When we talk about fixing things, the climate crisis for instance, most people think about creating something that will be a quick and profitable solution. The solutions are there, doing what is necessary and what amounts to a miracle in solving the ongoing mess that humanity is creating....solutions like trees and water...absorbing carbon and giving off oxygen. For a healthy body, mind and world, we need oxygen.
Can you imagine how much oxygen is created by free flowing water? Just think of Niagara Falls! H20, breaking up as it moves around the Earth, releasing precious oxygen along the way....but people want to harness that power, contain it for a slew of things to give us less work. More than fifty percent of the world's natural water flows are no longer natural.
…a sacred bathing site for a Chief from this area……
I have lived off-grid for fifty years quite comfortably, aware of what I use whether it be power, water, etc. I also live on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and the waves crashing on the rocks release a rich abundance of oxygen as does the old growth forest that surrounds me. These are some of the miracle fixers we need to pay attention to and stop destroying them.
view from my house…
If we want answers to sustainability, just walk through an old growth forest and observe the amount of moisture retained there during summer droughts. Winter storms help deposit the needles, cones, mosses, lichens, branches and twigs that create the layers of protection and nutrients for their roots and everything growing around them...mushrooms, ferns, bushes and more. It is a lush garden both above and below sustaining itself. When it is foggy on the coast, every needle on the tree is condensing moisture and dripping down on the forest floor but only in the trees. It seems like it's raining in the forest then, a true rainforest, constantly absorbing the carbon we are trying to get rid of.
The cove where I live…..birds feeding on fly larvae in kelp as the waves break it up at high tide….
That's just a small example of the miracle that free-flowing water and forests do as nature patiently tries to teach us. What about shade, protection, fire and warmth, homes for birds, insects and wildlife, beauty and the fresh air we breathe? (Just to name a few)....but the balance is off....deforestation is consuming the globe and more dams are being built. The last of the old growth trees are just considered lumber by government and industry.
Everything is a commodity, the very things we need for life are being destroyed for money. It is a scenario gone horribly wrong. We cannot eat or breathe money but nature will sustain us if we give it a chance....we just need to stop destroying the solutions. We are all in this together and we will be the change and understand the solutions needed for future generations, our health and a rich and abundant Earth and for this I thank you.
Some art work I did many years ago for the City of Winnipeg’s Pan Am Pool Gallery …(20 ft. high)….done on the West Coast where I live and welded into place in Winnipeg, Canada. As you can see, water is a BIG part of my life.