on a muscular sclerosis patient seemed to validate the theory. Both he and Hiramatsu hope future studies will reveal more about human photon emissions, which could lead to medical diagnosis applications.

Tags: health

Bio-Fuel From Algae

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Fri, 26 May 2006 07:57:11 GMT

UTEK Completes Two Technology Transfers to UK-Based Kwikpower International plc. LONDON & PLANT CITY, Fla. --(Business Wire)-- May 25, 2006 -- Transfers Include Licenses to a Unique Organism That Produces Bio-Derived Transport Fuel Hydrocarbons and for the Production of High Yields of Bio-Derived Hydrocarbons from Algal Varieties UTEK Corporation (AMEX:UTK) (LSE-AIM:UTK), a specialty finance company focused on technology transfer, and Kwikpower International plc., a diversified renewable energy and fuels company offering "Low Carbon Solutions," announced today that Kwikpower International has completed two technology transfers in stock-for-stock transactions. Both technology transfers relate to bio-derived hydrocarbon fuels. First technology transfer The first technology transferred includes the exclusive license from the University of California-Berkeley to a plant patent which describes a distinctive variety of the green alga known as Botryococcus that is unique in the quality and quantity of the liquid hydrocarbons it produces. The ancestors of Botryococcus are thought to be responsible for many of the world's fossil fuel deposits. Kwikpower International will use these green colonies for the production of bio-derived liquid hydrocarbons, which are potential substitutes for petroleum in the synthesis of many liquid fuels and petrochemicals. The ability to grow bio-derived gasoline and diesel components inexpensively offers Kwikpower a unique opportunity to meet demands for energy security while providing a "Low Carbon Solution" to the world's ever increasing demand for fossil fuel derived energy. Second technology transfer The second technology transferred is an exclusive license to a patent pending method developed by Plenty Energy, Inc. for the production of bio-derived hydrocarbon chains in novel algae. This new strain was derived from a variety isolated by Dr. Arthur Nonomura, while at the University of California in Berkeley. This new strain grows faster than previous wild-type algae and, when combined with methods to switch on growth and accelerate hydrocarbon production, this technology may allow bio-fuel production at costs much lower than currently possible. "This variety of Botryococcus has been shown to produce high levels of long-chain hydrocarbons that could be processed and utilized as gasoline and diesel," said Dr. Arthur Nonomura, inventor of the technology while at the University of California, Berkeley and founder of Plenty Energy, Inc. He added: "We are enthusiastic about the prospect of reducing the burning of fossil fuels and look forward to working with Kwikpower to be able to grow renewable supplies of fuel and hope to be able to implement a commercially viable development program of the algal strain." Dr. Jim Watkins, Chief Executive Officer of Kwikpower International commented, "A major focus of Kwikpower since it was founded ten years ago has been the production of bio-fuels and the reduction of GHG CO2 emissions. This new algal strain will provide Kwikpower with the ability to grow bio-derived gasoline and diesel components at prices that could be as low as US $25-35 per barrel. Compared to the current crude oil prices of US $65-75 per barrel, this offers Kwikpower a unique opportunity to produce bio-derived feedstocks at competitive prices. We believe this new strain will not only help to meet demands for energy security but will provide a `Low Carbon Solution' to the world's ever increasing demand for fossil fuel derived energy." "UTEK is pleased to consummate this technology transfer with Kwikpower International and we look forward to continuing our efforts to identify additional technology acquisition opportunities for its consideration," said Joel Edelson, Vice President Technology Licensing for UTEK Corporation. About the University of California Berkeley Office of Intellectual Property The University of California Berkeley's Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA) was created in 2004 to provide a "one-stop shop" for industry research partners to interact with the campus. IPIRA's mission is to establish and maintain multifaceted relationships with private companies, and thereby enhance the research enterprise of the Berkeley campus. These relationships include sponsored research collaborations, and intellectual property commercialization. For more information about the Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances, please visit its website at http://ipira.berkeley.edu. About Plenty Energy, Inc. The focus of Plenty Energy, Inc. is on the use of microorganisms to grow gasoline components. By driving the costs of producing a barrel of petroleum down, we believe that bio-derived gasoline components can now be grown at a competitive price. When gasoline is produced by microorganisms, it can be continuously supplied and will consume thirty-six molecules of carbon dioxides in order to make a single molecule of fuel. Some fossil fuel deposits originated from microscopic fossils that grew gasoline for millions of years. The first living fossil that produced large quantities of gasoline-type oils was discovered 26 years ago by Dr. Arthur Nonomura during the first gas crunch and has been verified by scientists worldwide to contain up to half of its weight in oil. Dr. Nonomura founded Plenty Energy, Inc. based on his ability to grow gasoline, aviation and diesel fuels from the original source. We believe that Plenty Energy, Inc. owns the only commercial means of using microorganisms to grow gasoline-type hydrocarbons known to humanity. About Kwikpower International plc. Kwikpower International plc. is a diversified renewable energy and fuels company offering "Low Carbon Solutions" through its Engineering Division (KP Wellman) and its Renewables Division, which includes its renewable energy subsidiary, KP Renewables plc. (LSE-AIM: KPR). The Kwikpower group is headquartered in Gibraltar with representative offices in London, England, Melbourne, Australia, and Toronto, Canada, and has manufacturing facilities in Oldbury, Dukinfield and Portsmouth, England. It had a turnover of US $75 million in 2005 (on an annualized basis), and approximately 300 personnel. Kwikpower's Engineering Division (KP Wellman) has over 100 years of expertise in the design and manufacture of boilers, furnaces, heat exchangers and gas clean-up/recycling equipment. KP Renewables plc. was established by Kwikpower to be the leading independent renewable energy company in the UK. KP Renewables plc. was listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in July 2005 under the symbol KPR and is also quoted on the Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin Stock Exchanges under the symbol K1P. For more information about Kwikpower International plc., please visit its website at http://www.kwikpower.com. For more information about KP Wellman, please visit its website at http://www.wellman-thermal.com. For more information about KP Renewables plc., please visit its website at http://www.kprenewables.com. About UTEK Corporation UTEK(R) is a specialty finance company focused on technology transfer. UTEK enables companies of all sizes to acquire innovative technologies from universities and research laboratories worldwide. UTEK facilitates the identification and then finances the acquisition and transfer of external technologies for clients in exchange for their equity securities. This unique process is called U2B(R). In addition to its U2B(R) service, UTEK offers both large and small capitalization companies the tools to search, analyze and manage university intellectual properties. UTEK has operations in the United States, United Kingdom and Israel. For more information about UTEK, please visit its website at http://www.utekcorp.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain matters discussed in this press release are "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements can generally be identified as such because the context of the statement will include words, such as UTEK or Kwikpower International plc. "expects," "should," "believes," "anticipates" or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe UTEK's or Kwikpower International plc.'s future plans, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including the financial performance of UTEK or Kwikpower International plc., as appropriate, and the valuation of UTEK's investment portfolio, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. Although UTEK and Kwikpower International plc. believe the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, they cannot give any assurance that their expectations will be attained. Shareholders, potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating any forward-looking statements. Certain factors could cause results and conditions to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements, and some of these factors are discussed below. These factors are not exhaustive. New factors, risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time that may affect the forward-looking statements made herein. These forward-looking statements are only made as of the date of this press release and both UTEK and Kwikpower International plc. do not undertake any obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. UTEK's operating results could fluctuate significantly due to a number of factors. These factors include the small number of transactions that are completed each quarter, the value of individual transactions, the timing of the recognition and the magnitude of unrealized gains and losses, UTEK's dependence on the performance of companies in its portfolio, the possibility that advances in technology could render the technologies it has transferred obsolete, the loss of technology licenses by companies in its portfolio, the degree to which it encounters competition in its markets, the volatility of the stock market and the volatility of the valuations of the companies it has invested in as it relates to its realized and unrealized gains and losses, the concentration of investments in a small number of companies, as well as other general economic conditions. As a result of these and other factors, current results may not be indicative of UTEK's future performance. For more information on UTEK and for a more complete discussion of the risks pertaining to an investment in UTEK, please refer to UTEK's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tags: business, permaculture

Horizon Organic Milk Consumer Boycott Over Factory Farms

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Sun, 21 May 2006 13:50:54 GMT

