Hope 4 America

Environmental Protection

Protecting wildlife and all of their habitats is a very high priority for all of us to take part in.

(photo by Craig Smith)

There is something about a Lily
that is so hope-filled;
the way the petals unfold
and the pistils and stamens push forward.
They grow so tall and bend with the wind.
They are so effortlessly beautiful
unafraid and accepting of all that life is.

FDR's Second Bill of Rights

Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights -1944

President Franklin D. Roosevelt created an "economic bill of rights" that would guarantee:

A job with a living wage
Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
A home
Medical care
Education
Recreation

Roosevelt stated that having these rights would guarantee American security, and that America's place in the world depended upon how far these and similar rights had been carried into practice.

Excerpts from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address on January 11, 1944:

.....We cannot be content.... if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.
This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And.....we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.

The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life

photo by Craig Smith

Starting from the premise that we can no longer live in a disenchanted world, it has been found that a profound enchanted engagement with life is not a childish thing to be put away with adulthood, but a necessity for one’s personal and collective survival.

~ Thomas Moore

The Particles of Light

photo by Emily ByWater

The particles of light naturally align themselves with the ultimate efficiency of energy and movement. There is a common spiritual bond between all things in the universe that makes us all part of the genius of nature's intelligence ~ which is in the innate knowledge that all species help every other specie naturally evolve towards a more complex organism.

In Appreciation for Our Family Farmers

Snow in Charleston, South Carolina

photo by Craig Smith

Climate Change

From Repower America:
“Global warming theory predicts that global precipitation will increase, and that heavy precipitation events… will also increase. This occurs because as the climate warms, evaporation of moisture from the oceans increases, resulting in more water vapor in the air.” – Jeff Masters, meteorologist

Fact: Climate change causes more frequent and severe snowstorms
Record snowstorms need two things: temperatures below freezing, and very high humidity. On a planet warmer by a few degrees on average, the Northeast US will still have plenty of days below freezing; the big difference will be warmer seas producing higher levels of moisture in the air — and therefore more severe cold-season storms.

Fact: We can expect more extreme weather
Scientists tell us that climate change has already led to more extreme weather in the United States and we can expect stronger hurricanes, more wildfires, heatwaves and droughts, to name a few. The cost of inaction could reach half a trillion dollars a year.

Fact: The world is warming at a quickening pace
Weather in one region over days or months should not be confused with climate or the patterns of weather over decades and centuries. And the science is clear here: the last decade was the hottest on record. And to put this year’s weather in perspective, January was warmer than average for the continental United States.

photo from: http://www.reallynatural.com/

Patty at Willie Nelson's PRI

Marin Shelter for the homeless ~ The People and Ideas

For more information about Marin Shelter, click on Marin Shelter headline above.

The homeless in our own country

I found this picture via my friend Chris Highland’s Marin Shelter website in Marin County, California. Chris is the director of Marin County’s shelter for the homeless. His January post on the Marin Shelter website led me to the picture and article about the "Adopt a Meter" program where businesses in a city can donate money to have old parking meters refurbished "and install them in areas with a high volume of pedestrians. Money deposited in the meters will be given to the city’s homeless outreach programs. Sponsoring companies will have their logo prominently displayed on the decorated meters." The "Adopt a Meter" program is already going on in Nashville and Denver. For more information on the program, visit: http://www.thekeyalliance.org/.

from Al Gore ~ regarding Haiti Earthquake

part of an Email that I'm always honored to get from Al Gore:

"Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 85% of Haitians already living in desperate poverty. Now, with hospitals in ruin, dire shortages of even basic necessities like fresh water, and no way to find out whether family members are alive, the Haitian people urgently need our help.....

There are moments when we, as human beings, must come together as a global community and as stewards of each others' health and welfare. It is that sense of interconnectedness that brought each of us to the climate movement, and it is moments like this that bring out the best in us -- as individuals, as a nation, and as a movement."

If you'd like to DONATE, click on the title of this post.

map photo is from USGS http://www.usgs.gov/

from Conservation International...and "Patty"

From Conservation International ~ 2010

Happy New Year

In the coming year, we’ll be taking on some of the great issues of our lifetime including:

working to secure a stable global climate;

understanding and protecting the sources and flows of fresh water;

ensuring nature's ability to provide food for human needs;

minimizing environmental pressures on human health;

valuing the role of nature in human cultures;

safeguarding the unknown and as-yet-undiscovered option values that nature provides; and

saving our oceans – which are threatened like never before by climate change, pollution and over-fishing.

photo by Craig Smith