Words’ Worth

There is an active principle alive in all things;

In all things, in all natures, in the flowers

And in the trees, in every pebbly stone

That paves the brooks, the stationary rocks,

The moving waters and the invisible air.

All beings have their properties whch spread

Beyond themselves, a power by which they make

Some other being conscious of their life,

Spirit that knows no insulated spot,

No chasm, no solitude; from link to link

It circulates, the soul of all the worlds.

This is the freedom of the universe;

Unfolded still the more, more visible,

The more we know; and yet is reverenced least

And least respected in the human mind,

Its most apparent home.

William Wordsworth

Fireworks on Fireworks

L points out Fourth of July fireworks contribute to pollution.  They distribute heavy metal residues.  In other words they’re filthy and bad for ya.

K says to go.  The amount of pollution, compared to others sources, is so negligible, so why skip the community celebration and fun?

J, the real boss of me around here, says I’m going.  And so far, I say, “I don’t know”.

What are your plans?

I love our annual local rite for American independence.  Our town has the BEST fireworks display of any town it’s size, hands down.  And we always precede it with dancing to the oldies (and newies, I think, too) and lots of picnicking and socializing on Rider U’s big lawn.  Fabulous local fun.  Hard to pass up.

I am left with this for now: I’ll probably get swept up in the enthusiasm of the moment and go.  And I will feel bad.  Is that any way to live?

I invite your comments…

Ralph

Remembering Thomas Berry

He died this past Monday, June 1, 2009.  He was 94.
I had the great benefit of having spent a brief time in dialogue with Thomas.  I learned that he was brilliant, clear about his role and the place of his contributions, yet personally modest.  He was a towering figure, as I said earlier this week in a note to a friend, a generous soul, and a heck of a guy – sort of like the universe whose story he so presciently unfolded for us.

His time among us is over, but his work, I think, was done.  (It seems to me he planned things well.)  Our debt to him, as sustainability activists, is immense and far-reaching.  Thanks to him and Miriam MacGillis, his friend and interpreter, I actually think I have some idea of what I’m doing.   Here is a paragraph from the last page of his final book, aptly and poetically named Evening Thoughts, published in 2006…

“As a final reflection, I would suggest that we see these early years of the twenty-first century as the period when we discover the great community of the Earth, a comprehensive community of all the living and nonliving components of the planet.  We are just discovering that the human project is itself a component of the Earth project, that our intimacy with the Earth is our way of intimacy with each other.  Such are the foundations of our journey into the future.”

Ralph

Getting over it…

Say you’re about to hike up a mountain. At the foot of the trail, you stop, check your gear, and take a peak at the summit.  “Omigod, it’s so big!” you tell yourself.  “I’ll never make it!”

You may be right, so you start to doubt yourself.  You even begin to formulate your answer to the question folks will ask you when you get back home, namely, “Did you make it all the way?”  You begin to wonder what gripped you to do this in the first place.  And you’ll certainly never try it again.

You can feel your sense of adventure, not to mention your self-confidence, ebbing away, perhaps indefinitely.

Now, let’s try this again.

You’re about to hike up a mountain.  At the foot of the trail, you and your friends pause, check gear, and cast your eyes upward to see the peak.  “Yikes!” someone says.  “That’s not so bad, says another.  “Well make it,” says a third.

And off you go.

Something about the mountain does not seem so high when you are standing at the base of it with friends.

Get it?

Ralph

(Thanks to Laur Fisher for the idea behind this post.)

Natural Method

Here, in its entirety (and clipped respectfully), is a recipe for drain unclogging.  It avoids dangerous chemicals and ought to save you at least some money — more if you never have to call a plumber.  Somebody please try this and tell me if it works.

From someplace on the web.  Sorry, I lost it.      — Ralph

Looking for a way to avoid using Drano or some other terribly caustic substance to unclog your shower or sink drain? Look no further than your kitchen pantry for all the ingredients you need to unclog the pipes without causing damage to the environment.

Step 1 – Put the DRY baking soda down the drain. I use about 3/4 of a cup.
Step 2 – Pour 1/2 cup of vinegar down the drain after the baking soda. Be sure to cover the drain immediately afterwards with a rag or plug, filling the hole completely so nothing can escape. This is because the interaction of the two will cause a “mini volcano” that will want to come up and out of the drain..you want to keep it down there.
Step 3 – Leave this concoction in the drain for about 30 minutes. While you are waiting, boil a tea kettle full of water.
Step 4 – After 30 minutes, remove the plug and slowly pour the HOT water down the drain.

All done! Your drain should flow smoothly now. If not, just do it again. We normally have to do our tub drain often because of the wife’s long hair, but it cleans it out every time.

Avoiding Each Other

Went for a bike ride around the county yesterday.  Lovely Saturday afternoon.  Rain held off and temps rose to warming levels.  Nice one, Mother Nature.  Thanks.

