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Trespass
Come to this place starved
and I will probably fear you not feed you.
I do not speak your language. Are you here to steal the cow or the cat food
or the bird seed? No, please know the fruit trees are not planted for you in
No God’s Land.
You are too close to the sheep and the house, too close to
this starved place.
Tag, you’re it.
One in a list of three digit numbers
moved to another place starved.
697 698 699 682 704 710 714
G181. G, you are too young to wear a necklace.
Be glad you are not N/A, the one who died hungry
on the neighbor’s short grass. The window
above this sink full of dishes from last night’s supper
looks filthy in the morning light.
~holli
meganhollingsworth.com
Grizzly Identification Numbers from Wyoming Grizzly Bear Relocation Report 2012
image: Yellowstone Grizzly photo copyright Tom Murphy tmurphywild.com
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"We are blind to our blindness."
~Daniel Kalineman
"Give up owning things
and being somebody.
Quit existing."
~Rumi
"Expectation of an outcome creates fear."
~Dalai Lama
1.1.2015
Dear Friend,
I wrote earlier this year on the danger of labeling ourselves and others based on past behavior and/or experience. The poem, Eating Delusion, offered in the 12.24.2014 post brings this to the fore of my reflection along with the obsessive use of numbers in measuring cost and predicting outcome. Labels and numbers are distances that can lead to expectations creating and exacerbating fear.
Fear is the seed of all violence. Neglect is as violent as the fist.
Unfortunately, every aspect of the possessory culture, including its psychoanalysis, is rooted in fear. The mind/worldview developed in such entitlement must actually be reformed for the person to be humane. So, the sensitive person who is becoming healthy is labeled insane by cultural standards. It’s quite a fix and exciting to see how fast and far the remedies are spreading. Godspeed.
Numbers and the hazards of analysis are addressed in this final post with grizzly and closing post of 2014, which, due to circumstance, celebrates this first day of 2015.
It is hard to see beyond the possibility of working with numbers when numbers are the name of the game. Complicating matters ever more is the personal prosperity that one may attain by working with numbers even as passion and ethic are compromised to attain a result.
While I do not work in the field of species conservation, I receive painful reports from those who have devoted their lives to this. Not only is there a sense that they are fighting a losing battle, but that the battle itself is distant from the lives of those supposedly spoken for. Lives are bargained.
To think of grizzly in terms of numbers, is to think of men in this abstract way and we do in war. Bears, like men, lead lives. Bears bond, they nurture, they play, and they contribute to their families and communities. For the soul, who knows this place, grizzly is kindred.
An individual is irreplaceable. One bear must not be traded for ten nor ten for one nor 100 for 1000. Right effort is to respect and care for each.
Keep to the source of living waters.
Do not think to store in cisterns;
they will break and crumble
and the water will be lost.
Cup your hands and drink deeply and often
and you will have health and joy.
with David Cumes in Remedies for the Three Deadly Sins of Karma
Much of what I catch in the news today is yet a greater distance from home. People talk of space travel, whether for private entertainment or in service to humanity. As I noted last week, if the intention driving the invention is of desire to benefit solely the human being or a particular group of human beings, humanity is lost in the design and build. One could say humanity is lost from the imagination itself in this case. Humanity is something the human being has potential for. Humanity is not a given, but is something cultivated through knowledge and ritual (see Notes on an Exorcism).
I do not know what is out there and frankly, I do not care. I do care about the life I know, one full of wonder, beauty, mystery and miraculous detail. While spirit lifts me from the depths of what is the despairing age, the soul knows only love and no other love like Earth. My sense is that any peaceful resolution for Earth is within and around us here, nowhere else. But, who knows?
When one operates from a platform that is itself sourced by way of greed, the individual is as untrustworthy as the platform is unstable and wealth that arises of this is illusion. Illusion eventually reveals truth and inspires the beginning point. The beginning point is here. Transition is on.
