Linking the Poor with the Environment

I volunteer at an environmental group.

Today I asked the guys who collect our garbage (We have little of it, by the way.), if they were concerned about any environmental problems in their neighborhoods.

The answer: "Our environment is fine. We just have problems with the government. We can't afford to live here anymore. Everything is being done for the tourist, not for us who have lived here all our lives."

This answer is representative of many similar answers, I assume, if I were to ask this man's neighbors or even those in his income status in other cities elsewhere.

And meanwhile, we white environmentalists, many of us middle to upper income, ask ourselves why we can't attract those who are low income into our campaigns.

As a matter of fact, I'm currently contacting scores of environmental groups in the region. I ask them what they are doing to reach out to low income people, or to involve them in their work, and I get too frequently an answer of "nothing."

We traditional environmentalists seem to be more interested sometimes in protecting land from development, trees from being cut down, and species from becoming extinct, than we are in bonding with a sizable population of low-income folks.

Without this 25 percent of so of our population on board, how can we expect to succeed in building a sustainable environmental movement?

Bringing the low income population into the movement seems to have selfish motives. I admit that this is indeed true. However, the social justice person in me sees other motives.

Those who are most affected by environmental hazards are most frequently low income people. They live along the fence line beside polluting factories. They are most likely to drink unfiltered water. Their children are more likely to have breathing difficulties because of where they live. They most frequently eat only food that they can afford, which is often loaded with preservatives, pesticides and unhealthy fats and sugars.

All the while we environmentalists drive our hybrid cars, eat our organic locally grown food, work at our one job and go home to our Energy Star home every night.

There sometimes seems to be a bigger gap between us environmentalists and low income neighbors than there is between the haves and have nots. How disappointing!

But there are hopeful signs out there. Here are some examples of low income folks seeing the connection of the environment injustice in their lives with the bad health and poor quality of life they live with everyday.

They are:

• The Center on Race, Poverty and Environment in San Francisco;
• Green for All and the West County Toxics Coalition in Oakland, CA;
• Clean Air Community Trust in Asheville;
• the California Environmental Rights Alliance;
• Clean Water for North Carolina (Asheville and Durham, NC);
• Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (Glendale Springs, NC)
  
• Latino Environmental Advance Project in the San Joaquin Valley; and
  
• the Association of Irritated Residents (Delano, CA).

I'm sure there are many more, but they are often far fewer and poorer than the major well-known environmental groups like the Sierra Club, Audubon, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Fund and others.

The Sierra Club, to its credit, does have a few environmental justice organizers placed in some areas of the country, and they work hard to involve low income populations in local environmental issues.

Over all, unless we environmentalists get out of the woods and the rivers, and onto the front porches and storefront churches in low income neighborhoods, our environmental movement will be doomed.

But we need to expand our movement not just because we need more inclusive membership, but most of all, because it is the right thing to do. We all are environmentalists, whether we know it or now. We all breathe the same air, drink basically the same water, often eat the same food grown on our country's farms.

But if we are to get the low income people inside our doors, we must listen to them. We must trust them to lead. As I noted above, they are the people most frequently affected by environmental threats. And, like the rest of us, they also care about endangered species and forests. But they may have new methods of working on these problems, and we professional environmentalists need to listen, and yes, even follow at times.

We must also be willing to take the time to nurture, to listen, to learn. We won't entrust low income people to our causes over night. It will only be when we are open to losing our methods, to admitting that there may be better ways of solving problems, and to seeing problems through others' eyes, that we will be able to truly make the environmental movement come under the ownership of all people.

We need to make the environment a populist campaign. We need to make our pie bigger. We need to be able to empower those most affected by corporate ruination of our surroundings.
We need to be able to bring the environment onto the football field, the bowling alley and to the next NASCAR race.

Someday, someday this will happen. Let's begin opening our doors and opening our minds today. Join me for the benefit of all our grandchildren and the world, as a whole.

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You Must be Political; You Must Also Change the Way You Live!

What a quandary in which many of us find ourselves!

