I lifted this straight from Britt Bravo's 'Have Fun, Do Good' blogger blog:
http://havefundogood.blogspot.com/2008/06/ilovemountainsorg-bloggers-challenge.html

TAG! (You're It!)

iLoveMountains.org is a campaign to stop mountaintop removal for coal mining. What is mountaintop removal you ask?

From the iLoveMountains.org web site:

"Mountaintop removal is a relatively new type of coal mining that began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques. Primarily, mountaintop removal is occurring in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Coal companies in Appalachia are increasingly using this method because it allows for almost complete recovery of coal seams while reducing the number of workers required to a fraction of what conventional methods require."

Some of the effects of mountaintop removal on people can be loss or pollution of drinking water, flooding, living with blasting up to 300 feet from your home 24 hours a day, cracking in wells and foundations, and sludge dams that can leak and contaminate drinking water.

You might be thinking, well, that's sad, but it's kinda far away. There isn't much I can do about it from here. That's why iLoveMountains.org came up with the What's My Connection tool. It allows you to type in your zip code and see how you are connected to mountaintop removal.

For example, when I type in my zip code in Oakland, CA, it tells me, "Your electricity provider, Pacific Gas Electric Co., buys coal from companies engaged in mountaintop removal." Once you've seen your connection, you can sign a pledge to help end mountaintop removal, forward the page onto friends, contact your Congressperson, and contact your power company.

iLoveMountains is asking bloggers (and non-bloggers) to tell folks about all of these tools, and about the mountains that can still be saved by sharing videos about America's Most Endangered Mountains. The 4-minute video above is the story of Daymon Morgan who lives on one of America's Most Endangered Mountains, the Huckleberry Ridge in Kentucky.

Here's how to join the iLoveMountains.org Blogger's Challenge:

1. Go to ilovemountains.org/bloggers-challenge and enter your name, blog URL and email address.
2. Create a personalized "Spread the Word" widget to embed on your blog.
3. Track anyone who "Spreads the Word," or joins the Blogger's Challenge from your web page, or blog on your personal impact map.
4. Read what other bloggers are writing about mountaintop removal on the Blogger's Challenge "White Pages."

As of this writing, 172 bloggers have joined the iLoveMountains.org Blogger's Challenge. Here are posts by a few of them:

Little Green Animals
Life in Small Bites Environment Blog
faithfull on the Daily Kos
STOP Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Utah Phillips passed away in his sleep at 11:30PM PDT on May 23, 2008.

A larger-than-life figure, Utah beams across stages and ages, color and creed; endlessly surprising, endlessly delightful, awesome Being. My little flowgram tribute includes his "The Past Didn't Go Anywhere" performance (with Ani DiFranco) and the special role he played with and for the co-founders of Eco-Farm Conference:  http://beta.flowgram.com/f/p.html#g8w2p3da4sg3au


Nicholas Wilson has a whole web-based photo gallery of "Utah" Phillips
www.nwilsonphoto.com

PlaNetweaver lit up today as I was naturally weaving through my chosen 'tasks'. What an awesome weaving this multi-faceted shimmering fabric, this inter-woven vibrant community of souls who together are lighting up the grid.... ahh, breathe, my heart, my love...

Planetweaver
You dreamed this awake

World citizens
Who know the Earth’s at stake
We dedicate Our Lives to you who dared to say
We could be so much more,
there’s got to be another way..

 One day in each of us rebellion rose
And Old World B/Orders could not keep us bound
Remember when they said the world is flat
And one by one we dared to say, It’s Round!

The Renaissance of open hearts has come
And lucid minds that readily discern
One global family dressed in diverse form
One common heart to beat in our return

 The undercurrent starts to overflow
Compassion is the warmth by which we see
The energy that weaves this planet dance
Yet Passion is the driving quality

 We plant our feet with passion on the earth
And passion gives us wings to fly
And as we all aspire, Passion is the fire
That feeds and fuels each solitary cry

 It’s time to ground the visions that we brings
To firmly anchor in each separate part
There’s no one obsolete or useless thing
As this picture born of peace brings home our heart.

 Corrina Cop Rain
Earth Day 1992

"The Church says the Earth is Flat
But I know that it is Round
For I have seen the shadow on the Moon
And I have More Faith in a Shadow
Than in the Church"

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)

Time To Shine… because time is of the essence

Okay, I know that's Robin Hood there but this is about equitable so the legends converge!