My personal suggestion is that if you use dairy products buy Stonyfield Farms, Organic Valley or Strauss. Ask your local market to carry these products. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Investors Question Dean Foods at Stockholders Meeting re: Horizon Organic Dairy Practices Investors Question Dean Foods at Stockholders Meeting Horizon Organic Milk Brand Faces Consumer Boycott Over Factory Farms PRWEB, May 18, 2006 http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/5/prweb386710.htm Socially concerned investors, who filed a shareholder proposal with Dean Foods, today questioned the company's management at its Annual Meeting of Stockholders in Dallas as its marquee organic brand faces a growing consumer backlash over its reliance on factory-farm milk production. Investors believe the large-scale dairy operations are damaging the Horizon Organics brand and threaten shareholder value. Dallas, TX (PRWEB) May 18, 2006 -- Socially concerned investors, who filed a shareholder proposal with Dean Foods, today questioned the company's management at its Annual Meeting of Stockholders in Dallas as its marquee organic brand faces a growing consumer backlash over its reliance on factory-farm milk production. Investors believe the large-scale dairy operations are damaging the Horizon Organics brand and threaten shareholder value. Because of their concern, shareholders filed a proposal in December 2005 asking Dean Foods' management to report to investors on how it is responding to widespread public criticism that industrial-scale organic dairies, supplying milk for its Horizon brand, violate consumer trust and seriously jeopardize share value. Company management responded to the proposal by having its attorneys file a formal protest with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asking for permission to omit the proposal from Dean's 2006 proxy statement on a series of legal technicalities. Proponents withdrew the proposal in March in response to the challenge but brought their concerns to today's annual shareholders meeting. The shareholder proposal is a by-product of the five-year debate raging in the organic industry over the introduction of large-scale factory-style dairy farms, milking as many as 10,000 cows each. A growing number of public interest, environmental, and farming groups are suggesting that these farms violate current USDA regulations by labeling their products as organic. The shareholders, led by Boston Common Asset Management, are asking for greater transparency from Dean Foods in terms of its organic milk suppliers and its plans for meeting the high consumer expectations for ethics and integrity in the rapidly growing organic milk market. "Even though Dean Foods and its Horizon brand procure at least half of their organic milk from family farms, we think management needs to rethink its sourcing of milk from these controversial mega-dairies, or this ongoing practice will drag down the Horizon brand and harm shareholder value," said Steven Heim, Director of Social Research of Boston Common Asset Management. Last year, The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy group, filed formal complaints with the USDA against three industrial dairies, including one owned by Dean Foods and another dairy from which it purchases organic milk for its Horizon label. The complaints allege that these mega-farms are violating the law by confining their cattle to feedlots and sheds rather than grazing the animals on pasture. The Institute is preparing to seek court intervention in order to force a full investigation of the alleged improprieties. In March the Cornucopia Institute published a report (available at www.cornucopia.org) profiling the ethical and farm management practices of the nation's organic dairy product suppliers. The Horizon brand ranked poorly relative to most of the 67 other branded organic dairy products. "We find this a credible report, and we are disturbed by its implications for Dean Foods," Heim said. Dean Foods is the nation's largest milk marketer and has also become the biggest U.S. marketer of organic dairy products with its acquisitions of the Horizon Organic, Alta Dena, and Organic Cow of Vermont brands. The company's core business has been somewhat stagnant in recent years, and it has recently been touting its investments in the organic milk labels and the country's leading soy milk brand, Silk, as vehicles to make its stock more attractive on Wall Street. But negative press surrounding Dean's organic milk procurement practices has already led to some retailers dropping the Horizon brand. And members of the Organic Consumers Association recently voted in favor of a boycott. "It is very important for Dean to address the core concerns articulated in our shareholder resolution," said Margaret Weber, Coordinator of Corporate Responsibility with the Adrian Dominican Sisters. "Transparency regarding organic practices has business implications for the company." Weber explained that the shareholder proposal asked the company to appoint an independent committee of the board to review its policies and procedures for sourcing raw milk for its organic dairy products, and whether its current practices conform to the spirit as well as the letter of the official rules defining organic dairy products. The investor groups also want to know how the company intends to respond to increasing consumer and media scrutiny, and whether a proposed $10 million investment in an additional large-scale dairy farm in Idaho will mitigate or exacerbate the criticism. Horizon has also been criticized for disposing of calves born at its organic farms and replacing them with yearling heifers that were not raised organically a practice that was disclosed and verified by Horizon senior management during direct discussions with The Cornucopia Institute concerning their procurement of the brand's organic milk. To replenish the farm's milking herd, commercially raised replacement cattle are then brought onto the Horizon farm. These animals may have been raised on feed treated with pesticides and mixed with additives including blood products recovered from slaughtering operations. "We are concerned that Dean Foods' lack of transparency to its shareholders betrays a similar attitude toward its core consumers, particularly consumers of its Horizon brand products," said Daniel Stranahan of the Needmor Fund, another investor-sponsor of the resolution. "Industrial dairies with 2,000 to 10,000 cows are antithetical to the concept of organic farming, which supports family-scale production with sound environmental policies." And Leslie Lowe, director of the environment program at the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility in New York, said, "Dean Foods has an excellent opportunity to return value to its shareholders through its investments in the organic industry. But they must respect the ethical beliefs of their organic customers, a very loyal and sophisticated market segment. Otherwise these investments could end up damaging their brand and costing investors dearly." EDITOR'S NOTE: A Representative of the shareholders' groups will be in Dallas for the Dean Foods Annual Meeting of Stockholders being held Friday May 19th at the Dallas Museum of Art, located at 1717 North Harwood. Steven Heim is available for interviews before and after the meeting and can be reached at 617-720-5557 or 617-785-9527 (c). Mark Kastel, of The Cornucopia Institute, is also attending Friday's shareholders' meeting. Mr. Kastel can be contacted at 608-385-3803. The Cornucopia Institute acts as a technical adviser to investment groups regarding organic dairy production issues, USDA organic standards, and their policy/marketing implications. More criticism of Dean Food's organic brand management is also being raised concerning the use of commercially raised replacement cattle being brought onto their Idaho 4,000-head dairy. These commercial replacement cattle may have been raised on feed treated with pesticides, weaned on milk replacer containing blood products recovered from slaughtering operations, and been injected with hormones and antibiotics. All of these practices are unacceptable to organic consumers. At issue is how this affects the company's representation of its Horizon milk products as produced without antibiotics, hormones or toxic pesticides. Contact: Steven Heim, Director of Social Research, Boston Common Asset Management, LLC, 84 State Street, Suite 1000, Boston, MA 02109 Tel. 617-720-5557 Fax 617-720-5665, email sheim @ bostoncommonasset.com

Tags: business, activism, permaculture

Protest Starbucks: National Week of Action June 19th-25th

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Sun, 21 May 2006 13:39:22 GMT

Join Organic Consumers Association and Food and Water Watch June 19-25, to take the Starbucks challenge and protest or leaflet Starbucks cafes in your neighborhood. Let's educate Starbucks' patrons about Fair Trade and rBGH. Help us reach our goal of 300 actions! Despite over five years of grassroots pressure, Starbucks continues to serve milk from cows that are injected with genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone, also known as rBGH or rBST. Virtually every industrial country, except for the United States, has banned the sale of rBGH milk. Milk produced from cows injected with rBGH poses serious dangers to human health and the general welfare to dairy cows. The time has come to kick rBGH off the market, once and for all. If Starbucks, a major buyer of milk, were to reject rBGH dairy products, we could effectively eliminate it from the market. Similarly, while Starbucks has slowly bought more certified Fair Trade coffee, it represents only a very small percentage of their total coffee (about 3.7%). Starbucks rarely offers certified Fair Trade coffee as their coffee of the day, nor has it followed its own policy of brewing Fair Trade coffee, on demand. 1. Take the Starbucks Challenge! Hold Starbucks to their word. Simply visit your local Starbucks and ask: "Could I get a cup of fair trade coffee?" and let us know how it went. 2. Protest or Leaflet outside Starbucks stores. Download materials from the sidebar on the Organic Consumers website. http://www.organicconsumers.org/Starbucks/index.htm 3. Be sure to let Starbucks know your thoughts, either online or with their postage paid comment cards available at their stores.

Tags: activism, permaculture

Green Credit Cards: Get Your Money's Worth

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Sun, 21 May 2006 13:23:54 GMT

This is from one of my favorite websites focusing on sustainability. http://www.treehugger.com May 20, 2006 04:33 PM - Erin Oliver - Madison, WI Those of us who depend on e-commerce to shop for much of the eco-hip fashion, gizmos and accessories featured in TreeHugger also depend on credit cards to make the transactions. Unfortunately many credit institutions are known to finance some rather un-TreeHuggeresque activities (like illegal logging and dirty gold mining), so even though the end (product) is good, the means (credit) we use to get there isn't so great. There are options however, and taking a cue from Ideal Bite's informative financial tips featured during Money Week; we've gone looking for the perfect plastic… Affinity Cards Major credit card companies offer "affinity cards" like the RED Amex card Lenora told us about in March. These cards provide donations to nonprofit organizations whose logo or image is featured on the card. Donations usually run a half a percentage point from every purchase, balance transfer or cash advance made with the card. On the plus side, this is a dependable revenue stream for the nonprofit - on the minus side, purchases made with these cards still may support nefarious projects. Annual Percentage Rates (APR) for these cards can be 15-22 percent (though some are much less) and many have an annual fee. The credit card company MBNA offers the most affinity cards, they even have a PVC-free WWF card available in Europe. Working Assets Visa Card Considered the "greenest" affinity card by financial experts at Co-Op America, the Working Assets card donates ten cents with every purchase to your choice of one of 50 nonprofits. It also has a reasonable 9.9 APR and no annual fee. The card is issued by MBNA. Salmon Nation Visa Card Provided by eco-friendly lending institution Shorebank Pacific, the Salmon Nation Visa Card offers the biggest eco-bang for your buck. Half of the income generated for Shorebank from the card goes to "Salmon Nation" an economic, cultural and ecological community collective in the bioregion that contains Pacific salmon spawning grounds. Check out Co-Op America's Real Money article, Responsible Credit Cards: Myth or Reality? To read up on the ethics (or lack thereof) of various mega-banks.

Tags: Economics, Permaculture

What Does It Mean To Be 'Organic?'

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Thu, 18 May 2006 06:24:15 GMT

