In the month of May, we traditionally honor the woman who gave us birth and/or the woman who nurtured and cared for us — our Mother. The second Sunday brings us crowded restaurants, over-worked florists and candy manufacturers working on overtime. It also allows us a day to reflect, with gratitude, on our Mother’s love. In acknowledging the love showered upon us by Mother, our spiritual path calls us to take loving care of ourselves in ways that allow us to blossom and grow and bring us to a fulfilling life.

Mother Earth
Arguably the most powerful force we’ll ever encounter, Mother Earth fiercely reminds us of her unending power and presence. From earthquakes to floods, hurricanes to landslides, the force of nature, slow and persistent as well as eruptive and volatile, provides us with the backdrop for our existence. The winding, meandering stream created by centuries of resistance and erosion, and the fields of smoldering volcanic rock, make fertile soil demonstrate correlations and similarities to our personal journey.

If we view the Earth as our external environment, our bodies serve as vehicles to move around the planet. We’re born into circumstance with a body of certain height, coloring, abilities and more, to walk on the earth and experience the gift of life. Like Mother Earth, our physical existence goes through personal evolutions of slow and persistent change, as well as volatile reactions to the world around us. Slow growth of bone, muscle and tissue occur over time, and the quick responses to life experienced in the sneeze or the itch or the sting impact us. With the Earth as our macrocosm, the microcosm of our physical bodies undergoes transformation and sustains us for the duration of our lifetime.

Give birth to your new self
In a state of constant movement, Mother Earth both confers and terminates life. From the brief lifespan of a sparrow to the epic glacial drift, our planet evolves in the glorious cycles of ebb and flow and growth and decomposition. In a state of never-ending birth, our attitudes towards death may change if we learn from our earthly examples. While the death of wildlife may appear finite, nature in turn gives birth to other creatures in the cycle. If an eagle swoops down to catch its prey, the prey gives its life as the nourishment for new life to come.

Similarly, we humans experience cycles of rebirth by way of our ideas and attitudes, our practices and behavior as we learn and grow. While change takes flight either as a reaction or lesson, we nonetheless leave the roost of the status quo to venture into higher levels of understanding. Leaving behind old ways of being, we give birth to possibilities and soar to new heights. Just as nature receives sustenance from the corpse of the no longer living, give birth to your ideas by feasting on what you learned before and enriching your life from the body of experiences you left behind!

Love Yourself
Mother Earth provides us with all we need to sustain our physical bodies. From the loving lull of ocean waves that rock us to sleep, to the rustling leaves that remind us of our earthly community, we find water, food and air in abundance. We enjoy the blessings of a sunny day to grow our food, as well as the gift of rain and cold to further the growth process. Our Earth Mother is in a constant state of flux yet generous with her gifts and provisions for a healthy journey.

We, in turn, must remember to provide ourselves with complementary gifts of love. We may choose healthy food, enjoy exercise, and take good care of our bodies. In addition, we may also offer ourselves the “creature comforts” of a nap on a sunny (or rainy) day, the indulgence in sensual delights such as touching the cheek of a child or patting the head of our pets. Often we neglect our spiritual needs, however. Remember to take time to listen to that still, small voice within who cries out for understanding and encouragement. Take the time to acknowledge your achievements and reflect on your goals. Accept yourself as you are, right now, just as Mother Earth accepts you.

Release is Love
The greatest expression of love from both the planet and one another, is release. Just as mothers in wildlife love their progeny enough to prepare them with skills necessary to leave the nest or pack or pride, love yourself enough to set yourself free! Get free from the constraints of negativity, worry, doubt, fear. Terminate all notions of “I’m not good enough” and rise from the ashes of old thinking and bad habits.

Mother Earth has time on her side. Mountains, rivers and even the continental drift, all occurred without you and will continue to evolve long after your earthly experience is complete. While few of us remember the everyday lives of spiritual teachers passed before us, we recall with sentiment what they left behind in the scope of their ideas and essence. Love yourself to enjoy the dichotomy between knowing your brief time on Earth means nothing to the planet, and your self-actualized life can mean everything to those who succeed you!

To our chagrin, Mother Earth never stops evolving and no one gets off the planet alive! Your life is a gift — enrich others through your example of loving the highest expression of your spirit.

In June, while visiting friends in Santa Fe, I participated in the New Moon retreat, a gathering of women every new moon on land called Haelan Circle. Usually we meet in the Moon Dome. We call in the directions; smudge ourselves; discuss teachings from the Grandmothers, a shaman, healer, or visionary; speak in sacred counsel; and then spend time on the land in solitude and silence. Cary has a fire to cast in notes of things we want to let go of. It is a time of renewal, connection with our sisters, and to share concerns, gratitude, celebration and change.

