An Earthling's Almanac

by Jane Valencia
copyright (c) 2002
 
 

Contents
An Earthling's Almanac - Issue 1, June 2002

About An Earthling's Almanac

Earth Day 2001 I took my 6-year-old daughter and our 11-year-old friend to hear activist and author Julia Butterfly Hill speak.  We were all enthralled and stunned by this dynamic young woman's account of her experiences tree-sitting in the ancient redwood named Luna for over 700 days.  The message I came away with was that each one of us can make a difference (and in fact that is the title of Julia's latest book: One Makes The Difference)-- that what may seem as the hugest hindrance to accomplishing change might end up being your greatest strength.  That if you are strong in your convictions and stay true to them you may accomplish your dream in ways you never imagined.

Julia Butterfly Hill did this.  Her determination to save old growth redwoods and Luna was the fire that carried her through many a terrifying experience and to-the-core challenges.  She,  with no previous experience in activism, and a very young woman besides,  captured media and popular attention.  It was who she was and her resolution to cling to her goal no matter what that made the difference.

I walked away from the talk desperate to create change.  But I had just entered the second trimester of my pregnancy with my second child, and knew deep down that then wasn't the time.   After all, I was undergoing intense inner change!  A year later, I have this sense again, but more focused -- a sense of clear urgency.   It's time to do something.

I think many of  us are longing to have our voices heard, our concerns taken seriously by those who run our government and by those who take sweeping action with no regard, it seems, for anything except their own profit.  My web-book, Island, is one way in which I am putting out my voice, my thoughts, my imaginings.  I think it can only help the planet to do the things we truly love, and to celebrate with each other our unique selves.

In tandem with this writing project is an online-witnessed experiment, where I strive to become a more thoughtful earthling, lightening the footprints I leave on this planet, and attempting to--humbly or not --save the  world!  An Earthling's Almanac is a collection of musings and my own discoveries, and a chronicle of my transformation into an activist of sorts, or at least into an eccentric.

I invite you to peruse the Almanac.  It is a newsletter that I write and post on the web once a month or two or three ...  If you'd like to receive email text copies of this newsletter, let me know.  I can also notify you when I've posted a new installment on the web.  I'd also love to hear any thoughts you have, or ways you are pursuing your life as a thoughtful earthling, and any challenges you face (I'm certainly facing many!)

Contact me at: jtk@zendo.com

Cheers!
Jane