Shoppers, Confused By Labels, Don't Always Get What They Paid For CHICAGO, May 17, 2006 Fast Fact Organic foods often cost 20 or 30 percent more than conventional versions. (Christian Science Monitor) This article was written by Amanda Paulson. Buying organic milk these days — or organic apples, eggs, or beef — no longer has to mean an extra trip to a Whole Foods supermarket or the local co-op. Organic products now line the shelves at Safeway and Costco. And Wal-Mart — already the nation's largest organic-milk seller — says it wants to sell more organic food. Large companies including Kraft, General Mills, and Kellogg own sizable organic- and natural-food brands. Now, they are developing organic versions of their own products, too. Still, while some organic-food fans welcome its broadening appeal and availability, others worry that the entry of corporate behemoths into the organic-food market will weaken standards or squeeze out small farmers. Meanwhile, consumers scanning the aisles face a jumble of labels and claims — cage-free, natural, free-range, organic — with little to indicate how well those claims match reality. "People knew that once the demand was there, that larger companies would be in there," says Sue McGovern, spokeswoman for Organic Valley, a farmer-owned dairy and meat cooperative. "How do we feel about Kraft and other folks coming into the industry? People are split. It's a difficult question." The organic industry is still relatively tiny — 2.5 percent of all retail food sales in 2005 — but it's growing quickly. Last year, sales totaled nearly $14 billion, according to the Organic Trade Association — up 16 percent from the year before. Organic meat was particularly strong, up 55 percent in 2005. Dairy products were up 24 percent. Such products command a premium price — often 20 or 30 percent more than conventional versions — and sorting out which ones are worth the extra cost can be tricky. In February, a Consumer Reports article examined which organic foods offered the most benefit. With certain fruits and vegetables — including apples, peppers, cherries, peaches, and potatoes — the likelihood of pesticide residue is much higher, it concluded, so buying organic makes a big difference. Produce which showed little difference between organic and conventional kinds included asparagus, bananas, broccoli, and onions. The report also recommended buying organic baby food, meat, eggs, and dairy, but questioned the wisdom of paying more for processed organic foods like cereal or bread, which have limited nutrient value and aren't always fully organic. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued standards for organic products in 2000, although some critics question how strictly they're applied. But the market for organic food is anything but simple. Many organic producers never bother to go through the process of becoming certified, while other producers use labels such as "free-range" or "natural" that conjure up bucolic images but may mean very little. "People use certain terms loosely, and consumers are fooled," says Joe DePippo, president of FreeBird, which produces antibiotic-free organic chicken raised on small family farms. "Consumers associate free-range with organic, and rightfully so, but there's some market for free-range that's not organic. And to just think that you can have chickens running free all over the field — it's just not practical." Regina Beidler and her husband, Brent, who run a 145-acre dairy farm in Vermont, take the necessary steps so that their goods receive the organic label. A visit to the Beidler's farm found their 40-cow herd grazing contentedly in the rain on a hill overlooking the White River Valley. At about 4 p.m. every day, as well as at 4 a.m., the cows take turns at the milking stations in the cedar-shingled barn, where they munch on organic grain and hay. "Integrity is something that ... we all realize is important to maintaining consumer confidence," says Ms. Beidler, who says some of their practices go beyond USDA requirements. "I always say there's an implicit partnership between farmers who produce organic and consumers who buy it." But recent controversies have highlighted doubts about whether everyone lives up to that standard. A report released last month by the Cornucopia Institute, which supports family-scale farming, rated organic dairy producers on their practices. While it found that the majority followed good practices, the group was highly critical of two of the nation's largest producers: Horizon Organic, a subsidiary of Dean Foods, and Aurora Organic, which supplies private-label milk to many supermarkets. Both producers, the report said, buy much of their milk from large-scale feedlots where the cows have little or no access to pasture. "The USDA listens to big players more closely than to consumers or small farmers," says Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Association in Finland, Minn. "With Wal-Mart and other folks jumping in, what will happen down the road is the small- and medium-size operators will be forced out of business." In addition to his concern about divergent practices in organic poultry and milk production (the supply of organic milk can't keep up with demand at this point), Cummins worries about companies buying products like soybeans overseas. Consumers buying soy milk or tofu, "have no clue that in the case of soy milk and tofu, it's actually coming from China, where organic standards are dubious and labor standards are abysmal," he says. A widening array of options reflects the many concerns on shoppers' minds: pesticides, animal welfare, environmental issues, other health concerns. Egg Innovations, which contracts with Amish farmers for its eggs and bills itself as the "Cage Free Company," offers four varieties of eggs: certified organic, Omega-3, vegetarian, and cage free. The organic eggs are the most expensive and have the strictest standards: Chickens have access to the outdoors, and the company meets all USDA organic requirements. But none of the chickens are fed hormones or antibiotics, and they all have a vegetarian diet. The different labels are designed largely to appeal to different types of consumers. "Shoppers are evolving with what's important to them, and we try to evolve with them," says John Brunnquell, the company's founder and a third-generation family farmer. Another effect of high demand and big players getting into the market is likely to be lower prices. Wal-Mart plans to sell organic products for about 10 percent more than its conventional counterparts. And at last week's All Things Organic trade show in Chicago, Dakota Beef touted its frozen, organic ground-beef patties. Costco has just begun selling them as a pilot project in the Midwest. In the past five weeks, sales have increased more than 60 percent, says Matt Grove, a business development executive for Dakota Beef. The price: $16.98 for four pounds. "That's a price point everyone can afford," Mr. Grove says. Melanie Stetson Freeman contributed to this report from Vermont The label says 'organic,' but what does that really mean? The US Department of Agriculture issued standards for anyone using its "organic" label in 2000. These standards prohibit the use of most synthetic (and petroleum derived) pesticides and fertilizers, and all antibiotics, genetic engineering, irradiation, and sewage sludge in the production of fruits, vegetables, meat, and poultry. In order to be labeled organic, livestock must eat 100 percent organic feed that is free of animal byproducts or growth hormones. These animals also must have access to the outdoors (although the definition of "outdoor access" for chickens is ambiguous). Even with these guidelines, labels for organic foods vary. They include: 100% organic: Contains only organically produced ingredients. Organic: 95 percent of the ingredients must be organically grown and the remaining 5 percent must come from non-organic ingredients that have been approved by the National Organics Standards Board. Made with organic ingredients: A product is made with no less than 70 percent organic ingredients. Free-range or cage-free: No regulation or standard definition exists for most animals. The USDA regulates the use of the term "free-range" with poultry (not eggs), but chickens can have extremely limited access to the outdoors and still meet the criteria. Natural: This label doesn't mean anything except on meat and poultry, where the USDA says the meat must not contain artificial flavoring, color, ingredients, chemical preservatives, or artificial ingredients. It can only be "minimally processed." No certification or verification process exists to hold companies accountable for using the term.

Tags: Permaculture

Excerpts from my forthcoming book - Simple Brilliance

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Tue, 16 May 2006 10:56:52 GMT