King Arthur was buried so legends they tell it
Deep under the mountains in days long ago
With twelve faithful knights dress in armour like silver
With their long swords beside them in scabbards of gold
But dying is only a new kind of waking
Or a new kind of sleeping resplendent with dreams
If times they are hard you have only to call me
And you’ll not catch me napping said Arthur the King

So we’ll kindle a beacon on every high mountain
To the sound of our music the valleys shall ring
To waken the sleepers of long-vanished ages
To waken the knights and Brave Arthur the King..

Well the dragon may prowl in the streets of the city
And the world may turn out to be not what it seems
And many-a-job may be lost by tomorrow
And we may be obliged to abandon our dreams
But bring it the Fool with her motley and bells
And remember the minstrels who taught you to sing
And the Quest it begins with the steps of the dance
Won’t you please take your partners said Arthur the King..

So we’ll kindle a beacon….

There’s no need to look far to find news of disaster
Of wars and of rumours of gathering gloom
And it’s hard to escape the dead-weight of inertia
As we hear the fraud words of the prophets of doom
But each one is equal around my Round Table
And each has a note and a ribbon to bring
And the quest it begin with the jig and the reel
Won’t you take out your fiddles said Arthur the King

So we’ll kindle a beacon….

 There are times when the fog is so thick on the hills
Fell enchantment has settled on river and lake
And the poisons have sunk so far into the earth
That we ask is there anything left there to wake
But bring in the Morris the sword dance the step dance
The music is there and you know how to sing
 And the Quest it begins with a song from the heart
Won’t you join in the chorus said Arthur the King:

So we’ll kindle a beacon on every high mountain
To the sound of our music the valleys shall ring
To waken the sleepers of long-vanished ages
To waken the knights and Brave Arthur the King.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
If you want to hear the melody for this song, you can hear it here (bearing in mind it's best sung in a crowd and this rendering is just me!):

http://beta.flowgram.com/f/p.html#P94CT57FTY789L

 

King Arthur was composed and sung by true troubadour, Jehanne Mehta.
I heard it first on her classic album (a cassette tape from the last century!). Green Jack.

Available now on CD from Jehanne's UK website:
"These folk songs of the earth and seasons are written and performed by Jehanne Mehta, accompanied by her husband Rob and friends. With beautiful melodies and lyrics that reflect Jehanne's deep spirituality and wisdom, these songs are calls to remember who and what the Earth truly is; that her irrepressible powers of renewal are always with us, and that now, if ever, is the time for us to remember how to love her." http://www.thebluesun.co.uk/acatalog/cds.html

Me and him are watching to see if that widget down the bottom will transform itself into my 2 minute Flowgram (apparently it all depends in Gaia...). And, in case my widget never comes... here's the good old-fashioned link:
http://beta.flowgram.com/f/p.html#JDLH09YTOIMX7O

Ponder Ye Also these awesome facts about our beloved trees.
This list came from http://www.treeinabox.com/Tree%20Facts.htm

In 50 years one tree recycles more than $37,000 worth of water, provides $31,000 worth of erosion control, $62,000 worth of air pollution control, and produces $37,000 worth of oxygen.

Two mature trees provide enough oxygen for a family of four.

Trees help reduce the "greenhouse effect" by absorbing CO². One acre of trees removes 2.6 tons of CO² per year.

Forest planting is one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing CO². To remove 1 pound of CO², planting tree costs less than 1 cent, developing more energy efficient appliances costs about 2 ^1/2 cents, and developing more fuel-efficient cars costs about 10 cents.

By cooling the air and ground around them, the shade from trees helps cool the Earth's temperature.

Trees are good noise barriers, making a city and neighborhood quieter.

Trees help prevent city flooding by catching raindrops and offsetting runoff caused by buildings and parking lots.

Hospital patients heal faster, require shorter stays and less painkillers if room windows face trees.

A tree-line buffer between fields and streams helps remove farming pollutants before they reach the water.

Well placed trees help cut energy costs and consumption by decreasing air conditioning costs 10-50% & reducing heating costs as much as 4-22%.

Trees are the longest living and largest living organisms on Earth.

