Resources related to World Environment Day:

Green Economy: Does it include you?

Linking the Green Economy to National Happiness

Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication

Message of the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon – 5 June 2012

I’m “hooked” on PBS’s television series, America Revealed.  It deals with huge complex systems and explains them in simple terms … systems like the US food machine, transportation, energy, and manufacturing.  Hosted by Yul Kwon, a young man with amazing credentials spanning law, policy, business, and technology, Yul explains these massive overextended and due-for-replacement systems that most Americans take for granted.  Without bumming his audience out, Yul tells us how these systems came in to being – through great ingenuity and innovation – and points out the stress points where new solutions need to be found.

Some of the facts leave me dumbstruck … like … how did we get to the point where less than 2% of the population feeds the other 98%!  Or, what it takes to keep 300 million Americans moving from point A to B on an infrastructure built in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Best of all, though, this series is available anytime on the internet at http://www.pbs.org/america-revealed/.  There are only four episodes, so your viewing time commitment is less than four hours total.  But, they will be a great four hours that will leave you thinking and aware on a new level about all the creativity that has gone in to how we eat, move, see, and create goods and the opportunities that lie ahead.

The present moment delights us.  We see it as an opportunity for grace and mystery.  It is our source of holiness.  — Mary Margaret Funk

Never ask for tomorrow; it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; And, if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment.  – Mary Baker Eddy

When we are capable of living in the moment free from the tyranny of “shoulds,” free from the nagging sensation that this moment isn’t right, we will have peaceful hearts.  – Joan Borysenko

Theologically, I don’t think you can see the future.  Traditional Judaism sees that as arrogance – it’s like picking God’s pocket.  – Dan Wakefield

Now is the only time.  How we relate to it creates the future.  In other words, if we’re going
to be more cheerful in the future, it’s because of our aspiration and exertion to be cheerful
in the present.  What we do accumulates; the future is the result of what we do right now.
— Pema Chödrön

Living in the moment brings you a sense of reverence for all of life’s blessings.  — Oprah Winfrey

We could never have guessed we were already blessed where we are …   — James Taylor

The place you are right now God circled on a map for you.  — Hafiz

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, May 13, 2012!  Did you know it wasn’t a day created by Hallmark?

My whole attitude about the day changed when I learned that it’s origins began as a Women’s Peace Day to protest the U.S. Civil War with a purpose “to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, [and] the great and general interests of peace.”

This video, written and produced by Silent C and Invest, the Dream Reborn contest winners sponsored by Green for All, echoes the original purpose of the day:

Learn more about Song for Mom: 7 Billion Strong

and

CLICK HERE to learn a bit more about Wangari Maathai,
the Nobel Laureate featured in the video

The Proclamation explains the goals of the original Mother’s Day.  The fulfillment of Julia Ward Howe’s vision continues to await us.

Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation – 1870

Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

While this is an alarm, wake up type of event it is a creative event motivated by heart of pure love for this world of ours!

Find out more at climatedots.org.  Learn where an event is happening near you OR create an event.

You can download instantly the electronic edition or order the paperback edition.

Paperback Edition, $9.95 plus shipping.  CLICK HERE to order.

Electronic Kindle Edition (also compatible with Mac, iPhone, Blackberry), $4.95.  CLICK HERE to order.

PRAISE FOR THE BLESSINGS OF A GRATEFUL HEART:

“Blessings of a Grateful Heart is a simple, delightful book that awakens and reinvigorates your mindfulness of being full of gratitude.  I have given this book as a gift and recommend it as a two-week practice to friends and acquaintances.  I feel the format is engaging and the reflections are transformative.” Sandy Kindt, Lexington, MA

“The Blessings of a Grateful Heart is a gentle two-week long invitation to enter into the spiritual practice of thanksgiving. Short quotes and simple questions guide you on a heart-opening journey through the blessings of your life and the gifts and treasures in the world around you.” Rev. Tony Lorenzen, Minister, Pathways Church, Southlake, Texas

“Carol Hohle’s Blessings of a Grateful Heart came to me at just the right time, when I was transitioning from one way of life to another: my kids had left home and I was moving across country to start something new. A critical part of acknowledging all that had gone before while embracing the next step was gratitude. Daily reading and journaling with Carol’s book helped me articulate to myself just how fabulous my life had been before, was then, and would be going forward. I recommend it to anyone wanting to get into the ‘gratitude habit.’” L.M., Santa Monica

“I found The Blessings of a Grateful Heart to be a really approachable way to expand my daily practice of gratitude.  It opened up ways of active, conscious gratitude that were new and powerful to me.  It’s a great resource for anyone who’s interested in living this awesome aspect of spirituality!” Miles Harbur, Christian Science Practitioner

We, of course, need to be giving back to the environment that makes life possible for humanity more than just one day a year.  But, as a special designated day it represents an important opportunity to remind and inform us about the interconnectedness of creation.

There are an infinite number of ways to honor creation this Earth Day.  Here are three:

• Visit Earth Day 2012 website to learn a few ideas about how you can lighten your footprint on Earth and to find an event near you
• Visit Picnic for the Planet 2012 and find/create an Earth Day picnic near you
• As you go about your life on April 22 find six things to appreciate about the environment and share them with a friend or post them here!

1) Explore the practices of spiritual qualities — qualities such as stillness, gratitude, and openness.
2) Consider how these qualities can be practiced with intention throughout the day.
3) Learn how these and other qualities have been developed into “spiritual practices” among various religious traditions.
4) Reflect on how these approaches relate to our own spiritual and faith tradition.

This workshop has been designed at the request of the Christian Science Fellowship – Metro Chicago and is open to everyone from any faith tradition and from no particular tradition. It will include content of particular interest to those familiar with the writings of Mary Baker Eddy.

To read an interview with Carol and to register for this event, please visit the Fellowship’s website.

I will not attempt to convey by words a picture of the magnificence of the visible universe.  The effort would be futile and yet the whole scene is only the picture of ideas; the imagery of thought; the hieroglyphic record of the act; and meditation of Deity. – Mary Baker Eddy