The crisis in the Gulf was foremost on everyone’s minds and we felt helpless and angry, as well as compassionate for the wildlife, the degradation of Sacred Mother Earth. “Perhaps a meditation about visualizing the healing of the Gulf region would be helpful,” I suggested. “Let’s do a meditation while holding something round to remind us of the globe.” Cary responded by saying she could gather up large river rocks use as props.

In the center of the Moon Dome, Cary created an altar with flowers, candles, crystals and special objects given to her. Around this altar she had placed 20 river rocks. We were subdued, tuned in to the suffering caused by this traumatic tragedy happening within our Gulf coast. I suggested that we each choose a rock and hold it in our hands the way we would hold a precious child. As we deepened our breathing, in our calm meditative state, I led us through imagining a golden cascade of light coming down through our crown chakras and flowing along our spines to connect us with the earth, then flowing along our hands to encircle the “globes” we held.

I said to visualize ourselves as the Great Mother, sending love through our fingertips to caress the earth: the mountains and forests, streams and rivers, oceans and deserts, the four-leggeds, the winged creatures, the sea creatures, the rocks, trees, plants and flowers. “Imagine the Gulf region, the incredible blue waters, the beaches, the turtles, pelicans, dolphins, fish, shrimp, as whole,” I told them. I asked the women to visualize the beaches as sparkling and the waters cleansed, beauty and majesty restored, gorgeous and vibrant with life.

Then we repeated three times: “I am your mother and I love you.” The power in the room was palpable.

Afterwards, the women spoke of how they felt hopeful for the first time, how they felt relieved of a crushing burden of despair.

This meditation impacted me in a way I did not expect. For five years I had been carrying the guilt of my son’s death from suicide. Although I used healing tools from prayer retreats and counseling, rituals to honor his life, joyful arrivals of grandchildren and books published, and support from my spiritual community, I still carried a burden. This simple meditation of loving Mother Earth with my own body, my own hands, golden light sent from above as a gift, freed me from that guilt.

Later as I walked quietly through Haelan Circle, these words came to me: “This is the time when we are called upon to enact our greatness. We are the Ones with the power in our hands and our hearts to reach out, to bind the broken, to cleanse with our tears, to demand change with our anger, and to heal with our love. We are the emissaries sent forth to do the work of mending the web. We are the web and we are the Light of Divine Compassion. We are not alone. Ask and you shall receive – Living Waters, the chalice of over-flowing Grace. Out of many will come a single voice – a blend of the cry of grief and the cry of rejoicing. There is no separation between the Divine Within and the Divine Without. We are one and our love for creation is our love for ourselves. As we believe it, it shall be.”

Learning to visualize wholeness where there has been damage, brokenness and pain is a task of repairing the world – and in the process, ourselves.

Heal the Earth, a celebration in poetry and music of our connection with Mother Earth, will include musical interludes by Eunice Collette, a blessing by healer Chrisma McIntyre and poetry by Amy Unger-Weiss, Wendy Brown-Báez, Nancy Cox, Nicole Lynskey, LouAnn Muhm and Zilla Way. Heal the Earth, a free event, will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12, at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, 6666 E. River Road, Fridley, MN, as part of Art at Rice Creek Festival, and it will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, at Healing Within Wellness Center, 3200 N. Lexington Ave., Shoreview, MN. For more info, call 612.437.3355 or visit www.wendybrownbaez.com.

Every single day I marvel at the incredibly complexity of reality, the layers upon layers of dimension that make it possible for us to even be alive. It’s not just a collection of muscle cells that allows your heart to beat, nor just a collection of neurons that allows your mind to think. And how do you explain emotions and synchronicity and the transformation of a chrysalis into a butterfly?

On a very mundane level, I understand that what makes the internet work are the links that connect everything into a single web. These links are like the spaces that connect the words that make the sentence. Like the silence that connects the notes that make the song. Like the nails that connect the boards that hold the house together.

What I am beginning to realize is that there is not one thing out of place. The father’s anger teaches the son the value of peace. The fallen tree is now shelter for a family of squirrels. The shadow of a newly risen skyscraper darkens the corner office across the street, giving solace to a migraine sufferer who fought the sun every afternoon for twenty years.

Acknowledging the interconnected totality of all that is, we are led to Sir Isaac Newton, who told us that for every act, there is an equal and opposite reaction. From a holistic perspective, that means that every action affects the whole. The prime directive for time travelers is to not disrupt the space-time continuum – if you change the way things are, then the way things were will never be the same.

And then we come to the prime directive for the rest of us: the Law of Karma, which tells us that similar actions will lead to similar results, or what comes around, goes around.

