And yes, it is 5:00 am.  But I've turned in my last paper and still have most of Sunday to start my vacation off!

A new post on my Env & Spirit blog about a book I read.  A really cool book about connection to nature and the environmental movement, and how they are intertwined.

I've made another post on my Environment and Spirit blog recapping an interview I did with someone who has worked in the environmental, and religious environmental, field for 20 years.  We had a great talk about said movements, the power of language, and separation.

A couple new posts at my Environment & Spirituality blog:

* Quotes from astronauts who have seen Earth from Space, posted in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo II landing on the moon
* A review of a book I'm reading called A Reenchanted World: The Quest for a New Kinship with Nature, which has been an interesting recent history so far, and matches my area of study pretty well
* A page asking for Suggestions and recommendations

I'm trying to start more dialogue over there (so far, there's been none), so I'd love some comments if the topic calls to you in any way.

Summer quarter started the day I flew back to town from my trip to the east coast. Re-entry into work (overwhelming) and school (very full) on top of a bad cold has been a bit much.

But I am very excited about this quarter. With the first three quarters of the program behind me, I am moving beyond core classes into ones that really focus on what I'm here to study - the environment. My classes - and I'm excited about each and every one of them - this quarter are:

• Integrative Environmental Science (where I'll be researching the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle, since I'll be doing my capstone project in that neighborhood)
• Permaculture (where I'll be designing a garden plan for my home, and where I'm already learning about living in peace with wasps' nests)
• an independent study on Environment & Spirituality

For my independent study, I've decided to start a whole 'nother blog to track what I'm learning and thinking about.  I am using it to communicate with some other students and my professor, and want to extend the conversation to friend and family and interested parties.  I'll post a link here when I post there, and I've also created an LJ syndication: envspirit.  Please join in the conversation!

And here's the first post, explaining my intent.

So, I had someone come out and look at the wasps making a home in our house today. He reported that they are German Wasps. The place they are flying into, indicating that their nest is behind this, is the very bottom of the where our bay window juts outs. The bee guy said that they are therefore nesting in an opening in the flooring between layers of plywood, not in the wall between wood and plasterboard, so there is no risk that they will come tumbling out into the house at some point. In the fall, when next year's queens are launched, they will come out and leave their paper nest behind. We can caulk the opening and there will be no damage to the house; the nest they leave will be insulation.

We haven't had any problems with stinging and if we give them a bit of a berth when we are outside, we should be okay. They eat insects and garden pests, so they are beneficial to the yard. If we wanted to remove the nest, he would have to remove the siding and then we'd need to find someone who could replace it for us. So, we decided to let nature run its course and make peace with the wasps, as long as they remain peaceful with us.

The downside is that we want to refinance and I worry this could be a problem with an appraiser. Anyone have real estate contacts that could give me a read on this?

So, it looks like wasps are making a home inside the siding of our house. Can anyone give me advice on what to do, and who to call?

I've spent a good chunk of my vacation from school processing pictures to upload. Check 'em out:



A set of pics from Winter.



A set from Spring.



A set from May Day.

Hallelujah!

Two weeks off...

I love summer solstice - hope that it's a lovely day for you!



Myself, I'm trying to finish my final paper for the quarter so I can be on my (two week only) summer break from school. It's due by midnight tonight. Right now, I'm at a 10 page single-spaced outline for a paper that doesn't need to be more than 15 pages double-spaced - looks like I'm over doing it again. The good news is that, for me, the outline is 75% of the work, so I'm getting close to done.

Then maybe I can plant the rest of the plants I bought over a month ago that haven't made it in to the ground yet...

If you haven't seen this yet, it's worth taking a few minutes to read, IMHO:

The Commencement Address by Paul Hawken to the Class of 2009, University of Portland, May 3, 2009

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.

You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.

A great speech - full text available in PDF format.

I was happy to see this article in the paper yesterday - especially since Thornton Creek is my home watershed.

Thornton Creek breathes again at Northgate

A new channel south of Northgate Mall in Seattle will filter sediment and clean the water of Thornton Creek. A parking lot used to cover this 2.7-acre creek channel.

Dragonflies alight and swoop delicately from plant to plant. For biologists and project managers alike, the presence of these insects, which are sensitive to pollution, indicates a healthy ecosystem.

That wasn't always so across the stark, paved grounds of Northgate Mall. Polluted runoff from the parking lots and neighborhood streets had nowhere to go except directly into Thornton Creek, a stream that weaves through Shoreline and North Seattle and empties into Lake Washington at Matthews Beach Park.

But with enough community pressure and compromise, change can happen.

More at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009357492_thorntoncrk19m0.html

I'm up late working on a paper (I hit my stride and didn't want to stop) - and it seems the dawn chorus is beginning.  At 3:00 am?  Really?  It's still quite dark out.

But, it seems nature is telling me to go the heck to bed, and so, I will.

