Earth & Us:
free email newsletter

Dear friend,

This is the second issue of my free newsletter. Your feedback is most welcome!

Winter solstice This is the time when the sun seems to "stand still," and the longest night of the year is with us, as we progress into the winter season. In many indigenous traditions, the solstices and equinoxes were (and are) celebrated as times of spiritual opening--when the "veil between the worlds is thinner." They are times of transition and change, with the potential to enlist the help of Spirit to let go of old ways of being and create the new. Winter is the season of the North. It is traditionally associated with wisdom and purity, signified by the color white-- the snow-capped mountain peaks and the beautiful white hair of the wise elders.

The winter solstice is a good time for rituals of purification, such as tossing into the fire slips of paper on which are written what we wish to leave behind with the dying of the old season, the old year. The fire helps us celebrate the return of the light, at the darkest time. And as we release what no longer works for us, we become more light ourselves!

In Angeles Arrien's cross-cultural typology, winter is the season of the "warrior". Warrior qualities for many cultures include mature wisdom, responsible leadership, pure motivation, powerful presence--not aggression or violence. Angeles suggests we do "warrior work" in winter, whereas in spring we turn to visioning, in summer healing, and in fall, teaching.

What, then, are we called to do? John F. Kennedy urged Americans to ask what they could do for their country, while George W. Bush exhorts us to go shopping. Instead of "citizens," we are "consumers." With many others, I believe that our excessive consumerism is destroying the planet, through toxic emissions, global warming, and extinction of countless species. Would not true patriotism include decreasing our consumption of the fossil fuels for which so many wars are fought? Our country needs leadership of a sort not provided by our government. I just had a dream that there was a fire in my house; at first I stood in the hall and yelled, "Help!" trying to arouse my sister and brother, who were sleeping in adjoining bedrooms. They did not respond. Then I called 9-1-1 but the voice on the telephone kept asking picky questions, while the fire raged on. Finally I hung up the phone, got some water and baking soda, and threw it on the flames myself, putting out the fire. Then I wondered why I had not taken this simple action right away!

That felt like a call to leadership, not standing by helplessly and expecting others to handle a problem, but doing what I am fully capable of doing myself. The symbolism of "9-1-1" was not lost on me, since that is how many people have been referring to the events of 9/11--as an emergency, or an alarm. My brother and sister may be asleep, I may be unable to wake them, but I can take action. So I'm asking myself, "How can I bring my best gifts forward to serve the common good, to do the best I'm capable of doing, not leaving it to authorities or others?"

I love the stories of "ordinary" people who bring forth their light in heroic ways. (I put ordinary in quotes, because we are all truly extraordinary!) At the Bioneers Conference, a yearly gathering of ecological innovators and activists, this year I heard Julia Butterfly Hill telling her story of sitting in Luna, the giant redwood, for over two years to protect the Headwaters forest. Diane Wilson, a shrimp fisher and mother of five with a high-school education, told how she organized Vietnamese fisherfolk, went on hunger strikes, and nearly sank her boat in order to win a "zero-emissions" agreement from the largest polluter of the Gulf. Diane pointed out to the audience that if she, with her limited education, could accomplish this victory, anyone could.

These women acted not from rage but from love of nature, and the conviction that old growth trees and Gulf waters were worth preserving, even at great personal cost. I believe that each of us can act to save what we love.

These are times when the darkness seems very deep, leading some to feelings of despair will we ever have a true democracy, a government that does not kill thousands in its quest for oil, while throwing away the freedoms of our Bill of Rights in the name of fighting for freedom? Will we ever have news media who report truthfully? Even more painful are the conflicts which are present in our closest relationships? Will we ever be able to have peace on earth, when it is so difficult to have understanding and compassion within our own families?

Being the change we wish to see I stand at a crossroads asking "Where is my community?" Is it a true community if people live alone and drive their cars to meet each other? Just living under the same roof, or in the same neighborhood, does NOT make a community, as I've discovered many times. What are the essential elements? Is it possible to have a village of people with shared values and close connections?

One way that pioneering folks throughout history have exercised leadership and created their own culture is through forming intentional communities. Indeed, lasting change seems more likely to occur when hundreds and thousands of citizens take steps on their own, rather than because of some governmental edict. If our economy's dependence upon fossil fuel causes wars and environmental degradation, how can we as citizens turn this around, rather than resign ourselves to it?

A handful of intentional communities are seeking to form ecological villages, or "eco-villages," where people live in greater harmony with nature by using natural and renewable materials for building, and obtaining their heat and electricity from the sun and wind.

In early October, I visited the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Rutledge, Missouri. Six people bought 280 acres in 1997, with the mission of creating a sustainable village and sharing their skills and ideas with others. They now have ten members, aged twenty-something to forty-eight, four residents in line for membership, and in the warmer months as many as fifteen interns live and work there, learning natural building or organic gardening.

Buildings

Other than a trailer being rented temporarily and two pre-existing buildings (a tool shed and 2-sided stable), all buildings are constructed from straw bales. Three are completed, two under construction. These homes use a modest amount of timber for framing, doors, etc., and are very energy-efficient. Even on a freezing evening, they were warm and comfortable inside without lighting the wood-stove. All buildings have photovoltaic panels for electricity. Several buildings have water catchment from their roofs, with underground cisterns for storage. All toilets are the composting kind (based on the "Humanure Handbook" system). Compost removed from the toilets is layered with straw and after two years is applied to ornamentals and fruit trees.

Food

Under the leadership of one full-time gardener, most of the vegetables and fruits consumed are grown on about one acre of land. Besides what they grow and preserve themselves, they purchase sorghum molasses, tempeh, and mushrooms from nearby Sandhill Farm, and bulk grains and beans from a local organic supplier. They grind wheat berries and bake their own bread. Most, not all, follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. Cooking is done on an old-fashioned wood stove and two "rocket stoves" made of a sand-clay mixture for quicker cooking; wood is scraps from a local furniture factory. Most lunches and dinners are eaten together. The outdoor kitchen, converted from a stable, houses an ultra-efficient Sunfrost refrigerator which runs on solar electricity.

Vehicles

The VW Jetta, pickup truck and tractor all run on "bio-diesel," a fuel made on-site from vegetable oil processed with lye and methanol. The result is a low-emissions fuel. The only other vehicles used are bicycles. To learn more about biodiesel, see www.greasecar.com.

Livelihood and costs

Many residents have "outside jobs"; some do computer work, some work at the Federation of Intentional Communities (at Sandhill Farm), and some do seasonal work at Sandhill. Workshops, such as natural building construction, bring in visitors and income. Costs of vehicles and biodiesel are shared by those who use them. The "Cat-tail Co-op" provides all food, soap, toilet paper, etc. for $45/week per person; this is equivalent to 6.5 hours of work at $7/hour. Members can work off up to half of this but pay cash for the rest. They do have a local currency, "DR Dollars," which I think they should call Bunny Money. A house lot costs $50 a month. Membership dues equals 2% of income, or $15 per quarter, whichever is more. Four or five members belong to "Skyhouse," an income sharing collective.

That is the merest thumbnail sketch. Imagine a group of talented people who have learned how to build their own homes, hold contra dances with their own fiddlers, open their doors to their elderly neighbors for regular tours, and have already planted some 9,000 native trees on their property! They publish a quarterly newsletter, "The March Hare," to which you can subscribe from their website.

I wish you a magical time of rebirth and renewal this season. May your own light shine forth!

When the world is night Shine my life like a light. -Indigo Girls