On the Road from Paris 12/8-10/2015

An, Peace Rider and Paul De Man Aalst, Belgium at business and home

Werner, Marion and Don - Mechelen, Belgium at their home

 

Brugge Medieval village near Brussels with Werner

Don with Werner at Brussels Atomium built for 1958 EXPO

See Werner Van Steen Photography for a lot more.  Banner goes next to Mongolia with Marion and Werner but alas not me.  Many thanks to David, Claire and Sophie for letting me stay with them in Paris.  Without their generous hospitality and friendship my trip to Paris for COP 21 would not have been possible.

In summary a lot of people worked very hard to get an agreement which is a beginning but the feeling of many is that it is not bold enough or soon enough to stave off the worst effects of our warming Earth.  

A few more thoughts to add but computer fatigue has set in so all for now.

Peace Rider  
 

On The Road At Omaha Beach, Normandy, France 12/7/2015

 American Cemetery memorial Omaha Beach, Normandy, France

American Cemetery  Omaha Beach

Sculpture Omaha beach St. Laurent

These loving words were recently shared by Terry Tempest Williams with a dear friend.  Their expression embodies, the hope and yearning of many of us for creating a world in which we care for one another and care for the Earth - it remains eternally true that Love is the Way. 

And that Way, through the personal sacrifice of many on the beaches of Normandy is a reminder that we have a responsibility to those who have gone before as well as to those yet unborn to create anew, a world of hope, justice and peace for all of God's children.


 Dearest Joe:

"So this morning I awoke with the word "emigres" in my mind. I actually had a dream that I had written a book of poetry and emigres was the last word of the last poem. Very strange as I don't recall every using it in a sentence, certainly not on the page.  Why this word now?

I looked it up:

Emigres: Whereas emigrants have likely chosen to leave one place and become immigrants in a different clime, not usually expecting to return, émigrés see exile as a temporary expedient forced on them by political circumstances. Émigré circles often arouse suspicion as breeding-grounds for plots and counter-revolution.

Anyway, I became curious how this word might inform the question you asked me
about the relationship between climate change and peace.

We tend to approach climate change as a political issue, a scientific issue.  I believe it is a spiritual one.

Finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world we find.  I am not in Paris.  I am home in the American southwest in the desert in the midst of drought. The questions I am asking myself are how do we live lives of greater intention? How do we use less water, less carbon, travel less and root more closely to home? Living in Utah, we are not at peace. Oil shale and natural gas development are ravaging this red rock landscape and it is leading those of us who live here to action. We are working to keep the fossil fuels in the ground on our beloved public lands be it through acts of education, art, protest, and when necessary organized acts of civil disobedience. America's first tar sand mine is here, already here, and we are organizing around how we might shut it down before it gets further along in its construction.  Water is an issue.  Health is an issue.  And greenhouse gas emissions is an issue.  Power is an issue and so is democracy.

I do not want to be an Emigres and find myself exiled from my own home ground.  I do not want to leave this beautiful broken country of erosional beauty where rocks tell time differently and the wingbeats of ravens come to us as prayers.  But if the drought continues, if the toxicity of the air increases, and if our public lands continue to be mined for profit rather than protected as reservoirs of peace -- this is who we will become -- Emigres -- exiled from our own country.

Here is the truth of our times: There is no place to go.  We must face climate change as we face an illness at home with consciousness and a vow to change our lives with a bow to a more sane way of living. We cannot do it alone.  We must do it together. It may not be about finding a cure.  It may be about moving toward a collective planetary healing -- dare I say that this might  include rituals and ceremonies and a change of story?  The old story of growth for growth's sake and economic imperialism within nation states is killing us. If the dark side of climate change is violence, then the light within the climate justice movement which I see as love -- a love for life on this planet, and putting our love into action with the gifts and strengths that are ours from science to art to the humanities and religion -- this is what will lead us toward a pathway of peace because we have made a commitment to be in the service of something larger than ourselves.

Some may call me naive.  But I have tremendous faith in the collective will and imagination of people who are ignited toward a common cause.  Climate change is our common cause. We are seeing this outpouring of active concern all around the world in the poorest of countries  who are the most vulnerable and in the richest of countries whose arrogance is failing us. Our survival as a species depends on this kind of enlightened leadership from the ground up across the divides of race, class, gender, and belief.

