Labrish Jamaica: Musings on Earth and Life

MARLEY - Movie on the life of Bob Marley opens Friday April 20, 2012 in theatres and on-demand

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:54:00 +0000

Cannot wait to see this! From the movie website:

Bob Marley's universal appeal, impact on music history and role as a social and political prophet is both unique and unparalleled. MARLEY is the definitive life story of the musician, revolutionary, and legend, from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best. Directed by Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland) ~ In theatres and on demand 4.20.2012

From a Wall Street Journal interview with the director Kevin MacDonald:
What is it about Bob Marley that has made him so enduringly popular more than 30 years after his death?
I think the key for me to understanding him is that he’s really the only third-world superstar. Nobody from the developing world has ever gone on to have that level of fame and international success. The whole reason why dreadlocks are in fashion, that’s because of Bob. No country is as associated with a single individual as Jamaica is with Bob. Go anywhere around the world, especially in the developing world, and you find people who worship him. His mural is all over the place. Even in the Arab Spring, in the closing credits [of “Marley”] we have a clip of people singing “Get Up, Stand Up.” Then you have the whole musical thing—there’s nobody who doesn’t like Bob Marley’s music.

It's the Climate: Connect the Dots

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:38:00 +0000

Utterly brilliant 2 minute video brought to you by the folks that give a s&*% about what's happening to the earth, the climate, and whether there will even be a habitable earth 7 generations from now. Watch and join the Connect the Dots Climate Impacts Day action on May 5, 2012:

Invitation from Bill McKibben of 350.org:

Dear Friends

Across the planet now we see ever more flood, ever more drought, ever more storms. People are dying, communities are being wrecked — the impacts we’re already witnessing from climate change are unlike anything we have seen before.

But because the globe is so big, it’s hard for most people to see that it’s all connected. That’s why, on May 5, we will Connect the Dots.

In places from drought-stricken Mongolia to flood-stricken Thailand, from fire-ravaged Australia to Himalayan communities threatened by glacial melt, we will hold rallies reminding everyone what has happened in our neighborhoods. And at each of those rallies, from Kenya to Canada, from Vietnam to Vermont, someone will be holding a…dot. A huge black dot on a white banner, a “dot” of people holding hands, encircling a field where crops have dried up, a dot made of fabric and the picture taken from above — you get the idea. We’ll share those images the world around, to put a human face on climate change–we’ll hold up a mirror to the planet and force people to come face to face with the ravages of climate change.

Anyone and everyone can participate in this day. Many of us do not live in Texas, the Philippines, or Ethiopia — places deeply affected by climate impacts. For those communities, there are countless ways to stand in solidarity with those on the front-lines of the climate crisis: some people will giving presentations in their communities about how to connect the dots. Others will do projects to demonstrate what sorts of climate impacts we can expect if the crisis is left unchecked. And still others of us will express our indignation to local media and politicians for failing to connect the dots in their coverage of “natural disasters.”

However you choose to participate, your voice is needed in this fight — and you can sign up here: www.climatedots.org

These will be beautiful events, we’re sure. But they will also have an edge. It’s important for all of us whose lives are being damaged to know that it’s right that we get a little angry at those forces causing this problem. The fossil fuel industry is at fault, and we have to make that clear. Our crew at 350.org will work hard to connect all these dots — literally — and weave them together to create a potent call to action, and we will channel that call directly to the people who need to hear it most.

May 5 is coming soon; we need to work rapidly. Because climate change is bearing down on us, and we simply can’t wait. The world needs to understand what’s happening, and you’re the people who can tell them.

Please join us–we need you to send the most important alarm humanity has ever heard: www.climatedots.org

Onwards,

Bill McKibben for the whole team at ClimateDots.org

Jamaica and Climate Change

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:06:00 +0000


Havendale flooding, Kingston, Jamaica ~ Tropical Storm Nicole

Hat-tip to our friends over at Green Antilles for the heads-up on this good article re-posted here from IPS News:

Working to Cope with Climate Change, Jamaica Calculates Costs By Zadie Neufville KINGSTON, April 8, 2012 (IPS) -

Jamaican authorities are aiming to transform an island that experts say faces one of the worst climate risks in the world into a nation "equipped to prepare for and respond to the negative impacts of climate change".

Vision 2030, the National Development Plan, offers strategies to simplify climate change adaptation, merging its principles with both development and local policy frameworks. Charting a course from 2010 to 2030, the plan aims for "a strong and stable economic foundation".

Extreme events have had a significant impact on Jamaica's economy, environment and people. Five major storm events between 2004 and 2008 reportedly caused 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in losses and damage.

Industries that suffer the brunt of each impact include agriculture, which reportedly employs 180,000 people; tourism, employing about 106,000; and fisheries, employing 100,000.

Economists agree that in addition to exposing the country's lack of resources, adaptation planning has uncovered vulnerabilities in the financial sector. They also point to the need for sustainable financing for adaptation and risk reduction strategies – Jamaica's adaptation is being funded by grants, loans and donations from international bodies.

