compassion, collaboration & cooperation iN transistion
Just add WATER !
"WATER - so senstitive to the unique frequencies being emitted by the world
- esentially and efficiently mirrors the outside world. The written words
themselves actually emit a uniqe vibration that water is capable of sensing.
Water faithfully mirrors all the vibrations created in the world, and changes
these vibrations into a form that can be seen with the human eye.
When water is shown a written word, it receives it as vibration and
expresses the message in a specific form." - Masaru Emoto
The economy is the wholly owned subsidiary of the environment
and there's no way the economy, child, can prosper without a
healthy parent.
The parent is constantly infusing capital into the child. The economy draws natural capital from the environment, from the Earth.
No CEO with a subsidiary that required a constant infusion of capital would keep that subsidiary very long, and nature is a better manager than any CEO I know, and capable of being far more ruthless
Ray Anderson co-chair of President Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development and the Chairman CEO of ...
further more - LIFE cannot be sustained without WATER - over 95% of our body IS water and in order to stay healthy ONE must drink good water !
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The National Research Council, Washington DC , set out strategies to combat desertification, including soil conservation programmes, drought relief and afforestation - following Agenda 21 - the blueprint for action adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
However, actual achievement in world terms is still inadequate except in China, where massive tree planting has mitigated, but not yet halted, the movement of sand eastwards from the dunes of the Gobi desert.
Coping with Water Scarcity
" Equity and rights, cultural and ethical issues are essential to be addressed when dealing with limited water resources. Imbalances between availability and demand, the degradation of groundwater and surface water quality, intersectoral competition, interregional and international disputes, all centre around the question of how to cope with scarce water resources."
Out of deference to the fact that - it was Gobi desert nomads who first grew "bonsai" fruit trees to take their only source of vitamin C with them on their travels - and in support of the Interface sustainability & FLOW concepts - and in admiration of zaadz' support for the Working for Good initiative - and last but not least Julia's commitment to start the PASSION SMASHIN zPod - I have published elsewhere details of my development of the technique of sustaining Alder bonsais by ...
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Comment by Michael Grove on March 10, 2011 at 10:48
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A visitor to China’s Loess Plateau would rightly be puzzled that the region was once the cradle of Chinese civilization.
Through thousands of years of farming, much of the once fertile soil has been leached to the point of infertility. Massive dust storms pick up the loose soil and carry it as far as Tokyo and Taipei. During sunset, fumes from factories block out the sun well before it can be observed sinking below the horizon.
But all this may be finally changing.
In 2005, the Chinese government, in cooperation with the World Bank, completed the world’s largest watershed restoration on the upper banks of the Yellow River. Woefully under-publicized, the $500 million enterprise transformed an area of 35,000 square kilometers on the Loess Plateau — roughly the area of Belgium — from dusty wasteland to a verdant agricultural center.
The result of careful terracing, replanting of native vegetation and restrictions on grazing, the rejuvenated land now supports a thriving local agricultural economy. Even better, the new vegetation reduces flooding and dust storms by anchoring the region’s soil and is becoming a large carbon sink.
As the Copenhagen meeting on climate change begins, the restoration project may finally get the attention it deserves. A new film directed and written by John Liu, the founder of the Environmental Education Media Project and a veteran eco-film director, will tell the story of the Loess Plateau. The documentary, “Hope in a Changing Climate,” takes the story of the Loess Plateau as its lead, but quickly moves to Rwanda and Ethiopia where similar successes have come from a process known as forest landscape restoration.
Copenhagen is the first time forest landscape restoration will be on the agenda at a major international climate conference. Under what is known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation Plus (REDD+), Copenhagen negotiators hope to establish a regulatory regime to fight deforestation and manage forested areas. Proponents of forest landscape restoration are hoping this could include recognition and support for projects across the globe.
That could be a major step forward in popularizing landscape restoration. The process suffers from being literally as exciting as watching grass grow. It can take decades for vegetation to fully return, and strict attention must be paid to mundane matters like grazing and over-planting. Mr. Liu’s documentary overcomes this stumbling block with jaw-dropping fades from muddy denuded landscapes to lush fields.
It is becoming harder to deny the importance of forest landscape restoration in combating climate change. A new study by the World Resources Institute shows that about 1 billion hectares of land could be restored across the globe. Rough estimates indicate that carbon sequestration through this process could eliminate 50 percent more carbon from the atmosphere than a proactive cessation of deforestation could.