Raymond Powers © 2005 Preface A Conscious Approach To Re-membering and Re-Discovering Your True Nature Simple - requires little effort, second nature, minimal cognition needed, easily learned, innate, childlike, low calorie, energy efficient, meditative, shortest route, path of least resistance, a straight line, a circle, a spiral, elemental, primary, natural, innocent, primal, obvious, honest, authentic, few moving parts, interrelated, intuitive Brilliance – intuitive, conscious, luminescent, holistic, integral, reflective, creative genius, imaginative, iridescent, opalescent, responsive, response able, expressive, intentional, wise, patient, radiance, inspired, exceptional, many faceted, holographic, charismatic, shimmering, solutions benefiting and acknowledging the whole There's a state of remembering that brings us back to the full self-expression and conscious passion we were as a child; those very activities and resources that magnetized our attention. With little effort, hours were spent as minutes, and days as hours, as we remained enraptured with this/these creations of Life. Maybe it was something present in our environment already, something in nature, or a technology or a person; or maybe it was a creative endeavor we enjoyed that sprang naturally from our internal well, such as art, music or writing. Creation IS, and it has always been coursing through the universe and our veins wanting and seeking expression. Simple Brilliance is a conscious re-membering of who we are as integrated, inter-related, passionate vital Beings. Through the freedom born from discipline, we can re-discover and embody the very essence of ourselves, revealing without ill confidence, our own unique genetic stamp. For some, this will be easy, for others, extremely difficult, even painful. We all have our own hindrances to joy and exuberance. Some may need to focus on emotional release, “stuck” energies in their bodies, others will need to learn how to still their mind and others may need to create some type of spiritual cosmology that expands their viewpoint of themselves in relation to nature and the universe. All of this attending to a path that is inclusive, rather than exclusive, of those we cherish and have yet come to know. There is no one way to freedom and there are many ways that we prevent ourselves from fully living our purposeful vision. We must first learn to cultivate trust in Life itself and then in ourselves and finally with others. Cultivating Simple Brilliance catalyzes a life of unexpected joy and opportunity beyond what we ever thought possible; a Life that fully realizes and expresses our capabilities. For me this adventure to discovering my brilliance and living in simplicity has been both exhilarating and, at time, excruciating. My commitment to living an authentic Life has required me to examine my agendas, motivations, patterns of behavior and relationships. I have needed to develop my “witness” and remain vigilant in my desire to understand, know and act from an awareness of the “bigger picture”, of how my actions and reactions affect the whole. This is a very human process. It is full of mis-takes, awkwardness and “oopsies.” It is also rich with love, joy and adventure. It takes courage, passion and flexibility to admit there are mysteries we may never truly come to know and then to live inside that Mystery, relating to the unknown and listening to the distant guidance that grows ever closer. Chapter One The Way of the Open Heart What do I mean by an Open Heart? Is it a simply a metaphor for a way of life, a way of Being? Possibly. Possibly the way of the open heart is living our lives knowing that our actions have an effect that ripples through our immediate relations and beyond. The way of the open heart is contrasted by the way of living with a closed heart or numb heart. A heart that believes it is separate. A heart that is disconnected from the earth. An open heart that has forgotten, and possibly yearns to re-member its’ own intelligence. A heart that can listen to its’ belly, our intuition. A heart that works in tandem, in unison, in unity with the mind. Is it a coincidence that the words heart and earth and hearth are so very similar? Home is where the heart is, and our home is on earth. I am in complete acknowledgement of our multi-dimensional nature, yet while we are in our bodies, it is our joy, our pleasure and possibly our duty to be fully embodied. The Way of the Open Heart is essential in living a life of authenticity, of health, of emotional equilibrium, of creativity, of active imagination, of knowing that we are the determiners of our life in relation and co-creating with the great mystery, Life the universe, Love. Until one embodies these principles it is simply a concept and very easy to dismiss as frivolous beliefs or non-essential. As with many things, The Way of the Open Heart takes practice, discipline, certainly an awareness in our ability to respond to our creations. It is easy to live with an Open Heart when our fears are at peace, when we remain unchallenged, yet at the difficult crossroads of life, when tensions arise, when relations are strained, this is when we are called forth into our greatness, to walk with gracefulness, to live with gratitude and to fully accept, humbly, our bumbling awkward humanity. Fully living in our humanity is as much a mystery as discovering our divinity. To embody ourselves, as well as to ascend, is what makes us a whole person. But we cannot forget that Oneness, although it is our essential reality, the Truth, if you will, walking upon this earth, it so very easy to forget, to fragment all of our experiences, all of our relations. Beauty is all around us. Freedom is our birthright. We have been convinced, and continue to convince ourselves that Life and Love are struggles. This is an illusion, an ancestral lie, a collective conundrum. We have been fooling ourselves and the fool’s bonnet has fallen down over our eyes. It is easy to stumble from these illusions when we cannot see, in this complicated world that we have created. Our culture has moved from our reverence of Gaia, when we were conscious of our interconnectedness with earth intelligence, and the seasons were our clock, and the moon and the sun were guiding lights and we danced ecstatically around bonfires of delight. We became civilized, our ancestors invented us into the industrial age and then computed us into the information age, and now we find ourselves on the precipice of the transformation age, dangling awkwardly, jumping from this method to that, that teacher to this; adopting forms, co-opting models, all in an attempt to rediscover what it is to live with an Open Heart. And… while we transform, it is so important to look down at our feet and feel the mud between our toes, taste the longing in our Soul for home. I want to share about the three jewels and the three precepts. The Three Jewels are: breath, sound and movement. These are keys to living in The Way of the Open Heart. These are ways to ignite, explore and discover your own unique Simple Brilliance. The Three Precepts are: Still your Mind, Handle Your Psychology and Awaken Your Body. I want to thank my, beloved friend and mentor Robert Frey for bringing these precepts to my attention. Breath, sound and movement are directly linked to stilling your mind, handling your psychology and getting into your body. From our very first breath we said yes to Life. We came out of the blackness, out of the void, out of our Mother’s womb and inhaled and exhaled. Inhaled and exhaled those first breaths, that most likely were shocking, foreign and eventually became the food for our lifeblood. The oxygen that we breathe feeds every cell in our body, that sparks our intelligence, that gives us those pregnant pauses to reflect, review, and choose wisely. Along with the breath came the sound, and with our sound our unique stamp and resonance was born. Our individual vibration that came through our vocal chords, that was heard in our screams and our cries and our giggles and our moans. The sound is the Word that so many speak of. The entering into creation, the formless into form. And we moved with little wiggles and crawls and shakings. This movement propelled us to our feet, to run and jump and sometimes to hide. Even those of you born without the use of your limbs, or use of your voices, have an innate resonance that pulsates throughout the invisible. The movement is still happening in your lifeblood and in your cells dancing, pumping back and forth, singing the song of creation. In this song your breath always remains. And if your breath stops you stop. If your breath ceases, you cease to be. Of course, I’m not talking esoterically. Of course, there is always the Mystery of eternity and what lies beyond and beyond the beyond. Yet as long as you are here in stewarding your body, your temple of flesh, your breath, sound and movement are the keys to our ecstasy your expression, your purpose and your ability to be present and in Love. The three precepts I spoke of earlier, Still your Mind, Handle Your Psychology and Awaken Your Body, are inherently dependent on the three jewels of breath, sound and movement. - Still the Mind We all have heard various descriptions about the mind, such as, “monkey mind”, “it makes a wonderful slave but a lousy master”, “the mind is like a bad neighborhood, it’s okay to drive through but don’t park your car and get out”, etc. Why are these anecdotes so prevalent? What is the mind? Where is it located in time and space? Are mind and consciousness the same? What is the relationship between our thoughts and emotions? Is “mind” singular or is everything collective consciousness? These are some inquiries that can take you down the rabbit hole. However, these are mostly hypothetical questions and can become a distraction to realizing your Simple Brilliance. Stilling our mind is more than relaxation; it is a doorway to access our intuition, our Truth, our authentic nature. It propels us into re-membering a Beingness that expresses eternity. I first discovered this when I was about twelve years old. I was at a three-week sleep over summer camp and during that time period of the early 1970’s many of the camp counselors were practicing meditation. My counselor, (I never knew his real name, we called him Sparky, wore wire rim glasses, had frizzy electric hair long past his shoulders and spoke in a quiet yet excited manner), took us on short hikes and taught us how to sit still in nature, slow our breath, listen and witness the closest and furthest sounds we heard and in general become in union with the earth and the cosmos. I owe a great deal to this man for initiating me into the practice of meditation and setting me on my way to discovering the beauty of the inner and outer landscape. Since then, I have continued to use conscious breathing as a tool to live in the present, reduce stress, tap my creative reservoir, gain access to supreme intelligence, and experience Life being fully related to others, the earth and the multi-verse. I find that what naturally occurs when breathing deeply and effortlessly, filling the entire lungs up, extending the belly, is that eventually, naturally, a yawn occurs, a yawn from our depths that is an automatic de-stress and integration function. Usually a sound, a sigh accompanies this yawn. As you continue breathing and making that sigh, that sound, it will start resonating through your body. Pay attention to where you feel it; in your mask, your face, your throat, your chest… Do your best to place the sound as low in your body as possible. I find the sound is like an inner massage when we discover our core resonance. All the cells in your body respond and vibrate and release. Whether you are shy or introverted, attempt to sing. It doesn’t matter what you sing, your favorite song, one that pops in that expresses this moment, a nursery rhyme. I find that singing shuts the mind chatter off and helps us to still it. The contrast between sound and silence becomes more prevalent. When we stop sighing, sounding or singing the contrast amplifies the silence. You will notice your ears acute and your mind quiet. I have been using sound my entire life. My mother told me that I sang before I spoke. So singing has been natural for me. I went on to sing throughout my life and learned to compose and received a scholarship and degree in voice. This has been my way, my passion. I discovered when I was a child that if I sung with intention, or played the piano, that I could influence my outer world with it. I remember playing piano as a teen when there was tension in my household, and since I had already been studying the esoteric nature of music, I consciously played specific harmonies and intervals. I watched as the majority of the time it would bring peace and equilibrium. Singing is a core, heartfelt expression that has been used in ritual and ceremony for millennia in earth-based cultures as a means to commune with nature and travel the inner dimensions. Shamanically, if you will, we all have the ability to “Sing Your Dream Awake.” I teach a workshop entitled this very thing, “Singing Your Dream Awake.” Within that container we use breath, sound and movement, along with our intention to discover our true purpose, passion, and authentic nature. Using breath, sound and movement we can facilitate the manifestation of our life. We begin to resonate our bodies, cells and molecules to become conscious co-creators with the ultimate intelligence of the Universe. This gives a profound experience of our connection with Life itself in all of the multitude of dimensions and grounds this expression into physical reality. Movement is another method to still the mind; sports, dancing, hiking, martial arts, Thai Chi, making love… Eventually the mind chatter stills. Osho spoke of our thoughts as clouds passing by, and that we are the sky, eternal and unwavering. I would like to add that even though there are cloudy days, the blueness always remains after the rains. Movement entices a kinesthetic memory of joy. As children we liked to run, to jump, to skip. As infants we were rocked and swayed and that brought us delight. Many years ago I attended a lecture by noted lymphologist Dr. Samuel West. He was a proponent of using a mini trampoline, which he called the lymphosizer. He stated that as children when we were rocked it moved the lymph fluid back and forth and cleaned the body and boosted the immune system. Movement that causes deep breathing, or swaying, any activity that moves the lymph fluid, helps detoxify our bodies, and in turn helps our state of mind, allowing more joy and increasing our capacity to Love. The next precept is: - Handling Our Psychology The term Psyche, apart from her archetype in the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche means the spirit or soul. In Psychiatry the definition refers to the mind functioning as the center of thought, emotion, and behavior and consciously or unconsciously adjusting or mediating the body's responses to the social and physical environment. Though I do not wholly agree with this definition as it excludes the new research of the intelligence of the heart, it gives us the platform to speak about the need for discovering the role that our psyches play in determining the quality of our life and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. The notion of seeing a therapist is left for when we are feeling neurotic. Handling our psychology is imperative in living our true authentic nature. From the moment we are born, our bodies and our minds are like sponges, absorbing all that the external and collective unconscious has to offer. Our likes and dislikes, opinions, patterned behaviors, our reactions, our beliefs start forming from our first breath. So much of who we are is bound to our cultural programming and constraints. This is neither good nor bad, the important thing to assess is if we experience life from a sense of freedom. Freedom is gained by looking into our psyches and unraveling the mysteries that lurk beneath our behavior. It doesn’t need to be a serious and disempowering experience. Quite the opposite, it can be intriguing, joyful, eye opening and awe inspiring to discover the myths, stories and thoughts that were inherited or of our own creation. How often do we behave with automatic responses and don’t even question why they are apart of our makeup, even if they cause others and ourselves pain.. These questions are important to answer. Some questions are more powerful left unanswered and the inquiry becomes the vehicle for growth, such as the question “Who am I? This is an inquiry that is holographic and leads us down a rabbit hole of many self-reflective mirrors. Eventually there is only one solution, a mind stills and there is a knowing, “I am that.” Other questions are vital to our well-Being such as, what beliefs are my own and which have I inherited from my family and culture? What are my stories about relationship, money, and sex that operate in the background of my entire life, where I have no freedom to choose other than what those stories dictate? So much of our lives are about seeking comfort, avoiding conflict. In solely seeking comfort we are living in a half-asleep state. So many of my relationships in life were predicated on wounds that occurred during my childhood. I was so enmeshed in them, waiting to be abandoned, so wanting approval, so aching to be good enough. These thoughts and the emotions that have attached themselves to them are simply energies stuck in our bodies. They are electrical impulses that have formed repeated pathways in our human circuitry. Our bodies are like a vintage pinball machine with bumpers of condensed, historical energy and every time a new shiny silver pure ball of experience flips into us it gets careened off the bumpers of our past. When this happens enough times we go into to tilt; i.e. aches and pains, depression and dis-ease. The blessing is that the body responds so beautifully to our consciousness that we can dissolve and release all that doesn’t serve us any longer and begin anew with a newfound strength. When I was a child, teen and young adult I was not able to have a healthy relationship due to my reactions of abandonment, approval and not being good enough. My life was based on compensatory behavior for my imaginative shortcomings