Private sector risks:

The burden of equipping Jamaica to adapt to the impact of climate change does not fall solely on the government. The private sector is also being urged to pay attention to areas where it is vulnerable. Insurance companies, for example, face risks that could cripple the financial sector, environmental economist Maurice Mason said. "Lack of adequate re- insurance means the financial sector is highly exposed," he warned. The economist noted that because businesses are grounded in stock returns, they seem to have overlooked the long-term planning necessary for climate change adaptation. In 2004, Dyoll Insurance Company collapsed after it amassed huge losses resulting from Hurricane Ivan's devastation of several countries and the Cayman Islands. Delayed compensation payments on crop insurance also drove many farmers out of business and hurt agro- processing companies. "With increased intensities and frequencies of hurricanes and storms predicted, the implications for loss are great for local insurers and their re- insurers," Mason concluded.

"Adequate re-insurance options for local insurers and a reassessment of the triggers and parameters used" by the Caribbean Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), which provides risk insurance for Caribbean governments to cover damages from natural events, are needed, said environmental economist Maurice Mason.

Vision 2030 is built into Jamaica's second national communication to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (UNCCC). Central to Vision 2030 are a national energy plan, plans for other sectors and a still incomplete climate change adaptation plan.

"Achieving a healthy natural environment" is one of the plan's four goals, as the vulnerable island is heavily reliant on natural resources. The plan's 15 outcomes incorporate the related themes of climate change and disaster risk reduction, tourism, manufacturing, environmental protection and sustainable planning.

In drafting Vision 2030, the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) sought input from Jamaicans from all walks of life. "If our ecosystem development does not allow people to live, they will work to destroy it," said PIOJ head Gladstone Hutchinson.

Pointing to the necessity of a "strong focus" on improved environmental management, he noted, "dysfunction in any of these spheres will impact Vision 2030".

No place left untouched

At risk are Kingston's commercial district and its service infrastructure, the historical town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport. Portmore, a settlement of more than 250,000 people, Jamaica's fastest growing town of Old Harbour Bay and the famous Negril are also threatened.

Scientists at the Geo-Informatics Institute of the University of the West Indies predict sea level rise of a minimum two to three millimetres per year during the first half of this century. Such levels could affect an estimated 102 square kilometres in some of the most densely populated coastal areas.

A one to two metre rise, the UWI study speculated, would devastate low-lying coastal areas and key installations, including major power generation facilities, the oil refinery, airports and seaports. It would also have a serious impact on the natural protection of the Kingston harbour.

High engineering costs means there must be focus on improving access roads and shoring up the capability of response agencies, Mason, who works at the Disaster Risk Reduction Centre at the University of the West Indies, told IPS.

"Where climate change is concerned, everything up to 10 meters is vulnerable. That will put all our critical facilities at risk, our transhipment port in Kingston, both major airports and the north coast - that is effectively 70 percent of our GDP," he said in a telephone interview.

Protecting Jamaica from sea level rise will cost approximately 532 million U.S. dollars, using a 1992 estimated cost of 197 U.S. dollars per person, and even without estimating the impact on natural resources, costs have begun to add up.

Raising about four kilometres of Palisadoes Road by just over three metres above sea level is estimated to cost 65.7 million dollars. The road links the airport and the town of Port Royal to the rest of the island. Recently, it has been blocked due to storm surges, marooning the historic town and airport. But experts also point to the need for reengineering works on roadways such as the main route from Kingston to the south coast. The main escape route for Portmore and other vulnerable communities, it becomes impassable during bad weather, and alternative routes are also prone to flooding and landslides.

The U.N. Adaption Fund has approved funding for the construction of protective structures to halt the erosion of the world famous Negril Beach, a project with a 25 million dollar price tag. Experts estimate one to two metres of the beach is eroded each year. In 2010, the popular destination reportedly brought in a quarter of the island's 2 billion dollars in tourism earnings.

Deploying natural resources

PIOJ's Mary Gooden outlined adaptation strategies that include identifying alternative employment for communities where human activities are hurting forests and wetlands. "We have to teach them to protect the environment while living in it," she said noting that individuals are being helped to develop plans and proposals as well as access start-up funding.

The Forestry Department has replanted more than 300,000 hectares of forests in degraded upper watershed areas to reduce run-off, erosion and silting of waterways. The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is restoring natural coastal defences by replanting mangrove trees in some of the island's most vulnerable communities. Mangroves absorb wave energy, thereby reducing impact on the land. They are also a source of fuel wood, animal feed and sticks to build fish pots.

Vision 2030 places high priority on alternative sources of energy to mitigate climate change. Most of the island's energy generation facilities and supporting services lie within a 10-metre vulnerability zone. The energy plan hinges on the state-owned Wigton Wind Farm in central Jamaica. The facility has helped reduce Jamaica's oil purchasing, which topped 1.48 billion U.S. dollars between January and June 2011. The plan aims to reduce the amount of electricity generated from imported petroleum from 95 percent to 30 percent by 2030, with 15 percent from renewable energy by 2020.

