earthPoems
Environment, British Columbia and the PunjabArchive for Endangered Species
Grandmothers to hold Water Prayers around the Globe on May 18
We, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers
Ask you to join us:
MAY 18, 2010
CONSCIOUS PARTICIPATION IN HEALING OUR PLANETARY WATERS
OUR MOTHER EARTH NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Along with many peoples all around the globe, and many water prayers this spring, we are calling for a
MASSIVE GLOBAL EFFORT
Our main intention for this healing is to return the waters to their original pure crystalline blueprint, and to add to their abundance for the nourishment of ALL living things on the planet.
Pray in your local waterways, at the rivers or lakes or streams. Or pray with a bowl of water in the middle of the cities.
“We are Water Babies.
Do not to forget to say thank you every day for the water you drink,
the water you bathe in.
Without our Mother water we would not survive.”
Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim, Takelma Siletz, Oregon
The specific ceremonies being conducted on May 18, 2010:
Grandmothers will be holding Water Prayers in the following places:
African Rainforest, Gabon – Grandmother Bernadette Rebienot
Great Lakes, USA - Grandmother Rita Blumenstein
Mountains of Oaxaca, Huautla de Jimenez – Grandmother Julieta Casimiro
Desert of the American Southwest – Grandmother Mona Polacca
France - Grandmother Flordemayo
Black Hills of North America – Beatrice and Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance
Plains of North America, Montana – Grandmother Margaret Behan
Hood River, Oregon – Agnes Baker Pilgrim
Nepalese Himalayas – Aama Bombo
Brazilian Amazon - Grandmothers Maria Alice Freire and Clara Shinobu Iura
Tibetan Ceremonies in Canada – Tsering Dolma Gyaltong
Mahia, Aotearoa, New Zealand – Ambassador Pauline Tangiora
At the same time, people will be praying at
Nine specific bodies of water around the planet using crystalline energy
· Lake Tahoe, California
· Lake Titicaca, Peru
· Lake MacKay Australia
· Lake Chad, Africa
· Lake Bikkal, Russia
· Lake Kissyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan
· Lake Geneva, Switzerland
· Lake Superior, Minnesota
· Colorado River Complex (Healing and Purification Ceremonies for this vital USA waterway)
“Water reflects the human soul. If you say, ‘thank you’ to water, it will be reflected in the form of beautiful crystals overflowing with gratitude in return.”
Masuru Emoto, The Secret Life of Water
For more information:
www.goldeneagleceremonies.com
Information provided by Dharini Abeyesekera
Keep the promise to protect the Great Bear Rainforest
Keep the promise to protect the Great Bear Rainforest! That’s what you need to tell British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. It’s the world’s largest temperate rainforest and home to the ‘Spirit Bear,’ the rarely seen white form of the black bear, as well as the forest-nesting marbled murrelet sea bird and salmon-eating coastal wolves.
A couple of years ago, Premier Campbell made a very specific commitment to preserve this precious rainforest. The final countdown is on for the BC government to make their promise a reality by the March 31, 2009 deadline. Premier Campbell needs to hear from you.
We are down to the wire. Unless all elements of the promise are kept, the ecological health of the rainforest will be in jeopardy once again. We’ve come so far towards the rare success of having a vast unspoiled forest safeguarded, let’s not undermine all this good work by not reaching the finish line.
Help us tell the BC government that a promise is a promise. Send your message to BC Premier Gordon Campbell today! (Copied to Environment Minister Barry Penner, Agriculture & Lands Minister Stan Hagen, and Forests & Range Minister Pat Bell).
Thank you for voicing your support for the Great Bear Rainforest at this critical time.
Americans come to the rescue of 15,000 plants in MTS
Thursday, November 06, 2008
By Ali Raza
LAHORE
CALIFORNIA State University, CHICO, USA has expressed its willingness to establish an environmental research centre at one of the oldest nurseries of the country and requested the Punjab government to save the botanical garden from commercialism.
The issue of razing one of the oldest nurseries in Pakistan gained international attention after the Model Town Society (MTS) got possession of the 28 kanal land with over 15,000 plants including many rare species some days back.
A local civil court had already issued contempt of court notices to the MTS office-bearers for displacing the owners who leased the nursery.
Professor Iftikhar Ahmed, Environmentalist and Botanical Gardens Consultant, California and Oregon, USA called the correspondent from USA and raised serious concern over the taking over of the Mian Brothers Nursery by the MTS, and said the government should intervene to rescue the plants.
“Unfortunately, I was recently informed that the Model Town Society again has attacked the garden. This time they are heavily armed, with some corrupt police and apparently they have blockaded the garden and they are readying to bulldoze the garden. It is difficult to understand how such an action can be allowed,” he said.