As childbirth translates to what is with Earth and all here, individuals are at once giving birth and assisting the great birth. It’s possible to see these roles as separate, valuing service to others more than personal care and transformation. But, the great birth happens solely through the transformation of individuals, each one ultimately responsible for trusting the constancy of his or her becoming.
In this time, as always, we each hold what we must for ourselves and immediate others while extending our care to distant others. Always, all of Earth has been held in human consciousness. The only difference between the present and past knowing is how one comes to know the world for the realization of humility, respect, and responsibility such awareness impresses.
This awareness is particularly impressive as one realizes the cost of disrespect and irresponsibility so apparent today. I thank you for tending what is yours to tend and encourage you to give more to those who are hungry than may feel comfortable to give. If you are blessed with savings in cash or material, now is the time you have been saving for. Today’s generosity is tomorrow’s existence.
The genius of discomfort is the lesson of the soul's inherent generosity. All are provided for in a generous spirit. May you feel free to empty your pockets for the paupers created by greed and ignorance.
If the thought is "human beings are greedy, we have wrecked everything"; the attention is on greed and its consequence, and from this attention greed is perpetuated. The antidote is the thought "human beings are generous, we care for one another and all"; the attention is on generosity and from this attention generosity is perpetuated.
If you test this thinking process on yourself with the thought "I am generous, I care for all; human beings are generous, we care for all", you will see a change in your behavior, including your speech and your approach with others you greet whether they are well known or foreign to you. I encourage you to practice generous thought above all else, trusting that as you do, you will have more joy and more that is enjoyable to share.
Please enjoy the offerings herein from Marc Bekoff. Marc has devoted his life to helping other animals, while exploring the depth of the soul. He is a spectacular model and voice for all wild, together and alone.
May 2015 see humanity in full bloom.
Love and Blessings, Thank you
Megan
PS ex·tinc·tion wit·ness takes a break from the revolving monthly witness in January. We will resume in February. Please do be on watch for the announcement of the full ex·tinc·tion wit·ness website, which will be live yet this month! Your presence with and support of the project is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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"By recognizing our capacity to suffer
with our world, we dawn to wider
dimensions of being.
In those dimensions there is still pain,
but also a lot more. There is wonder,
even joy, as we come home
to our mutual belonging ~
and there is a new kind of power."
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“The redwoods were not made to be worshiped,
but they do help us in our worship.”
~Dean Ohlman for RBC Ministries in Celebrating the Wonder of A Tree
"As soon as I got out into Heaven's light
I started on another long excursion,
making haste with all my heart
to store my mind with the Lord's beauty
and thus be ready to any fate, light or dark.
And it was from this time that my long continuous wanderings
may be said to have fairly commenced.
I bade adieu to all my mechanical inventions,
determined to devote the rest of my life
to the study of the inventions of God."
~John Muir
However it is we wish to know God and the great love for ourselves and others, the forest will clearly no longer sustain an assault. The ocean is as present to the end of resilience.
The light coming in this time of revelation is purely to guide us through what we have already conjured by way of ignorance and self-judgment ~ a long dark night in which our children will share with one another out of necessity. We are the ones who will choose whether this light prevails and we do so by allowing light to permeate our beings.
~Megan Hollingsworth, excerpt from THE WAY OF UNCERTAINTY continue reading...
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VIRGIN 
(7:20 ~minute film)
see VIRGIN at Vimeo here
The title references virgin
in the original sense:
“Virgin was a label of strength and independence
by being used to describe the goddesses who were immune
to the temptations of Dionysus, Greek god of seduction
and wine. Virginity was once a term of power.”
~Palo Alto Medical Foundation
To VIRGIN is to proclaim the GREATEST HUMAN TRAITS.
Of these HONESTY is the greatest of all.
A documentation of healing ceremony with redwood grove of Oakland Hills, California, VIRGIN weaves poetry and song to convey a message of compassion for the perpetrator.
