Song to Sing All Over This Land

The news about Trump's ascendancy continues to be dire and those of us feeling the pain are curling into mental fetal positions. I have only the hope that the battle to save our natural treasures will go through courts of law long enough to restore more compassionate leadership. Expect lots of lawsuits and counter lawsuits. The scale of what's coming is daunting. But when I look in my back yard, my neighborhood, my community, the challenges are parsed into components I can tackle. Spending more time connecting with friends and reaching out to make new friends; creating native habitat for local plants, birds and animals; volunteering with and/or donating to local organizations that provide essential health and social services; selecting a key cause or two and really putting your shoulder to those wheels. Pick a place - any place you really care about - and dedicate yourself to protecting that place. Even if it's just your backyard. It's a start toward creating the wo...

It's important to stay true to reality in these strange times, and to act in a principled way even when it seems that everyone in authority is not. I have some wonderful role models for doing this - most recently the wonderful Dan Rather. If you haven't already, I highly recommend following his posts on Facebook for some very insightful and courageous writing. The whole carnival of madness we see in daily reports of who Trump has chosen for cabinet posts can be extremely anxiety-provoking.  I watched my sister, usually stoic and unflappable, quietly insist that a dinner table conversation not veer onto that topic because it sends her to such a difficult place.  It was hard to see someone I consider a real "rock" tear up with such genuine distress. I imagine this is happening for many of us. This sh*tshow reminds me of a conversation I had with a trailblazer on the nutrition front, Dr. Michael Klaper , when I first started eating vegan and also wanted to cut ...

This image of the last male white rhino in the world is heart-breaking, but we must see it and try to do something about it, even if only to increase awareness, and to look around to see what we can rescue before it is gone. What animal or plant species in your community need protection? How can you get others involved? What efforts seem to be making a difference? http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/16/africa/kenya-northern-white-rhino/index.html?sr=cnnifb  

TELL THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY THAT THEIR CLIMATE-DENYING BS IS UNACCEPTABLE.  From  Maressa Brown Levy : The fact that the verified, official Twitter account House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology has tweeted a climate change-denying link from Breitbart ( http://www.nbcnews.com/…/house-science-committee-tweets-cli… ) is INTOLERABLE. Let's call the people on the committee and our own reps about this B.S! Here are the names of the people on this Committee:  https://science.house.gov/about/members SCRIPT (feel free to modify and shorten if it's too much for you, but all the info you need is in there!): Hi, my name is [your name], and I'd like to bring to [insert your Rep/Sen.'s name] attention that today, the House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology tweeted a story from Breitbart -- a far-right, opinion-based site that is not a credible source and is also a huge platform for the "white supremacy" aka...

I'm sure many of you have been watching the news (where it can be found) about Standing Rock. I have been watching daily, have made donations, shared any news that seemed critical to share. In one of my posts, I said I was "appalled at the way the protestors are being treated, and in awe of their courage and determination." Someone pointed out that they are not "protesters," they are "Water Protectors." The choice of words makes a big difference. Caught up in a FB scrabble of opinions, some were complaining that the protesters were disruptive, a nuisance, that they don't have the right to gather on private property. After unwrinkling your forehead, consider this: What if they had used the word "protectors" instead? Does it make sense to describe protectors as a nuisance, or disruptive - that they have no right to protect? Different words create different points of view. We should all be Water Protectors. And People Protectors. Right n...

In case you missed this in my first post, to celebrate "Giving Tuesday", p ut some worthy organizations "on the drip" (monthly recurring automatic donation).  Here are the ones I have researched and believe to do great work for civil rights: ACLU Southern Poverty Law Center  (especially their fantastic curriculum for schools, "Teaching Tolerance") Planned Parenthood I also added a local environmental organization to my giving list, namely The River Otter Ecology project , which does research on river otters to the benefit of the health of our watersheds here in the Bay Area. What grassroots organizations fight for your local community?  How can you support them?