and fears learned from the past. Eventually, my unhappiness and lack of self-esteem and self-worth debilitated me and stole the joy from my life. The meditation I had practiced since I was a child failed me, my metaphysical multi-dimensional experiences became meaningless, and nothing that was familiar could buoy me up as my foundation crumbled. I was twenty-three, just graduated college, ended a disastrous relationship with a much older woman, was exhausted, faithless and afraid. The hospital gave me an injection of Valium and sent me home. It had no affect. I found myself in the office of my first therapist, who was also a metaphysician. I was shaking, disassociated, and perched straddling the veil between physical and non-physical reality. There was immense energy coursing up my spine, through every limb, I was seeing colors and my emotions were erratic and unpredictable. He understood my spiritual emergency, and had the skill to help me to understand it. This was an opportunity, an initiation that was a gift I had given myself. We used sound and chant to reduce the energy flow in my body and we began to unravel the dynamic of my family system and how it contributed to my inability to function in the world. I learned to appreciate the mundane, the simple everyday things, the small steps and see the beauty in them. This was the beginning of my conscious commitment to live a life of freedom, integrity and service. One of my challenges was discovering a new relationship with my muse. Music had always been a part of my life, yet now I didn’t know who I was with it. My art had been so enmeshed with seeking approval and getting attention that, free from that, I felt uninspired without the anguish and pain to fuel my creativity. It wasn’t long before my passion for the healing role that music can play in the transformative process arose. I began to study the mystic music practices of various cultures and folk music throughout the world. Simultaneously I became adept at using synthesizers to create sounds for altering consciousness. I also rediscovered my natural voice and began to use these tones as a healing modality with others. My muse had been set free, unfettered by the constraints of my debilitating self-destructive story. Breath, sound and movement all played a vital role in re-awakening my natural talent and inspiring a new enthusiasm as a musician. Rather than my art being fueled by unmet childhood needs, it was now being fanned by the flames of service and how my music could help bring a ripple of peace to the world. There are many ways to handle our psychology, not only therapy, but friends and mentors, sitting quietly in nature by the ocean, by a mountain stream or in the desert. Observing and developing the witness to your thoughts and your behavior is an important skill to learn. It gives you a slight degree of separation from your automatic responses, allowing you to pause and shift your perception. You then, from a position of clarity, have the power to choose consciously. If you take thirty seconds before you act, whether it be a blaming comment to someone, lighting a cigarette, violent tendencies or a second helping of chocolate cake, and ask yourself if your actions are serving yourself, others and good for the whole, you might find yourself responding differently. It gives us a momentary reprieve to discover whether there is something behind your impulse that is wanting and needing your attention. It gives you an opportunity to reveal the hidden motivations and to change them. This is the fine distinction between responding and reacting and a key to living in connection and Oneness. When life seems overwhelming to me, when I want to run, go numb or shut down, I breathe. I stop everything and use my breath and make sound, even if it’s a sigh or a hum. I have a conversation with “God”, I write, I hike, I hold myself. Using breath, sound and movement I calm myself, and allow space to remind me that everything is okay. This empowers my faith and belief in life that I can trust the process of healing. If we can trust the process of the energy moving through our bodies and the thoughts and emotions that arise, that trust will take us to freedom and that freedom will lead us into the fields of joy and that joy will blossom into a Love never ending. Part of handling our psychology is the recognition that our belief that we are in control is a complete and utter illusion. We can try to rationalize and be practical, however, this doesn’t change the fact that Life is completely unpredictable. It is rife with possibilities that exist outside of the probable. Change is imminent, the seasons come and go. We can realize that we don’t need to be in control, that we will survive and that our true nature has an intelligence that can guide us to the healthiest situations. If we can trust that which is greater than ourselves, which truly is our most conscious self, we can let go of needing to be in control. There is a Divine intelligence that is ever present and constantly informing us which “right” actions are the purest expressions of our authentic Self. I want to share with you a meditation I was given this by my mentor Greg Ehmke. It’s an Indonesian practice called Latihan. Generally it is handed down from one initiate to another, however, I have found that simply Being still with the Universe and asking can entice the energy to fill us up and radiate peace and joy. Leonard Priestly states, “When a person has been “opened” has begun to receive the action of the latihan, the manifestations of the Power of the latihan will begin to emerge, often subtly and even imperceptibly, but occasionally with bold intention. Like physical exercise, the latihan is most beneficial when practiced regularly and in moderation, neither casually nor fanatically. Then its influence can radiate through our life, making itself felt not only in the sense of calm and well-being that we normally enjoy after each latihan, but also as a guiding presence in the midst of our daily activities. And as the years pass, we find more and more that the Power of the latihan within us can bring peace and healing to those around us, as long as we manage not to impede it with our personal preoccupations and reactions.” Latihan is a practice that can help you embody Divine intelligence. It requires you to be still, very still. You may need to traverse your way through impatience and boredom. In this meditation you may confront your sense of Self that thinks it is in control. Latihan allows the impulse of the Universe to take your body over, take your energies over and express Itself. I was given latihan standing up with a group of others. We stood motionless, perfectly still until Life itself moved us. I found myself acutely aware of whether “I” was moving myself or something other than the “I”. If I was moving a finger I could clearly discern if I was moving the finger and, if so, I went back to being still. Eventually a profound experience occurred. The energy swept through my body. I was suddenly jumping around the room as if I was a Kung Fu master. I was kicking and chopping and whirling about. I was running headlong into a plate glass window, stopping abruptly, throwing an energy ball to the top of the mountain and feeling it thrown back at me as I caught it. I was overcome with a sense of animation that I had never felt. Suddenly, it just stopped and I was perfectly still again. I had no idea of what had occurred. Since then almost every morning I practice this. It isn’t as dynamic and unrelenting as this first experience yet I am left filled with peace, joy and inspiration. If I have appointments to keep I wake up early enough for the latihan. It is one of the few practices that I cherish and it has become part of my daily transition from sleep to awake. I lay still with my eyes closed. I watch my thoughts of the new day move past. I breathe deep and sigh. I observe the tendency to jump up quickly and start the day out of habit, and lie still. I allow the impulse of life to fill me and when ready, I flow naturally into the day with little effort and anxiety. It’s as if I am lifted out of bed by a benevolent force of the cosmos. In this way I find myself starting my day in harmony with Nature. I am calm and relaxed and my stride and actions are in synchrony with the energies of the day and my surroundings. This particular practice is a wonderful segue into our next precept: - Awakening the Body We cannot speak about awakening our consciousness without also speaking about waking up our bodies. Our bodies have intelligence, they are informants, they contain cellular memory of the past, they contain massive chemical responses and reactions to our environment. Our bodies are a key to the gates of consciousness and perception, doorways to realities of the multi-verse. If you take a moment to focus on your feet, notice if you are able to feel them, each toe, is it an easy feat {-: for you? There is a distinct separation than has occurred in our culture from our disconnection with the Earth, from the cycles and seasons, from not having a relationship with plants and our own wildness and the wildness of nature. It’s amazing that we can spend our entire lives in our bodies and be unacquainted with them. There has been a split between our minds and our bodies. You have heard the term being in our head. What that means is that we have allowed our need to “figure” reality out and control, plan and seduce our circumstances and thus we live in a constant state of fear, we have run away in many instances into the caves of our intellect. Our minds ARE wonderful tools when needed and as the proverb says, “Our mind is like a steal trap, what ever goes in, Wham!, it’s hard to get out,” or “Go out of our minds and come to our senses” Being sequestered in our minds divorces us from our surroundings; our thoughts, emotions, judgments and opinions begin to take precedence over the present experience of Life. Take a moment in your next conversation and notice if you are attentively listening to the other person(s) or if you are a step ahead and formulating responses to them, or judging what they are saying, if so, see if you can witness this and then still the mind and listen from a place of emptiness. See how this feels. Is your experience different? Do you feel closer and more understanding of the person with whom you are speaking? This will show you how active your mind is and how that activity distracts you from being conscious of the role your body plays, how your body is informing you constantly if your actions are “right” actions in tune with your authentic natural self. Your body gives you aches and pains, sometimes more severe dis-ease, at times subtle twinges, or images and dreams and ripples of energy. There any number of ways that your body informs you as to your state of Being, if you are aligned with your innate passions and inherent integrity; integrity in the truest sense of the word. Is your life integral, integrated? Are you whole unto your Self? Breath, sound and movement are integral and primary tools to help awaken your body. Your throat and the sounds it makes are powerful tools to experience body/mind integration. Throughout time our ancestors have used song and dance as a means to deeply connect to the origins of their creativity. Many of us have simply forgotten. Each of us has our own sacred sounds, rhythm and movements that are uniquely our own. These are intuitive keys, beyond the mind’s chatter, that can unleash the Soulful purpose and essence of your life. These are innate forms of expression, powerful and ancient, most of all simple, that are catalysts to fulfilling your passion and dreams. Awakening in your body involves more than physical activity, such as exercise, sports, manual labor, sex. It involves giving conscious attention to your body during these activities. Then, quite naturally, we can summon this state of Being. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high-ee), in his many books on this subject, examines the nature of, what he aptly calls, “living in the flow.” One of the most phenomenal ways of awakening your body is through your sexuality, whether it is through self-pleasuring or with single or multiple partners. I’m not speaking of irresponsible, addictive sex, I’m addressing the fact that the energy that moves through your body is inherently orgasmic, that you were born from an orgasmic experience, and to attempt to repress and subdue the beautiful gifts of ecstasy that Life gives you is not only unhealthy, but causes many of the stressful symptoms we witness in our relationships, economy and culture. Our relationships with each other and our cultural attitudes about sexuality often completely forget about the sacred and spiritual nature of our bodies. If you look at the breakdown of the nuclear family, the extraordinarily high divorce rate, the number of men, women and children who are raped and/or abused, our culture is seriously in need of a shift in consciousness about our bodies and our sexual nature. Historically, if you look at the destruction of Neolithic society and matrifocal communities and the ensuing patriarchal take over, the fear that was prevalent amongst domineering men, and still is, of the depth and power of the female orgasmic experience, continues to cause extremely dysfunctional families. You see, what has occurred is that the way the patriarchy was designed it has inoculated men with the thoughts that we are the providers; our value is based on the money we earn. This has created so much pressure that we see it manifested in the viciousness of war, pollution and disregard for the feminine. Disregard not only for the feminine in the form of women, but also out of touch with the gentler fatherly side of themselves. Sex becomes aggressive, brutal and sometimes destructive, and on a lighter note just plain unfulfilling and empty. Re-storing this balance within ourselves simply takes a commitment and intention to break the pattern. By making concerted efforts to awaken our bodies consciously and behave non-violently towards each other, we have an opportunity for intimacy and connection that can elicit immediate results and aid in the mending of thousands of years of physical and psychological imprisonment. Understand that the animating force of the Universe is simply energy, not good or bad energy, unencumbered primordial energy. Your ecstatic nature, your orgasmic nature, however expressed through your creativity, can cause you to ripple with vibration, shake, shimmer and have your perceptions enhanced. You can experience a union, a connection with all of humanity. This leads to more confidence, joy and peace of mind. The result being the unleashing of dormant creative forces that can be powerfully directed into ones life purpose. One of the simplest models to awaken the body is called the Yoga Nidra. I learned this type of awareness, as I mentioned earlier, when I was a youngster at camp. There was no specific name given to me at that time of what the practice was called, however, it was something I found extremely effective and still do. Yoga Nidra means Yogic Sleep. It is a state of conscious Deep Sleep. In Meditation, you remain in the Waking state of consciousness and gently focus the mind, while allowing thought patterns, emotions, sensations, and images to arise and go on. However, in Yoga Nidra, you leave the Waking state, go past the Dreaming state, and go to Deep Sleep, yet remain awake. Yoga Nidra brings access to the to latent, or subconscious level of mind, that is underneath even the processing, fantasizing, imaging level of mind. This state is the state of Yoga Nidra (Yoga Nidra refers to a state of consciousness, not just the methods that lead you there). I begin this practice by taking a few deep inhalations and exhaling with an audible sigh. I keep this going through the entire practice until I move into silent meditation. Placing my entire attention on one side of my body, I focus digit-by-digit, hand, wrist, arm, waist, leg, foot, toes and then I do the other side. I proceed and focus on the sacrum, lower back, middle and upper back, neck, back of head, top of head and forehead. I then place my attention on each eye brow and middle brow, or third eye, eye balls, eye lids, ears, cheeks, nose, tip of nose, upper and lower lip, the space between my lips, chin, throat, etc. on down through my body. I have recorded this for you in my CD titled Stillpoint. It also contains breath exercises to assist you in going even deeper into your consciousness and open up energetic meridians in your body. When we awaken our body we have gained access to the root of our emotional Being. If there is stuck energy in the body as we awaken it, the energy can be released. As our bodies awaken we find ourselves remembering aspects of our past, experiencing powerful emotions. It is important that this is one of the ways your body lets go and leads you to freedom. Herring’s Law of Cure states the cure is from above downwards, from within outwards, from major organs to minor organs, and symptoms will disappear in reverse order to their appearance (i.e. the first symptoms to appear will be the last to go). This last part is what is most applicable to the emotional release process. There has been a war waged with the body for several thousand years. We have come to believe, often through our religious upbringing, that our bodies are adversaries and the culture has demonized them. The truth is, our bodies are our temples; they are the vehicles with which we have been born with to experience all of Life and to experience each other. Our bodies are to be celebrated, and in this celebration abuse falls to the wayside because there is an acceptance of our human condition within the body. When the repression that causes depression lifts, when we alter our beliefs and begin to fully embody ourselves, we then have the ability to manifest joyfully the full expression of our short time here on earth. The Way of the Open Heart is synonymous with freedom. Living a Life of authenticity, integrity and wholeness. Know that your unique gifts have a profound and lasting inspiration that can transform not only your immediate relations, but also long after your time here is completed. We all leave a legacy and everyday we have an opportunity to determine what that legacy will be.