All of this leads me to share with you a video that I had ordered via Netflix, one that sat near our television for several weeks, neglected I guess because it had the potential to be forgettable. Last night I said to my wife, “I guess we should watch that movie so we can send it back.”

The video, Home, a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, is a history of Earth. It reveals how the metals in the Earth’s core are the stuff of stars, and how Homo sapiens (Latin: “wise man” or “knowing man”) is one of the newest species of life on the planet. And then it proceeds to show how this new species, in a relatively short amount of time, has proceeded to do what nothing in the history of Earth had ever done, destroyed the incredibly complex balance of nature.

Link by link, it has been broken.

While the facts about our environmental crisis are just as upsetting in this film as all the others, Home hits home by reminding us how much we are nature. It reveals the Earth’s incredible beauty, and reminds us that the imminent danger we face is an opportunity for us: It is not a time for pessimism.

I encourage you to watch this film, and allow yourself to be moved by it. I was, to my core.

I have a favorite park near my home. It is very large with many beautiful trails that flow through prairie land, wooded areas, beautiful pines, and a natural apple orchid.

As I was walking alone one day through the park, I became aware of the trees – their beauty, their strength, and what seemed to me to be their wisdom. I stood there breathing in, seeming to breathe in their strength and vitality. It was as if I was able to feel their essence.

I felt so alive, invigorated, with a renewed sense of connection to the universe. Feeling grateful for the experience, I gave thanks and continued on my path.

Over the last couple of years I have been blessed with a cascade of experiences of connection, filling me with love, appreciation and gratitude for the moment. It has become a daily blessing and I give thanks for my connection.

As the earth continues to shift and our vortexes spin faster, I know that I am not the only one experiencing this deep sense of connection. Being of one body, one mind, one soul unites us all within the universe.

Life here on earth is full of so many wonderful opportunities…connecting with each being you come across, whether it is your fellow neighbor, mail person or cashier at the local grocery store, or stopping on your walk to connect with the trees, the sun, or looking into the eyes of your pet and feeling your connection with them.

Stop. Take time to connect with the moment you’re in. Feel your connection, and breathe it in. Appreciate your surroundings and those you share it with. You will feel full of love and life and have a deep sense of connection. For we are all one within the universe.

Earth Day [www.earthday.net], an occasion observed each spring to celebrate our planet and to protect the environment, is celebrated on April 22. This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.

Since 1970, Earth Day has been an annual event for people around the world. It has become a global celebration with renewed commitment to building a safer, healthier and cleaner world. Some cities extend the Earth Day celebration to be a week- or month-long event.

All the talking and writing about going and living green during the month of April or the Earth Day celebration is good to bring our awareness to the environmental issues and inspire our appreciation for the Earth and Mother Nature. But I think April should not be the only time we think about our environment.

It’s not enough to be eco-friendly only one day/week/ month a year. We should take the Earth Day even further. Earth Day should be every day. Living green should be our way of life.

Living green means making choices in our day-to-day living and taking action to lead a healthier and more sustainable life that has a low-impact on the environment and a long-term sustainability. To save our earth and build a better future for our children, we must commit to protect our environment on a daily basis.

The following are eight R’s to help you think green, live green and make every day Earth Day:

• Respect – We need to show respect to all of God’s creations. Respect our planet Earth and all living things within it, our fellow human beings, animals and plants. We are all dependent on each other. Without an attitude of reverence and appreciation for God’s creation and our planet Earth, no real change can be expected.
• Responsibility – Remember that we are stewards of our planet and we should be environmentally responsible. Each of us living on this earth and using the resources has the responsibility for what we use and how we use it. Protecting our earth and environment is everyone’s responsibility. It is the responsibility of every community, every city and every country no matter where it is.
• Rethink – We need to rethink the way we have used and done things in the past. Maybe we can change a habit to save money and resources. If you always let the water run while brushing your teeth, it’s time to think and do it differently. Turn off the tap next time. Remind yourself to do so until you establish the new habit. Can you walk, bike or car pool instead of driving your automobile solo? Can you plan in advance and do several errands in one trip instead of making multiple trips?
• Refuse - Refuse to be a slave to the latest fashion and the consumer culture. Refuse to follow others and do what the society says you should do. Don’t let the TV ads tell you what you need to be happy. It is our human nature to want to be like others and be accepted and liked by others. We want to keep up with the Joneses. We want to be like others and to do things the way others do. Sometimes it is a good thing to be different.
• Reduce – We should do our part to reduce the amount of waste generated. The fewer resources and products we use, the less harm we do to the environment. Don’t print all your e-mails. If you need to keep something, save it electronically. Buy in bulk to reduce packaging wastes.
• Reuse – We should reuse existing materials as much as possible. Before we buy something new, think if there are existing materials that can be used as substitutes. If we need something, can we buy it used? If we have something we no longer need, can we give it to someone who can use it?
• Repair – This is probably the toughest one to do in the U.S. We live in the culture and society with a throw-away and disposable mentality. If something breaks or simply doesn’t look good any more, out it goes and we have to buy a new one. A big reason is it’s often more expensive and troublesome to repair it than buy a new one. Besides, we don’t have the time, knowledge and skills to do it like our parents do. My dad is the best handyman I know. He fixed everything in our home when I grew up. He could make a lot of things himself, from furniture to keys. He fixed bicycles, shoes, pots and pants. Whatever broke, he could fix it. But people in my generation are very different now. Life has become so busy and complicated, oftentimes we only know how to buy something, which was made very easy with the invention of credit cards instead of how to make repairs.
• Recycle – Recycling, or reclaiming usable materials, is one of the easiest things we can all do for the environment. Please regularly recycle paper, plastic, glass and aluminum beverage containers, etc.