Still, forest landscape restoration is decidedly complex. Because ecosystems vary based on geography, and lasting success depends on the support of local residents, the process is pesteringly cross-disciplinary. Any forest landscape restoration project requires the know-how of engineers, ecologists and soil scientists, plus an understanding of local economics and politics.
In the Loess Plateau locals built and must maintain the terraces that have brought about their ecosystem’s incredible recovery.
Much hangs in the balance of the Copenhagen talks, and although forest landscape restoration is a shining light in what has over the past few months become a darkening debate, it is no panacea. It must be implemented in combination with carbon cuts and sound anti-deforestation policies.
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Gordon Brown - the man who claimed "to have ended the cycle of boom and bust for the UK" - Didn't he also save the world as well from ALL of its financial woes? - is here again at the penultimate moment of the Euro Crisis expounding the fact that IF the G20 doesn't get its act together to help keep the Euro alive we shall all be faced with potential bailouts for France and Italy as well.
Surely its the founding members of the Euro project - Germany, France and Italy - who should now be realising that the wheels are falling off the charabanc because they chose not to fit tyres to the wheels in the first place.
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Let me start by putting my GM cards on the table. Although this might come as a surprise, I did not start out with an ideological opposition to Genetically Modified Crops. I have always been open minded about new technologies and I understand the enormous challenge of producing enough food to eat from sustainable production systems.
Patrick Holden
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Sometimes the unplanned becomes visible, sometimes it is planned but cannot be perceived. The way that life takes one character, and changes through
him / her the things to be.
The Book of the Catalyst
I believe we each have a flow & when we look at our flow, we then can see how our choices & thoughts have created our lifes. One of the ways I believe we can change the world is to share our
stories. To spotlight the differences each of our life paths have
been will help us understand that we are all, individuals & each
one of us is an important cog in this wheel of life & evolution
Searching
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Upon reading the title and nothing else “Just add water” –what came to mind immediately was, as you say “one of the ways I believe we can change the world is to share our stories. To spotlight the differences each of our life paths have been will help
us understand that we are all individuals and each one of us is
important…”
“Just add water” helps us reach one another, expand, grow…open ourselves, as we are
ourselves, and we have much to learn and share with each other. The
“each other” that is the greater whole of ourselves.
Sustainability = Water = Zoe
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with you again
it is all about water…
http://2020worldpeace.org/mediawiki/index.php/Watercycling
nothing you don’t know already i am sure
what are we going to do about it?
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Imagine sand turning into soil.
Imagine food being grown where water is a luxury.
Imagine shelter where sand storms blow down walls.
Imagine people of all faiths working towards common goals.
Imagine abundant nature replacing barron desert.
Imagine hope in place of dispair.
Imagine interdependence in place of dependence.
Such is THE vision and dream of Martin Dewhurst for this project …
a 12 acre community garden that trains teachers in the art of permaculture.
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and now a message …
From the trees
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The UN estimates that achieving the millennium development goal on water and sanitation would cost about $10bn a year and the G8 must make good on the promises of Evian and come up with a global fund to mirror that for HIV/Aids.
There is no earthly reason why Gordon Brown's international finance facility - a means of raising up front money for development through the sale
of government backed bonds should not be used for water and
sanitation. Indeed, given the hefty capital cost of water and sanitation projects, it's hard to think of a better use for it.
On any basis it would be a cracking investment.
It is estimated that Africa loses about 5% of GDP through waterrelated illnesses.
Every $1 invested in water and sanitation generates about $6 in economic returns, even apart from the lives it saves.
Gordon Brown says and he's right that the greater the pressure from civil
society the easier it is for progressive politicians to egg on their
more cautious colleagues. It's time for the development community to
take Brown at his word and start raising a big stink about the Great Stench.
Larry Elliot - Economics Editor - The Guardian
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In the context of HOW best to spend the hard-earned money of the world's taxpayers ..
What Works: Top-down or Bottom-up ?
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Yes, “Imagine…”!. Imagine, imagine, imagine…, dare to emagine…; this is the beginning of all human creativity.
However, beware of the enemies in high places of a successful earthly humanity.
Among other things, they will want to cull five out of six of us because, they insist, the earth's carrying capacity is, at maximum, 1 billion of
humans.
