The Internet

Can you imagine what our world would be like without the internet?  It's really hard to say, as far as the environment goes. Personally I have found valuable information on the internet when it comes to the safety of our food, environment, illnesses and cures as well as prevention, etc. And I do not  think I could have ever learned so much without having the answers at my fingertips. As well as I would not have been involved in the groups that I have- had I not known about these matters. By now, had we not had the internet, I think the government and big companies would have a great hold on my what we consume, what happens in our children's health and environment,  and what happens to our world period. These days we are able to get the word out about something within seconds, raise money within seconds, sign petitions within seconds, become a member within seconds, help change a life within seconds.

I will admit there are times I think about leaving social sites because I feel like I could be using my time in more worthy areas. But then I find out new information and want to share it.  Each of us are on the internet for our own reasons, some of us online for fun, loneliness, therapy, to share news, or all of these things, which applies to me at times.  For the most part I try to post things that mean a lot to me, personally, or are useful in hopes to inspire a change to a more simplistic way of living, which can be done, yes,  even with energy consumption via  internet use. I only know that when I walk outside and find extreme out-of-the-ordinary temperatures, or when numerous  family (including pet) die of cancer, as wellas a change in the way our food is being manipulated, and a rapid decline in beneficial  insects -which they all are beneficial really, I have to share my findings and need/want to talk about it. And so, while there are a lot of reasons why the invention of the computer is not such a good idea like loads of energy consumption which means burning of more fossil fuels, and identity theft on the rise, as well as broken computers filling landfills,  there is at least some very good things to come of it. It is my hope that in 2013 we can all work together to make the world a better place on every front, because, guess what, in 125 years or less you and I, and any child born this very day will not be walking this earth anymore, breathing the air, drinking the water, or using the soil for planting. We will then be a component of the land, giving back to the earth, flowers, trees, insect, wildlife,  and soil. 

Ant Photo Crumb Photography Photograph Trail Food Picture Writing about Nature

I’m pretty sure that if this ant could talk he went back to his fellow ants and said, “I’ve just hit the mother load! Follow me! It was not 2 hours later that an army of ants made a path to some crumbs on the kitchen floor. I let them go and just watched them for a moment; each ant carried their portion of dinner out the tiny hole under our door. Ho-hum- Ho-hum. 


When I came back later the crumbs were gone, and so were the ants. I could have removed the attractant and the problem would have gone away, or I could have squashed them, or sprayed them down with chemical spray (which I don’t buy). Instead I let them have their food, swept up the floor once they left, and later put a drop of tea tree oil on a napkin and wiped it in the area in which they entered. They’ve not been back since. 

Dirty and Clean Hands Reduce Reuse and then Recycle Photo Photography Photograph

I first started my blog to write specifically about writing, but it turned out that my heart wanted to go elsewhere, toward posting about art and nature. Now I ask myself what’s the point in my blogging about nature other than to share my stories and photos with other nature lovers? Does there even have to be another point? Isn't that enough?


To me, no. What I want from my nature blog (now combined with my art blog) is not just to compare sunsets, but also for a person who doesn't care about how they treat nature to visit here…and perhaps have a change of heart.


Perhaps this type of person has already stopped by, but nothing I’ve written, such as the rate that Americans are generating garbage- 500 landfills will be needed each year, was enough to make this person rethink his/her ways.


The very second that some of us know our time might be used doing something we don’t want to do, all our good thoughts vanish and are replaced by poor excuses on why we don’t do something good. For example, a stranger made the remark to me when I told a friend that I recycle, “Why should I recycle,” the man interrupted. “China doesn’t recycle?” The shadow of his response held a hefty size bag of laziness and guilt and nothing more, in my opinion.


Let’s face it, we all have change to do when it comes to respecting the earth. We each have a dirty and a clean side to us. The clean side knows the right thing to do would be to change bad habits, while the dirty side won't part with any, or all, of the comforts that make life easy. Nevertheless, "some" change is critical to start the path for a brighter future for all present and future earth occupants to live a better quality of life. To what extent do/will we each go to bring about good? Do you recycle? (The answer is yours and yours only. I’m not looking for numbers. I just want you to hear your own response, good or bad). If you recycle, which type of item/s do you recycle? Plastic? Paper? Styrofoam? Glass? Aluminum? Food Scraps? All of these?


One thing is clear no matter what your answer is, landfills aren’t selective. They’ll take whatever we give them; and in return they give us their vast, rotting, toxic, growing mounds that rainwater repeatedly hammers and helps churn into foul-smelling broth that is carried through itty-bitty cracks of earth to meet up with watersheds all over the map.


Humph.


But the human eye can’t see the poison , so the mind assumes it’s not there.


[sigh]


Pitch…waste…dump…abandon…neglect….Don’t look back.
Instead, reduce, reuse and then recycle.

Fall Autumn Story Sunset Leaves Changing Change Morning Walk Cloud Path Pathway Tree Photo Photography Photograph Write Writing about Nature

I went out for a walk this morning, admiring all the changes of my surroundings, and I thought of someone’s comment to me in regards to autumn. "I hate this change. It only means winter's around the corner."

As I stopped to watch the slow moving, pink-tinted clouds, the comment made me think of the hundreds of thousands of terminally ill people who right now are wishing for one more day to see and touch this wondrous change that goes unappreciated  "If only I could get one more chance to run among the fallen leaves and let the crisp autumn breeze brush my face...", an ill one likely wishes. "If only I could get one more chance to let my fingers get so cold that they must be thawed by a winter fire."

If I could say one thing to those who have already set an unenthusiastic track in place for the season that's arrived, it would be to step outside, or at least go to the window and open it, be still, smell the air, take in the changing trees and the ruffling sound that the wind plays in the movement of their leaves. Let your breath be the reminder that you are alive and here to witness this sweet change of 2011. Perhaps then you might come to love all seasons.

~When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. ~Dr. Wayne Dyer

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