The climate justice movement is a movement of peace because it is our commitment to minimize suffering, both human and wild, on this beautiful blue planet we call home.

It is a fierce and mighty movement of the heart beating from the margins of the body politic to the center.  It will revive our humanity as we remember what We, the People and our governments seem to have forgotten: The health of the Earth is our own.

I hope this helps.

With love and respect for your voice, Joe --
Terry

Peace Rider on the Road from Paris 12/4/2015

Dear Friends,

One of the more inspiring presentation I attended was on Wednesday by Naomi Klien's group This Changes Everything?  It was about the Leap Manifesto that was launched just before the recent Canadian election but intended for a wider audience.  A beginning document not necessarily cast in concrete whose creation involved many people and translated into many languages.  It has been gaining traction and fundamentally a call for transformation.

 There is a web site where one can get more information (theleapmanifesto.org).  Instead of inserting Canada in the subtitle it could also read A Call for an America Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another.   Its time may also be right for our country with some modification.  And as the brochure I have says, Canada (America ) is not this place today - but it could be. 

Yesterday afternoon on my way home, I passed by the Ba ta clan Cafe on Rue Voltaire where 80 some persons were killed by terrorists.  A multitude of flowers and candles and messages of all kinds now adorn the sidewalks by the cafe and across the street.  A spontaneous heartfelt street memorial to loved ones lost to senseless violence.  More surround the nearby monument of Marianne in the Place de la Republique.

I started to unfurl my Love is the Way banner on the barricade around the cafe and was told I couldn't do it by a policeman.  I said it was only temporary.  He wanted to see so I unfurled it.  Is it about the climate he asked no, an expression of Love I indicated.  So he said I had one minute but it took longer and I did get several photos of it I will post on my blog. 

I don't think many yet understand Love as being the energy of unity, that which seeks the highest good of another, and connects all things.  Fully understood and embraced at a higher level of consciousness it knows that what we give to one another individually and collectively is giving to oneself or ourselves.
 
 Without a shift of consciousness it is as Einstein said, we cannot solve the problems that confront us

Some interesting things to check out - a book by Tim Gore from Oxfam titled Extreme Carbon Inequality.  I saw a brief interview with him about it last night on Democracy Now.  Also a moving reading of a poem by a young person from the Marshall Islands pleading with the rest of us to help her save her island home being affected by rising sea levels

This afternoon I will try to the International Rights of Nature Tribunal; on the weekend is the Peoples Climate Summit, also screenings of This Changes Everything, and an Indigenous Peoples press conference on Sunday afternoon I will try to make.  They will call for world leaders to keep fossil fuels in the ground and a need for a treaty to protect Mother Earth.  There will be a flotilla with the "Canoe of Life" brought 6000 miles from Ecuador. 

Lots of interesting things going on apart from the COP 21 sessions.  One must pick and choose.

I'm feeling perkier and back on my bicycle making tracks around town.

Love to all,

Peace Rider

Don - Peace Rider

Plaza du la Republique 29/11/2015 memorializing those killed in recent attacks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the Road in Paris for COP 21, 30/11 - 11/12 2015

Today I set out mid-morning by bicycle to join a human chain forming on Rue Voltaire just south the Plaza Republique.  On the way I past the Farmers Market set up on Rue Onano near where I'm staying.  Thought I would buy something later.  That was a mistake.  It was all gone by the time I returned but did manage to find some perfectly good discards of tangerines as some consolation.  

At the plaza lots of folks gathered especially around the monument and statue of Marianne, personification of the French Revolution.  Flowers, candles and messages were left around the base as heartfelt memorials to those killed in the recent terrorist attacks.   There was a huge police presence blocking traffic into and out of the plaza except for bicycles although I did get stopped in a couple of places but got off and walked the sidewalk.  Several folks noticed my colorful blue and yellow Peace Rider jacket result in severalp interviews with reporters.  I also unfurled my Love as the Way banner for photos.