Do we change the world by getting political (demonstrating, writing letters to the editor, civil disobedience, testifying at hearings, endorsing the best candidates for office, running for office, etc.)?

Yes, you must!

AND, you can't stop there! You must also change the way you live your life, a not so simple job, but at least it's one where we don't get in the face of others. Examples of the little things that mean a lot are: recycling, using mass transit, buying local, boycotting the non-local when possible, using LCD lightbulbs, planting an organic garden, etc.

The trouble is that on this earth, we most frequently find ourselves doing one or the other, but seldom do folks do both.

I remember once I was going to a weekly community environmental group's meeting in which we talked about air pollution. Hypocritically, however, I smoked a cigarette on the way there, and lit up on the way home. Plus I drove alone when I could have carpooled.

Likewise, I know people who live model lives by choosing to live in voluntary simplicity. This type of lifestyle can often become all consuming. There are always new ways we can live more simple lives and therefore consuming less energy. However, these folks are often so wrapped up in this lifestyle that no letters are written to editors, comments aren't made regarding regulatory changes in air pollution laws or water quality laws, voting for the best candidates doesn't happen. Many of these well-meaning people almost become isolationists. I can almost hear them saying,"I got my life taken care of. Now if everyone did what I did, there would be no air pollution or water pollution. So get with the program yourself. I'm busy."

So no matter what route you choose to take, if it is only one of the two options above, NOTHING WILL CHANGE.

FOLKS, WE HAVE A BIG PROBLEM FACING THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANET. IT'S BIGGER THAN WHAT THE DEMONSTRATOR OR THE SUSTAINABLE LIVING ENTHUSIAST CAN CHANGE ALONE.

THE ONLY WAY WE WILL SEE CHANGE IS WHEN THE SIMPLE SUSTAINABLE PRACTITIONER GETS POLITICAL, AND WHEN THE POLITICAL PERSON GETS SUSTAINABLE!

THE TIME FOR CHOICE IS OVER. BOTH EFFORTS BY EVERYONE IS CRUCIAL!

IF YOU THINK NOT, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!

Remember the old saying, "No one ever said that life was easy?" I say, "No one ever said saving the planet would be easy!"

I know all the excuses why you and others find it hard to bring about change in our own personal lives while also trying to bring about national and global change through the political process. I hear too often:

"I just don't have time to recycle, to take mass transit, to blank, to blank or to blank." (You fill in the blank.)

"I just don't have time to leave my garden, besides going to town wastes energy. Besides, they're going to do what they want to do no matter how much I get involved."

"I'm tired of getting in people's faces. Let you political folks do that. It's not for me."

"Hey, I'm teaching the young ones. That's enough."

"If I get political, I'll embarrass my husband or my family, and they won't like it."

"Recycling is so stupid! Everyone knows that it all goes in the landfill anyway."

"Why grow my own garden? I have no intention of learning how to cook!"

"Why waste my time in the political arena? They're all just a bunch of crooks anyway!"

"I'm too old."

"I did my part. Now it's your turn."

"I'm too young."

"I don't want to get my hands dirty by mixing with politics."

"I'm too stupid to talk to my legislator."

"I don't have property, so there's nothing I can do to live a more sustainable life."

I've said many of the above excuses myself during my life, and that's what they were....excuses for not wanting to extend my life's efforts, to sacrifice for the common good for the planet.

I suspect that some people are more inclined to change their personal lives or to get political, but few of us are inclined to do both. Some of us are inclined to do neither.

One very personal gripe I have is toward those who do fabulous jobs at living model lives of conservation and care of the environment in their own back yard, but refuse to dirty their hands in the political realm. Many truly believe that they live in a perfect little corner of the world, and if the world goes to hell, their little corner will remain intact.

Not so! We all drink the same water and breathe the same air. Our land can become contaminated by what happens up or down the road. War can affect all of us, whether we're in the streets fighting it or in our fields tilling the beans. All of our families can lose loved ones from wars. We can all find ourselves in horrible debt when the economy goes bad. We can all be hit by an epidemic. We all suffer when healthcare becomes unaffordable. What is the good to recycle when all recycling centers close down or recycling is not longer a national priority?