People who plant trees become healthier, better looking, richer, and have more friends (well maybe that's stretching it a bit) - plant a tree and find out!

In deserts, leaves absorb moisture from the dew and frost of the cool nights and release it to cool the air during the warm days.

Trees enhance the aesthetics of our environment. Their grandeur, tenacity, and beauty are probably the most enjoyable aspect of trees.

Tree bark and fruit have many medicinal properties, which are still being discovered. *In 50 years one tree recycles more than $37,000 worth of water, provides $31,000 worth of erosion control, $62,000 worth of air pollution control, & produces $37,000 worth of oxygen.

Two mature trees provide enough oxygen for a family of four.

Birds and animals use trees for their homes and shelter and as a source of food.

One person causes about 10 tons of carbon dioxide to be emitted a year. One tree removes about 1 ton of CO₂ per year. Planting 30 trees per person will remove each that person's carbon debt for the year.

Trees increase property values by 5 to 20% due to their landscaping value

WIDGET-TO-BE:
<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://beta.flowgram.com/widget/flexwidget.swf" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab" width="400" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://beta.flowgram.com/widget/flexwidget.swf" /><param name="flashVars" value="id=JDLH09YTOIMX7O" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="pluginurl" value="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/CIMP/bT*xJmx*PTEyMTA4Mjc4MzcyMTgmcHQ9MTIxMDgyNzgzOTEwOSZwPTE1NzU4MSZkPSZuPSZnPTE=.jpg" />

So I'm still having fabulous Flowgram (2 mins) fun which makes it the perfect time to give an update on the continuing good fortunes of  World Without Oil, winning web awards left right and center, and for whom I was a podcaster!

And just in case all that embedded code doesn't turn into a fine-looking widget... here's the Flowgram link!: http://beta.flowgram.com/f/p.html#AH8AFH7JHGIFK2

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://beta.flowgram.com/widget/flexwidget.swf" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab" width="400" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://beta.flowgram.com/widget/flexwidget.swf" /><param name="flashVars" value="id=AH8AFH7JHGIFK2" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="pluginurl" value="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/CIMP/bT*xJmx*PTEyMTA4MjE4MDI4OTAmcHQ9MTIxMDgyMTgwNTQyMSZwPTE1NzU4MSZkPSZuPSZnPTE=.jpg" />

IMAGE is from Go-Gratitude Stacey Robyn: http://www.gogratitude.org/

PANGEA DAY WAS....
"An incredibly inspiring event!! It brought me both tears of joy and sadness on several occasions. Best four hours spent in front of the television EVER!"

So, in case this code doesn't turn into a widget, here's the link to Pangea Flowgram:
http://beta.flowgram.com/f/p.html#KYC15G3ACGNZ6M

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://beta.flowgram.com/widget/flexwidget.swf" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab" width="400" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://beta.flowgram.com/widget/flexwidget.swf" /><param name="flashVars" value="id=KYC15G3ACGNZ6M" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="pluginurl" value="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/CIMP/bT*xJmx*PTEyMTA3MzE1MDUyNTAmcHQ9MTIxMDczMTUxMDAxNSZwPTE1NzU4MSZkPSZuPSZnPTE=.jpg" />

Dear Global TED Community,
did you see Pangea Day? What was your experience? And what would have made it better? Please write to us: feedback@pangeaday.org. No one has ever put on an event quite like this before, so it's really important to me to hear the collective wisdom of the TED community.

If you missed it, or want to revisit, there's a one-hour highlights package here and all the films can be viewed on the pangeaday.org website. Or check out the LA Times' write-up.

A giant thank you to the many people in the TED community who made this day possible. It's been truly thrilling to see Jehane's TED Prize wish, that seemed so impossible two years ago, turned by you into dazzling reality.

- Chris

Chris Anderson
TED Curator.

Here follows just a small sample of the thousands of comments we've already received.

Barbara A. from Mexico
This has been one of the most inspiring and beautiful events I have ever experienced.
Let's never forget what we all felt and experienced today.

Organizer DR from Dominican Republic
As the only organizer of a public event in the Dominican Republic I was pleased incredibly. The show exceeded my expectations completely...

karima saad from United Kingdom
I am speechless. But i am sure of one thing, that while i was attending Pangea Day in London, those 4 hours were felt as if i was part of the whole world as one community, rather than countries divided by borders.

