In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I gush about the amazing, evolving story of Phipps Conservatory, a local "green" garden conservatory and greenhouse in the heart of Pittsburgh, inspired by a recent video they shared in their membership e-newsletter about their continuing plans to transform Phipps into a "living building" through sustainable landscape and architecture: "Jeff and I spend a lot of time hillwalking and hiking through the woods of Frick Park, but on rainy days like today, and especially during the long winter months when green is scarce in the woods, we love to head on over to Phipps to indulge in some 'green therapy.' ..."
Category: Muse in Brief
Sustainable Living as Civil Disobedience » No Unsacred Place
In my latest post over at No Unsacred Place, I tongue-in-cheekly declare Julie Bass "the Rosa Parks of sustainable gardening" for her refusal to comply with city officials demanding that she remove her vegetable garden from her frontyard and move it to the backyard, and explore ways in which choosing an eco-friendly lifestyle can be an act of civil disobedience: "This summer, the U.S. continues to face devastating floods, droughts and fires that threaten large swathes of midwest farmland and bring the consequences of human-caused climate change into inescapable focus. Political and cultural leaders all over the world acknowledge that environmental destruction has become so dire and so wide-spread, it is perhaps the single most difficult, most vital challenge we will face in our lifetimes..."
Badgers Need Your Help » No Unsacred Place
In my latest post over at No Unsacred Place, I take a look at the controversial measure under consideration in the UK for a large-scale "DIY" badger cull to reduce the spread of bovine tuberculosis, and consider some of the potential consequences that threaten the extinction of this iconic animal, a protected species under British law: "Animal rights activists and other opponents of the cull argue that better regulation and testing of the cattle industry, along with vaccinations of infected badger populations, could do much more to combat bTB outbreaks without risking the potential extinction of the English badger. Instead, the government has backed itself into a corner..."
How to Plan an Earth-Friendly Wedding » No Unsacred Place
In my latest post over at No Unsacred Place, I explore some of the reasons why Jeff and I chose to "go green" when planning our upcoming wedding in September, and the basic principles we adopted to help guide us during the long decision-making process: "We’re trying to craft a wedding which, like our marriage, will embody our earth-loving, environmentally sustainable values as much as possible. As physical creatures, we participate in the web of interconnection. Our clay arises and takes on form and meaning from the ancient clay of our earth mother, as does that of our children, and their children — it is to this clay that we all eventually return. Jeff and I try live our lives as deeply as we can with this awareness of our relationship to the earth and its ecosystems, our impact on the beings, entities, organisms and landscapes of the natural world… and their impact on us. ..."
Muse in Media: George Carlin on Nature
The late, great comedian George Carlin reflects on the sometimes myopic motives that get promoted in the name of environmentalism. "The planet will take care of itself. People are selfish, and that's what they're doing, trying to save the planet for themselves to have a nicer place to live. They don't care about the planet, they just care about having a comfortable place. ... People think nature's outside of them. They don't take into them the idea that we're part of it. They say, 'Oh, we're going for a nature walk. We're going to the country because we like nature.' Nature's in here." Click to watch.
Quote of the Week – The Sea and the Soul
Just in time for World Oceans Day, Jeff Lilly over at Druid Journal explores the origins of the word "sea" and its intriguing connection to the word "soul": The Proto Indo Europeans of the steppe near the Black Sea had no word for “ocean”. They had mori or mari, meaning “lake” or “sea,” but this most likely referred to the sparkling quality of its surface (cf PIE mer, “clear, sparkle”) and did not carry connotations of vast continent-wrapping waters. [...] Thousands of years ago, there was a people, now lost, living by the northern seas; and they felt so strongly the tether between the sea and the soul that they used almost the same word for both.
Only the Dead: On Memory and History » Pagan+Politics
In my latest post over at Pagan+Politics, I explore the real origins and context of the quote, "Only the dead have seen the end of war" (commonly but falsely attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato), and grapple with some of the deeper ironies surrounding the celebration of Memorial Day: "I know little about death and what our ancestors, the beloved dead, would say or do if they were alive today. I find it hard to believe that Plato would be anything less than horrified by the mechanisms of global warfare and violence that we have invented in the last century; I imagine that he, like Santayana and so many other philosophers of our time, would struggle to reconcile such sweeping violence with a belief that there is reason and structure within the chaos... Read more...
Muse in Media: Mama Earth
Today is Mother's Day (have you called your mother yet?). In honor of the Great Mother of us all, here's a beautiful slideshow of Mama Earth art, set to a chant performed by the Libana Music Ensemble.
The Earth is our Mother, we must take care of Her
The Earth is our Mother, we must take care of Her
Hey yana, ho yana, hey yan, yan
Hey yana, ho yana, hey yan, yan
Click to watch.
Webbing the Whole Wide World
It's pretty cool to see that I have readers in places like Moscow (Russia), Shenzhen (China), Sydney (Australia), Jiddah (Saudi Arabia), La Paz (Bolivia), and even Nairobi (Kenya). Though that last one might have just been Peter. Obviously, the vast majority of my readers live in the United States (tied for second: Canada and the UK). I have readers in 42 of the 50 states. Only 42?!, you ask. I know, right?
What Does Justice Look Like? » Pagan+Politics
In my latest post over at Pagan+Politics, I ramble on a bit about my reaction to the news of Osama bin Laden's death, what it means for the future of foreign policy in this country, and how these questions all lead me back to the larger questions concerning justice, reconciliation and peacemaking: "Has justice been done? I'm not sure. When I turn a reflective eye on my own reactions, I have to admit that I feel very little more than mild surprise. I don't feel relieved or happy about the news, but nor do I feel particularly sorrowful. I might even describe my reaction as curiosity, albeit a wincing, hesitant kind, that leaves me wondering, "What next?" After a decade of using bin Laden and the threat he represented as the raison d'être for so much of U.S. war-mongering and justifications for our violent, heavy-handed foreign policy — after three on-going wars, thousands dead, millions of civilians turned overnight into refugees — I wonder if the death of a single man can do much of anything to restore balance and see justice done. ...
Alison Leigh Lilly 