ECO-Tours only purchases trees and dirt to plant them in...

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

When I used to have a tipi in the back yard, we had several gatherings of a dozen or so people. One particularly odd night was when we tried to have thirteen for a sleep over in a sixteen foot tipi. all I can say is that we found it to be one too many. This blog, twenty-five years later has had about 100 guests since January 17th of this year. All told, we can never really know how well we are able to transmit ideas, we are limited by language after all, nor can we say with certainty that we posses a rudimentary understanding and perceptual ability to make sense of what we think we "see". To one of us, ideas or understandings may seem to be entirely self-evident while another would prefer to have "Nothing but the facts.", never heard of it, or simply never had a word for the idea presented to them before. We each have what amounts to a box of different tubes of paint, our experiences often open up the container, adding color and a depth of perceptual palette in a new range or hue.

Those who have had, or believe that they have had the same experience as you, often desire to form cadres, tribes and associations that benefit the members of the group in specific and certain ways. Since my childhood, the term bro' has been uttered. many actually meant the whole complex of relations that those three letters demanded. Brothers, or bro's are tribally linked. as such they may confront them directly about "bad"  behavior, but to outsiders, or in the bro's absence, no negativity could, or should be associated with  their name. In my conceptualization, it was both a term of endearment and one that allowed total freedom coupled with infinite responsibility. brothers always busted one an-others chops face to face, but in their absence, no ill was ever spoken by a true bro'. along the way, the term got hijacked by folks who were not brought up right. Pretty soon, there were unsavory hippies (that's the folks I knew best) and probably beatniks before them who hid from the world behind the props associated with their generation, partially or even completely at odds with the social change advocates who were their brothers and sisters.

I take you to this place only to explain that there will always be both those who cannot hear as well as those who do not want to listen, communication with them fails for other reasons. However, if we are to begin a new the quest for a better life, intimately part of the world around us and beneficiaries of mother Earth and father Sun's abundant blessing, then we need to develop this sense of being in a much more pure way, brothers and sisters to one another. Once understood, everyone will accept the fact that there are worlds of difference between free love and cheap sex, but if you have spilled the color from neither of those tubes, it may be much more difficult to explain. The reason that I want to write on this topic is that as we pass, on the high seas of modern life, we all need to be sensitive to the meaning behind the Buckminster Fuller Quote: There are no passengers on Starship Earth, only crew. we may not always share the same experiences or words for what moves us, but we can all respect the fact that we are each trying to do the best we can with what we have to work with.

This year I have already had the equivalent of seven tipi events, sharing stories and learning as ideas are put into words. I look forward to more reciprocation from readers. I have tried to respond to as many comments as possible. When I rode my bicycle around the Great Lakes, I shared ideas and recipes for living better with less negative impact on the planet. Over seven million souls got to hear those messages. What made the biggest impact on me was a solitary homeless man who asked me what I was doing, then after I told him, he said that he had two children down in Tennessee. He said that he was going to go back there and do whatever it takes to be a part of their lives again. He said that if I was willing to go through all that it must take to bike around The Lakes, he could surely commit himself to making a better life for those two children. We were both speaking languages that the other only vaguely understood, but the message of being true to a purpose translates across many varied languages. He may not have had the same reds on his palette, but he had ones that were his own to be sure, just as the blues and greens that he had experienced, had only been hinted at for me back then. we paint the meaning into words quite literally.

When we explore the language we find so many artifacts, each one a nugget of data that excites the cultural anthropologist. Idiom, axiom, twist of phrase, proverbs and quotations are tiny packets of rich meaning for those willing to unpack them. Sometimes we can even break the seal on a new color that we were formerly unaware of. Here at ECO-Tours, we seek to enhance our guests' ability to see into the landscape, witness first hand some of the interactions that characterize all life on this planet and how we can begin to emulate it in the ways we live our lives. Many have helped to plant the many thousands of trees that we have planted over the years, even more have come just to tour our facilities, see solar space heating in action or make a solar food dehydrator. Living lightly on the planet can require a bit of creativity, but no matter how one attempts to reduce their carbon footprint, or toxic footprint is a matter of choice. In our philosophical approach, we cannot place blame on the ignorant, but as we teach, the gifted students will take to heart that which they learn and attain higher summits of awareness than we ever could. That is the nature of the the teacher's dilemma. We are always trying to catch up to our brightest and most active learners.

We were able to plant about 100,000 red maple seeds, it took several days, a half dozen hours of concerted effort and a couple trips to the country. All told, to scatter 100,000 seeds it took about one gallon of diesel. If you have ever scattered maple seeds, you know that it is great fun, each one helicoptering in on an independent trajectory, amazing to watch. Sheer joy in that it helps one to see the clouds of air around us always, bending and stretching as they caress the globe and her obstacles and inhabitants, their wakes and their energy fields. Again, I find myself writing about the fact that there may be dozens or hundreds of energies and "spirits" that surround and have the power to enrich us, but no instrument to detect them. I cannot claim that just because no device has been calibrated but one person's mind, that the person is wrong or that no such force exists. Even if, in time we realize, there really is something to it, will it not be too late? For anyone who has been told, "You are crazy." I'm with you bro'. I grew up on a steady diet of that shit. I can't rightly say that I have yet to know all the forces that act on me or that I have dominion over. I'm still rummaging around for unopened tubes of pain, if you will forgive the reference. To help put in perspective, the tiny seeded red maple tree seeds that I spread were about eighty pounds, (40 kilos) I tried to get them in areas much like where the trees were growing that the seed came from. With luck, at least 1% might make it, still enough trees to reforest over three acres! Since I spread seeds over far more than twenty acres, the trees would be rather spread out, leaving room for oaks, walnut, hazel, mulberry, or other species.

Trees are very much like people, they like being around others and always do best with some diversity. Hopefully, in the landcapes of the mind, I can put a few seeds in places where they will grow and bring forth new life. Long after my days are numbered, these works will live on, inspiring those who might read them with the wizened perspective of a grandpama. a friend developed the word to fill the niche created when we learn the term Great Mother Father God, the truth of the Lord and Lady. These forces are not part of duality, but a living whole, active, complimentary and infinitely creative. As we emulate the richness of both, and reflect them through grace, our paths are lit by both Sun and moon in ways that were not perceptible, again, until we opened that tube of paint.
We have to learn the art of living together, well on less fossil fuel mediated experiences. To that end, I am going to try to put together a larger battery bank for running my computer, one that is charged by solar. When I figure it out, I'll post a how-to video.

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