Obama Indigenous

Dear President Obama,

I am not very educated on all the ins and outs of this subject but I heard about President Morales of Bolivia and his commitment to addressing climate change.

His willingness to say NO to BIG OIL is brave indeed. I think leaders of the world could take heed and follow suit.

We can also learn much from indigenous peoples and elders.  We all share this planet, instead of thinking of ourselves as AMERICANS, BOLIVIANS, EUROPEANS, AFRICANS...and so forth...maybe we should call ourselves EARTHLINGS!

For the Earth,
One Worried Mom

 

Obama Wild Things

Dear President Obama,

Theologian Thomas Berry said, "The planet will never be so beautiful and abundant again...the Cenozoic Era that we are leaving behind, was when Earth was most lyrical, songbirds, flowering plants and GREAT families of mammals flourished. At this peak of beauty and richness humankind came. We are now responsible for the extinction of ONE OUT OF TEN species that we know of."   STAGGERING!

I used to read WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE to my son almost every night. Our Ozarks used to be home to countless WILD THINGS that are almost gone. (Maybe they hopped in a little boat and sailed away for a year and a day?) Maybe we need to change the name of the book to WHERE ARE THE WILD THINGS?

I know YOU are aware of a book called Moral Ground by Kathleen Dean Moore because YOU, Desmond Tutu and Sheila Watt-Cloutier (former chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council) made POWERFUL arguments about our MORAL obligation in the face of climate change.  I have only read the interview about it and look forward to the book and what you had to say!   LET THE WILD RUMPUS BEGIN!

Wildly Yours,
One Worried Mom

Obama Ben Franklin

Dear President Obama,

Wind power could work almost ANYWHERE if we turned to HIGH FLYING KITES! Companies in Germany are already running with the idea of harnessing high altitude winds though the use of 'kite surfing' technology. COOL.

Remote controlled kites would have an advantage over wind turbines because they can fly at much higher altitudes where wind speeds increase considerably and stay strong.

Such kites also cost much less to build than wind turbine towers.

I think ole Ben Franklin was onto something great way back when.



"ENERGY AND PERSISTENCE CONQUERS ALL THINGS."  - Benjamin Franklin

Windfully yours,
One Worried Mom

Obama Coffee

Dear President Obama,

This is a difficult letter to write because it is causing me to look at my own habits and how those choices affect the world.  My biggest vice in life is COFFEE!  Every since childhood it has been my comfort food. I remember my parents always had a pot of coffee on the stove. Mom would make me my own brew with 3/4 milk and a little coffee with lots of sugar for a special treat, as far back as I can recall.

I went to a songwriting retreat this weekend and we were instructed to write 4 lines about something close to us. Sitting in front of me on the table was a container of Jasmine Pearl tea. I have always felt a twinge of over indulgence whenever I poured a cup because each of the delicate tea balls were HAND ROLLED by someone over in Asia! Those lines then turned into a song (see below) that stretched from tea to coffee. I began to research about how coffee used to be grown on small farms in the shade of the rainforests. It was a safe haven where birds flourished. In past years, due to the ENORMOUS popularity of coffee shops, coffee growning is a huge business and those forests are being cut down at alarming rates.

Now...I have known this fact for years and I try to drink organic 'shade tree' coffee whenever it is available or at home when I buy it, but for the most part I have closed my eyes and continued to fill my cup whenever and with whatever~!

If I am going to write letters like this-complaining about this or that...I should try to walk the talk. This is SO hard to do...I am a SPOILED AMERICAN and I am embarrassed about that.

I guess this letter is more for ME than YOU...Mr. President. It's a reminder to myself of the CAUSE & EFFECT. I am going to try this (but I can't guarantee I'll succeed). When I drink coffee from now on, I need to know where it came from and if it was grown in a sustainable way. Fairtrade coffee is GREAT!  It is just a small step, but one in the right direction.  BOTTOMS UP!

Sustainably yours,
One Worried Mom

IGNORANCE IS BLISS
Words & Music Donna Stjerna April 2013

Jasmine Pearls unfurl...they unfold without a care
I think about Asian women...rollin em into tiny spheres
I pick up my china cup...settle in my comfy chair...
take a sip of fragrant tea, flavored with those women's tears

At night they cover racks of tea, with those precious Jasmine flowers
perfumed like a concubine...they blow away come the morning hours
I try to tell the future with...the leaves left in my cup
Everything has a price, close my eyes and drink it up

They say ignorance is bliss...but I wonder...if it is???

Coffee once grown in the shade...on small farms 'neath canopy
The Java Jive is on the rise...they're cutting down those precious trees
We throw away those paper cups, never take the time to think
I fill up my big ole cup...close my eyes and take a drink

Workers down in Guatemala...pic a 100 lbs a day
Children slave out in the fields...no one gets a living wage
Barista with a lovely smile, fills me up to the brim
Sometimes I ignore the facts...and then the coffee wins.