Tags: inspiration

Beyond Fair Trade: Fairtrade and Global Justice

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Sun, 14 May 2006 19:49:57 GMT

By James O'Nions; Red Pepper; ZNet, April 22, 2006 http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=13&ItemID=10133 Gone are the days when fair trade goods were available only at charity shops and church bazaars. Fair trade - or Fairtrade, as it has branded itself - is now big business.You can choose Fairtrade coffee in high-street outlets like Starbucks and Prêt a Manger, and local authorities are starting to declare themselves Fairtrade councils. More than 1,000 products are now certified as Fairtrade in the UK and, on an international level, the industry estimates it benefits five million producers worldwide. Yet with multinationals moving to cash in, and supermarkets approaching fair trade (with or without the Fairtrade Foundation certification mark) as just another niche market, can it avoid being co-opted by the market system it was set up to challenge? The idea of fair trade has been around since at least the 1950s. Originally called 'alternative trade', and dealing not in foodstuffs but in crafts, it was pioneered by Mennonites in North America and Oxfam in Britain.The first certification label, Max Havelaar, was launched in the Netherlands in 1988; and, since 1997, the Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International has sought to establish common guarantees of 'fairness'. For instance, in the case of products from small farmers, importers must agree to trade directly with producers' co-operatives, cutting out middlemen.They must also demonstrate a long-term commitment to the producers and guarantee a minimum price no matter the fluctuations of the market.This price must allow the producers to cover their costs and meet their daily needs.The producers' co-operatives themselves must also demonstrate that they are democratically managed and their agriculture is sustainable. Only if all these conditions are satisfied is a product permitted to carry the Fairtrade mark. The aftermath of the December 1999 Seattle protests against the WTO saw Fairtrade coffee consumption skyrocket in the US.Yet this was not the 'hidden hand of the market' at work as demand for Fairtrade products increased supply. In fact, it was mainly down to the direct intervention of activists, specifically San Francisco-based Global Exchange, which launched a campaign to persuade Starbucks to offer Fairtrade coffee at all of its 2,300 US outlets. With peaceful protests for Fairtrade outside its stores to add to the public relations catastrophe it had suffered as the bogeyman of the anti-capitalist movement, Starbucks soon capitulated. Since then, big food corporations have started to see limited forays into Fairtrade as a useful PR move, similar to what environmentalists call 'greenwash'. McDonalds recently announced it would serve Fairtrade coffee in 650 of its US east coast stores; and Nestlé, which for years has derided Fairtrade for violating 'free-trade principles', launched its own 'Partners Blend' last October. The Nestlé decision caused an understandable furore, with critics arguing that Nestlé's application should have been turned down to prevent the false impression that the widely-boycotted company was now an ethical choice. As one of the world's largest coffee retailers, Nestlé has been directly responsible for paying the kind of low prices that make Fairtrade such a necessity. The World Development Movement, which helped set up the Fairtrade Foundation, was more than a little concerned, saying: "If Nestlé really believes in Fairtrade coffee, it will alter its business practices and lobbying strategies and radically overhaul its business to ensure that all coffee farmers get a fair return for their efforts. Until then Nestlé will remain part of the problem, not the solution." Yet for Harriet Lamb, of the Fairtrade Foundation, the decision is a 'turning point'. "Here is a major multinational listening to people and giving them what they want - a Fairtrade product," she says. Justifying the Nestlé decision, the Foundation refers to the recent slump in prices on the world coffee market, which has led to undoubted hardship, but speaks almost as though 'the market' is a natural phenomenon over which major multinationals such as Nestlé have no power. For many of the originators of Fairtrade, the aim was not just to create a successful niche market but to lay the basis for an alternative system of trade altogether. While some of these 'alternative trading organisations are little different from conventional companies, others, such as Equal Exchange in the US, reflect this more radical aspiration in their own structures by being workers' co-operatives. Yet all of them at least apply fair trade principles to everything they do, unlike the multinationals who are now entering the market. That's why the International Fair Trade Association has launched a 'Fair Trade Organisation' label that certifies the company rather than the product, and is therefore a much more reliable indicator. These organisations face difficult decisions when it comes to distributing their products, as supermarkets become increasingly hard to avoid. Tesco now takes one pound in every eight spent by UK consumers and other chains are doing everything they can to catch up; pushing down prices by squeezing producers and buying up local competition in the grocery market. Even the most political of fair trade organisations have turned to supermarkets to maximise the good that selling their product is doing. Yet by courting the supermarkets, they are strengthening the very companies that are undermining the bargaining power of producers. This is not the only dilemma that the Fairtrade label throws up.While products such as coffee require democratic producers' co-operatives to qualify for certification, traditional plantations can also qualify if they meet minimum standards of pay and conditions. And while trade unions must be allowed under Fairtrade rules, they are not required for certification. Some do have strong unions, and the Fairtrade Foundation highlights the instance of two Kenyan rose farms, where certification was followed by recognition of the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers' Union. On the other hand, the central American banana workers' federation COLSIBA has levelled accusations of the 'systematic violation of workers' and union rights' by plantation owners who benefit from Fairtrade.While the TUC and British trade unions have been generally supportive of Fairtrade, they have also pointed out that trade union organisation can be a better guarantee of workers' rights. Meanwhile, Marks and Spencer has just launched lines of Fairtrade cotton socks and t-shirts.When they see the Fairtrade label, most consumers would assume they were buying a wholly ethical product.Yet it is only the cotton itself that has been certified, with no guarantees about conditions where the clothes were manufactured.These kinds of problems only serve to highlight the extent to which Fairtrade is merely fiddling at the edges of an international system that perpetuates huge inequalities of power and wealth. More radical alternatives do exist. Coffee grown in the Zapatistas'autonomous zones' in Chiapas, Mexico, can now be bought from activists involved in the social centre movement in Britain, while the Working World Market is offering the products of Argentina's worker-run factories to north American consumers. These initiatives stand in a tradition that saw activists in the 1980s sell Nicaraguan coffee in solidarity with the Sandinista revolution. What marks these projects out is that they aim to support people who have to some degree broken with the logic of the capitalist market. Zaytoun, which imports Palestinian olive oil to Britain to help break the economic stranglehold of the Israeli occupation, could also be seen as 'solidarity fair trade', even if its objectives are more about the occupation than about trade itself. Trade as solidarity is an attractive concept, but its usefulness may be limited to quite specific political situations.The Movimento Sem Terra (MST) is Latin America's largest social movement, organising landless rural workers and urban slum dwellers to occupy and cultivate unused land. Its innovative and highly effective tactics (it has settled 580,000 families) have won admirers across the world and it would surely have a ready-made market for a very political form of Fairtrade-endorsed products. Yet its concern has always been with feeding Brazil's population, and the MST specifically rejects the export-led agribusiness model, encouraging mixedcropping rather than the monoculture required by international markets (see box). For them and other organisations in the global peasants' coalition,Via Campesina, this concept of 'food sovereignty' is much more relevant than Fairtrade. MST activist Marcelo João Alvares was a guest at War on Want's annual conference in the UK in February, and gave us his personal take on Fairtrade. 'For Brazilians, Fairtrade is a distant concept. There are so many people living in shanty towns, so many street children; people don't even have their basic rights to food and shelter. For the MST, feeding Brazilians is our priority, so certification has not even been discussed, not least because we see quality food not as a niche market, but as something we should provide as part of a wider strategy of food sovereignty. This requires policies that work to guarantee people freedom to produce their own quality food with respect to their own culture. We aren't opposed to exports, but we don't agree with the agribusiness model of valuing exports over the needs of domestic consumption. Primarily, food sovereignty is about feeding the people.' The current popularity of Fairtrade is a sign of a growing understanding of the fundamental unfairness of global trade, but it risks being reduced to a branding exercise for multinationals - or, at best, a set of niche products that helps a small minority of producers but fails to affect the structure of the market as a whole.Yet if Fairtrade is embedded in a wider critique of the market, and is part of a movement of real solidarity with the global South, it still holds the potential to help us move towards a fundamentally different global economy.While we might continue to buy Fairtrade products where we can, it is not as consumers that we can determine the future direction of Fairtrade, but as activists building opposition to neoliberalism and corporate control.