Recommend this movie, "Denial," about Deborah Lipstadt, an American professor of Holocaust Studies who fought a notorious British Holocaust denier named David Irving in a British court. Review and interview on NPR: http://www.npr.org/2016/10/02/496317258/denial-recounts-professors-legal-battle-with-holocaust-denier

Support the incredibly brave Native American men, women and youth (as well as supporters) protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. They seek to prevent destruction of precious water, not only where they live, but also for millions who would be affected downstream from an oil spill. You can send a message, sign a petition, make a phone call. You can send money to help pay for blankets, heaters, food, etc. as the winter season has arrived. And of course, you can join them at the site of the protest, or in solidarity from wherever you live. http://standwithstandingrock.net/ The choices we make every day shape the world we live in, and the world we leave for future generations. Make a choice to do One Good Thing each day to improve your life and the lives of others.

So, I love it that Laurie has joined as a blog author here!!  A genuinely good-hearted feisty and brilliant woman. Action Ideas for Today: 1. Support real news!  Expanding on what Laurie wrote about making sure you're reading real news, if you have the money, support real news by subscribing or donating.  I've just rearranged my spending plan so I can pay for a New York Times subscription as well as an online subscription to The Guardian . Other ideas for legitimate journalism (although always do your sanity-checks even with these): Washington Post BBC Wall Street Journal NPR 2. Get real about narcissists!  I have no doubt that #45 is a raging narcissist (or the very least, borderline personality) and I mean this in a "DSM V" kind of way.  What does that mean to you and me?  It means we have to accept the idea that no amount of shaming or negative attention will convince him to change his behavior.  Blasting shaming tweets at him? ...

The choices we make every day shape the world we live in, and the world we leave for future generations. Make a choice to do One Good Thing each day to improve your life and the lives of others. One good thing: Share this link to help reduce the effect of "fake news." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-news-guide-facebook_us_5831c6aae4b058ce7aaba169

I was pointed to this very beautifully-made site (started by two women) called (W)ALL OF US. It promises to give concrete actions to block harmful action that Trump takes and resist the tide of bigotry that his campaign has emboldened. https://www.wall-of-us.org/ So your action idea for today is to go sign up with these gals! In their own words: he promised a wall. he will be stopped by a wall of us. FOUR CONCRETE ACTS OF RESISTANCE DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX EACH WEEK

A silver lining these days, for me, is the energizing sense that I can be useful. And I would advocate to my sisters and brothers (all over this land...) that in order to be really sharp and have stamina for a freedom fight, we need to take radically good care of ourselves. Today's Action Ideas: 1. Get fit for the fight!  So, if you haven't already, step away from the cacophony for a little while.  Put that oxygen mask on yourself so you can help others. For me, this takes the form of eating real food.  It's helpful that industrial, junky, soul-sucking "food" reminds me so directly of the President-Elect.  Exhibit A: the Cheeto.  Florescent orange, fatty, salty, sugary, made from all kinds of Monsanto madness and chock full of lies and illness. Get some sleep, exercise, get fresh air (while you can.)  Here are some of my favorite resources on eating and living well: Forks Over Knives Kris Carr Rich Roll 2. Make a phone call to your repres...

With apologies and thanks to Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, I start this little blog with the "If I Had a Hammer" song running through my head, giving me hope in what feels like a dark and scary time. Every day since the election of November 9, 2016, I have found inspirations and actions that I can take to fight to keep our civil rights and voice my solidarity with peace-loving people. And I want to compile them here, mostly for myself.  But if they are helpful to someone else, great.  I want to share in this space-that-is-not-Facebook. My intention is to post at least one thing a day that someone like me could do - beyond the shouting into the echo chamber - to rise up, defeat racism, protect the vulnerable, speak truth to power and contribute to the beautiful thing that is a civil society.  I have been so extraordinarily lucky to have been born in this time and in this place and experience the freedoms that everyone should have - and I feel those freedoms are being t...