In order to lessen the impact of floods and droughts, artificial water recharge mechanisms that return excess water to natural underground storage systems are also being installed, as are rainwater catchment systems. Additional weather stations are also being set up to provide valuable data on rainfall and temperature.

Seeds of Light is building an Orphan Center in South Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:01:00 +0000

I'm pleased to be supporting Seeds of Light as they embark on their biggest project yet: the building of an orphan center that will support hundreds of AIDS orphans in South Africa. From the Seeds of Light website:
Our approach is twofold. We take action with practical projects to support and uplift impoverished and marginalized communities such as : providing access to clean water; creating food gardens; improving overall health of AIDS orphans and vulnerable children; and preserving endangered species and ecosystems. We also offer a range of trainings to enhance life-skills.

Watch the latest update:
From the latest newsletter:

Several months ago we announced our plans to help build an orphan center, Ekurhuleni Center for Orphans and Vulnerable Children ("Place of Peace"), Seeds of Light's biggest project ever! The Center will feed and care for 300-500 AIDS orphans daily, and eventually will house some of the neediest of those children. In December, we were offered a matching grant from a U.S. foundation, and we are thrilled to say that we raised the full $45,000 match for the grant! Thank you for making that possible! Since we last wrote to you, there has been another very exciting development. The Foundation who sponsored the matching grant in November offered us an additional matching grant of $72,000. This means if we raise the full match, we will have a total of $145,000 needed to finish Phase 1 of the Orphan Center! Will you please help with a one-time donation or a monthly donation? Or would you be willing to organize a fundraiser of some kind--garage sale, bake sale, raffle, etc.?

To get involved or join in supporting this great cause, please visit the Seeds of Light website.

International Women's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:16:00 +0000

Today is International Women's Day and to celebrate, I am donating to Planned Parenthood. Why? Because I am sick of the war on women that is being waged by a misogynist group of men who control far too much power. Enough. It is time for women to rise up. Who thought that in 2012 we'd hear issues of contraception and access to women's reproductive health become things to debate? The GOP and their supporters are trying to revert back to a time when women did not have control over their bodies. Read this and this for context and background if you have not been following this news. So I urge my sisters to take action, support Planned Parenthood, let's ensure that we continue to have the right to make decisions for our own health.

Are we prepared to lose all of our forests? "Climate Change & Bark Beetles = Billions of Dead Trees"

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:10:00 +0000

Happy 2012! My graduate studies are filling most hours of every day, leaving little time for me to focus on anything else. The following guest column by Dr. Reese Halter appeared in the Palo Alto Daily News Weekend on Saturday January 7, 2012. I am re-posting because Dr. Halter cogently presents for us the sobering predicament that we are in regarding climate change and the future of life on this planet as we know it. Are we prepared for what he is saying here? Do people care that there may not be a habitable planet for their great-grandchildren? Is anyone listening? Or is all the evidence being drowned out by the climate change deniers and their paymasters and henchmen who control the fossil fuel industry. . . Let us hope that 2012 is the year that that the scales are finally tipped, once and for all, in favor of saving the planet . . .

"Climate Change and Bark Beetles equal Billions of Dead Trees" by Dr. Reese Halter:

Recently, one of my colleagues sent me a story that sums up the media's apathetic appetite for covering the environment. It is perplexing and disturbing.

The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, despite the rhetoric from every GOP candidate.

Climate change dropped further from the world headlines in 2011 compared to the previous year, even though a vicious one-in-100-year drought in Texas has entered its second year; 70 percent of Mexico is enveloped by its worst drought in 70 years; Australia faced epic flooding costing taxpayers in excess of $5 billion in infrastructure costs; and plants are so confused in their biorhythmic cycles that the white petals of snow drops, normally a spring flower, are now unfurling in the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C.

Clearly, nature is showing climatologists, ecologists, physiologists and oceanographers that the web of life is being brutally dismantled by rising greenhouse gases. Humans are exceptional problem-solvers, so why has the media chosen not to focus on positive solutions? After all, Americans have the highest concentration of brainpower in our colleges compared to any other nation on the globe.

For those who do not believe that anything is going on, walk, ride or fly anywhere across western North America and you'll see vast amounts of dead trees. In the past 40 years across the West, temperatures have risen on average in excess of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Advertisement Although this number appears to be small it has effectively removed nature's ecological cold curtain, enabling mountain pine beetles an opportunity to speed up their life cycle, invade and decimate high-elevation pine forests across the continent.

Instead of absorbing carbon dioxide, billions of beetle-killed trees across the West are decaying and stoking the ever-rising pool of greenhouse gases.