I am planning on an independent study next quarter to explore the topic of environment and spirituality. I am not exactly sure what my goal is for this study, although very recently I've begun to wonder if there is a thesis topic in it for me. I do want to explore how Paganism might inform or connect with work towards sustainability. I also know that I don't want to focus exclusively on Pagan spirituality - I am interested, for example, in learning more about how Christians (even the more conservative branches) are starting to see environmental issues as a spiritual or religious issue or calling.

I am setting up a meeting with someone with some background in this area and there are a couple books on my radar already - Pagan Visions For A Sustainable Future and Love God Heal Earth. However, I'm also really hoping that I can get some good ideas from my friends in LJ-land and the wider blogosphere.

Do you have any books to recommend?
People you think I should talk to?
An event that I should go to?
Know of any cool organizations in the area?
Be interested in talking to me about how your spirituality informs your work towards sustainability or your environmentalism?

I'd appreciate any ideas, suggestions, inspirations. Thanks!

Pictured, from L to R: two scented geraniums (one is rose), two salal* (one with flowers), two bunchberry* (both with flowers), two pots of an understory fern*, three lavender, one rosemary, six cherry tomatoes, and a little bitty lettuce.



Additionally: (not really visible in the above picture), a Nootka and a Pea rose* and an Indian plum (aka osoberry)*. I already have an Indian plum, but it has never fruited, which has made me very sad. I've learned that this is probably because it's a male. So I bought a female Indian plum - and I know it's female, because it's already in fruit.


(If you click on the above picture, you'll go to my Flickr page, which has notes as to which plants in the picture are which.)

* All plants with an asterisk are Northwest natives. Here is my favorite pairing (fern and bunchberry):

I love the month of May more than any other of the year. And it's not just because it's the month that brought me my wife (her birthday and our fateful meeting 14 years ago). It's spring. It's the bright green fullness of the trees and flowers everywhere. I traveled through the Arboretum today on my way between one off site meeting and the next. The sunlight made the leaves glow. Chestnut trees full of white blossoms and rhododendrons in full bloom were everywhere. In the words of (a famous poet, right?): beautiful, beautiful, and yet again beautiful.

Um, I also may have bought a few plants at the garden store.

Thursday, May 14, People For Puget Sound, the Duwamish Tribe, and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (DRCC) invite you to an evening discussion devoted to the health of the Duwamish River and the health of Puget Sound. The program begins at 7PM at the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center, 4705 West Marginal Way SW.

More information here.

I'll be attending with a couple classmates. Anyone else interested?

From http://www.cnu.org/node/2853:

The outstanding 3-minute video asks the question “What’s the greatest threat to our planet?” and shows how reimagining our cities and suburbs to be sustainable and walkable will cut carbon emissions, commutes and calories. "When it comes to saving the planet, what we build is the greatest threat…or the greatest hope," say the filmmakers in Built to Last.



Also, on a similar topic: The Next American Dream, a special report from American Public Media's Marketplace program, looking the "four pillars of the American Dream" and how they're changing:

Although the phrase "The American Dream" was not coined until 1931, the idea is older than America itself. But somewhere between the economic expansion of the 1950s and the bubble economies of the last 20 years, the American Dream has changed. The ideals of hard work and advancement through achievement, and the idea that anyone could be middle class have given way to house flippers, debt speculators and never-ending consumption.

These are issues we are learning about in one of my classes this quarter, and worth sharing. I'm wondering if how my interest in sustainable, restorative storm water management will find a place in this new urbanism movement?

I'll be celebrating at the Woodland Park tonight with the Fremont Arts Council. Who else will be there?



From http://www.fremontartscouncil.org:

MAY DAY!!! MAY DAY!!! MAY DAY!!! MAY DAY!!! MAY DAY!!!

Hello Everyone!

The weather forecast for Friday is calling for 72 degrees!
The Spring has sprung and the birds and bees are getting their engines rev'ed up! Let's join them!

The FAC May Day celebration is this Friday starting at 6PM at Woodland Park. Here's a link to a map of the location - http://www.seattle.gov/parks/_images/maps/picnics/Woodland4-7.pdf . Historically, we've been closest to building 5 or 6, so just keep an eye open for a bunch of folks in their whitest finery.

We will be delighted with the "Sound and Fury Morris Dance" group to kick things off. Then, Yellow Hat Band will lead us in the dance around the May Pole. Food and libations and, of course, the Beltain Fire will be stoked and ready for jumping!

Please bring a potluck dish and some wood for the fire. We will not be eating until after the May Pole dance, so please do not arrive hungry. Consider bringing a blanket for sitting and warmer clothes for when the sun goes down.

Wear your finest, white garb, and your bright spirit for celebrating this season of renewal and fertility. Bring a friend!

See you there!

Hey Seattlites: tomorrow (April 30th) is Dining Out for Life, an annual fundraiser for Lifelong AIDS Alliance. In this lean economic year, this is a win-win way to support a worthy organization - you get a night out, and Lifelong gets a donation.

There are over 150 local restaurants participating. Invite your friends and enjoy good company and good food for a good cause. The more the merrier!