From there I headed south on Rue Voltaire to find the human chain.  At one point a young woman grabbed my hand and we briefly had a mini chain of maybe eight folks.  Think it had already happened by this time.  Then near the cafe where people were killed  I was surprise to meet Paul Thompson and Mindy - their group Cool Planet broadcasting as .

I along with three other young people rode bicycles across country to Washington, DC to lobby for doing something about Climate Change.  Paul was the support driver, me an ageless man joining 20 year olds.  Mindy I hadn't met until today was the back home support then.

So this meeting allowed another impromptu interview and banner showing for Citizen's Voice.  It also
affirmed what I already knew that there are no coincidences even though we use the word serendipity to describe these encounter.  We meet in this life time the people we need to meet or meet again to accomplish our life purpose in the grand scheme of things.

Away from the plaza and police the streets were pretty quiet for a Sunday.  I took another grand tour down Rue Turbido past the Nelson Mandela monument and garden then Rue Louve to the open area by the museum.  Much easier to access on a bike where one couldn't take a car.  Occasional police sirens escorting black Mercedes limos taking dignitaries to hotels I presume. 

From the Louve I made it to the Champs Eleysee lined with vendor stalls hawking all kind of food and souvenirs ending up rather slowly at the Arc du Triumphe.  I was in no hurry.  A lot more folks in this area walking the streets but when I left there to head back the streets were quieter.   This day and maybe tomorrow the subways are free for the beginning of COP 21.  For me better to keep my head above ground to enjoy the fresh air and street scenes.  

Tired on return climbing 70 some stairs to Clair's 5th floor apartment.  But a lovely, fruitful day in all even if the sun didn't show through the overcast but then neither did the rain - a welcome change.

P' Alante (onward)

In Peace and Love,

Peace Rider 

 

Enroute to Paris 11/23/2015

Dear Friends,

At this writing I'm staying briefly with friends in NYC (a brief rest) on way to Paris to take part in some way with activities surrounding COP 21, the climate summit beginning on 30 Nov. 

My last post a few days ago indicated I hope to participate in a demonstration to take place the 29th.  That has since been cancelled by the French government due to recent events.  So that leaves me going but uncertain how I may participate.  Have-bike-will-travel so will see and update this when there is a bit more to say from this moment of unknowing, a not unfamiliar place from other faith based travels.

Catch you all down the road.

Peace Rider

Love is the Way Banner on display in Anchorage, Alaska during President Obama's  three day visit in early September drawing attention  to changes already happening on the "front line" as a result of climate change.

On the Road from Panama  7/9 to 11/18/2015 –  more conversation with BBC07

Hi BB, how are you doing?   It’s nice to hear your voice again.

I’m fine Peas Rider.

Do you remember where we left off last time?

Sort of.  Something about distinction.

That’s close.  Some scientists are saying if we do nothing about climate change human beings may be extinct in 100 years.  You were wondering what one little girl could do to stop that from happening.  Remember?

Yeees!

We are in very dangerous times in our history BB.  The air we breath is no longer clean like before.

I know.   Daddy says we’re putting too much ca,ca poop in the air from burning old dead plants for a long time.

Your daddy should know being a scientist.

I know about ca, ca poop! It stinks!

So does burning the dead plants we take from the ground and burn for fuel.  There is more of it every day in the air causing the planet to warm up, ice to melt and the sea level to rise.  It’s happening before our very eyes BB.  Some Bopheads still don’t believe its happening.

Don’t they have eyeballs Peas Rider?

Do you remember the closed door example I used to tell you about a Picklehead’s mind.

Yees!   

They see okay but they have made up their minds it’s not happening for many reasons, one might be to admit they were mistaken and have to do something about it. When you're a Bophead (short for boob and picklehead)  the last thing you want to do is admit you make a mistake.

Why is that?

To say I made a mistake is to say I am an imperfect human being and many people cannot do that.

Mum says we all make mistakes and need to say we’re sorry.

That’s wise advice  BB. 

A Bophead in Wronggas, as you call it, might lose their job and a lot of things they value that go with it if they did. 

What if we put ants in their pants, huh?

Pants on fire I like that idea, it would get someones attention.

What can we do Peas Rider? 

