Are we afraid to be real Heros?

Heros come in all shapes and sizes... one definition of a hero is someone who commits an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown an admirable quality such as great courage or strength of character. The image that comes to mind with this definition is Bruce Willis in Die Hard, the hero who has all the answers, all the strength, all the wit, and comes to save the day in a big final blow out.... our lives are full of this kind of image.... in Movies such as "Lord of the Rings", and "Star Wars" or in super heros like Wonder Woman, Batman and Spiderman. We love our heros. 

The danger of this kind of vision of a hero is that is unattainable and can keep people from engaging in necessary action for fear of failure or looking less than this kind of idealized hero. We do not have many images of ordinary people doing what needs to be done often against invisible but pervasive foes... we need images to help us feel empowered to take a stand in our communities to make the make changes and swing the tide of justice back in favor of the people and the Earth. 

Check out the 10th Annual Earth Vision Film Festival in Santa Cruz for "The Year of the Ordinary Hero. "

www.earthvisionfest.org

Green Collar Jobs

Recently the Solar Living Center, promoting sustainable living through environmental education, sent a newsletter that talked about a strong need for solar installers, in fact they expected a short fall of about 5000 jobs in the solar installation industry simply because the demand was so high now for solar and we just haven’t been training enough installers.

These types of opportunities are emerging all over the place, in every sector… and a whole new classification of job types are emerging…. Namely, “Green Collar jobs”…. As we look to develop these fields we must also include social equity in the equation, or we face the same old challenges as we always do… environmental injustice, and that just isn’t sustainable.

How do we include low income and people of color into this multi billion dollar economic sector?

Wilderness Awarenss

Recently I was walking in the woods by my home, taking my dog for a walk and I noticed that the ground under some of the oaks was disturbed. My first thought was dogs playing and turning up the under brush, but I noticed this pattern under all of the trees, under places that dogs just wouldn’t be running about. I thought it might be mushroom, breaking the ground to sprout up and I even considered Pacific Grove paying an arborist to come and loosen the soil for the health of the trees… but knowing the state of PG’s finances, I knew that couldn’t be it…. Finally Spencer commented that it was most likely raccoons or possums looking for worms. And my mind expanded into knowing more fully the extent of ecosystem these woods in my neighborhood are, the real value of the area…. that at night animals are here eating and living and depending on these forests for thier survivial.
It's not just my dog park. I have a responsibility to it's health... I understand my role as a steward here, better then I had before.

Year of the Rat

Solutions come in all sizes, shapes and places…

As we talked yesterday, change is within your reach… what part of the world do you mend? And when do you begin to mend, when is the right time? When you’re finished with college, when your kids are out of the house, when the mortgage is paid… or right now… in the state and place of all of the rest of life going on?

Tomorrow starts Chinese New Year… and the year of the rat… People born in the Year of the Rat are noted for their charm and ability to achieve their goals. Their ambitions are big, and they are usually very successful…. But what does this have to do with the Earth… how can we look at this next 12 year cycle and find environmental balance within that time?

Ideas?
deb

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach… one of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand and show your soul… Souls on Deck shine like gold in dark times… struggling souls catch light from their souls who are fully lit and willing to show it.

Clarrisa Pikola Estes, Author and Poet….

Is your soul on Deck? What part of the world can you mend? What is within your reach to change?

Deb