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a brief on
VIRGIN
includes some of the poetry
featured in VIRGIN and a brief
on the intent of this production
at vimeo
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From Amazon Watch: 12.6.2014 "hundreds of indigenous peoples from communities across the Amazon joined together on a beach in Lima, Peru to create a massive "human banner" image to promote awareness about territorial rights for indigenous peoples in the global climate conversation." read more and see the banner...
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Brazilian officials warn of ‘imminent’ death
of uncontacted Indians ~ 26 June 2014
please read Survival
please see aerial footage
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"Political movement on the issue of climate change
will be like the rise in average, global temperatures ~
non-linear.
Things like the Pope weighing in...
to demand action,
will tip the balance.
We will look back at this time
and wonder how
it could ever have seemed impossible
to get political action on the issue."
~ Karyn Strickler in response to
ex·tinc·tion wit·ness maintains a running list of peace ~ climate resources.
read Changing the Climate of Climate Talk at Elephant Journal
things to see & do
Project Drawdown
DRAWDOWN (ˈdrôˌdoun) n.
The point at which concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere begin to decline.
Inside Paul Hawken's audacious plan
Freedom International NOW
spearheading THE decade THAT made THE difference™
We Day
empowering a group of young global citizens through an inspirational event
and a year-long educational initiative
‘What’s Possible'
2014 UN Climate Summit Opening Film
First Policy Switch:
From a strategy of reducing problems to reversing them
Blindspot Think Tank, UK
"People are not inherently destructive and economic activity need not remain dependent on exploiting people, planet and the potential of the future. The economic vehicle need not remain stuck in reverse, making reverse progress. Janis Birkeland (2008) offers the third strategy option of ‘positive development’: 'The view that negative impacts are an inevitable consequence of development has blinded us to the obvious. We could design development to increase the size, health and resilience of natural systems, while improving human health and life quality.' "
read the First Policy Switch...
Women's Climate Action Agenda
Women's Earth Climate Action Network ~ WECAN
Derived from the collective efforts of the 2013 International Women's Earth and Climate Summit, major points of the Women's Climate Action Agenda action plan include: limiting global warming to 1.5-2.0 °Celsius ceiling, urgency to protect intact forest and assist with forest regeneration, leave almost all of the remaining fossil fuel reserves in the ground and stop further fossil fuel exploration and development. Women are calling for an emotional connection to all children, present and future.
read the Women's Climate Action Agenda...
Climate Disruption
a film by Kelly Nyks & Jared P. Scott
Climate Disruption tells the why and what of the People's Climate March.
watch Climate Disruption...
Reverberations Of War
edited recording of the 9.5.14 poetry reading at Shakespeare & Co., Missoula
listen to Reverberations Of War...
The Arctic Methane Monster’s Rapid Rise, Jennifer Hynes’ Power Point presentation about the predicted release of a superpower of methane from the Arctic was shared in the last ex·tinc·tion wit·ness letter without full review. The presentation is dramatic and inflammatory, and Jennifer Hynes notes her personal belief that there is no avoidance of a Near Term Human Extinction.
The lens we gaze through and how we manage our personal response to information determines more than we can know. For the science, it is worth watching Jennifer's presentation. Much of the information she shares is solid and the danger is real.
However, the conclusions Jennifer draws are tainted with fear, to which we are all susceptible. Jennifer's conclusions are challenged by this review from Steven Running, Regents Professor, Director at Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana:
"Well, [Jennifer Hynes] has sure spent a lot of time reading up on this science. The slides shown are from solid research papers and datasets, I use some of them myself. Boreal methane hydrates are real, and there is a lot of it. However the thermodynamics are such that there is no way it could melt out and be released within a year or two, and the biosphere will not simply collapse. Her final statement that within a year the Arctic sea ice will be gone is simply a wild extrapolation. The latest Arctic sea ice data, downloaded 10min ago, shows that 2014 did NOT end up as the biggest melt on record, and there is no evidence that Arctic sea ice will be totally gone by Sept 2015 ie 1 year from now. Antarctica also has a large ice mass this year. So her projection that the ice will disappear and the biosphere will simply unravel in the next 1-2 years simply has no factual basis. I admire the kind of passion and effort people like her bring to the global warming issue, but passing around this sort of misinformation does not help us to have a mature discussion about humanity's next choices." ~SR
It is important to read both Jennifer and Steven, to act now in a steady, focused, determined fashion as if there is no time to stall or sidestep ultimate solutions.