Let’s all do our part in making our world a greener, healthier and safer place to live, for ourselves and for the generations to come. Only when we as individuals truly embrace and apply a green philosophy, can we make a real difference in the world. Hopefully, these eight R’s will be a quick reminder to inspire you to live a greener life.

My body felt deep truth when I first heard food author Michael Pollan say, “What happens on our plates is the most profound effect that we have on the natural world.” Obviously, what we eat makes a big difference to our wallets and our waistlines, but we often don’t consider that our most intimate and daily engagement with the Earth is through the food we eat.

How often do we stop to think about the ingredients of each bite, including the energetic imprints of the farmers, the food chemists, the packagers, the advertisers, the transporters, and the grocers who conveniently bring food to our mouths? And what about our own hard-earned bushel basket of attitudes, beliefs, emotions, habits, judgments, thoughts, traditions, regrets, worries, shame, guilt and what-have-yous that taunt and tantalize our every bite? That’s quite a full plate. Just ask our hips.

Our daily food choices impact our internal and external landscapes more than anything else we do. Our divine bodies artfully interlaced with the earth’s body humbly serve as our only irreplaceable home. As Carl Sagan insightfully noted over a decade ago, in his book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space: “Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusions that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”

On this “lonely speck,” we have created the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California. This floating noxious stew is constantly growing, with plastic being 90 percent of the ingredients. Whales, sea birds, and other animals snare themselves in nylon netting and six-pack rings, and choke on balloons, straws and sandwich wrap.

In a startling photographic series titled, “Stations of the Albatross,” artist Chris Jordan has documented what is happening in the North Pacific (ChrisJordan.com). He wrote in Spirituality & Health magazine last month, “The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity and choking.” Jordan’s images document the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2,000 miles from the nearest continent.

By now you are most likely feeling overwhelmed and grabbing the nearest “edible food-like substance.” Lucky for us, our bodies are and have always been in the service of our most radiant health, as well as undercover bodyguards for our most precious Earth mother. In tandem, our bodies and the Earth know exactly what creates and supports radiant health. Our heads, our habits, our emotions, our culture and traditions, science: not so much. As you heal towards full conscious embodiment, get curious about what you are eating and what is eating you. Does your kitchen inspire and encourage Earth-friendly eating? What might be diminishing your health within and around you, including the health of your most precious children, or their children?

You and your family embody and reflect the energy of your kitchen. As you explore every nook and cranny, you may stumble upon an intriguing mix of emotional, mental, physical and spiritual triggers that lurk in the shadows until you are willing and ready to bring them to the light of day.

Each food that seems to “get the best of you” mirrors an aspect that is asking for attention. Many internal triggers can be energetically cleared easier than you might imagine. Get friendly and listen lovingly to the amazing wisdom of your body. If all within your kitchen is pulsing with life force, you will be a reflection of that empowering energy, and the Earth will breathe a sigh of relief. Offer gratitude with each healthy choice you make, and our bodies, in alignment with the Earth, will generously guide each step forward.

Courageously acting solo or united as consumers, we have the biggest voices to demand and buy only food that will sustain our bodies and the Earth – and not settle for less. We vote at least three times a day with our forks. Where else in our lives do we have so much healthy impact? The earth feels and responds – subtlety or abruptly – to each abuse, complacency, disregard, disdain and unconscious act that also ages and deadens our physical bodies, bite by bite. To discover, embrace, respect, love, listen and honorably nourish our most valuable assets are steps towards mastery. Every time we release and thoroughly transform a personal shadow, we assist in nurturing our Earth body. One cannot live without the other. A simple truth. Perhaps the only thing we need to remember.