Well, BB no one has listened to me, I tried and so have a lot of other.   Wronggas and Peelament as you say, is more likely to listen to you and a lot of other children like you rather than me.  It’s your future and your voice that matters most.  We adults can help .

  

But I’m just a kid Peas Rider.  

Yes, but boobs and pickleheads have children too.  We are all in this together along with the ants and birds and frogs. 

Jesus was just one man BB.  He changed the world didn’t he?

Yes, he loved everyone all the little children like me.  

And "big children" too like me!

One person can make a difference.  That’s important to remember.   Amazing things happen when we work together for something that helps everyone including the ants.   It is the power of Love in each of us at work if we allow it.  Have you heard of Pope Francis BB?

Who is Poop Pfrancis, Peas Rider.  Is he okay?  Does he have trouble going potty? 

Pope Francis is an older man BB,  the big boss or Pope of the Catholic Church.  Many people in a lot of places belong to the Catholic church.  They adore the Pope.

He must be a nice man,  huh?  

I imagine he is BB.  I haven´t had the good fortune to meet him.  But from what he has written about taking care of our Earth and for poor people he has a big heart. 

Right now we can all help Pope Francis.  A lot of people listen to him, and a lot of people would listen to the voices of young people and children like you.

He recently wrote that we need to stop burning dead plants that puts more ca, ca in the air.  He used other words that mean the same thing.  It's too much ca ca in the air that makes it warmer than before and it keeps increasing every year.  It is already changing the weather.  Now is the time to stop doing it.

What will happen if we don’t Peas Rider.

Noone knows for sure BB.  What we have seen so far is very scary, melting glacier and polar ice, more powerful storms and rising sea levels.   It will only get worse if we do nothing.  It will reach a point where nothing human beings might do can change it.   This is the really scary tipping point scientists talk about.  It is why some say we risk extinction.

I don’t want to be distinct Peas Rider. 

Neither do I and neither would Pope Francis I imagine..  We can help him.  We know it’s the burning of old dead plants that is putting more ca, ca in the air.   We can control the ca, ca that goes into the air if we choose.   Pope Francis and other people are saying tax the BP’s of the world that sell the stuff that’s causing the problem.    

What is tax Peas Rider?

It is a money BP’s would pay for selling the stuff that makes ca, ca when it burns.  It is like your mum or dad saying if you misbehave there are consequences.  For the BP’s misbehavior, the consequence is they must pay money, a tax for selling dead plants that makes ca ca when it burns.  It’s called a carbon tax.  Otherwise, they will keep doing what they are doing even if they know it’s harmful because they make a lot of money doing it. 

There is so much more we need to do BB to bring healing, justice and restoration to our world.  A tax is only a part of a broader solution to a renewable energy future and ways of being in relation to our earth and one another that heal and restore rather the tear us apart. 

What good is money Peas Rider if you have no place to live, huh?

I very good question.  You should ask them that! 

It seems so hopeless sometimes Peas Rider!  They’re peeing on our/my future, POOF, POOF, POOF with their pickleheadedness.   I don’t like it one bit.  These BP’s have little children.  They will go POOF too.  Don’t they care?

Jesus said to love everyone Peas Rider.   How can I still love boobs and pickleheads after what you told me? 

Love is the Way BB.  Have you seen the banner I created that has these words on it?

Yes,  I saw it on your Facebook page.  I like it but I don't understand it..  

I think you are not alone in that.  The Bible as an account of what Jesus is reported to have said gives no further explanation of why it works.  

Very simply Love works because all things are connected energetically by it.  Love, or the energy that is Love, we could call it many different names, is an inherent part of every created thing.  Nothing that exists in form came into being apart from it.  We are not separate from it.  It is within each of us.   Some call this the higher self,  or the Kingdom of God within or super consciousness.   It is the eternal part of our being which does not die at the death of our bodies.

Sort of but I still don't get how it works.  

In practice because all things are connected by it it means that what one gives to another you are giving to yourself individually or collectively.    It is why Jesus said turn the other cheek if someone hits you.   He understood that by hitting back he would get the same response.  Not hitting back or using violence is the only way the cycle of violence can be broken.  In that sense it is transformational, that is a to say causing a change of mind and behavior.

