Thank You, Turkey Vultures
Turkey vultures are nature’s cleanup crew; we have cleanup crews that pick up our garbage, recycling and yard waste. Here are a couple lessons to take on your next trip to the woods!
A Modern Ark
A photographer that inspires people to save endangered animals and their habitat. Watching him is fascinating. Look up species near you! Learn what you can do to help the earth!
Unexpected Turns in Life
When asked where we live, I joke that my husband & I live in a halfway house. We are renting a place located half way between our previous life and our next life. You see, we sold our home in Beaverdale, where we’ve lived most of the last 20 years. We are building a new home in the country but it’s not finished. So, we live halfway between.
The opportunity to buy land in the country was unexpected. And, more unexpected was that we wanted to buy the land and live there. We had decided the house in Beaverdale was the last time we would move. And, the land was the “farm” my family bought and moved to the summer of 1973 when I was 10 years old.
An unexpected turn in my childhood, moving from the suburbs to the country. I threatened to run away when my parents made me move to the farm, away from all my friends. We moved anyway. The farm came to represent turbulence and change, the unexpected. I tried to go there as seldom as possible after my parents split up and mom moved back to the area we’d lived pre-farm.
So, I was surprised that I wanted to buy it when Dad passed away. But, perhaps the thing you have expected while reading this, I learned the land on which that farm sits is not the origin of the turbulence and pain. I love the land. And, I am half way home.
Let’s Talk Activism
What does activism mean to you? Is it writing letters, lobbying, picketing, boycotting, community building? Maybe it’s volunteering somewhere or meditating on peace.
Most people don’t even consider themselves activists. I think we are lucky, if at some point in our lives there is at least one issue important enough to spur us into action. Why do I say lucky?
Because being an activist means connecting with that which is life on Earth. All issues are issues of living on Earth. Activism is a conscious decision to be part of the creation and chaos.
Author Alice Walker says activism is the rent she pays for living on this planet. What I have to learn to pay that rent is way bigger than what I know.
I learn from, and I am inspired by others. David Korten said, “Life is most vibrant and creative when each living being finds its place of service to the whole. For our species to thrive and prosper, we must each find our place of service to one another and to the larger community of life on which our continued existence depends.”
by Kyla Cox, Next Step Program Coordinator