Fracking May Be Worse Than Burning Coal
Bill Mckibben
“In a paper published in the journal Climate Change in May 2011, they concluded that somewhere between 3.6 percent and 7.9 percent of the methane from fracking wells was escaping into the atmosphere as its made its way from underground to end user. Which is a lot. More than enough, as we shall see, to make fracking worse for climate change than the coal it was replacing.
... We need to look beyond methane leakage for a moment, and think about the transition to gas in a larger context. Because if we’re replacing coal with gas, it means we’re not replacing it with something else. .. in fact, in just the same years that we’ve learned to frack we’ve also learned an awful lot about how to scale up wind and sun. And that means that far from being a bridge, the big investments in natural gas may actually be a breakwater that keeps this new wave of truly clean energy from washing onto our shores.
… As it turns out, economists have studied the dynamics of this transition, and each time reached the same conclusion: because gas undercuts wind and sun just as much as it undercuts coal, there’s no net climate benefit in switching to it. For instance, the venerable International Energy Agency in 2011 concluded that a large-scale shift to gas would “muscle out” low-carbon fuels and still result in raising the globe’s temperatures 3.5 degrees Celsius—75 percent above the 2-degree level that the world’s governments have identified as the disaster line.
…to meet that two-degree target (and since just one degree is already causing havoc, we sure should), global gas consumption would have to peak as early as 2020. Which is, in infrastructure terms, right about now—if we want to be moving past natural gas by 2020, we need to stop investing in it now.”
read Fracking May Be Worse...
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invitation to pause is a 3.44~minute film
introducing ex·tinc·tion wit·ness
and some of the collaborating artists
Please see invitation to pause here
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Feral Theatre's
Funeral for Lost Species
Please see this short film for highlights from a performance and sculpture installation at St Peter's Church, Brighton Fringe Festival, May 2011. Many artists contributed to this innovative exploration of extinction and ecological grief, in which audiences and participants engaged on a visceral and emotional level with humankind's power to destroy and create.
See 'Funeral for Lost Species' on Vimeo
Also please see The Life Cairn Project
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this Extinction Symbol is NOT
an ex·tinc·tion wit·ness creation
and ex·tinc·tion wit·ness encourages
the placement of this symbol
in public spaces
you may even tattoo this on your skin
per the request of the artist
who is based in the UK
please DO NOT commercialize
the extinction symbol
ie please DO NOT print the symbol on t-shirts
mugs or other products for sale
please create this symbol
in your own way
in a special place
preferably in view for all to see
Thank You!
more at Extinction Symbol
join in at flickr group
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Each December, as we roll into a new year, I find myself thinking about what's happened in the past twelve months and what's coming up as we move into a new year, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Because of my own interests in animal protection and the conservation sciences (conservation biology, conservation behavior, conservation psychology, and conservation social work), I tend to focus on nonhuman animals (animals) and their homes. As I've been doing interviews for my recent book Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence (the Kindle edition can be found here) and also talking about the growing global and interdisciplinary field called "compassionate conservation" (from July 28-31, 2015, there will be a meeting called "Compassionate Conservation 2015" at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) and thinking about how to make the world a better place for all individual beings, human and nonhuman alike, two new books and one "older" book that had escaped my radar were delivered to my mailbox as if they were meant to come to my attention at the moment they did. The timing could not have been better.