Xenophobia

Posted on April 27, 2019 by Pam Lazos

XENOPHOBIA

xenophobia | ˌzenəˈfōbēə, ˌzēnəˈfōbēə |

noun:  intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries: the resurgence of racism and xenophobia. DERIVATIVES xenophobe | ˈzenəˌfōb, ˈzēnəˌfōb | noun (online dictionary definition)

xenophobia:  n. The desire to run like your hair is on fire or egg your neighbor’s car  because someone who looks, dresses, eats, or practices a different religion than you moved in down the street. (my definition)

[Sketch from Oxford University Museum of Modern History]

So why the sudden rise in white nationalism across the globe?  Apparently, the situation has been decades in the making and it’s not as easy to answer as we had hoped.  Princeton sociologist, Robert Wuthnow spend eight years asking this question, interviewing rural Americans across the country, and had this to say:

I think the concerns about moral decline often miss the mark. I think a lot of white Americans in these small towns are simply reacting against a country that is becoming more diverse — racially, religiously, and culturally. They just don’t [know] how to deal with it. And that’s why you’re seeing this spike in white nationalism.

Although Wuthnow didn’t have a hard and fast solution to the problem, he did offer a lot of insight.

Nor do I have a solution, but I will offer this observation. It has long been known in the scientific community that, in general, only the most culturally diverse species make it through eons of evolution.  By increasing diversity you make the species more resilient and stable.

Back in the 17th century on the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar, there lived the famed, fanciful and now extinct dodo bird.  Over time, because of the abundance of food on the island, the dodo lost the need to fly so it stopped using its wings and evolution, being what is was, the dodo eventually lost the ability to fly.  When Dutch sailors appeared in the late 1600’s (first dodo mention was 1598), they began hunting the bird for food, their habitat was degraded and ultimately, invasive species moved in and the dodo was out (last known sighting was in 1662).  The bird fell into mythological status until the remains of some specimens were found and scientists were able to determine its actual existence.

I think its important to note a couple of things:  the dodo had all its needs met for food and shelter so it didn’t push itself to do things it used to know how to do like fly (important for us as a population growing older — keep doing stuff so you don’t lose your skills, people!), or develop any new skills.  When the Dutch sailors arrived with their invasive species, the dodo could not fight them off and also could not run away because the flying thing was but a memory (adversity can sometimes lead to diversity).

Sure, life had been good for a while in their isolation on an island in the Indian Ocean with all the food, water and sunshine they needed, but by failing to diversify and inject some new skills into their lives with a healthy cross-cultural exchange, the dodo was not prepared for the invaders arrival and, as a result, faded into the oblivion.

The (most basic) moral of the story?  Embrace other cultures or go the way of the dodo bird.

Today is Day 24 of the #AtoZ blog challenge.  Two more days and I’m eXstatic.

pamlazos 4.27.19

Posted in diversity, evolution, mythology, Uncategorized, Xenophobia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Be Like Water

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Pam Lazos

Be Like Water

When I was born, I shared the water on this planet with just over 3 billion people.  Today, I’m sharing it with 7.7 billion and growing — at a rate of 85 million people per year — and it’s a safe bet that each and every one of those people are thirsty.

The average human can only last about three to four days without water.  Water provides all the systems of the body with the power it needs to hydrate, refuel, detox and thrive.  Somewhere between 60-70% of our bodies are made up of water. Several billion years ago, a few single-celled organism started focus groups, formed bonds, discussed logistics, and eventually crawled their way out of the primordial soup.  At one time, oceans covered the planet.  At one time, dinosaurs roamed the earth.  We’ve come a long way since then, but we’re still drinking the same water the dinosaurs did.  When scientist search for new planets to live on, they look for water first because without water, we’re toast.  