President Obama has made it clear that he is committed to expanding the nation’s alternative energy capability. In his recent speech to Congress, the New York Times noted that the president spent “a large chunk of time to expanding investment in alternative energy,” calling it the “foundation of lasting prosperity.”

President Obama chose Denver as the site where he signed the $787 billion stimulus bill, in part because Colorado is a leader in renewable energy research and manufacturing. The Denver Post estimated that $80 billion of the stimulus spending is targeted for renewable energy and is expected to create up to 1.7 million jobs.

I was very enthusiastic about the prospects of wind turbines and other forms of alternative energy to save the environment, until I wasn’t. This was my experience, as I write in a recent report, “Wind Turbines Disrupt the Flow of Prana”:

“…One weekend in October 2008, I stopped my car in upstate New York, about 40 miles north of Syracuse in the Tug hill area, to take a photograph of some windmills. The second I stepped out of my car, I got a severe headache that felt as if my head was being squeezed in a vise. I took out my dowsing rods to determine what was creating the severe pain in my head. Within a few minutes I realized that the flow of prana was being disrupted by the large blades of the many wind turbines around me.”

I visited several wind farms to determine the effect upon the environment. I found that wind turbines disrupt the flow of the life force, what acupuncturists and feng shui practitioners call chi, or qi, and what Hindu Vedanta calls prana.

“…Earth prana is released from ducts on the surface of the earth and is drawn to an earth chakra a few hundred meters away. Like a human chakra the vortex of the earth chakra draws the prana in and recycles it through the earth before it is sent back into the air. Prana moves in a fairly straight line in the ether around us. Material objects and other factors can alter or even disrupt its flow.”

There may be severe consequences of the disruption, blockage and stagnation of the flow of earth prana, such as depriving the Earth’s subtle body and plant kingdom of nourishment and reducing the Earth’s ability to maintain the environment.

I conclude in my report: “The rush to increase the use of wind turbines by the Obama administration and environmentalist around the world needs to come to a halt. We are rushing into something without understanding the implications of what we are doing. We must not let ourselves be pressured by scientific research that points to a coming tipping point when we cannot stop the assault; some say we have already passed that point and the melting of the polar ice caps, much higher temperatures and other disturbance are inevitable.

“The bigger risk is that by rushing into alternative forms of energy we may be further damaging Mother Earth’s subtle body. It is damage that may accelerate global warming by further compromising Mother Earth’s subtle body to properly function. We may also be doing irrevocable damage to her, or damage that will take a long time to heal.”

Read “Wind Turbines Disrupt the Flow of Prana” |  Watch the YouTube Video

Many of today’s parents are seeking natural remedies and a holistic lifestyle for themselves and their families in an effort to attain optimal health and live a greener life. Holistic parenting is about understanding how our choices are connected. Being conscious of our choices enables us to think on a larger scale and to do what is best for our families both in the short term and the long term.

Although holistic parenting can take many routes and result in a wide variety of choices, there are some simple things every parent can to do to begin their journey. Here are six steps to discovering holistic parenting:

• Be Informed. Being informed in all of your parenting and health choices is a cornerstone of whole living. Investigate your options educate yourself on the benefits as well as the risks of your parenting, healthcare, and lifestyle choices.

• Cultivate Trust. Living holistically starts with a shift in your perspective, away from fear and uncertainty and toward trust in yourself, your body, and nature’s healing power. Cultivating this trust is challenging, but uncovering it is ultimately a source of empowerment.

• Tune Into Your Mother (or Father) Wisdom. Deep within yourself lies your inner wisdom and intuition, as well as your spiritual voice. What feels right to you may not be the most traveled path but often will best serve your family.

• Go Natural. The preponderance of chemicals in our food, homes, and environment is wreaking havoc on our health. We need to look for safe, non-toxic products to care for our homes, and to eliminate artificial ingredients, preservatives, and pesticides from our food.

• Live Lightly on the Earth. Living holistically means recognizing the interconnectedness of our choices. Tread lightly by supporting industries that nurture the earth (such as organic farming), incorporating green practices into your life (such as recycling), and giving back of yourself through volunteer work.

• Find Support. Creating and interacting with others who share similar philosophies is empowering and will help you to find the tools you need to grow a healthy family. What’s more, social support itself is health creating. Recent studies show that being socially connected to others can improve your physical health and is linked to lower mortality rates.

May your parenting journey be a healthy one!

Dear EarthTalk: I’m thinking about starting an environmental club in my middle school. Can you give me some ideas about how to start? Can you connect me with other school clubs? – Rosemary, Andover Township, NJ

Starting an environmental club at school is a great way to get students energized about taking care of the Earth and helping their community while learning about some of the most important issues facing the world in the 21st century.