Death rates of Whitebark and Limber pines across the western U.S. are as high as 90 percent. The sentinels of the high country have become the tsunami sirens of global warming, showing scientists that a warming world is irrevocably altering the landscape across the entire mountainous region of western North America.

It's not just the forests that are disappearing, but also immense amounts of ice that reflect incoming solar radiation. One hundred billion tons of ice melted from Greenland during the blistering warm summer of 2010. This year alone, 50 percent of Canada's millennia-old Arctic ice shelves along the coast of Elsmere Island vanished.

And far worse, the Southern Ocean, which occupies 22 percent of the total ocean on the globe absorbing 40 percent of Earth's CO2, is acidifying so quickly that by 2030 the sea water will be corrosive to crustaceans, dissolving shells that the animals are making. This amplification will reverberate all the way up the food chain to the whales.

Data from the Global Carbon Project showed the carbon emissions from our planet had increased 5.9 percent between 2009-2010 -- the largest jump in any year since the Industrial Revolution.

The $17 trillion Albertan oil sands must spend carbon energy and precious fresh water to separate the gooey, toxic oil from the sand. Moreover, by burning this petroleum humans will knowingly raise atmospheric CO2 levels by an astounding 150 ppm. Earth will be uninhabitable for life as we know it.

If Australia, with its $10 trillion coke-coal industry, can ratify a carbon tax, then surely we in America can set a low-carbon standard that China and India will follow.

We are running out of time to combat rising CO2 emissions: Earth's forests are dying.

It's time to embrace innovation and the dictum of cofounder of the London School of Economics, George Bernard Shaw: "Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."

Reese Halter is a conservation biologist at Cal Lutheran University, public speaker and founder of the international conservation institute Global Forest Science. Follow him at twitter.com/DrReeseHalter.

Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Great Victory for Blue Lagoon Jamaica!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:15:00 +0000


Blue Lagoon, Portland, Jamaica

Jamaica's precious Blue Lagoon won a significant victory this week when a Preservation Notice was signed by the Government. Below is the letter from the Jamaica National Heritage Trust with the good news. The Preservation Notice is the first step to protecting the integrity of the Lagoon. It was 60 years ago that Jamaica's first Prime Minister, Norman Manley sent his preservation notice to the Cabinet earmarking Blue Lagoon to be preserved for future generations. It is a great victory that is now taking place for Jamaica's environment and the beautiful Blue Lagoon. Congratulations to all who have helped to make this possible and in particular to my friend Adrienne Joan Duperly of Blue Lagoon Restoration Jamaica who has worked tirelessly by advocating for Blue Lagoon and to Laleta Davis Mattis of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust who made it happen! Blue Lagoon Preservation Notice Letter to Participants of the Meeting

The Climate Crisis: Humanity Faces Its Shadow (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:30:00 +0000

The old people used to say that droughts happen when people forget, when people misbehave. ~ Leslie Marmon Silko in Ceremony

That we have desecrated the earth is without question. Westernized humanity has caused the loss of forests, landscapes, species, ecosystems and now perils the entire planet with severe weather events caused by carbon-related climate change. From the severe droughts affecting southern states in the U.S. this past summer, the unprecedented loss of arctic sea ice, to the heat extremes of 2010 which brought wildfires in Russia and catastrophic flooding in Pakistan and Australia, Gaia is unleashing her fury on a breathtaking scale. There is nowhere on earth that is now unaffected by climate change. One would think that with all of the evidence displayed across our daily headlines and television screens that the majority of the population would be clamoring for their governments to take action. Incredibly though, the largest, most powerful economy on earth, the United States, is doing very little on a federal level to deal with this freight train headed right for us. In fact, quite the opposite is true: the United States anemic response and unwillingness to seriously commit itself to carbon reduction standards is the reason that the United Nations talks on climate change have not produced any meaningful agreements and why there is little hope for the current COP 17 talks in Durban.

From a depth psychology perspective, it could be said that climate change is an out picturing of humanity’s shadow, directly related to our broken relationship with the earth. The denial of climate change and the tepid response to it is evidence of it being a shadow issue for humanity. We do not want to face it. We would rather place it on the back burner as we do with other shadow aspects of the psyche. But centuries of exploitation of the earth as a mere resource to be used and plundered is now showing us, through the destructive forces of climate change, that we have misbehaved badly We have indeed forgotten how to live peacefully and sustainably with the earth. Like all cut off aspects of the shadow, we will be forced to deal with it at some time or another as the world psyche tries to balance itself.

Indigenous people have not forgotten. While their lands were being stolen, and their peoples killed in genocidal acts, the indigenous people of the world have held on to their inherent wisdom about how to live with the earth. Thomas Berry states:

[The] Indian peoples of this continent do possess, it seems, an indestructible psychic formation that will remain into the indefinite future. They have held on to dimensions of their ancient wisdom traditions of which European Americans have had little or no knowledge. As the years pass it becomes ever more clear that dialogue with native peoples here and throughout the world is urgently needed to provide the human community with models of a more integral human presence to the Earth.