Bottled water is big business but it doesn’t necessarily benefit the commons.  Water companies blithely pull billions of gallons of water from underground aquifers — water that belongs to all of us — then put it in bottles and sell it back to us with no value added.  The product wasn’t altered or added to, just bottled, yet they sell it to us for upwards of $10/gal.   (As opposed to Guinness which has tremendous value added!)

Wait, what?  Doesn’t it come out of the tap for pennies on that dollar?  If you asked water what it wanted, I suspect it would want us all to reclaim the commons rather than let a few large companies make money off the rest of us on a substance that belongs to all of us.

The Kabbalah, a Jewish mystical/metaphysical interpretation of the Bible, teaches that water is the light of God made manifest on the physical plane.  If true, that means water has some serious mojo.  The ancient Kabbalists performed a water ceremony, called a mikvah, at a stream or spring as a way to purify the individual.  Kabbalists believed pure water — a physical mirror to the soul — could cure all ills, but that years of wars, pestilence, pesticides, and not being very nice to each other has dimmed water’s light and left it much less effectual.  

The Catholics pour water over a baby’s forehead while baptizing the infant in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a very powerful prayer that welcomes the child into the Catholic faith.  The night before he died, Jesus washed the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper, purifying them so they could carry on with that work after he was gone.  Many religions perform ritual washings and ablutions on the living and the dead to free them from both physical and spiritual uncleanliness.  You see the metaphysics at work here, right?  As a spiritual and religious aid, water is universal and necessary.   

That means we have a problem:  by 2030, one-third of the billions of people on the planet will not have access to clean drinking water; by 2040, we’ll have just over 9 billion people and the constant struggle of agriculture vs. energy needs vs. personal water usage will create dire water shortages for the planet; and if we don’t fix the broken system, by 2050, it could be game over.

 

So what to do?  Rather than say “the problem is too big; there is nothing I can do,” say, “We can be like water.”  By aligning ourselves with the essence that is water, you change the game.  Water is fluid.  Water is cleansing.  Water is buoyant, and intuitive, and multi-dimensional.  Water is ubiquitous.  Water is life.  Water knows how to heal itself and, intrinsically, you do, too.

Today, meditate on the blessings of something seemingly so bountiful, yet so at risk, and decide on what steps you might take to ensure it remains here — in good standing — for many generations to come.  Maybe start by buying a reusable water bottle.

Today is Day 23 of the #AtoZ blog challenge and like water on planet earth, I am all over this!

AND because I’m nothing if not efficient, consider this my entry for the last Friday of the month, the We Are the World Blogfest, #WATWB, because sometimes you just need to double dip.

I’ve skipped all the instructions for #WATWB, but you’re a clever bunch and can surely remember how it all works.  And while the articles I’ve cited are not the usual feel good variety, the are informative and useful, considering, and forewarned is forearmed.

A great weekend to you.

pamlazos 4.26.19

Posted in 7.7 billion people, blog, blog challenge, bottled water, conservation, environmental conservation, four days without water, Kabbalah, metaphysics, regeneration, Sustainability, Uncategorized, waste as a resource, water, water conservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Vernal Pools

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Pam Lazos

[Okay, all these photos are tidal pools not vernal pools, but it’s all I could find in my photo stream (these taken at the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland) and more evidence of their disappearance!]

VERNAL POOLS

Vernal pools are small seasonal pools that generally form following the spring snow melt and the autumn fall rains, ephemeral wetlands that create a breeding habitat for amphibians like frogs and salamanders.

Vernal pool inhabitants generally get their start in these shallow waters before moving to drier ground. Vernal pools provide a predator-free environment without which many of these critters wouldn’t survive.

As with all of nature many vernal pools are at risk due to overdevelopment which isolates not just the pool and the creatures getting their start there, but also weakens the gene pool through a lack of diversity.

Agricultural, urban and suburban stormwater runoff — all loaded with contaminants — are another stressor, as is climate change due to the variable and unpredictable nature of the weather, while water’s formerly robust legal protections, like the pools themselves, are slowly drifting away.

