About Island

Welcome to an online celebration of the earth and our relationship to her, to her communities in all their myriad forms, and to the Source of us all.  Many of these pages will be my own thoughts and responses, imaginings and flights-of-fancies.   It is a mix of fiction, lyric,  essay, and miscellany.  I will also include glimpses of how some folks I know  have changed their habits and patterns and are making a difference in how we humans walk this planet.

It can be discouraging to read the statistics about how many acres of rainforest are being destroyed every minute, or how many species become extinct in a day, but I believe that small actions can add up to big changes.  If we humans are to survive on earth we must remember that we are only one species in 10 to 15 million. We must respect and honor our fellow inhabitants, as well as this generous place  and entity that is our home.  May the ideas and reflections in this web book support or inspire you in your own life walk with the earth, or at least make  for enjoyable reading!

We humans are blessed with self-awareness and the ability to evolve rapidly,  via our culture.  It isn't too late to create a cultural revolution that will enable children seven generations from now to experience a green and giving world such as our grandparents walked and worked seven generations past.  What's required is a shift in our perceptions -- perhaps the most notable being the notion of what makes up  a self, the individual.  We are the plants, minerals, and (if we are not vegetarian) the animals we consume.  We are the soil of the earth, drawn up through the roots of the plants we eat, we are the water we drink, and the sunlight we absorb via the plants and our skin.  We are the air we breathe and the air we exhale.   We are a collective of microorganisms -- beneficial bacteria and cells working within us to keep us functioning and healthy.   What we touch, consume, use, discard continues on into the living web of earth.

As humans we are members of community -- our families, groups of friends and of folk of similar interests and passions, and of our neighborhoods and towns or cities.  We are members of a natural community, sharing a space with creatures great and microscopic  And of course,  we are part of a rippling of ever larger communities -- county, bioregion, state, continent, planet.  David Suzuki, in his book The Sacred Balance speaks of the self as being more like a rhythm, a dance, rather than a physical entity that begins and ends with the outer layer of our skin.   I love this idea.  In this concept, the very act of our being creates cause and effect.  We are an interrelationship.

Just as I'm certain that  severe ecological and social  crises are  in full force now, I also feel that the winds of change are underway as well, that the rhythms of the dance for many of us has shifted.  In our unique ways we are working towards things that are vital to us -- whether it's nurturing our families,  communities,  working toward peace either in action or through prayer, caring for one another and for our world, or deepening our relationship to Spirit.  I am convinced that every thought, every action no matter how seemingly insignicant are those butterfly wings feathering the air that becomes the wind felt thousands of miles away.  Our humble activities in our homeplace affect the life energy of the earth.  We are all of consequence.  The best gift we can give to ouselves and to each other and our earth is to attempt to "walk our talk", to listen to the truth that beats in our souls, and to care-- deeply, sincerely.  To challenge ourselves -- and our ever-larger communiities  (not least our government)--now to make a difference, in whatever way makes sense to us.

Let the adventure begin! 

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