Along my route, I encountered evidence of the richness of community life in these here parts.  Ewing had signs around for the community 5K run that had taken place that morning.  Downtown Pennington had people nearly filling the streets during an annual Borough celebration of some kind or other.  And in Lawrence, the Greater Eldridge Park Neighborhood Association was holding its first-ever garage sale and swap in the fire company parking lot.

This is the season for it.  Recall some recents.  Communiversity Day in Princeton, Lawrenceville Main Street’s Jubilee, and Lawrence Nature Center’s Earth Day festivities.  All either are or will likely become annual events.

You could say, after the long winter we take advantage of the new season to enjoy each other’s company.  I wonder if on some important level it’s really a charade.

I believe we talk to each other far less today than we used to.  Too many of us avoid real contact with immediate neighbors, choosing instead to hang with fellow workers or family.  Don’t we use these public events to feign neighborliness and pretend everything is chummy and cheery.

I ask people all the time, in my role with Sustainable Lawrence, if they’re willing to invite in a few neighbors for a little coffee and dessert for a little chat about how they can join together and save money (together) while learning home-based sustainability.

Few takers.  A lot of “No, not with our neighbors,” comments.  We turn out for street fairs of every variety, but we do not open our homes.

Are you part of this presumed majority?  If so, why?  What goes on in your mind about this?

No psycho-social analysis, please.  I want to know why you do not or would not invite people over?  Is it the topic?  You don’t trust your neighbors?  You don’t have any dessert forks?  What’s your reason?

(Or tell me I’m wrong.)

Ralph

Oops. Ouch. Uh-oh.

Got caught in a mistake today.

We’re hoping to create a solar array, our town’s very own, in the not-too-distant future.  I have been working on identifying a parcel of privately-owned land where we might place it, say up to ten acres.

I was discussing my initial investigations with some fellow citizens, and two people pointed out the “ugly” trade-off I was proposing and which they were unwilling to support.  Don’t, they as much as said, trade land for electricity production.  Good point.

Sustainability, by definition, embraces a comprehensive balance.  We need the undeveloped, open spaces, and we need to end our dependence on fossil fuel-powered energy generation.  We must have both clean, renewable energy, and permanently protected natural spaces.

In my excitement to find a good spot to plunk down a fresh batch of solar panels, I lost sight of this.  You could say I temporarily lost my balance.  Not good.  Gotta watch it.

Perhaps we are conditioned, somehow, to seek simple answers, to solve  problems with single-factor solutions, to answer questions without considering context.  I am working to overcome this ingrown tendency.  I tell myself I largely have, but today I fell into that old mental trap: see a problem, find a solution, move on.  Job “well done”.

Nope, no way.  Not any more.  It’s a new day.  Connection is all.  See the system.

Ralph

One Guy’s Take on Sustainability

An inspiring, provocative quotation, found at the foot of an e-mail from my friend Carolyn Foote Edelman, poet, publicist, nature writer and D&R Greenway Land Trust staff member.  See Carolyn’s blog, called ” NJ Wild” at http://www.packetinsider.com/blog/nature/

Ralph

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common–this is my symphony.

WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING

New Order of Things..?

“Mitigation of the present ruinous situation, the recycling of materials, the diminishment of consumption, the healing of damaged ecosystems; all this will be in vain if we do these things to make the present industrial systems acceptable. They must all be done but in order to build a new order of things.”

Thomas Berry

Orientations (2)

Recently we wrote: consumption and sustainability are opposites.  Here’s more.

The consumer orientation, to which most of us are deeply compliant, says: go ahead, use things up, you can always get another.  Or more.  Planet as cornucopia, a bottomless well.

I remember as a small child in the 1950’s thinking oil would run out someday.  I mentioned this to my mother, who told me not to worry, so I didn’t.  But I knew the logic was irrefutable, even if I couldn’t get a straight conversation going.  I shut up.  (No, I was not a precog child, just occasionally left alone too long.)

Now, of course, we all know oil will indeed run out, as will everything and anything else, if we’re not careful.  Consumption is the original slippery slope, is it not?

It’s okay to have, use, buy, and sell things.  Stuff.  We just have to make it all last.  Underscore “all”.   And forever.  I love to repeat Thomas Berry’s phrase, “The earth is a one-time endowment.” A literary way of saying this is all we’ve got, there ain’t no more, arguments for inter-planetary colonization notwithstanding.

So save something today.  Re-use something.  Continually develop new uses for all your “old” stuff.  Easier said than done.  When was the last time you found a new use for a worn-out, trash-bound sneaker?  Can you come up with one today?  A planter, perhaps?

I have this fantasy…  I have a road-side stand.  I sit there and people come by with their old stuff.  I come up with new uses for everything anybody shows me, and I charge each person a dollar for every new idea.   I am getting very, very rich.   I’m thinking of franchising.

But it’ll never work, because anybody can do this.  And it doesn’t have to be a future thing.  Now is good.

Ralph