What happens to water happens to people. It’s time for us to act, or we’re going to have to plan accordingly.

Today is Day 22 of the #AtoZ blog challenge. I’m feeling a bit parched. How about you?

pamlazos 4.25.19

Posted in stormwater runoff, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Us, Unmoored

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Pam Lazos

US, UNMOORED

Politically, economically, nationally, individually, and collectively, society appears to be unmoored, going through a time of great doubt and debate, where polarized opinions rule the day and there’s hardly anyone standing in more or less neutral center anymore, the place we all used to meet.

Kids, our world’s future, suffer from depression at unprecedented rates. Also they’re getting shot when they go to school so those two things could have something to do with each other.

People who used to be friends cross the street when they see each other because they are now political rivals. Children have more common sense than their parents because they know climate change is gonna totally mess with their futures but the adults in the room can’t see their way to tackling such huge issues so they pretend there is scientific disagreement and close their eyes.

There’s such a thing as The Flat Earth Society, i.e., it’s not a joke; people really believe it. 🙄

The things we’ve worked so hard for –things like equality, women’s rights, clean air and water, to name a few — are, just like wetlands, open space and fresh water, disappearing at an unprecedented pace.

Monsanto keeps selling Roundup to farmers to dump onto their fields as a way to increase yields while cancer and autoimmune diseases soar to new heights, but as long as that bottom line keeps improving we’ll live with the degraded quality of the food, the planet, our lives.

Is it chaos or a common delirium that’s causing Us to suffer so. Is it greed alone? When did we become so unmoored?

And is there any safe harbor in sight?

It’s Day 21 of the #AtoZ blog challenge. Do you feel the drift?

pamlazos 4.24.19

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 22 Comments

Trust

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Pam Lazos

TRUST

In keeping with my slow march through the 12 virtues of the merchant priests from the book “Sacred Commerce,” this is Trust. 

Trust squishes her eye lids shut and runs her fingers through her long brown hair, willing her mind to focus on her textbook.  She still doesn’t know what she wants to do out in the world and just thinking about it makes her stomach churn and whirl.  She swallows her Anxiety and flops back down on the bed, keeping her mouth tightly closed because she knows if Anxiety gets out, she will surely make a scene.  “Trust the process,” her mother says.  Trust likes the way that sentence sounds, especially because it has her name in it, but name or not, it doesn’t make decisions any easier. Trust is pretty sure her parents gave her that name because somehow they knew that’s what she needed to work on.

Trust has been cut off in traffic before and that’s why she doesn’t drive in the inner lanes, preferring the outside lanes close to the shoulder where she can pull off onto in the event of an emergency.  Trust is not silly or pollyanna-ish; she knows how to keep an eye out.  

Trust isn’t without doubt, a common misconception among her peers.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite which is what makes her so brilliant. She knows there are a million ways things can go south, and that chances of them exceeding her expectations are one in 3.14, but she trusts anyway, holding forth the candle in the darkness, knowing full well that some jerk could come by at any moment and blow it out.  She believes in living life with a certainty that most don’t possess.  She takes her job as guardian of life’s heart very seriously, but she still needs to make a living, right, so she’s being practical.  I mean, who’s going to pay her just to be positive and nice?  

Still, defining the rest of your life is an arduous task.  As Einstein once remarked, you can’t solve a problem from the same place it originated, and Trust knows that, but sometimes it’s all just a bit much, kind of a bitch, even.  When she gets like that — a little “doubty” — she takes a short nap and it helps change her perspective.  After all, without trust, what does she really have?

[The Greek Meander Key representing the vicissitudes of life.]