Cmsilva from Portugal
We joined 45 in a private event in portugal. It was great. Next year we'll be more, for sure.

Carolyn from United States
Thank you for doing this. I laughed, I cried, I was enlightened, I was moved and touched and inspired. I watched almost the whole thing without getting up. Too bad I had to watch it alone...

Marina from Brazil
If I had to express my experience in words, I would not be able to. These were the best movies I have seen as an expression of art. And all the movies combined, just changed my way of thinking....

Marcosncosta from China
Loved the event. Hope next year it can be bigger and better.

Galleher from United States
The Alaskans gathered in Anchorage to be witness to this global campfire were inspired and appreciative

LIDIA from Argentina
I didn't know that Pangea existed. I feel too moved to speak and happy that so many people feel that really all of us are ONE.

Biriscalin from Romania
We all are "Pangea Day". We all represent one earth, one life. Now is time to act !

RicardoSilva from Portugal
I've been using the internet since the 90's, but this is truly the first time that I feel that here, for brief hours, was a global community talking. I hear people from Canada to Pakistan, Shanghai, New Zealand, Chile, Romania...

CassieBrady from United States
I have always dreamed of a united world. I never knew how to act on my dreams, so I am so happy that it is finally happening. Imagine peace. Imagine a global community not separate countries. This is what the world needs.

Jacqui from Jamaica
I wish that this had been a public event here in Jamaica for people from all walks of society to see. It was truly a spectacular event , I sat riveted in front of the television.

Sana from United Arab Emirates
Hugs and love from United Arab Emirates.... It aint little...Its a big start considering we are thousands of miles apart and felt the same last night...

Light Sister from United States
Thank you all so much for this World Consciousness Raising Event. In my 59 plus years of life, I have never felt so hopeful about the direction this world is taking...

Nabeelkarim from Pakistan
There are matters greater than that of political, economical and social nature...they are the environmental and humanitarian ones!!! it is clear that a change is required...and each and every one of us can make a difference.

Marcusmeisel from Austria
Austria says thank you for all this work of love, passion, and devotion that went into realizing this dream come true.

Danna from United States
Pangea Day was an incredibly inspiring event!! It brought me both tears of joy and sadness on several occasions. Best four hours spent in front of the television EVER!

Divamover from United States
Several hours after the "end" of Pangea Day 2008, I am especially moved to see such an outpouring of support and longing from the US. I cannot help but believe that there are many in the US who want a united world...

Umc59 from Canada
i just stumbled onto the last half hour of the pangea day show here in toronto and am sooooo happy i did. i'm 48 yrs old and i got the most wonderful feeling of finally belonging to a community that speaks to me.

Rhea from India
I am 23 years old and I just finished watching the Pangea Day broadcast. it's 4:00 am here and I couldn't go to bed without writing to you and telling you how beautiful, thought provoking it was.

Nabeelkarim from Pakistan
Just for starter...each one of us could just start by helping just one person/or doing something good.....once a day....

IBelieve from Canada
Hello World; What an amazing day! I laughed, shed tears of joy, smiles of love, and tears of compassion.
Sherryl from Australia
A powerful vision and enormous drive has brought Jehane's dream to reality. Confucius c. 500BC said; In his teaching the wise man ...opens the way but does not take them to the place. Pangea Day has opened the way....

PANGEA DAY - Powerful enough to unite

CHECK OUT MY TWO MINUTE FLOWGRAM
http://beta.flowgram.com/f/p.html#KYC15G3ACGNZ6M

I would wholly appreciate your feedback if this Flowgram doesn't flow right! Each page was made with special little notes that were very much a part of the creation (like post-it notes) but I just discovered that on one friend's monitor none of these (important!) little notes were visible.

Pangea Day May 10 is upon us... I'm experiencing a distinct PlaNetweaving surge in the Global Village. Synapses firing, new neural pathways (forging)... it is the most scintillating thing to suddenly have these far-flung luminaries linking up...

Is it 10 years ago that I first heard David Whyte giving the keynote address at Natural Products Expo West.. '98 maybe? "Life, Work and the Poetic Imagination"; I was enthralled.