Indigenous practices and ways of living do not cause climate change. For the most part, their relationship with the earth has not been broken. It is time we learn from them because our westernized, mechanized, technological ways are obviously not working when it comes to preserving the planet. By learning from them this does not mean that we should adopt their spiritual ways, steal their wisdom about medicinal plants or take from their culture. But there are many ways that we can learn from them while honoring their wisdom. They can help us to remember how to live peacefully and sustainably on the earth. Copyright © Kathy Stanley. Part 2 tomorrow.

Quoted in this article:

The Intersection of Coral Reefs, Crochet and Mathematics.

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:11:00 +0000

This. Video. Blew. Me. Away. Where coral reefs, crochet, and mathematics intersect. Margaret Wertheim schools us on hyperbolic geometry, embodied knowledge and play tanks. Absolutely. Genius. Go to The Institute for Figuring for more information.

Jane Bell Interview on Egypt Travel with Nile TV

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:59:00 +0000

A candid, informative interview from Oct 15/11 regarding travel to Egypt with my friend Jane Bell:

Jane Bell runs Presence of Heart Tours - highly recommended for anyone considering travel to Egypt.

Occupy: A Global Revolution in Consciousness

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:11:00 +0000

On February 11, 2011, I wrote the following letter in response to the revolution in Egypt. Given the events now with #OccupyWallStreet and the evolving #OccupyEverywhere going global, this bears a re-posting:

A missive from the future:

Looking back, it was 2011 that cemented in place a new collective nervous system in the world. Twitter, Facebook and the whole internet brought about solidarity, not just of one people in one country, but of many people in many countries of the world. The aspirations of freedom and democracy, fairness and social justice for all people, everywhere was borne out of the events in Tunisia and then Egypt, causing the world to wake up to the fact that the time had truly come when people could take power over governments, when the old tactics of intimidation, censorship and brute force, no longer caused fear, or had any effect to stop the revolution. With transparency and the new empowerment of people fueled by the internet, and their shared attention to uprooting injustice, a whole host of problems facing the world could be addressed. Governments could no longer hide behind propagandist facades of “protecting the people.” Dictators could no longer be propped up by foreign aid while their people suffered immeasurable social injustice. Oligarchs could no longer get away with robbing countries of wealth through tax giveaways to the rich while blaming public employees for drained funds. Plutocrats could no longer get away with hiding out in mountainous Swiss enclaves, planning how to maintain their control of the world while the majority of people suffered in hunger and lived on cents a day. Corporations could no longer stifle action against the threats of global warming. The global revolution in consciousness came about, charged in large part by the collective power gained through this new nervous system: the internet, social media and the simple fact that most people around the world want peace, freedom, a fair and honest democratic system of government, and attention to issues like poverty, education, joblessness and global warming that face all of us. So to all of you oligarchs, plutocrats, dictators, corporate bosses and corrupt governments quaking in your boots, know this: Your. Days. Are. Numbered. (So just evolve, will you? Join the rest of us and give up your greedy, immoral, rapacious ways.)

#OccupyTogether and The Occupied Wall Street Journal

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:40:00 +0000

It can't come soon enough for the fate of all of our futures: the waking up of the 99%. A Wall Street phenomenon spreading to all major cities in the U.S. and now going global. BRILLIANT! May this be the beginning of the end of the immoral, rapacious greed and criminality that has overrun democracy in favor of the 1% plutocratic overlords...
Issue #2 'The Occupied Wall Street Journal' to read/download

Can someone please elect this woman. Now. We need her in the Senate (or the White House) YESTERDAY.

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:57:00 +0000

RIP Wangari Maathai

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:23:00 +0000

The great African (Kenyan) environmentalist, founder of the Green Belt Movement and the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize, Wangari Maathai passed away yesterday from cancer. I had the good fortune to see her speak at a conference years ago in Washington, D.C. She was an inspiration to millions and her efforts on behalf of the environment, women and democracy are profound achievements. Her legacy has been huge and she will be very missed.
Here is a clip from Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai - a documentary film highlighting her life and work.

Here she is telling an inspiring story. "I will be the hummingbird" in the documentary "Dirt"

And here she is speaking with Democracy Now two years ago on climate change and the U.N. talks.

From the New York Times obituary:

NAIROBI, Kenya — Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist who began a movement to reforest her country by paying poor women a few shillings to plant trees and who went on to become the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, died here on Sunday. She was 71...

Dr. Maathai, one of the most widely respected women on the continent, wore many hats — environmentalist, feminist, politician, professor, rabble-rouser, human rights advocate and head of the Green Belt Movement, which she founded in 1977. Its mission was to plant trees across Kenya to fight erosion and to create firewood for fuel and jobs for women.

Dr. Maathai was as comfortable in the gritty streets of Nairobi’s slums or the muddy hillsides of central Kenya as she was hobnobbing with heads of state. She won the Peace Prize in 2004 for what the Nobel committee called “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” It was a moment of immense pride in Kenya and across Africa.