Today is Day 20 of the #AtoZ blog challenge and I Trust this will all be over soon.

pamlazos 4.23.19

 

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Silence (the sound of)

Posted on April 22, 2019 by Pam Lazos

Silence (the sound of)

Years ago I read an article in the Utne Reader, called In Search of Silence, about Gordon Hempton who created One Square Inch, a project dedicated to identifying and preserving places in the Hoh Rainforest of Olympic National Park in Washington State, one of the few places still where you can sit for 15 minutes and not hear one man-made sound.  Hempton’s recorded the sounds in the spaces that he’s identified — he won an Emmy for that and has done soundtracks for movies, computer games, even PBS — and protects those areas as if they were his children.  He’s also marked the places with a small red stone so others can identify them and go there to listen to the silence, a skill, he says, that humans are losing.

Until you’re in the deep woods, it’s almost impossible to find a place with no man-made sounds.  Anywhere there are people there are cars, trains, buses, generators, transformers, cell towers, cell phones, human voices, refrigerators, and so on.  To illustrate, you can easily hear the roar of the surf when you’re at the beach, or the scream of a motorcycle accelerating down the highway, but when was the last time you heard a leaf falling?  These are the sounds that we are in danger of losing, having been drowned out by we noisy humans who tromp around without a care and who can barely hear each other, let alone nature, over the din of activities of daily living.

There are safe levels of noise for the public, we just don’t pay much attention to that.  In addition to causing noise pollution, too much man-made sound increases stress levels in both humans and animals and can lead to obesity and heart disease among other things.

Want to learn more about noise pollution and the effects on our hearing.  Check out the always informative blog, Silent City, created by my friend, Gina Briggs.  And no, chocolate does not prevent hearing loss, but I’m sure we’d all have been much happier if it did.

Next time you’re out in the woods, or even your own backyard, stop and listen to the many sounds of nature.  You’d be surprised by the thrum  of life that exists just under the surface of all that other noise.

Today is Day 19 of the #AtoZ Blog Challenge.  It’s so quiet, I can hear a pin drop.

AND — Happy Earth Day!  Show your mama how much you love her.  Shut off that noisy car engine of yours and take a walk instead — without ear buds — and just listen to the wind and the birds in the trees.  Your ears will also thank you.

pamlazos 4.22.19

Posted in Earth Day, man-made sounds, Olympic National Park, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Renewables

Posted on April 20, 2019 by Pam Lazos

Renewables

Every April my garden explodes with color and vibrancy, a newfound life after the doldrums and dormancy of winter.  I’ve planted a lot of perennials, so other than raking, weeding, and mulching, I don’t have much to do (!) as startup work for the garden to be beautiful, year after year.  Nature’s renewable spirit plus the mix of longer days/more light and April showers propels all that gorgeous vegetation up and out of the ground.

Renewables are nature’s way of sustaining itself with the least amount of work.  There is a newly growing field which champions renewables called circular economy.  Circular economy wants to get away from the linear economy matrix of “take, make, dispose” and instead focus on reuse, renewal and regeneration.

In a circular economy mindset, waste is designed out of a product at its inception so at each stage of the product’s lifespan, that product may be reused or refurbished — much like upcycling — and put to yet another use, sometimes more than one.  The concept of a circular economy comes from nature herself.  Mother Earth, that grand lady, doesn’t waste a thing and neither should we.

This is the season of renewal. Take a look around and, without buying a new product, see how you can make your surroundings fresh and new.  Got stuff to go to Goodwill?  Bag it and drop it off.  I’m sure someone can use that wool sweater you haven’t worn for three seasons.  Do you have furniture stored in the basement that you won’t ever use again (I do, but my kids want it and they’re still in college!).  Pass it along.  This goes for any item that you haven’t used in ages (sentimental ones get a buy), but it can also be done with your entire living space.  You really don’t need a toaster oven and a toaster, do you?  If not, pass one along to a local women’s shelter.

We should be doing the same thing as a nation.  Wind, solar, hydroelectric, these are all regenerative and renewable power sources, yet the governments and the corporations of the world have been slow to develop them.  Why?  We all know why, so let’s not bother to even ask the question of why they’ve chosen to bring us to the brink of extinction, but instead, let’s focus on how to fix things because – really — there’s no time for anything else.