EarthTeam, a non-profit environmental network for teens, teachers and youth leaders, offers many tips on how to start an environmental club. First and foremost is to make sure there are at least a half dozen or so other students interested in forming such a club to begin with, and then also finding a teacher, community leader or parent who is willing to serve as an adult sponsor. The sponsor’s role is to provide advice along the way and to help ensure the stability of the group from year-to-year given that all of the students, even the founders of the club, will eventually graduate, or move on to other interests or endeavors.

Once the core membership and adult sponsor have been established, EarthTeam suggests all sitting down together to decide on the club’s vision ("Why are we here?") and to brainstorm about possible activities or projects to undertake ("What do we want to accomplish?"). Once these questions have been answered, it’s time to hold the club’s first official meeting, which should be advertised as widely as possible to other students who may be interested in finding out what the group is about and how they can get involved, too.

The next step, according to EarthTeam, is to forge an action plan that focuses on one group-oriented, yearlong project that has measurable benefits to the school or community and that can keep the interest of the student members who will no doubt be spending long hours volunteering. Whatever project(s) the group decides on, members should develop a timeline that clearly lists goals, dates and responsibilities.

In addition to undertaking the one major project, clubs can also host or sponsor special events for extra visibility. EarthTeam suggests getting students outside for a river or beach clean-up, a tree planting day, or a field trip to a local wetland, zoo or nature reserve. Another popular idea is to hold an Environmental Awareness Day to educate the entire student body about relevant green issues.

EarthTeam is also a networking platform so clubs can work together and share experiences with each other to help get a sense of the bigger picture beyond one individual school’s locale, given the global nature of most environmental issues. Another great networking resource is the Greenspan website, which lists clubs in 21 different U.S. states as well as in Australia, Canada, Japan, Ghana and Malaysia.

Another great resource for those starting up new or managing existing school environmental clubs is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s)Student Center website, which offers dozens of ideas for projects that both stimulate and enlighten participants while helping the local community. The website also provides links to several partner non-profit groups with club-worthy activities.

CONTACTS: EarthTeam, www.earthteam.net; Greenspan Environmental Club Network, www.greenspanworld.org/environmental_club_network.htm; U.S. EPA Student Center, www.epa.gov/students

I dislike stuffy, academic prose that makes your brain go quietly away while your eyes glaze and your mouth slowly drops open. Cripes, I almost submitted that kind of article for this column, and out of sheer guilt I apologize for something you never read but what was nearly foisted on you by my hand. I started writing, wanting to share some thoughts about this amazing time we live in, and pretty much wrote a book’s worth of material crushed into 700 words. Made me
groggy just trying to proofread it.

I called that article The Two Earths, and have again done so for this rewrite. The original article used my two biggest words: transformation and consciousness. I even used them in a compound sentence as a kind of twofer – and, sadly, an instant block to any further reading. I’ll try not to do it again.

The challenge is, those two big words do pretty much sum up most of what I talk about, and they’re darn handy when trying to speak in a…well…stuffy and academic manner. I could probably just say that I am involved in the nitty gritty of how life is changing, what is happening behind the scenes and the effects the changes are having on people. Consciousness R Us and all that.

So, the world isn’t what it used to be. Boy, there’s some good news. I was getting downright exhausted staying silent in a world that wanted to hear nothing about how everything was going to be changing big time. Now I say, “Hey, everything is changing big time,” and everybody goes DUH. You’d think all of us “dawning of the age of Aquarius” singalongs would experience smooth sailing, but noooooo. And why is that? Might it be that we forgot to include ourselves in the original equation of making a shift to peace, love and understanding? We’ve been preachin’ and teachin’ about the new age for so long that when it arrived, perhaps we got flustered and relapsed into a mentality that there still must be something left to fix. T’aint nothin’ broke. Sure, we’ve got a few jillion things re-creating themselves (including us), but maybe we can quit with the vigilance already.

So, how about no more academic exercise? How about appreciating and acknowledging how much we have worked…and healed…and grown…and…transformed. Do you realize that the new world that was just around the bend has become a reality? I ask, because it isn’t yet very visible, so you might have missed it. We have actually brought a new reality into being, but we act like it’s not there. Do you know why?

Maybe we have not understood the profound thing we have accomplished, and so we don’t recognize that there is yet one more choice to be made. Perhaps our final choice. We have evolved in a world governed by fear, disliking every moment of the power plays and competition that suck the life from us, yet we somehow think we can’t move on until the last particle of the old world dissipates. Don’t you find at least some irony in the idea that a new world of our creation awaits our participation, yet we don’t step into it because we’re now afraid or otherwise unwilling to do so?

