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A Sea Shell Mandala

2/28/2021

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What is a mandala in modern day usage?  It is a diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, It is meant to represent wholeness and a relationship to eternal life itself. Sea shells represent the life of the ocean and the origins of life on earth.  We acknowledge and revere all life coming from the ocean.   

Most sea shells come from mollusks, a large group of marine animals including clams, mussels, and oysters, which exude shells as a protective covering. Shells are excreted from the outer surface of the animal called the mantle and are made up of mostly calcium carbonate.  As mollusks develop in the sea, their mantle tissue absorbs salt and chemicals. They secrete calcium carbonate, which hardens on the outside of their bodies, creating a hard shell. ... When a mollusk dies it discards its shell, which eventually washes up on the shore. This is how sea shells end up on the beach.

This mandala is a wonderful way to allow our children to experience and express the life giving power of our oceans. 
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Man's Best Friend Takes Care of Rhinos

2/18/2021

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Everyone knows that dogs are man's best friend - but friends of Rhinos mot so much.  But some well trained dogs in South Africa have also proven to be the best friends to endangered wildlife as well.  The tracking dog story began when Theresa Sowery, the CEO of the Southern Africa Wildlife College, heard of an American cowboy half way around the world in south Texas who was training special tracking hound dogs, bloodhounds, beagles and others.  She contacted him and, what began in 2017 as an introduction of a few dogs to wildlife tracking in South Africa, has now become a wonderful wildlife saving army of dogs.  Their efforts have helped rangers and law enforcement catch more than 145 poachers in the region of the Kruger National Park in the last year, saving more than 45 rhinos and potentially stopping the extinction of a species.  Since 2010, official figures suggested that 6,925 rhinos had been poached and killed in South Africa.  Rhino populations in Asia have also been heavily impacted by poaching. Poaching has been driven by an illicit demand for rhino horn.
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Their first time out, the tracking dogs, trained in the U.S. and brought to the Kruger National Park, managed to catch a group of poachers who had just killed a rhino.  Since then there has been a tenfold increase in successful apprehensions of poachers thanks to the work of the K9 program.  In 2020 in the country of Kenya, there was not a single rhino who lost its horn or its life.  South Africa, which is home to 80% of all the rhinos on earth reported a 33% drop in the number of rhinos poached in 2020.  In addition to the tracking dogs, decreased travel due to the COVID 19 pandemic, intervention programs to combat poverty in the nearby rural areas and increased policing have also helped.  

​Rhinos are not the only animal to benefit from these efforts.  Elephants, with their ivory tusks, have also had a reprieve in 2020 and elephant deaths have plummeted by 97% according to the Kenyan Wildlife Service.  That is such good news.  We don't need to poach these animals who are innocently living their lives for our own human vanity and greed.  This is a step in the right direction and a victory for the animal kingdom.


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Turning Coal into Vegetables

2/3/2021

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I am originally from Appalachia, a very beautiful area of the United States, but its economy has been dominated for too long by  industries like tobacco and coal, industries that I consider very contaminating for people and our world.  But my daughter just brought to my attention, one industry that is bringing about change in Appalachia (there are also others), and I am so excited to see what is happening. AppHarvest, a non profit organization headquartered in Kentucky, focuses on economically suffering communities reeling from job losses, such as those in the coal and tobacco industries.  One in three people in the area live below the poverty line and unemployment is rampant. AppHarvest offers at least 300, good paying jobs in each of their vegetable growing facilities, on line now and planned for the near future.  The "farms" are under rooftop in climate controlled growing warehouses.  They concentrate on manpower over automation to provide jobs growing vegetables using a hydroponics system with recycled, pesticide free, rainwater and solar energy. Starting in Kentucky, AppHarvest has plans to develop facilities throughout the country.  Locally produced vegetables from the warehouses will save on the cost of trans-continental growing, transportation  and distribution and won't require the energy consuming, polluting long hauling to market.  
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In addition to good paying jobs for the adults in the community, AppHarvest is working with the school systems to teach container farming to high school students to show them the benefit of growing quality food locally and giving them a vision of sustainable jobs for their future..  The average American meal now travels an average of 1,5000 miles by the time that it gets to the dinner table.  These farms will produce more food for less money, with less environmental impact for a better future.
​                                                           _____________________________________  

This is Lae Lae's blog and although she is just in preschool now, she thinks of what the future will bring.  She tells me that she is very excited to hear about an industry like this one for the future that she will be a part of.  

​We can do it if we want to - let's work to create a just, sustainable, and healthy environment for us all!!
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