When a population species is secure in its evolutionary survival its rate of reproduction is harmonised with the resources
available in its environment.
Human population will be stabilized around eight or ten billion when social security provision in “poor
countries” will replace large families as necessary provider
of security in old age.
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DIscipline can INDEED be freedom …
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I would leave religion home…
Then watch the children smile …
as joint No1 priorities of …
a totally integrated bottoms-up/top-down Global Commons solution
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… and China's green journey continues ….
The bottom line is that China IS DOING a lot already, mostly unsung. Could IT DO MORE ?
YES. China must keep an open mind and learn from the international community. The Climate Group's new report shows clearly that the world should revise its image of China,
not fear it but work with it constructively. At the same time, China must keep up the internal pressure to make its clean revolution a reality.
Chuangjua Wu, Greater China director at the Climate Group's Beijing office.
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… and in the context of ACTION which makes SENSE - where better to start than …
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The grapes, white or blue, harvested and collected at the right moment, become wine, almost by themselves.
A noble, rich liquid if professionals facilitate the transformation process.
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No ploughing,
no pollution,
great,
green agricultural yields …
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In the context of the dilemma presented by these two juxtaposed reports …
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So where the heck are guy's like You around when voting time comes blistering by, is all I have ta' say.
Boots up…….you know what i mean, right?
:))
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DIGGING, COMPOSTING, GROWING and MULCHING in my allotment, to provide as much good organic produce as possible, for an ever expanding extended family, rather than wasting my time trying to convince those in charge of the system that both they and the system have to change.
Bu Yan Zhi Jaio Tian Xia Xi Ji Zhi …
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Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I filmed Organic Gardening Made Easy and when I was posting I found all of the videos you bring in here. This is my passion and I feel connected to helping this awareness come
up for mankind to first LOOK the take some action. I love what Paul
Hawkens is doing too. Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest and WiserEarth and this is bookmarked… thanks to your most artistic and important links. I am grateful to you.
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YOU R, as always, most welcome and yes ALL POWER to Paul Hawken
and his understanding that for the first time in the history of our species,
a non-idealogical movement has arisen and as David Korten said in his October speech, which I have reported elsewhere …
“We are changing the defining stories of the mainstream culture. It is a simple but rarely noted truth that every great transformational social movement begins with a conversation aimed at challenging a
prevailing cultural story. The civil rights movement changed the story
on race. The environmental movement changed the story about the human
relationship to nature. The women's movement changed the story on
gender. Our current task is to change the prevailing stories about the
nature of wealth, the purpose of the economy, and our human nature. YES! Magazine and my most recent book Agenda for a New Economy are useful tools for organizing the necessary conversations.
We are creating a new economic reality from the bottom up as millions of people the world over are working to strengthen locally owned human-scale business and family farms, developing local financial institutions, reclaiming farm and forest lands, changing land use policies to
concentrate population in compact communities that reduce automobile
dependence, retrofitting their buildings for energy conservation, and
otherwise moving toward local self reliance in food, energy, and other
basic essentials. The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) is building a national support system for these initiatives.
We are changing the rules: Current law and public policy largely favor the Wall Street economy to
the exclusion of Main Street economy. We must work together to promote
and support political action at local, national, and global levels to
change the balance in the favor of Main Street.”
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” Compounding climate change is deforestation. Kenya’s population has doubled in the past 20 years, and less than three per cent of the country’s original forest remains. Without the
trees to bind the soil, it erodes: when the rains do come, the water
either disappears into the ground or surges away, taking with it what
is left of the land.”
Sally Williams' article entitled RIVERS of LIFE, in this week-ends Telegraph colour supplement, details the Daily Telegraph's selection of the charity called Excellent Development, as one of four charities which will benefit from this year's Telegraph Christmas Charity Appeal.
The article explains the work that this charity has done to initiate the building of 200 dams since 2002. ”SAND DAMS” which can hold 2-10 million litres of water. Why NOT consider the USE
of LED lights on your Christmas tree this year and donate the savings
in electricity to this particular charity whose mission is to build
2500 more ”SAND DAMS in AFRICA”?
IF EVERYONE in the USA had used LED lights on their Christmas trees last year instead of normal fairy lights, they would have saved $160 billion. That's $160,000,000,000 - that's a lot of money and a lot of energy wasted.