Talking about the project of establishing a research centre in Mian Brothers Nursery, he said, “We have great interest in protecting educational and natural resources. Here in the University of California, we have considered the possibility of establishing a cooperative environmental sciences programme with Pakistan, possibly using the garden as a site to establish an environmental education centre. While it is agreed that such a programme might be highly beneficial to the citizens of Pakistan, we were advised not to pursue such a venture until there is greater stability in Pakistan. The suggestion was made not because of local instability, but because of the obvious regional disruptions.”
He revealed that in the last meeting of Environment studies department of California State University, CHICO it was decided that the university would establish an environmental sciences and horticultural studies research centre in the Mian Brothers Nursery & Botanical Garden without destroying the environment of the existing garden and no trees would be cut for this purpose.
About the funds, he said the project would be run through NGOs and the university would give scholarships to the local students. The funds will be released not at once and will take time, he maintained.
He also revealed that the Director of the Environmental Department has also written letters to the Pakistan embassy in Washington DC and US embassy in Pakistan regarding the issue.
He said he also wrote letters to the Minister of Environment seeking his intervention into the issue.
He said the university would soon send a letter of support to the chief minister of Punjab and would request the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court as well as the Federal government in Pakistan to save this precious nursery and rare species of plants, which are at the brink of extinction.
Prof Iftikhar said that these kind of brutal activities against the local environment (destroying plants trees and green spaces) would negatively affect the local environment.
He added that such situations create more difficulties in attracting international environmental protection funds as well as educational funds to Pakistan.
On the other hand, when contacted, MTS President Col (Retd) Tahir Kardar said the MTS would not allow establishment of any such centre in the nursery. He said the land was the property of MTS and the society has already approved construction of a shopping mall at the site.
A case against arsenic-based pesticides
North America now has restrictions on harmful arsenic-based pesticides, thanks in part to four years of intensive research by a team led by Environment Canada.
The effects of these chemicals on human health, birds and insects only started to come to light after they were used to fight off an epidemic of mountain pine beetles in British Columbia’s forests.
The team was led by Dr. John Elliott, an EC research scientist who focuses on the study of ecotoxicology. Other members of the team included Dr. Christy Morrissey, a post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Bill Cullen, an international expert on the chemistry of arsenic, and other highly qualified biologists, chemists, summer students and interns from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.
The use of Monosodium Methanearsonate in BC
Monosodium Methanearsonate (MSMA) is an arsenic-based pesticide that was applied to treat trees affected by the worsening mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic in 2001. Frills were cut into the tree bark, and MSMA was injected underneath the bark to target the beetles. With this form of treatment, the beetles are killed — but so are the trees. The fatally infested tree is sacrificed in order to prevent further spread of beetles.
The pine forests of British Columbia’s central and southern interior have been devastated by the mountain pine beetle epidemic. To date, the area of pine trees that have been affected stands at 13.5 million hectares — about four times the size of Vancouver Island. The B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range projects that by 2013, 80 per cent of the pine trees in the affected area could be dead.
It is estimated that in B.C., during a 10-year period from 1995 to 2004, approximately 5080 kilograms of MSMA was applied to some 500,000 trees.
Investigating the impact of MSMA
In a research first, Dr. Elliott’s team found that woodpeckers feeding on the beetles had a significantly higher concentration of arsenic in their bloodstream. Prior to this project, a database allowing scientists to compare their findings did not exist.
The research took place during the 2004-2005 breeding seasons (April to July). The study evaluated the exposure of MSMA to woodpeckers, such as the Three-Toed and Hairy woodpeckers and other forest birds that lived within one linear kilometre of trees that had been treated with MSMA within the previous two years. The research team captured a total of 23 birds whose diets included a large component of beetles.
All beetles and bird blood samples were tested for arsenic. Beetle samples from MSMA treated trees contained high concentrations of arsenic. The blood samples collected revealed moderate but widespread exposure to MSMA.
The team concluded that under current environmental conditions, woodpeckers and other insect-eating species were being exposed to arsenic was occurring with the potential for significant consequences, such as weight loss and higher mortality rates.
While it was initially believed that MSMA was over 90 per cent effective at killing the beetles, the Environment Canada-led team found the success rate to be only about 60 per cent. Some beetles and larvae were still alive despite the application of the pesticide.
MSMA use in B.C. during the mountain pine beetle epidemic can be far-reaching. For example, carpenter ants feeding on dead trees can also serve as food for other species. As a result, the policy calls for ongoing research to determine the presence of arsenic in secondary insects.