Tags: Permaculture

Deconstructing Starbucks' 'Fair Trade'

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Sun, 14 May 2006 19:45:18 GMT

Starbucks-Show Me the Money! http://www.deansbeans.com/coffee/deans_zine.html?blogid=215 Starbucks-Show Me the Money! This is a little coffee tale about fudging the truth with statistics. Or maybe it's that the largest specialty coffee company in the world simply made a little inadvertent mistake. You be the judge. As people learn more about the long-term crisis in coffee pricing, they are wanting to know what their favorite coffee company is paying its farmers. As a 100% Fair Trade company, our answer is easy - we pay $1.41/lb at a minimum to the farmer cooperatives for all of our coffees. To this we add a Social Equity Premium of five cents and a Cooperative Development Premium of one cent. (For all you liberal arts majors, that means we pay $1.47/lb). At a recent international coffee conference I was listening to Starbucks talking about their pricing policies. They said they pay an average of $1.20/lb for their coffees, which "compares favorably to the Fair Trade minimum of $1.26". Sounds good, doesn't it? But it's apples and oranges (regular and decaf?). Here's why: First of all, Starbucks is not an importer. They buy their coffee through importers, exporters, processors or other middlemen. The $1.20 is the average price they pay to the middleman, not the farmer. When you subtract out all the middleman fees, the figure is more likely about .80 cents, although when I asked the speaker for that figure, he said he didn't actually know it. But it's that $.80 that should be compared to the Fair Trade minimum of $1.26. The $1.20 is also an average of all Starbuck's purchases - conventional and organic; whereas Fair Trade minimums are $1.26 for conventional and $1.41 for organics. Further, if you really wanted an apples to apples comparison of landed costs at this end (which is the Starbucks $1.20), by adding importing and transportation costs, our landed cost would be $1.86. To their credit, the Starbucks representative admitted that their $1.20 figure didn't actually represent what it looked like it represented - how much they actually pay to the farmers. Having said that, I have seen Starbucks advertisements since the conference that still crow that $1.20. Let's keep an eye on those guys and see if they'll ever come clean. If telling the world that they pay the farmers more than they actually pay for coffee was a mistake or a misunderstanding, they should be big enough to just admit it and move on. If it was a marketing move calculated to blunt criticism of its possibly rapacious buying practices and to mislead the public...well, that's another story, isn't it? O.K., Howard and Orin, show me the money!

Tags: Permaculture

California and North Dakota Race to Restart Industrial Hemp Farmi

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Sun, 14 May 2006 19:39:51 GMT

Adam Eidinger, May 12, 2006 http://www.VoteHemp.com Is 50 years of prohibition on “industrial” hemp farming about to end? That’s what U.S. farmers are asking as they have new reasons to believe 2007 could mark the first hemp crop since the last U.S. harvest in 1957. Since the demand for hemp seed and oil has exploded in recent years, legislative and legal challenges to bring back versatile low-THC hemp have new momentum. Healthy hemp foods such breads, salad dressing, cereal and snack bars as well as body care products such soaps and lotions are more popular than ever. With hemp imports including fiber products such as clothing and rope estimated at $250 to $300 million annually, U.S. farmers feel left out and are speaking up. In response, North Dakota’s Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson formally proposed rules May 3 to license farmers in his state to grow industrial hemp under existing state law. Meanwhile the California Senate is expected to pass hemp farming legislation in early summer and hemp industry experts are optimistic Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign the bill which has bipartisan support in the California legislature. The progress in two of the nation’s biggest agriculture states plays to the backdrop of farmers across Canada planting over 30,000 acres of industrial hemp this year. Organic farmers have reported net profits averaging $250 per acre over the past three years. Although this amount might seem low, farmers say they are earning three to ten times what they would make growing traditional crops such as wheat, soy or corn. In February, Commissioner Johnson, along with agriculture commissioners from three other states, met with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials in Washington, DC to explore acceptable rules on industrial hemp farming. The official meeting marked a turning point in the federal government’s relations with hemp-friendly policymakers who have been routinely ignored by DEA officials. “This is seemingly an about face for an agency that has threatened to prosecute anyone who tries to grow non-psychoactive hemp in America,” says Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra, whose organization is working to promote industrial hemp farming and was instrumental in getting the first federal hemp bill (H.R. 3037) introduced last year. While North Dakota’s rules would require farmers to secure a permit from DEA before their licenses would become effective, there is precedent for this as the DEA permitted a test plot of industrial hemp in Hawaii from 1999 to 2003. North Dakota’s proposed rules cover commercial hemp farming and include a number of restrictions to alleviate law enforcement concerns. Some highlights of the proposed hemp farming rules include: ? Farmers must consent to a criminal background check including fingerprints ? Who the farmer sells to and how much is sold must be documented within 30 days of sale ? The location of the hemp field must be provided using geopositioning (GPS) coordinates ? Planted hemp must contain less than three-tenths of one percent tetrahydrocannabinol Many of hemp's uses such as in foods, animal bedding, biofuel and composites will become more viable if hemp is treated like other crops. “How can a raw material that's legal to import, to sell, to eat and to use in all kinds of everyday products not be legal for farmers in America to grow? No other agricultural commodity is restricted to just importation," says Steenstra. While North Dakota’s progress could get hung up by DEA disapproval, lawyers with the hemp industry are preparing a court challenge if the DEA fails to cooperate with North Dakota or California when hemp legislation becomes law. The legal theory supporting the right of these states to regulate hemp farming stems from language in the Controlled Substances Act which exempts hemp from federal control. Using this legal theory the Hemp Industries Association created a legal precedent when the group which represents 300 hemp businesses won their lawsuit in 2004 against DEA, protecting sales of hemp foods and body care the agency tried to ban. Building upon HIA v. DEA makes sense since its legal to grow poppy plants in the US even though it’s a controlled substance. Since the DEA ignores poppy cultivation so long as the farmer isn’t making heroin, one would think the DEA would also ignore hemp farming that is regulated by local authorities who ensure it is not the marijuana variety of cannabis. Currently seven states (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia) have passed pro-hemp farming laws. Sales of hemp foods in 2004/2005 grew by 50% over the previous 12-month period. There are more than 2.5 million cars on U.S. roads that contain hemp composites. Hemp cultivation in Canada is expected to exceed 30,000 acres in 2006, while European farmers now grow more than 40,000 acres. More information about hemp legislation and the crop’s many uses can be found at http://www.VoteHemp.com

Tags: Permaculture

The World at Glance

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Fri, 12 May 2006 06:44:01 GMT

I thought you might appreciate this. It was circulated a few years ago, but I'm glad someone sent it to me again. Inspires my compassion and gratitude. In Peace, Raymond http://www.simplebrilliance.com The World at Glance If we could reduce the worlds population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this: 60 Asians 12 Europeans 5 US Americans and Canadians 8 Latin Americans 14 Africans 49 would be female 51 would be male 82 would be non-white 18 white 89 heterosexual 11 homosexual 33 would be Christian 67 would be non-Christian * 5 would control 32% of the entire worlds wealth, and all of them would be US citizens * 80 would live in substandard housing * 24 would not have any electricity * (And of the 76% that do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.) * 67 would be unable to read * 1 (only one) would have a college education. * 50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation * 33 would be without access to a safe water supply * 1 would have HIV * 1 near death * 2 would be near birth * 7 people would have access to the Internet If to take a look at the world from this condensed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes evident. Think of it! If you woke up this morning with more health than sickness, you are luckier than the million that will not survive this week. If you have never experienced a war, a loneliness of an imprisonment, an agony of tortures or a famine You are happier, than 500 million persons in this world. If you are able to go to church, mosque or synagogue without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are happier, than 3 billion persons in this world. * If there is a meal in your refrigerator, * if you are dressed and have got shoes, * if you have a bed and a roof above your head, you are better off, than 75% of people in this world. If your parents are still alive and still married, then you are a rarity. * If you have a bank account, * money in your purse * and there is some trifle in your coin box, you belong to 8% of well-provided people in this world. If you read this text, you are blessed three times as much, because 1. Someone has thought of you; 1. You do not belong to those 2 billion people who cannot read 1. and... you have your computer Someone said once: * Work like you don't need money, * Love like you've never been hurt, * Dance like nobody's watching, * Sing like nobody's listening, * Be surprised, like you were born yesterday, * Tell the truth and you don't have to remember anything, * Live like it's Heaven on Earth. This is your World! And you are able to make changes! Hasten to do good works! Think of it!