EVERYTHING IN LIFE IS POLITICAL! PERIOD! NO WAY AROUND IT!

We can all do something to bring about true social change through the political area, so our personal lives can be productive in the sustainability movement.
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In college I read Voltaire's Candide. I was taken in with the final chapter where I remembered that I was instructed that to care for my little garden was all that I needed to do. All else was futile and a waste of time. However, Wikipedia has this to say about that final chapter:

Another of the primary Candide debates concerns the degree to which Voltaire was advocating a pessimistic philosophy, by which Candide and his companions give up hope for a better world, as compared to a melioristic philosophy which resigns the travelers to commit themselves to improving the world through metaphorical gardening. There is debate as to whether Voltaire was prescribing passive retreat from society, or active industrious contribution to it.

So I go with the last philosophy. For our grandchildren's sakes, we cannot just retreat from society while we attend to our garden. No, we must attend to our garden while we actively and industriously contribute to its betterment by optimistically calling for social, environmental and economic change through its regulatory, diplomatic, legislative, judicial and corporate actions.

Now let's get the gardening done, and go get into someone's face!

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"This is Our Moment!"

It has happened! What I thought was just a matter of time has visited us on May 14, 2008.

John Edwards, identified as Former Presidential Candidate, Former Vice-Presidential Candidate and Former Senator, has spoken out in support of Barack Obama, Current Presidential Candidate and Current Senator.

I am happy that this day has arrived, because Obama sure needs a friend these days.

Obama says that he, Hillary and John believe in a different America than does Current President George W. Bush and Almost Republican Nominee for President John McCain.

We have to admit that the Democrats have better health care plans than do the Republicans. Because of the efforts of Edwards, poverty made it to become one of the main topics under discussion in this presidential campaign by the Democrats.

Now Obama says that he is also committed to striking poverty from the streets, hollows and neighborhoods in the US. "We can start by taking away tax breaks of those who have moved their jobs overseas. We can initiate green jobs."

The next tax bill signed by the next president, Obama says, will expand the Earned Income Tax Credit program, will expand the issuance of new housing vouchers, and other programs that today's often overlooked poor need to become self-sufficient.

He's also promoting a $4,000 tuition assistance for college students per year if they commit to community service.

I can see that Obama is ready to start looking presidential. Now he's talking about what he'll be doing when he is president. About time, huh?

At this time Obama is making his pitches in Michigan, one of the two states (the other being Florida) who set their primaries up earlier this year against the rules of the Democratic Party. Hillary and her husband were part of the decision makers who told these two states that their votes wouldn't be counted if they changed their primary dates. But Hillary continued to campaign in these two states for their primaries, and even kept her name on the ballot in one of them. Now she wants those votes counted for her, since she wont both. Not quite the kosher thing to do, in my opinion.

In Obama's effort to woo some of those Michigan voters to his side, he is comparing his humble background with that of Edwards. Both grew up in struggling poor families. Hillary grew up in a well-to-do suburb of Chicago.

Again Obama stressed the politics of hope, saying that change is hard. The status quo resists change, but people are now wanting change that will be stronger than the status quo.

What is your opinion of this endorsement? Is Edwards now getting a hefty position in a future Obama White House? What bargains were made?

Will this help seal the Democratic nomination for Obama? Will Elizabeth also endorse Obama, even though she had previously said that Clinton had a better health plan?

Will Obama now be forced to proposed a single-payer health care program that leaves out the health insurance companies? Will the poor again get the attention they need in this presidential race? Will John Edwards accept a VP slot one more time? Will Obama be able to withdraw us from Iraq in a way that is quick, sure and just?

I still think that Obama does inspire change, and can move the American people to set the path to the future. I think that this is one reason he has not been as specific on a number of issues the other candidates are espousing with 10-point plans for this and six-point plans for that.

This is OUR opportunity to lead, at last. This is our opportunity to make a government that is truly of, for and by the people. And whomever we elect, we must get that message across. I just think that Obama will be more likely to listen to us when he gets the message, and lead in policy making and example to make our messages reality and a better America.