Her Green Belt Movement has planted more than 30 million trees in Africa and has helped nearly 900,000 women, according to the United Nations, while inspiring similar efforts in other African countries.

“Wangari Maathai was a force of nature,” said Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nation’s environmental program. He likened her to Africa’s ubiquitous acacia trees, “strong in character and able to survive sometimes the harshest of conditions.”

Dr. Maathai toured the world, speaking out against environmental degradation and poverty, which she said early on were intimately connected. But she never lost focus on her native Kenya. She was a thorn in the side of Kenya’s previous president, Daniel Arap Moi, whose government labeled the Green Belt Movement “subversive” during the 1980s.....

In her Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Dr. Maathai said the inspiration for her work came from growing up in rural Kenya. She reminisced about a stream running next to her home – a stream that has since dried up – and drinking fresh, clear water.

“In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness,” she said, “to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.” Read the entire obituary here.

Her books include:
Replenishing the Earth
Unbowed: A Memoir
The Challenge for Africa
The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience

24 Hours of Climate Reality Coming Sept 14

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:20:00 +0000

"Let me tell you a secret. Sometimes - just sometimes - I get jealous of the people who don't believe in climate change. On those days, when I hear someone on breakfast radio declaring they have 'proof' that climate change isn't real, I give a cry of joy, leap out of bed and eagerly start investigating this wonderful claim, only to find that - as usual - they're talking absolute nonsense and the science of climate change is as frustratingly solid as ever." ~ Danny Chivers in The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change.

It can't come too soon: a whole 24 hours of reality programming on the climate crisis is being broadcast tomorrow in every time zone. Enough with the lies and the climate deniers. It's time we got serious. Don't you think? I was alarmed to hear from a relative in the Cayman Islands that they have been having unprecedented temperatures of 108 and 109 degrees there. In Cayman? That is unheard of...and just yet another example of our fragile planet in distress...

To get involved and to watch go to the Climate Reality Project website here.

Saving Humpback Whale from Fishing Line Entanglement: An all too common hazard for whales

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:16:00 +0000

Amazing and heartwarming video from the folks at the Great Whale Conservancy who saved a humpback whale from entanglement in fishing line in the Sea of Cortez:

One People: "Out of Many, One Documentary" - Celebrating Jamaica's Global Reach

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 02:26:00 +0000

Next year both Jamaica and I turn 50. Me in February and Jamaica six months later when the island celebrates her 50th year of independence from Great Britain on August 6, 2012. I'm celebrating by entering grad school and getting my masters degree over the next two years. The One People Documentary is a fabulous idea to celebrate Jamaica's independence and a great collaborative effort. Jah know seh Jamrock deserves some upliftment! We may be likkle but we tallawa!!! From the OnePeople wesbite:

OnePeople is a collaborative documentary that invites people worldwide to contribute footage to celebrate Jamaica's global reach 50 years after independence. We pose the question "What does Jamaica mean to you?" with the aim that a global community of creative minded people will respond by uploading a visual representation of their answer.

We know this tiny island nation has touched many outside of our country, even beyond our diaspora, and with this project we will embrace anyone who has ever been moved by a reggae song, enjoyed a plate of ackee and saltfish, a Negril sunset, been inspired by the words of Marcus Garvey or simply has a point of view.

OnePeople will premiere in London, Toronto, New York, Miami and Kingston on August 6th 2012.

We hope we have given you all the information you need right here but feel free to contact us with any questions.

Submissions will close November 6th, 2011. See website here.

Are we hard-wired for harmony with the earth?

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 03:39:00 +0000

Evidence is all around us that human beings, except for remaining indigenous peoples, are the cause of most of the stress now facing much of the earth’s ecosystems. The multi-century widespread colonization of the earth by the Westernized human has consumed forests, wetlands, marine ecosystems, grasslands and all manner of natural environment and has precipitated a new extinction phase. Without knowledge that there is another way to live with the environment, it could be safe to say that many modern people no longer know of any other way to live other than to be in an unsustainable relationship with the earth. The person growing up in an urban, fully built environment is these days likely preoccupied with survival issues – working several jobs to provide food and shelter for their families, hence the natural world (and sustainability with the natural world) is perhaps far from his or her mind. So does this mean that this person is no longer capable of a living in harmony with the earth? Not according to Paul Shepard:

An ecologically harmonious sense of self and world is not the outcome of rational choices. It is the inherent possession of everyone; it is latent in the organism, in the interaction of the genome and early experience. The phases of such early experiences, or epigenesis are the legacy of an evolutionary past in which human and nonhuman achieved a healthy rapport. (128)

In this statement, Shephard makes the claim that human beings are innately capable of having a sound relationship with the environment that does not involve pathological tendencies towards destruction, and does not involve having to make a concerted effort or choice to do so. He is saying that left to our basic nature, and with healthy development of the psyche, human beings possess an instinctual nature, like animals, that knows how to live in harmonious relationship with the earth.