We became good at navigating the old world of polarity and competition. You know, that one that so expertly binds through endless fear of some external threat we must prepare for. We wanted to change all that, and now we have a new world with the qualities we desire, just waiting to be inhabited. Waiting, in fact, to be chosen. Two Earths, simultaneous in existence (for now), yet offering us completely different experiences. The old one requiring excessive use of mind to maintain the illusion of control over endless painful experiences, and the new one requiring a surrender of mind, opening of heart and release of control into the mystery of the unknown. Seems a no-brainer to me, yet we still do get to decide for ourselves.

As I see it, we’re entering a critical phase in our transformation that may be pushing for a decision before the window of opportunity closes. The question, at least, is simple: which earth do you choose?

When I was a child I was feeling the Music as something higher and softer that, at the same time, could be part of my daily life and it could be with me in the ordinary activities, something accessible in every moment.

I started my path of listening, studying and experimenting, passing through the channels that were available for me in that moment – in a friend’s garage, a guitar teacher from the parish church, and local concerts.

During this growth I realized that the "Musical World" was polluted from a twisted thought of the society that influences a big part of the music business. I come away from it and I spent a period of loneliness venturing to the meditation, not knowing that the meditation itself would bring me back the Music and the Life. Now, I simply do the same things as ever, but with a different quality. I cannot find any better words than saying that my vision has been cleaned up: the mirror is the same, but the dust and the smudges that were darkening the image are gone away.

I use the Music to dance and reconnect to myself and to the earth. I let myself go in the listening and I flow in the vast spaces that the Music brings to me. I spend many moments even listening to the Nature, which gives me the Infinity. And when I play and sing, my notes are like rays pursuing that Infinity.

Food is a gift. It’s a gift from the earth; it’s a gift from a mother to a child, to those we love and are getting to know, and from those wanting to show gratitude and reverence.

Most of us have forgotten food’s significance beyond physical health or sensual pleasure. But a number of small companies are working to not only remind us of food’s sacredness, but to improve its capacity to nourish through the power of human intention.

Intention enhanced foods are taking the trend of organics and fair-trade one step further – moving beyond nutritional, healthy and ethical food production to using food as a vehicle for love and blessings.

At Intentional Chocolate in Madison, Wisc., Buddhist meditators trained by the Dalai Lama embed chocolate with prayers for "optimal health and functioning at physical, emotional and mental levels" before it’s released to the public.

H2Om Water from Southern California infuses spring water with spiritual vibrations through music and color, and then encourages consumers to interact with the water through reading and contemplating key words on its packaging.

And Natural Zing, a health food company based in Maryland, nourishes people with more than healthy food and ethical growing practices, by offering love and care through community gatherings and educational events at their non-profit farm, Spirit Bliss.

While the innovative application of science and esoteric wisdom gives these companies a cutting edge feel, Jim Walsh, founder of Intentional Chocolate reminds us that the power behind his chocolate is ancient, simple, and available to us all. "Remember how our mother’s chicken soup helped us feel better when we were sick?" he asks. "It was the love she put into it!"

Nourishing the world

Can love really make a difference? Try drinking a bottle of H2Om branded with love and see. (Or try thinking about someone you love, while drinking your own water!)

"Water is highly receptive," says Lex Lang, co-founder of H2Om, echoing the wisdom of Japanese researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto whose "Hidden Messages in Water" became popular in the U.S. a few years ago and helped show the impact of thought and feeling on the crystalline structure of water.

H2Om uses water’s receptivity in two ways. First, they play spiritual music based on solfeggio frequencies – such as those used in ancient Gregorian chants – while it’s stored in the warehouse. "But that’s just a bonus," says Lex. More importantly, the company encourages consumers to think it while you drink it and impact water through contemplating a word chosen from the packaging. There are many words to consider, including love, peace and joy (and OM, of course).

Natural Zing founder Helen Rose also wants her business to serve others. She makes sure their goji berries are grown by the Goji Farmers Co-op, a group of Tibetan wildcrafters who work to save endangered plants used in Tibetan Medicine. All Natural Zing and Spirit Bliss promotional and educational materials are printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink. Their warehouses are fueled by solar power, and they only hire people with "a sense of service to the community."

All their products are mailed out with a stamp declaring, packed with love ("When the shippers remember!" Helen laughs over the phone). Helen even offers free, raw, vegan Thanksgiving dinners at her family’s home for anyone that wants to come. "The first year we had 20 people. Last year it was almost 90," she says. And these aren’t people she knows! They’re mostly strangers who respond to "notices with on-line groups and local vegetarian groups."