Tags:

The Care Crisis

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Thu, 11 May 2006 15:21:24 GMT

by Ruth Rosen, TPMcafe If you think its about sexual prowess, you'd be wrong. If you think it's about size, forget it. And if you imagine we follow the various pissing contests going on among male liberals, you're too self-absorbed. It's about what I call the Care Crisis. During the last week, I've had a series of conversations with intellectual, liberal women who, like most of our male friends, companions and husbands, want to restore American democracy, end the war and free up our nation's wealth to support the health and well being of our nation's citizens. We care about the common good. We believe in a public good. We agree with those liberal men who are writing about how Democrats will have to be more than a "collection of aggrieved out-groups," to quote David Brooks (New York Times, April 27). We agree with Brooks that "the message voters respond to best is notions of shared sacrifice for the common good...people are ready for an appeal to citizenship." Multiculturalism and identity politics, gloats Brooks, are dead. Fine by me. Gleefully, Brooks announces that "Democrats are purging the last vestiges of the New Left and returning to the older civic liberalism of the 1950s and early 1960s." But here's the rub: Notice the years Brooks chooses as the historical moment to which we should return--before American women began demanding the equality that is essential to their citizenship. In these conversations you men never hear, this is what we discuss: For four decades, working women have poured into the paid labor force. Yet American society has done precious little to restructure the workplace or family life. The result? Working mothers are burdened and exhausted, families are fractured and children are often neglected. The dirty little secret, we repeatedly tell each other, is that it is both profitable and convenient to our government, business and many men, for women to wear themselves out trying to do the unpaid work of caring for children, caring for the elderly and caring about the social networks of our communities. It's as though Americans are trapped in a time warp, certain that women will still do all this caring, even though they can't, because more than half are outside their homes working in the paid workplace. And so, we have the mounting Care Crisis. But somehow male progressives and liberals continue to view these problems as those of a special interest group and part of identity politics. Yet it is the core dilemma faced by most middle class and working class American families, all along the political spectrum. These are some of the war stories we share with each other: A distinguished op-ed editor rejects an opinion piece that describes the need for high-quality, affordable, accessible child care because "It's been written about thousands of times." He's right. But nothing's changed. A distinguished editor tells a journalist that he doesn't really want articles about "women's" problems because he's more interested in addressing the public good. Hasn't he heard that women hold up half the sky and then-some? Fortunately, one person may have found a way around these gatekeepers who are so bored with vital changes that have never been addressed and implemented. Joan Blades, co-founder of the online activist web movement, Moveon.org, has launched a grassroots virtual campaign dedicated to making working mothers's private choices and dilemmas a central part of our national conversation and political agenda. She and her co-author Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner have just published The Motherhood Manifesto (Nation Books), a book filled with elegantly accessible stories that reveal the problems faced by working mothers in the early 21st century Without using the F word, they also prescribe such essential changes as paid parental leave, flexible working conditions, after-school programs, universal health care, excellent, affordable and accessible child care and realistic living wages. Maybe, just maybe, you'll finally hear us. True, it's boring to discuss the vital needs of working mothers and families, when nothing ever changes. But while you're talking about the common good, consider this: There is nothing more vital to the common good of our nation than the well-being of our working mothers and their families. And that, dear gentlemen, is where the votes are. Ruth Rosen is a historian and journalist who teaches public policy at UC Berkeley. She is a senior fellow at the Longview Institute.

Tags: Cultural Transformation

the Goddess Re-Awakening an introduction to the Goddess Religion

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Mon, 08 May 2006 06:03:11 GMT

the Goddess Re-Awakening an introduction to the Goddess Religion Presented by Letecia Layson According to Demetra George, Feminist Astrologer and Author, the Goddess is awakening from a 5,000 year cycle of sleep. Hear Her-Story as we trace the roots of the Goddess Religion, the contemporary Goddess Movement and how these are both affecting and contributing to a sustainable future. Join us for an evening of sharing, guided visualization, and ending with a short ritual. The content includes insights and information from Letecia's travels. Through sound, we will merge our voices with hers in celebration of ourselves, the season, and our commitment to personal and planetary transformation. Date: Wednesday May 17th, 2006. Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm Location: Soul Centered - A Metaphysical Shoppe 311 N Montgomery St. Ojai, CA 93023 Cost: $15.00 at the door What to Bring: journal/note-taking materials and a candle in a holder About the Presenter: Letecia Layson is a Filipina, Feminist, Futurist, Priestess of Morphogenesis (Form Coming Into Being) http://www.morphogenesis.info, Priestess of Isis and High Priestess of Diana, ordained in the Dianic Tradition, The Fellowship of Isis (FOI) and The Temple of Isis. Letecia was the recipient of the 2003 Catherine Wright Award for Equality and Justice in Alternative Spiritual Awareness by Feas2t. In 2005 Letecia's activism has brought her to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil and 13th Commission of Sustainable Development at the UN in New York. Dedicated to a path of service to She of Ten Thousand Names, Letecia is committed to embodying the principle, 'personal is political' by healing and transforming civilization through her words, voice, dance, art and rituals. She works with her communities, Circle of Aradia and The Temple of Isis in Los Angeles, CA. She cultivates Life and land through permaculture in Ojai, CA with her new cat who has not shared her name, three housemates, their two cats and Kalu a Tibetan Mastiff. Additional Info / Questions – 805 640-8222 All Are Welcome

Tags: personal development

Bush Plan To Hide Data on 1.5M Lbs. of Toxic Chemicals in Califor

http://riversearain.gaia.com — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 22:56:58 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 17, 2006 11:03 AM CONTACT: Environmental Working Group Bill Walker, EWG, (510) 444-0973, ext. 301 Tracy Fairchild, office of Sen. Jackie Speier, (916) 651-4008 Bush Plan To Hide Data on 1.5M Lbs. of Toxic Chemicals in California State Legislation Would Protect Californians' Right to Know About Pollution in Their Communities SACRAMENTO - April 17 - A Bush Administration proposal to roll back Americans' right to know about chemical hazards in their neighborhoods would let California industries handle almost 1.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals a year without telling the public, according to an investigation of federal data by Environmental Working Group (EWG). Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program requires industrial facilities to report annually the release, disposal, incineration, treatment or recycling of 500 pounds or more of 650 chemicals covered by the law. But last fall the EPA proposed sharply raising the reporting threshhold so that only releases of 5,000 pounds or more would be reported, and reports would only be required every other year. "The right to know what hazardous chemicals are coming out of the smokestack across the street from your child's school is essential," said EWG Vice President Bill Walker. "The Administration's proposal makes it easier for industries to pollute our communities with hazardous chemicals—in secret." EWG's report, "Stolen Inventory," lists all facilities in California that would be allowed to stop or cut back on reporting chemical releases, broken down by county, city and chemical. It is available at www.ewg.org. EPA will announce later this year whether it plans to adopt the proposed rollback. But two California legislators, Sen. Jackie Speier of San Francisco/San Mateo and Assemblymember Ira Ruskin of Redwood City, have introduced bills to establish a state-level TRI, to ensure that complete reporting of toxic chemical releases would continue. Speier's bill (SB 1478) will be heard at 1:30 p.m. today by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, and Ruskin's (AB 2490) will be heard at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday by the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee. "Californians' right to know about the dangerous chemicals to which they are exposed is in jeopardy," said Speier. "Since 1988, the public's access to information in the federal Toxics Release Inventory has given industry the incentive to cut emissions—by 65 percent to date—and helped local communities remove toxic manufacturing plants from their neighborhoods. We must protect Californians' access to this powerful tool." EWG's investigation found that the EPA rollback would deal a crippling blow to Californians' access to information about toxic chemicals in their communities: The rollback would allow 384 industrial facilities to stop reporting the use or release of 1,449,479 pounds of hazardous chemicals a year. In Los Angeles County alone, 629,328 pounds of chemicals a year, from 160 facilities, would no longer be subject to reporting. The proposal would allow 101 facilities to stop reporting any use or release of toxic chemicals. These facilities would be allowed to handle 249,433 pounds of toxic chemicals a year without public disclosure. In Los Angeles County alone, 44 facilities that in 2003 handled 93,975 pounds of chemicals would no longer be subject to reporting. Chemicals for which reporting would be slashed or curtailed are among the most hazardous to human health. The rollback would end annual reporting in California of more than 64,000 pounds of ethylbenzene, 62,000 pounds of styrene, almost 30,000 pounds of benzene and more than 56,000 pounds of chromium and chromium compounds—all known or suspected carcinogens. Although facilities in 37 counties would be allowed to cut back or curtail reporting, a study by Environment California and the National Environmental Trust found that the rollback would hit Los Angeles particularly hard. Communities in more than 90 zip codes in Los Angeles County would lose some or all of the publicly reported pollution information about chemical releases in their neighborhoods. The EWG report is based on TRI figures from 2003. Just last week, the EPA released the 2004 TRI, which showed an 18 percent overall decrease in toxic releases in California. The EPA said the "TRI helps all of us—regulators, emergency responders, businesses and communities—remain aware of the types and amounts of chemicals being used"—even as they are considering the proposal to roll back reporting requirements. "Requiring facilities to report their pollution through the TRI program creates an incentive for them to reduce their pollution," said Rachel Gibson, Environment California staff attorney. "Without a strong TRI program, the incentive is gone." The TRI is the nation's premiere pollution reporting and citizens' right-to-know program. The TRI is the only source of chemical-specific information on industrial pollution at the facility level. It is an essential source of information for public health officials, emergency responders, planners, and a powerful tool for grassroots community groups fighting pollution in their neighborhoods. In Los Angeles, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) used TRI data to show that more than 80 percent of facilities that release toxic chemicals in L.A. County were located in areas where a large majority of residents were people of color. Three industrial recycling facilities relocated to appropriately zoned areas, and the South Coast air quality district guidelines to ensure that diverse community voices are heard in regulatory decisions. In Oakland, the Chester Street Block Club Association, Citizens for West Oakland Revitalization and Greenaction used TRI data in a campaign against Red Star Yeast, whose plant was emitting tens of thousands of pounds of acetaldehyde, a carcinogen, into the neighborhood's air. The community pressured authorities to fine Red Star for pollution violations and fought against renewal of the plant's operating permit, prompting the company to shut it down.

Tags: activism