Making Fun Carbon Connections—for Tech Dinosaurs (from 2022)
So most of you know that I have found my yoga practice evolving over the decades into a practice that yearns to tend not just this rather impermanent and imperfect body! but the whole dear earth body, our planetary home. The longing for transcendence has evolved into a more pragmatic but equally nourishing spirit journey into how to open to the possibilities of this moment, find sanctuary and yoga on the mat and zafu of course, but also in community and in actions that support life right now, right here.
I want to share with you a few things that have inspired me and helped me become part of other communities on parallel paths, and have certainly aided me through the devastating losses of the last few years and weeks - in terms of covid. climate and the unbelievable injustices that thrive in these unsettling times.
My friend Trace who many of you know - great yogi, teacher, activist and super special human bean! - encouraged me to get involved with Seth Godwin’s project, developing an almanac about Climate as a starting point for spreading the conversation into many other areas of society. Seth was looking for volunteers to help research, write, edit, design this book and in the first round last year, I wondered if there was anything I could offer to such a mighty project and dithered. But there is something really engaging about a project that now has 2000 people involved, not just with the book which is complete and is available (see thecarbonalmanac.org for dets and to order) and with folks who accept you as you are and wait for you to find a little/bigger for some! corner to fit in. Surprisingly enough that corner for me was the podcast section in the second round of volunteer recruitment.
There are now 4 different podcast programs related to this book that are happening. (along with free educational guides and kids books and seminars/videos and mucho more) I know nothing about podcasting but the small group that I am working with do and are OK with an older, tech-dumber person than themselves being part of the group. These folk are from all over the country and the globe and have given up large amounts of time to make this climate project a reality and they keep coming up with more and more ideas! It’s like this effervescing vibrant collective creative mix. Due to many limits on my time, it’s been OK to simply seek and review interesting podcasts focusing on climate from different angles and related to the almanac. You can sign up for Carbon Connection and other podcasts and start getting them regularly right now. https://thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts/
I remember Paul Hawken at a Bioneers conference over a decade putting up on the screen a list of organizations that are working on climate and the environment from all over the world and as the list went on and on, he said we would need to be here for days, weeks to see the entire list. There are so many organisations and individuals doing so much that never get a look in in the regular press. So listening to these podcasts over the last few months, and hearing the Costa Rican president talk about prioritizing earth over army, hearing from an EPA exec on the power of regenerative agriculture, learning about how intrepid entrepreneurs are cleaning up freon one canister at a time, hearing of those who are fighting the environmental eco and racial justice issues and gaining ground, grocking the impact of climate on pregnancy and womens health, understanding what destroyed the electric car in the past, and what is undermining the fossil fuel industry now….it’s powerful and exciting stuff! It’s also amazing to me how little we all know about what is already going on, who is engaged and what the possibilities - in the midst of our current dire realities - there are. I had no idea there were so many podcast series devoted to climate - from the new agey trippy stuff, to the hard core pragmatic business folks, to the politically radical left to Teal colored (Aussie Conservative Blues mixed with a little Green energy!) borderline conservative voices.
So look out for this Carbon Almanac, order it at your libraries. There may be free copies for some organizations and schools, and there is a huge amount of free supplemental material that I hope will keep evolving and evolving. Spread the word to help us all be better informed, more inspired and active wherever we can be. If an ageing computer challenged time limited yoga teacher can find a small corner where she can’t do too much damage, I am sure everyone can find something either to support their own initiatives or find some area that moves them from mat and zafu, taking their yoga yonder and hither!!!
Thanks to Trace and Seth and all the patient and creative energies at the Carbon Almanac and climate inspirers everywhere.