Jung offers support for this theory when he describes his mother as having a “natural mind:”

The ‘natural mind’ is the mind which says absolutely straight and ruthless things. That is the sort of mind which springs from natural sources, and not from opinions taken from books; it wells up from the earth like a natural spring, and brings with it the peculiar wisdom of nature. (Jung 27)

Jung further develops this theory of the natural mind into his notion of the ‘archaic man’ which he says we still possess even though our evolving consciousness has taken us away from it:

Every civilized human being, however high his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche. Just as the human body connects us with the mammals and displays numerous vestiges of earlier evolutionary stages going back even to the reptilian age, so the human psyche is a product of evolution which, when followed back to its origins, shows countless archaic traits. (Jung 100)

Jung believes that the archaic man resides in our unconscious and is re-awakened by dreams and spending time in nature. He distinguishes between modern man and archaic man however believes that even modern man can re-gain the connection with nature. His recommendation on how to re-connect with the archaic man within us is illustrated by this message to students:

Go to bed. Think of your problem. See what you dream. Perhaps the Great Man, the 2,000,000-year-old man, will speak. In a cul-de-sac, then only do you hear his voice. (Jung 215)

Jung places great emphasis on dreaming and spending time in nature as a prescription for igniting our instinctual nature and connection with the ancient wisdom residing in our unconscious. He believed that our great development of consciousness has swung too far out of balance whereby we have gotten too far away from the archaic nature which knows how to live sustainably with the earth, and too dangerously associated with technological development that destroys the earth. However, like Shepard, he believed that we still possessed this inherent ability to live harmoniously with earth.

Shepard and Jung offer positive perspectives on modern man’s ability to have a right relationship with the earth, even amongst the heaping evidence to the contrary. In my own experience, if I make the mistake of watching too much television, reading too many newspapers or spending too much time on the internet, my inner and outer harmony is diminished. Conversely, the more time I spend in nature, and the more time I spend tending my dreams and communing with my pets, brings me into a greater harmony with the world inside and outside of me. Perhaps it is exactly as Jung said: “Sometimes a tree tells you more than can be read in books” (Jung 6). I am glad that we still retain this ability to hear the wisdom of the trees. Copyright © Kathy Stanley.

Works Cited

Jung, C.G. The Earth Has a Soul: C.G. Jung on Nature, Technology & Modern Life. Ed. Meredith Sabini. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2002. Print.

Shephard, Paul. Nature and Madness. Athens, GA: U of Georgia P, 1982. Print.

Washington Post publishes article on struggle for Blue Lagoon Jamaica

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 22:01:00 +0000

Yesterday the Washington Post published an Associated Press story on the struggle for Blue Lagoon which is under threat by developers:

Battle brews over development of Jamaica’s Blue Lagoon, one of island’s best known attractions

PORT ANTONIO, Jamaica — In a lush corner of Jamaica, a skirmish is under way over a spring-fed lagoon where the changing light of day turns water from shimmering jade to brilliant cobalt.

Tree-fringed Blue Lagoon is a dazzling, 400-foot-long (122-meter-long) teardrop of water that meets the Caribbean along a coast that was once a hideaway for the rich and famous and a setting for a film starring Brooke Shields.

The little lagoon’s shore already is marred by an abandoned, hurricane-damaged restaurant and a crumbling helicopter pad, and a new development is alarming conservationists who are trying to save one of Jamaica’s most gorgeous natural attractions. The owner of a small hilltop hotel overlooking the lagoon has carved away a pocket of forest and mangroves to create a private, white-sand beach that activists fear could spoil the unique environment.

In most places on the tourism-dependent island, where politicians mostly view the conservation lobby as a hindrance to economic development, a small beach cut out of mangroves would hardly merit notice. But the Blue Lagoon isn’t just anyplace.

It’s a rare environment where the warm waters of the sea mix with fresh water from cold mineral springs in a 186-foot-deep (57-meter) sinkhole. Yellow-billed parrots spread their wings to dry after rain showers. Small blue fish dart around the shallows. Black-and-scarlet frigate birds swoop overhead.

The cove was first described in an 1864 journal published by photographic pioneer Adolphe Duperly. The Frenchman’s pictures of Jamaica were a hit at a Paris exhibition and helped the Blue Lagoon become a destination for travelers.

The lagoon and the wider Port Antonio area were once favored destinations of European aristocrats and film stars like Errol Flynn, whose widow still runs a cattle ranch nearby. But it has seen a steady decline in tourist traffic since its 1950s heyday.

Blue Lagoon still attracts bird-watchers and nature lovers who want experiences off of the beaten track, though it’s hardly been a priority for recent Jamaican governments due to its relative isolation and lack of foot traffic. Just outside the cove, about a dozen luxury villas line the shore.

