Recently i saw the photo on facebook of Kayapo chief Raoni Metuktire crying in despair for the devastation that awaits his ancestral land, along the Xingu River in the Amazon. This led me to read again about the Belo Monte Dam project which i had put in my bottom drawer of interests last June after i returned from Rio + 20.
I was devastated by the news, hectare after hectare of sacred Amazon, lungs of Mother Earth, source of beauty and medicine. I went into a kind of emotional shock, meaning, crying at the drop of a hat and commenting in outrage with friends and family about the LINGERING stupidity of humans regarding ecology.
I suppose it is particularly heart breaking for me because i was created in the Amazon. I discovered my essential sense of service to the healing, regeneration and protection of the Planet when i lived in the Leticia area at age 19. My connection with that Mother Land goes deep in my essence.
Have you seen or know about how the Kayapó Indians have been fighting Belo Monte along side with many activists around the world? They have fought it with heart and soul beyond belief.
They have been as brave as to declare WAR to the companies and government. I mean, who in their "right mind" would declare war on corporations or government when their weapons are Profound Tradition, Beauty, Spiritual Strength, Knowledge of the Rainforest?
But they did. And they did their dances, their prayers, their ceremonies. They did their sitting in court and congress rooms, their signature collections, their press conferences, campaigns with politicians, their learning of the western ways of DEALING WITH IDIOTS THAT HAVE MONEY, POWER AND PLAY POLITICS!
And still the
presidenta do Brazil signed a total yes to Belo Monte recently. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF RAINFOREST WILL BE A DAM.
A few days later a friend posted on fb about
her pain after reading about the Belo Monte dam through this picture and asked "what can we do". I kept trying to find a compelling answer to that without sounding dogmatic or falling apart because in the concrete real life, material sense, i feel impotent about Belo Monte.
The most immediate thing i think WE CAN DO as people, is to REALLY CONNECT WITH OUR CONSUMPTION HABITS. And I don't mean consumption as a judgement.
I mean consumption as a human function that must happen with conscious judgment.
I still see a lot of friends and acquaintances that seem concerned about what´s happening to the Earth, have buying power to afford buying ecological products, but still use Crest toothpaste, drink Coke, have cable TV, etc. There needs to be a balance and we cannot beat ourselves up EVERYTHING, but hey, it is time to deepen even more our commitment to change.
A very obvious and daily way to wield power is going around inside our wallets.
What´s closer in our immediate reach: to become a human barrier for dam building machinery? or to choose not to put a product in our shopping cart even though we absolutely love it, it´s groovy, it makes us feel great, and what´s more! -we can afford it?
Why would consumer consciousness help the Kayapó Indians, the Xingú River and The Amazon Rainforest? Quantum Physics? Isn't the reality synchronistic enough? Is it possible that everything is truly interconnected?
An evolutionary answer to empower ourselves is to develop EVEN MORE consumption awareness. To rise up to the occasion and become braver and more diligent in accepting our role as MORE responsible, MORE informed, and more ECO-CENTRIC consumers. Ask the right questions, read the ingredients, and accept the answers, "shoot, I guess I won´t be buying that."
Starting personal campaigns to transform a consumption habit is what i have been doing for years. I ask the questions:
HOW FAR ARE WE WILLING TO LET GO OF WHAT WE THINK WE NEED, OR INDEED
LET GO LITTLE BY LITTLE OF WHAT WE LOVE AND REPLACE IT WITH
WHAT
THE MOTHER CAN GIVE US HUMBLY,
locally, organically, non-gmo, recycled. Green.
IN ORDER
TO SAVE
OUR
PLANET?
HOW MANY LIGHTS DO YOU NEED TO HAVE ON? HOW MANY MORE DEVICES WILL YOU BE NEEDING TO CHARGE? HOW MUCH SUSHI DO I NEED TO EAT?
If everything is interconnected then changing my consumption habits will help indirectly causes that might seem impossible.