It's late, and I may be somewhat naive tonight. As I've said in other posts on other days, we have no perfect person running for president of the USA. But we do have one who is better and still in the race. That person is Barack Obama, and I am happy to see that John Edwards at last agrees with me.

I would much rather that candidate be he, but we just couldn't pull it off this year. Maybe some other time. In the meantime, I'll be pulling for Obama with gusto this year.

So many questions and very few answers at this time.

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My German Heritage

Watched a terrific program tonight about Fredricksburg, TX, a quite different type of town than you would expect out of the Long Horn State.

No surprise in the population's main occupation. Most are cowboys, German cowboys going back some 160 years.

You see, the town was settled as a colony by the Germans back in 1844, under some big land grant agreement. Even some of the German royalty settled there, one member giving up him royal title to become just like all the other struggling settlers in this little town more than a century ago.

It all started when Germany became concerned that the country could no longer support its population. Through public relations and a little lying, they were sure that many Germans read and/or heard about other Germans who had settled in the New World and how happy, successful and free they were. The promotion worked, and many Germans came over here expecting to see an utopia. They traveled inland to the hill country of Texas, and settled in an area they named Fredricksburg.

Instead, many grew sick and died even before they arrived, and of those who arrived alive, many of them died due to the hard life the early settlers had before them, as well as a number of epidemics and lack of food. Not getting here in time to plant crops in the spring, the group's first year was especially trying.

However, the German people who came here reacted in ways I would not have expected of those of my ethnic background. They realized that they needed the Comanches, and the Comanches eventually discovered that the German settlers had much to be respected for, as well. They came up with a treaty to this day that has never been broken. Instead of a treaty whereby the white people would eventually take the Indian's land, this treaty was one whereby the Indians and the German settlers would respect each other's use of the land in question. They would share the land and resources, and to this day, they do.

The new German settlers, likewise, were quite surprised when they got here and saw that a number of those who lived here weren't free, as they had been told all humans were. They refused to buy and sell slaves. They preferred to do their own work, which led to them becoming cowboys, an occupation for which they would not need slaves. When the Civil War erupted, they refused to fight with the Confederacy, even though Texas was part of the break-away states. Some were complete pacifists, and they ones who weren't preferred to stand by Abraham Lincoln and support the Union. For these stands, many of the German settlers were executed by the Confederates.

To this day, the small city of Fredricksburg is immersed in its German heritage. Some people there still speak German. One lady said that church services there were still said in German up to World War II.

Compare these Germans to the Germans I learned about who were war mongers, such as Hitler and Bismarck and Kaiser William. Yet I also remember that many other peaceful Germans came to this country and remained true to their pacifism, such as the anabaptists, the Mennonites, the Amish and those who settled the Amana Colonies in my home state of Iowa.

So the next time you start being judgmental toward those egotistical Germans, remember the Germans who came here to live in peace and to die for peace and unity.

The Germans, however you judge them, have proved themselves to be people of discipline, in no matter what area of work they decide to excel in.

So, thank you Pfleigers and Roskopfs, my roots from Germany.

I would love to visit Fredricksburg, TX someday! Take my grandchildren, and let them hear German that has been passed down generation to generation for more than 160 years.

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Tennessee Yogi Who Lives Lifestyle He Teaches

Dharam is a modern sage for people in Knoxville, TN. Weekly followers engage with the Master to practice Yoga. When he’s not teaching yoga, students may find him in his Fort Sanders garden, at political rallies or delivering newspapers.

He says, "I really like it here. I like the people. I’ve lived in other cities, and that expanded me and my awareness of other people and stuff, but it also made me appreciate this area. I was raised as a mainstream Protestant Christian. And I always had a great admiration for Christ’s teachings. I actually prayed to God and Christ for a teacher. That’s how I was led to the yoga."

Dharam teaches Kundalini Yoga, an advanced yoga that means to coil. It goes back 1000s of years before Christ, as does all yoga. Dharam likes it because it "raises energy and consciousness very powerfully."