They say ignorance is bliss...but I wonder...if it is???

Obama Farmer

Dear President Obama,

I read that government agricultural subsidies favor Mono-Cropping because it is economically beneficial. Then I learned that growing high yield crops of a single thing (on the same land year after year) damages the soil by stripping it of precious nutrients thus creating a dependency on pesticides and artificial fertilizers which seep into ground water and surrounding soil.

In this farming practice an ENTIRE crop can but wipe out very quickly by a single opportunisitic species! This happened in Ireland creating the great Potato Famine of 1845-1849.  OUCH!   Maybe farmers should be REWARDED for rotating crops & using organic methods that SUSTAIN the land and make it HEALTHIER rather than destroying it and risking another Dust Bowl or worse. 

Land, Water, Food & Farmers are VALUABLE commodities- we NEED to take care of them.
HI HO THE DAIRY OH...THE FARMER IN THE DELL!

Naturally yours,
One Worried Mom

Obama Drowning Man

Dear President Obama,

Do you ever feel like you are drowning? Wish someone would throw a life preserver? I think despair is a HUGE problem these daze! I think that many folks have a sort of 'environmental PTSD', myself included (at times).

These letters I've been writing are my life preserver. They have been good for my soul, sort of like when your write a letter to a friend or lover that your are having issues with and you NEVER send it. You just get to VENT and then burn or tear the letter up.

These letters are not changing anything but ME, they are helping me refocus, I just signed up for a week long workshop in New Mexico with one of my SHE-ROS (female hero), Joanna Macy. The workshop is on despair and empowerment. It's a mentoring program to learn how to deal with feelings of loss (species & environment) and how to help others. For me this is especially important for children. Here are the lyrics to another song I wrote on this subject of feeling 'overwhelmed'. I had just watched the movies...THE 11th HOUR and AVATAR and they threw me into a low place. This song was very cathartic for me. Maybe it can be a life preserver for others.

THE WAILING WALL
Words & Music Donna Stjerna Jan 16th 2010

I feel like a prayer scribbled on a piece of paper
crammed into a tiny crevice in the Wailing Wall
How can I keep my words from falling on deaf ears?
Is anybody listening? My voice seems small.
I feel like a boy with his thumb in the dike
holding back a river of fear...we've done so much damage
to our fragile planet...I can't hold back my tears.

CHORUS
So I huddle in the corner, curl up in a cozy blanket
Close my eyes, forgetting everything
For a little while I need to give in to the crying
Acknowledge all the pain and suffering
and THEN......get back up again.

I feel like the very list Passenger Pidgeon
Carrying a message to the world...or a Bald Eagle
scavenging for food, when it used to be the symbol
of the flag unfurled...remember as a kid
when you fell off your bike, bumped your head
cried & cried...Mama picked you up-kissed away the hurt
made you get back up and ride.     CHORUS

Rap Talking Part
I'm a Polar Bear standing on the edge of thin ice
not knowing which way to turn
I'm a Toucan perched on the edge of the forest
watching the canopy burn...
I'm a Pelican diving into Gulf waters
feathers oily and black
I can no longer hide my head in the sand
Time is running out fast!

I fell like I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve
Raw and unprotected...I can watch it bleed
bent and broken, I've been down on my knees
The weight of the world, pressing down on me
I know sometimes...a good hard cry
I just what I need to do...SO if you're feeling
what I've been feelin'...here's my advice to you...

Huddle in the corner, curl up in a cozy blanket
Close your eyes, forgetting everything
For a little while you need to give in to the crying
Acknowledge all the pain and suffering
and THEN......get back up again.

Obama Coal Miner

Dear President Obama,

I LOVE BIRDS!  My partner and I are avid birders. We have the honor of teaching at a summer camp for 11 & 12 year olds every summer. It is an Audubon ecology camp and it is a powerful thing to help inspire kids to get out in nature and away from TV and computers.

In our travels, we find it odd that many habitats that we visit are missing bird species that we would expect to see.  We also participate in the annual Christmas Bird Count and year after year we log which birds we see in specific locations.  The numbers of many species are WAY DOWN.  Many birds such as the Red Headed Woodpecker and Bobwhite Quail have almost vanished here in our area, they used to be fairly common in the right habitat.



The loss of many species of birds, bees, frogs and other creatures is largely due to Climate Change. Scientists have shown this to be a fact.  I think that birds (and frogs & bees) are the CANARY IN THE COAL MINE.  They are much more sensitive to environmental changes than we humans are.
Coal miners, traditionally...would bring a cage with a canary into the mines. If the canary died they knew it was time to get out of the mine because the air was tainted and lethal.

We need to heed the loss of these beings and realize they are giving us a WARNING. 

Sincerely,
One Worried Mom