For Intentional Chocolate founder Jim Walsh, chocolate provides a natural vehicle for love. The cacao plant has long been revered for its healing energies. Beloved by the Maya for its spiritual properties, and understood to be a gift from Quetzalcoatl the god of air, light, and life, by the Aztecs, its botanical name – Theobramba cacao – literally means "food of the Gods."

"Just look at the face of a child eating chocolate, and you can see some of its power!" he says, with a modern illustration we can all relate to.

Along with embedding chocolate with good vibrations, the company donates more than 50 percent of profits to people and programs researching and applying the power of positive intentions to world issues. They also contribute to non-profit organizations through creating specialty chocolate and packaging.

And like H2Om Water, Intentional Chocolate hopes others will learn to use intention in their own lives. Included in their gift baskets is a "Little Scroll of Intention," a nine-step "how to" guide that begins with "make clear your intention" leading into "do no harm, benefit others," and eventually encourages alignment with the "we" not "me."

The business of abundance

More and more, a commitment to others and the planet, and the spiritual principle of abundance are taking their place in our collective consciousness. But can they really contribute to this world prosperity?

H2Om knows that doing good means doing good business. It was founded in 2006, and in two years its business has multiplied times five, and its water has grown from being sold in two stores to 80 stores west of the Rockies. Lex says, "It benefits people to have businesses designed to enrich others!"

"We’re here to serve the community," is Helen Rose’s attitude. "We will grow if the community wants us to grow." Natural Zing put up its first websites in July 2003, and in its first year had one to four sales a day. Now they ship out on average 150 orders a day and are a $4 million dollar business. "Our business in the last two years has had a steady increase of 65 percent from year-to-year sales revenue," Helen says. "And we’re expecting a 70-percent increase this year over last year’s sales."

While it is too early to examine sales figures for Intentional Chocolate, Jim Walsh knows the chocolate serves those who eat it. A double-blind study shows that one ounce of Intentional Chocolate a day for three days increases subjects’ well-being, vigor and energy by an average of 67 percent, and in some cases as much as 1000 percent (see Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, October 2000).

Awakening to intention

The sacred nature of food has long been recognized in spiritual practice – as with observant Jews who bless food before eating, or in preparation of Hinduism’s holy Prasad. Or at the little Carmelite monastery in the St. Croix Valley of Wisconsin, where every harvest season the nuns bring the "choicest tomatoes" and other ripe vegetables to the chapel where they are blessed and served as a reminder of God’s goodness and Mary’s fruitfulness.

Waking up to food’s sacred possibilities has been part of a spiritual process for all these entrepreneurs. Lex and Sandy Fox, his wife and co-founder of H2Om, were on their honeymoon in Hawaii when, during a simple meditation, they projected positive intentions to the planet through ocean water. A series of synchronistic events, dreams and even a vision followed, leading the couple to their new life of service.

Helen says her life before Natural Zing and Spirit Bliss Farm was a "success" but only from a "financial point of view." "My husband and I had done the corporate thing," she says. "But we just felt there has to be more meaning in life. We wondered, Are we really helping people?"

Wondering how to serve, they acknowledged how they had been helped through raw food prepared with attention and care. Offering that to others was a natural step.

Jim Walsh was also a success working seven days a week for communications firm in Chicago when he was stopped in his tracks by a near-fatal whitewater rafting accident, after which his doctors suggested he get his affairs in order. "Suddenly, I had big regrets about how I’d spent my time," he admits. He saw with horror that his whole life he had come from "the me, not the we," and after a year of recovery, he moved to Hawaii with his family to devote himself to a more nourishing practice – growing what the New York Times was to call "the best chocolate in the world."

There, Jim had an epiphany. Describing it as "mother’s chicken soup syndrome," he saw that "lovingly prepared foods, by someone who really cares, has curative effects." So he took the leap and began enhancing chocolate with love.

Jim and his fellow business people are clearly on to something. Market research shows that consumers’ commitment to "fair-trade" and organic products continues to grow. The recognition of the power of intention is also growing – evidenced by the popularity of such books as Lynn McTaggart’s The Intention Experiment.

Dr. Dean Radin from the Institute of Noetic Sciences has spent a lifetime studying the effects of consciousness on external physical and energetic systems. "Focused human intention is one of the most powerful forces on earth," he says.

For Nancy, Jim, Lex and Sandy, using positive intentions to feed others just makes sense. And why not for all of us? When we cook, when we touch, when we serve through food or through speech or through action….

As Jim says, "With our thoughts, with our wishes, we can both help and harm each other. Why not use them to help? And not just the ones we love – but the whole world?"