Is yoga without the spirituality possible?

"I think it’s like watered down yoga. Yoga means the union of mind, body and spirit. A lot of the yoga being taught today in the West has lost a lot....not all....but a lot of the original purpose. I’m very fortunate to teach here allows chanting. It opens your heart and makes your brain reach to higher consciousness."

He continues to explain that yoga and meditation are very inter-related. "Yoga is a meditation in itself and yoga makes possible deeper levels. It will deepen, help the quality, the depth of their meditation.

"I’ve meditated for so many years that I’m in tune with the Master enough that I can just sort of be a channel. That’s what I’m trying actually to not even teach the class. I just let their energy come through. And if I keep my ego out of it, that works."

Dharam says that the yoga he teaches has been handed down teacher to teacher through the golden chain of teachers back to infinity. "Certainly those beings blended themselves and emerged with the Infinite, with God. They represent God, but they also were human. Because we are humans, we learn from humans."

Yogi Bhajan was Dharam's primary teacher. "I saw him in person many times. He left the body in 2004. But actually when someone of that level leaves the body they are able to perfect, because these teachings reach beyond the physical. They are beyond time and space. And so the physical body limits a Master just like Jesus said he could help his disciples more after he left. Because they are in the Spirit realm, they’re not limited. Really, there is no loss when one of them leaves."

Is Dharam grooming any teachers to carry on your work someday?

"We are all each other’s teachers," he answers. "So the person who is the best student becomes the best teacher. That’s how you become a good teacher."

Like all humans, Dharam ages, too, as years pass him by. "I just age gracefully. But for every aging you do, there should be an equal and corresponding wisdom you gain. A person as they get older, gains wisdom and the people who are really sad are the people who are getting older and aren’t (becoming wiser). We come to go. That’s a big part of the teaching. We will leave here. And I could be in as great of shape as I want, but when it’s my time to go, I’ll have to go. The key is to just make the best use of our short time in the body on earth. And yoga helps you do that because you’re always at your best. If you do the yoga, your body is at its best. Your mind is at its best. Your spirit is at its best. And they’re working together in harmony."

What does a yoga teacher do when not teaching yoga?

"I try to have a relaxed life, study, meditate some. Have fun. Actually in our group we try to not to make it an income. We try to have our own income. That gives us the independence from the students. It can supplement your income, but you have your own income, so they’re honest and straight forward. That the Yogi model for teaching. It’s like a waitress. If a person gives you good service in a restaurant, you’re not going to just not leave anything. At least you’ve thanked them. Or at least you give them something. It can be a CD. It can be an apple. It can be a dollar or whatever."

So what should people do to live healthy lifestyles?

Dharam replies: "People need to try to relax. Try to be nice, be kind, giving. Don’t worry. In our teachings, worry drains one-third of people’s energy.. The blessed creator will take care of your affairs. Light foods like a vegetarian diet. It keeps you lighter mentally and physically. It’s better for the environment also. Those are the main things."

I asked Dharam what he would like to do after he no longer feels like teaching yoga.

"I’m sure I’ll probably just be meditating . We teach that in the human lifespan from50 to 75 you teach and travel. After 75 you’re preparing to go home. Home meaning where you came from."

What other activities, groups, or other things are in your Dharam's life now?

"I try to stay environmentally and politically active. I care about the community and peace, that the karma will be better for everybody.

"The Yogi and his teachings gave me purpose, and I realized that life was precious and there was hope. Yoga gave me hope. And I think a lot of people do destructive behavior because life is messed up when people are not balanced spiritually. Our society is way too materially oriented. It has forgotten that spirituality is its root ....our spirit . We are not machines.

"People are human . Birth is a great opportunity . Don’t miss this opportunity by chasing after material things much. You use opportunity to help others and advance yourself."

So if you're ever in Knoxville's Fort Sanders area on a Monday or Thursday night, stop by Laurel High School and take a yoga class from a true master, Dharam. Yoga is truly seeing a rebirth all over the USA. Maybe someday our grandchildren will take yoga in school just as they do music and art and physical education today.

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