Art, Nature and Cultures

Healing Our Planet and Ourselves









Art, Nature and Cultures Healing Our Planet and Ourselves


Born feet first, I'm a natural dancer. I came into this world with my feet and toes moving to the rhythms of my life. Watching other inhabitants on this planet, such as the animals and plants, move to their own dances of life and listening to the sounds of their music, I began to see the intricate connection between humans and all other living things. Every single thing that lives here on this Earth is part of this planet. The natural processes of need by each and every organism brings into existance others to fill that need. Humans are just a small part of the story of life on Earth, because so many other creatures have been on this planet so much longer. If we want to survive as a species, we must understand and respect the entire living world's creatures.

The energy of love for all beings





The vision in my heart that brings me great peace is a meditative life of singing, dancing and sharing the natural movements of life that I see in nature. And, in dance, music, and song, give back to the human spirit the ability to take care of the earth and each other.




Peace and Love


Patty

I go to Nature

to be soothed and healed,

and to have my senses put in tune once more.


John Burroughs


Excerpt from: “Cancun Climate Summit Report #3" by David Simpson from Planet Drum www.planetdrum.org
.......Were we to take as the basis for our working template only the level of emissions reductions indicated in the Copenhagen Accord-and now in the CancĂșn Agreements-world average temperatures would likely rise between 3.2 and 5.4 degrees centigrade by the end of the century. Given that the rise to date of .8 degrees C since 1870 has already produced changes of a considerable magnitude-glaciers disappearing, ocean acidifying, permafrost melting, sea level rising, unprecedented heat waves, massive flooding, 300,000 deaths by climate this year alone-the thought of enduring temperature rises 4 to 6 times greater is terrifying.

Do I personally believe that we are condemned to this eventuality because of a refusal to step outside the insulated dome in which business likes to play? Maybe. There is an inveterate, deep-seated cautiousness that surrounds large-scale business and societal investment. Also, society's long-term normative responses-what's seen as right, what's wrong, what's dumb, what might work-are strongly resistant to change-or change at the rate that climatic circumstances might demand.

We are now in uncharted territory and as normative responses migrate rapidly and caution is seen as incaution in disguise, there will be a shift. It is at this fault line where a substantial realignment is possible. Leverage must be applied. Only what has come to be called "civil society" or the "social movements" are positioned to provide this pressure.

This is because these agencies and their practitioners are proxies for alliances and social groupings that are both more local and more universal at the same time-the people of the world themselves, whose stake in this is their very lives. Many have been unable, due to accidents of birth or lack of time or resources, to mount effective action in the name of their own and the planet's survival, but humanity begins now to awaken and take stock. Let the battle for credibility begin!

Photo by Craig Smith