For example, we see what happens repeatedly in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians where violence only leads to more of the same.  Love applied practically would overcome evil with good giving the Palestinians what they want, a homeland, and an end to settlements, and tearing down of the present wall between them.  Love then is always sacrificial giving of oneself for the highest good of another.  It is the only way to Peace in this instance.  But it will not come before there is a change of consciousness and understanding of how the energy of Love works in our world. This is heart energy.

Love of creation and all things in it has caused many of us to work for ending our dependence on burning old dead plants (fossil fuels) that are driving climate change.  A New Earth which we can create is one that relies on renewable energy and is sustainable and equitable for "all of God's children." Climate change is forcing us to evolve and change if we are to survive and prosper.

Say BB how would you like to join me in Paris for the climate demonstration on November 29th before the COP 21 talks begin.  You could help me hold up my banner that says LOVE IS THE WAY.  It seems really timely and important after the recent terrorist attacks and loss of life there. 

I'd love that!.  I'll see if mum and dad can come too.

Good let me know soon will you?

Okay.

I love you,

I love you too, bye for now.  

Peas Rider 

On the Road from Panama 7/4/2015 –  a conversation with BBC07 continued

It`s nice to hear your voice again BB. 

It’s nice to hear you too. 

Do you remember where we left off last time? 

Yes, with boobs and pickleheads,

Let’s play make believe to try and understand boobs and pickleheads better.

That sounds like fun! 

Let’s pretend there are two kingdoms, one is called Boobdom and the other Pickleheadeddom, Pickledom for short.

That`s funny. 

In Boobdom and Pickledom there are all kinds.  Some boobs in Boobdom and Pickledom have real boobs like your mum, some do not.

That´s nice! 

They are mostly nice people and harmless boobs. Being a boob or a picklehead is about how people think and what they do from how they think.

A simple boob could be someone that watches TV like POX news or they like Mush Limberger.  Ooh - stinky cheese!  It makes me want to vomit!

This is a different cheese.  Some people can´t stand Mush others like Limberger.   

My daddy says if you can´t say something nice about someone stay quiet. 

That’s good advice to live by. 

A lot of boobs believe most everything they hear. 

How come Peas Rider? 

Sometimes people are just lazy or have their minds made up about something.  Some boobs want to believe someone who seems to know more than them even if what they say may be only half true or not true at all.  

They’re liars, liars pants on fire! 

Yes BB but sadly when someone repeats something often enough even though it’s lying, as you say, some boobs will believe it`s true. 

That’s ugly.   

It’s uglier when you lie to yourself and then to others.   Wars that kill innocent children like you happen because of it.   

Jesus loved all the little children Peas Rider.  

He did BB, even the boobs and pickleheads of our world.  And that includes most of us.  We have all acted like boobs or pickleheads at one time or another. 

Boobs can also be Pickleheads.  Pickleheads have their minds made up about something and won’t change it.  It’s like a locked door.    

Just like in Peelament, or Wronggas  like my daddy says. 

Just so, but to be fair not everyone in those places is a Bophead for short.  But just a few boobs or pickleheads can make it miserable for everyone.   In Wronggas nothing gets done because Bopheads think money and power are more important than helping everyone not just other Bopheads like themselves. 

Why do they do that Peas Rider?

They’ve lost track of what’s really important BB, like caring for one another and our Earth.

Mum says to operate you have to cooperate like ants.    

Your mum is a wise woman.  From a creature we consider simple there are important life lessons to learn BB.  They live and work together and they share so no ant goes hungry. 

Why can´t we be more like ants Peas Rider?

We could BB if enough of us changed our minds about what is important and did something about it.

I´m scared Peas Rider. 

Your scared?

Daddy says in 100 years we could all go poof,  poof, poof no more, because of climate change!   I don`t want to go distinction Peas Rider. 

I'm scared for you too BB.  I don’t want you to go extinct either.

No more frogs, no more ants, no more birds that sing, no more little boys and girls like me.  What can one little girl like me do Peas Rider?

Can you call me back soon BB?  It's important we talk more about what we can do together to make our world a better place for all of God’s children.     

I’ll try.  Good night Peas Rider, I love you.  

I love you too BB, sweet dreams.  

Peas Rider