It is often known as Blue Hole to locals, but the alternate name came into wider use after the Brooke Shields movie “The Blue Lagoon” was partly filmed there, though her famed swim scene was shot elsewhere.

The Jamaica National Heritage Trust has completed historical research to potentially declare Blue Lagoon a protected national monument. But Lisa Grant, legal officer for the government body, said more rigorous evaluations are needed before any official declaration can be made.

They need to “make sure the economic activity around the site does not compromise the integrity of the area,” she said, a reference to development and boat tours around the cove. It is not clear how long their assessments might take.

During a recent visit to the cove, the chief of the local Portland Environment Protection Association, Machel Donegan, said the area is a “very special, unique place so development on it should not be allowed.”

Environmental activists have been pressing politicians to save the cove, while blasting regulators. They say government approval of the beach is evidence of a broader failure of environmental protection on an island where many see jobs as more important than strict conservation. Read rest of article here.

Kitten vs 2 scary green things

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:36:00 +0000

I saw this on Keith's show a few days ago but it's much better with the soundtrack:

Ending Anti-Gay Violence in Jamaica - Oslo Freedom Forum - Thomas Glave and Brian Williamson

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:26:00 +0000

My cousin, Brian Williamson, was a prominent human rights and gay rights activist in our birth place of Jamaica. Sadly, Brian was murdered in June 2004 and his death was attributed to his outspoken efforts to bring about an end to homophobia in Jamaica. Known and mourned around the world, Brian’s death elicited this response from Amnesty International: “Brian Williamson was a courageous individual prepared to speak out for one of the most marginalized and persecuted communities in Jamaica: the gay and lesbian community. The loss of such a fearless champion of human rights is to be regretted; he will be sorely missed.”

I remember the last time I saw Brian. He had moved to Toronto for a while where I was living at the time. For the sake of his family, I wish that he had never returned to Jamaica after that. I was helping him to update his resume. I still have his resume on my computer. I keep it as a memento of him. When I did a class in Human Rights Advocacy for my undergrad degree a couple of years ago, I thought about Brian a lot. I knew him as my older, loving, big-brother like cousin who was the life of the party, always cheerful and uplifting - you could not find a bigger heart anywhere. But now, as a result of all of my class work in the world of human rights, I felt like I understood the spirit of who my cousin was and the world of advocacy work that he devoted his life to. I felt like I had come closer to appreciating and understanding the significance of his work while gaining greater resolution with his untimely death.

Now, in a deeply powerful testimony about the horrors of what gay people have to endure in Jamaica, the highly acclaimed Jamaican writer and Binghamton University professor Thomas Glave gives a riveting speech to the Oslo Freedom Forum 2011 in which he includes a tribute to my cousin Brian:

It is beyond time that the appalling homophobia that is a blight on certain parts of Jamaican society come to an end. Beyond time. How many more must suffer. How many more must die. I salute the courage of heroes like Thomas Glave and Brian Williamson who co-founded JFLAG. I join Thomas Glave in his prayer.


Brian Williamson

From the J-FLAG website:
J-FLAG’s mission is to work towards a Jamaican society in which the Human Rights and Equality of Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays are guaranteed. To foster the acceptance and enrichment of the lives of same-gender-loving persons who have been, and continue to be, an integral part of society. J-FLAG holds the vision to move forward in a spirit of oneness, love, dignity and respect towards the establishment of a Jamaica, and world, devoid of prejudice, injustice, discrimination and oppression. And, furthermore, to ensure the human rights of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, as set out in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Your Moment of Zen

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 01:41:00 +0000

Link between climate change and Joplin tornodoes? Never. Bill McKibben's op-ed in video narration.

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:17:00 +0000

Get the fossil-fuel industry out of controlling energy policy in this country. Join 350.org on September 24, 2011 for the global rally Moving Planet: A Day to Move Beyond Fossil Fuels.

Moving Planet is a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis—a single day to move away from fossil fuels. For too long, our leaders have denied and delayed, compromised and caved. That era must come to an end.

Come on bike, on skates, on a board, or just on foot. Come with your neighbors and your friends, your family and your co-workers. Come be part of something huge. It's time to get moving on the climate crisis. Join up here.

Jeffrey Sachs and Robert Kennedy, Jr. on why we can't have a good energy policy

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy Stanley) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Two of my heroes speaking about the "stranglehold" that the fossil fuel industry lobby has over policy in Washington.
The Last Mountain starts this weekend.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Take Action:
Join in the NRDC efforts - click on link to sign
Tell President Obama to stop allowing mountaintop removal mining to destroy Appalachia

Across the Appalachians, coal mining companies are destroying entire mountains in a practice known as mountaintop removal mining, and then they're dumping the untreated mining wastes into adjoining valleys and streams, wiping out large swaths of forest, miles of streams and the wildlife that depends on them. Urge President Obama to prohibit mining companies from dumping their mountaintop removal waste into streams and lakes.