There are some in the U.S. Congress who want to do this, a Green New Deal they are calling it, but they are being thwarted by the status quo.  Should we sit idly by and let that happen?  Or should we all get involved in helping to formulate a plan because a few dozen or even a few hundred people, leaders or no, are not going to be able to solve this ginormous problem on their own.  Something of this magnitude requires a commitment from everyone; the only way we can ever tackle the larger than life problems is by starting in our own backyards.

We are renewable beings.  Some cells regenerate in a matter of months, others take years, but during the course of our lifetimes, our cells are regenerating and renewing, much like the flowers in my garden, again and again.  As part of nature, we are wired for renewal, so let’s live in harmony with it the way God intended.

Take a peak at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s vision for a Green New Deal and get excited.  She can’t do this alone, but WE, as in all of us together, can.  She’s just giving us the push we need.

Today is Day 18 of the #AtoZ blog challenge. I’m feeling renewed and re-energized.  How about you?

pamlazos. 4.20.19

Posted in circular economy, ecosystems, electricity, environmental conservation, environmental effects, extinction, hydroelectric power, regeneration, renewable, renewable energy, solar power, Uncategorized, upcycle, upcycling, urban renewal, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Question the Status Quo

Posted on April 19, 2019 by Pam Lazos

QUESTION THE STATUS QUO

The other day I took my husband to get a blood test, something very specific that required special vials and a centrifuge and what not, so we had to go to the hospital to have it done.  I dropped him off at the door and went to park the car.  As I walked from the parking lot to the facility’s waiting area, I passed a mom holding her toddler’s hand as they strolled.  The boy had stopped and was executing a little happy dance, smiling, and putting on a show while the mom and a woman sitting on a nearby bench were giggling at his energy and enthusiasm.  I got sucked into the moment, joy-filled as it was, and laughed along with them.

Ten seconds later, I entered the waiting area of the hospital and my joy bubble burst.  The facility itself is state of the art:  two-story, large windows looking out on a lovely garden, the sun energizing the waiting room through the lightly grey-tinted windows; colorful art on the walls; an all-around pleasant venue, yet everyone in there, with the exception of one of the women checking people in, sported a dour expression.  In some cases it looked permanent, gloom lines (the opposite of laugh lines) had long ago formed around their down-turned mouths and eyes.  The gloominess had spread to their bodies, the walls, the furniture, the ceiling until the very air had become sullen and ill-tempered.  Perhaps I’m blowing it out of proportion because I’m sensitive to energy, but I don’t know if anyone else noticed the darkness in an otherwise beautiful setting besides me.

Now I’m sure every one of those people had a serious problem or they wouldn’t be sitting in a waiting room of a hospital on a gorgeous, sunny spring day, but I couldn’t help but wonder how they all might have been if for a moment they stepped out of their own lives, their myriad problems, their many unfortunate circumstances, and just breathed in the blue of the sky or the joy of a toddler dancing on the sidewalk.

Granted, the dancing boy knows nothing yet of sickness, or the Mueller report, of financial hardships or impossible deadlines, of navigating life in a 24/7 world, but what if we could take that exuberance that we had as kids, that joie de vivre, and hold onto it well into our twenties, thirties, the rest of our lives despite all the trouble around us. We may have a million horrible things happening at once, an incurable disease, an unsolvable problem, a despondency so deep you think you may never breathe right again, but the knee-jerk, Status Quo reaction of misery and despair doesn’t have to be your norm.

Question everything.  Dare to think different thoughts, no matter how far outside the typical response those thoughts may be.  Find your own light for yourself and everyone around you.  There is always something to be joyful about, a reason to do a little happy dance.  Today, go out and find it.

 

Today is Day 17 of the #AtoZ blog challenge.  Happy Easter.  Happy Passover.  Happy Dancing.  :0)

pamlazos 4.19.19

Posted in dance, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

P3

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Pam Lazos

P3

The Ancient Romans knew that if all roads were eventually going to lead to Rome that they were going to need a little outside help in making it happen.  Creating or redesigning large public works systems is no easy, or cheap, feat.  Sometimes a government just doesn’t have the available cash on hand or sufficient financial health to issue bonds.