He coached us not to applaud after each poem he delivered but to just take it in... and each poem, he spoke it through a second time, even as we were sitting enrapt in the electric stillness of the first rendering. Now I know, this is David Whyte's hallmark. I brought home a recording of that first presentation and never tired of listening.

"What do you do when your lost in the forest" was on this first recording I ever had and I will forever link it with David Whyte's inspired delivery to a sea of owner/managers in the natural food industry, as he spoke to the challenge of sustaining the authenticity of their story in their work-life and love-life and life-life as they grew and adapted and responded to the vageries of the marketplace...

What do you do when you're Lost in the Forest?

What do you do when you're lost in the forest?

Standstill, the trees ahead and the bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a branch does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.*
*~*

Then, towards the end of the 10 weeks series, Oprah announces that Jill Bolte Taylor, author of 'Stroke of Insight' and presenter at TED, will be her first guest on her Soul Series the week after she completes with Eckhart Tolle. Jill's TED Talk was a web phenomenon in itself, whipping round networks so fast I learned that I was not alone in my experience of receiving it simultaneously via email from friends in my extended network who do not move in the same circles. Reminded me of Bioneers phrase "It's all alive, it's all intelligent, it's all connected, it's all relatives.." www.bioneers.org

*Lost in the forest poem: by David Wagoner: from Traveling Light Collected and New Poems,  University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago.

The Redwoods have a knowledge
all but forgotten here
Breathe their presence
seek their majesty
who know the Rainforest...

They hail from Middle Earth
none can compare with these
nothing can touch the beauty of
Meeting with Remarkable Trees...

CCR McF.

(Pictured above): Trunk base of a Coast Redwood tree in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park: Simpson Reed Discovery Trail, near Crescent City, California

Paper Tigers, Tall Trees (New Paper Paradigm) A Two minute Presentation...click on this link:

http://beta.flowgram.com/f/p.html#JDLH09YTOIMX7O

Paper tiger is a literal English translation of the Chinese phrase zhǐ lǎohǔ (Chinese: 紙老虎), meaning something which seems as threatening as a tiger, but is really harmless. Wikipedia

A beatiful film made with students at Cavendish School, Eastbourne (UK) and Global Action Plan about the preciousness of paper, how we use it and the effects on our environment.
So of course paper isn't always made from trees but the students in this film are rightly taking the first important step, making the connection; we ARE still cutting down trees for paper...

Bill McDonough says...

“Imagine this design project:

 Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, provides habitat for hundred of species, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars and food, creates microclimates, changes colors with the seasons, and self replicates...; Yeah…Why don’t we knock that (TREE) down and write on it…”

So... Here's Bill McDonough speaking at Vanderbilt University Sept. 26, 2006 It's a full length lecture; 80-something minutes long . But just to hear him run his awesome TREE rap, roll the movie along to 30:10 - 31:40 mins & listen to that bit..  (and some time when you just want to breathe and be uplifted, come back and just listen to this guy ~ he's one of my planet heroes from the first time I ever heard him present).

William McDonough, international architect, industrial designer, business leader and Hero of the Planet, was given a standing ovation by all departments of the United States government after he presented this end goal and the Cradle to Cradle Design strategy* in the White House on January 21st 2004:

 “We hope for a delightful, safe and healthy world
with clean water and renewably power,
economically, equitably, ecologically
and elegantly enjoyed”.

 The central question of Cradle to Cradle Design is:
“How do we love all of the children of all species for all time?”

 In Cradle to Cradle Design we are talking about conceptually sound and hugely profitable strategies that are socially equitable and environmentally intelligent that celebrates healthy closed-loop industrial production while we regenerate the biosphere.

* 'Cradle to Cradle' Design Strategy recognizes that we have to think beyond throwing things ‘away’ because there is no ‘away’ to throw things (we're in a closed-loop system).
*~*~*~*~*~*~**

William McDonough's grandfather and my father, both, were big tree loggers. In Bill's words; there's some big tree karma to work off...
 
PAPERPAPERPAPER
LOGGERS CUT DOWN TREES
BUT NOW WE KNOW THAT GRASS WILL DO
THE SWITCH CAN BE A BREEZE

PAPERPAPERPAPER
LOGGER'S FOUND A 'B'
AND SO IT WAS THAT BLOGGERS BLOGGED
AND ROUNDLY CRIED: "DON'T SMASH THAT TREE!"