But here I am, making weird connections to make my self more useful, writing this from my computer, powered by the grid, fueled by coal, or hydroelectric energy?
This is why I stopped eating fish.
Glad to be back!
Next blog will be about why being such a passionate leader did not help me to live peacefully in my intentional community.
I suppose it is particularly heart breaking for me because i was created in the Amazon. I discovered my essential sense of service to the healing, regeneration and protection of the Planet when i lived in the Leticia area at age 19. My connection with that Mother Land goes deep in my essence.
Have you seen or know about how the Kayapó Indians have been fighting Belo Monte along side with many activists around the world? They have fought it with heart and soul beyond belief.
They have been as brave as to declare WAR to the companies and government. I mean, who in their "right mind" would declare war on corporations or government when their weapons are Profound Tradition, Beauty, Spiritual Strength, Knowledge of the Rainforest?
But they did. And they did their dances, their prayers, their ceremonies. They did their sitting in court and congress rooms, their signature collections, their press conferences, campaigns with politicians, their learning of the western ways of DEALING WITH IDIOTS THAT HAVE MONEY, POWER AND PLAY POLITICS!
And still the presidenta do Brazil signed a total yes to Belo Monte recently. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF RAINFOREST WILL BE A DAM.
A few days later a friend posted on fb about
her pain after reading about the Belo Monte dam through this picture and asked "what can we do". I kept trying to find a compelling answer to that without sounding dogmatic or falling apart because in the concrete real life, material sense, i feel impotent about Belo Monte.
The most immediate thing i think WE CAN DO as people, is to REALLY CONNECT WITH OUR CONSUMPTION HABITS. And I don't mean consumption as a judgement.
I mean consumption as a human function that must happen with conscious judgment.
I still see a lot of friends and acquaintances that seem concerned about what´s happening to the Earth, have buying power to afford buying ecological products, but still use Crest toothpaste, drink Coke, have cable TV, etc. There needs to be a balance and we cannot beat ourselves up EVERYTHING, but hey, it is time to deepen even more our commitment to change.
A very obvious and daily way to wield power is going around inside our wallets.
What´s closer in our immediate reach: to become a human barrier for dam building machinery? or to choose not to put a product in our shopping cart even though we absolutely love it, it´s groovy, it makes us feel great, and what´s more! -we can afford it?
Why would consumer consciousness help the Kayapó Indians, the Xingú River and The Amazon Rainforest? Quantum Physics? Isn't the reality synchronistic enough? Is it possible that everything is truly interconnected?
An evolutionary answer to empower ourselves is to develop EVEN MORE consumption awareness. To rise up to the occasion and become braver and more diligent in accepting our role as MORE responsible, MORE informed, and more ECO-CENTRIC consumers. Ask the right questions, read the ingredients, and accept the answers, "shoot, I guess I won´t be buying that."
Starting personal campaigns to transform a consumption habit is what i have been doing for years. I ask the questions:
HOW FAR ARE WE WILLING TO LET GO OF WHAT WE THINK WE NEED, OR INDEED
LET GO LITTLE BY LITTLE OF WHAT WE LOVE AND REPLACE IT WITH
WHAT
THE MOTHER CAN GIVE US HUMBLY,
locally, organically, non-gmo, recycled. Green.
IN ORDER
TO SAVE
OUR
PLANET?
HOW MANY LIGHTS DO YOU NEED TO HAVE ON? HOW MANY MORE DEVICES WILL YOU BE NEEDING TO CHARGE? HOW MUCH SUSHI DO I NEED TO EAT?
If everything is interconnected then changing my consumption habits will help indirectly causes that might seem impossible.
But here I am, making weird connections to make my self more useful, writing this from my computer, powered by the grid, fueled by coal, or hydroelectric energy?
This is why I stopped eating fish.
Glad to be back!
Next blog will be about why being such a passionate leader did not help me to live peacefully in my intentional community.
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