Enter public private partnerships, or P3 which is a collaboration between a government entity and a private company to provide a public benefit, generally costly improvements involving infrastructure such as bridges, turnpikes, convention centers or other large public works system. The parties work together to finance and build the project and the government shares in the revenue stream with its private partner.  A win-win, right?

The benefits to a public-private collaboration include increased knowledge and efficiency through reduced delays and faster project completion, and additional expertise which leads to better problem-solving capabilities because you’ve just doubled down on resources.  You may also see a better ROI, return on investment:  by bringing a project in on time and sharing the cost between the company and the government, the taxpayer burden has been reduced.  The downside is that both the government and the private company give up complete control of the project and must work together which may be difficult for two entities with a wholly different MO (modus operandi).

Public-private partnerships, or P3, are not as common in the U.S. as they are in Australia, Canada, and some European countries, but as our water infrastructure continues to crumble here in the U.S., and communities struggle to fix their aging systems — a multi billion dollar price tag at least — I suspect we will see the rise of this particular hybrid simply because the government does not have the resources available to keep up while still assuring public safety.

Let’s focus on our own backyards for a moment.  What if this lovely collaborative process was turned on its head, and instead of macro projects we created micro projects, smaller, but no less important public works that facilitate a common greater good?  I’m thinking small urban and suburban sustainability projects like rain gardens, bioswales and stormwater planters (rain gardens in a box) — and big ones work, too, as was the case with Costco and Culver City, California and their P3, building underground water storage tanks to ultimately reduce stormwater runoff in LA — that create more green space, allow flood waters more residence time, assure water conservation and security, and ultimately beautify our living spaces.  Sounds like everyone benefits, right?

Somebody with a business degree needs to get on this.  Email me if you need help formulating a few ideas.

Today is Day 16 of the #AtoZ Blog Challenge.  Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!

pamlazos 4.18.19

Posted in conservation, public private partnerships, public works, ROI, Uncategorized, water, water conservation, water security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

One Less Bag

Posted on April 17, 2019 by Pam Lazos

ONE LESS BAG

I’ve talked about this before so if you’re bored and stifling a yawn I can’t say as I blame you, but this $&/t’s important so listen up anyway. Years ago, as a kid working the register — the kind where you had to figure out the change, not the kind where it figures it out for you — at my parent’s convenience store, I got to know the regulars, people who came in everyday for their coffee, or a donut, or a pack of gum or smokes every morning before work.  Because they were regulars, I began to anticipate their needs and would often have the item ready for them.

One guy — probably a 40-something, but then he seemed ancient — would never take a bag for his donut, and despite however many other items he’d placed on the counter, he still declined my offer of a bag. It was summer at the Jersey shore, so he didn’t have coat pockets to stuff things into, yet it never seemed to bother him, and his resolve never sagged.  Instead he said:

“If everyone took one less bag, imagine how many trees we would save?”

That’s all. He didn’t go on about what that actually meant – more trees (at that time bags were paper not plastic), more oxygen, more nature in the world – and I was only 11 or 12 so I didn’t ask, but I understood what he was saying and I knew it was important. This was around the time the Environmental Protection Agency was created by Richard Nixon and  environmental awareness was still a relatively new concept; this guy was ahead of his time.

Despite my youth, the one less bag pronouncement imprinted my psyche, awakening a need to be diligent about saving things that can’t save themselves. So thanks, Mr. One Less Bag Man, for such stellar advice. I’m putting it to good use.

It’s Day 15 of the #AtoZChallenge.  Tempest fugit.

pamlazos 4/16.19

Posted in bag, paper bag, plastic bag, shore, Uncategorized, work | Tagged , , , , , , , | 37 Comments