A New Day of Gratitude, Locating, and Connecting
I am nourished by your gifts breath to breathe, sun to radiate
replenishes growth and nourishes all living things soil, sand and clay to grow plants and give home and food to all living things water to cleanse us, fill us, that gives us life plants that clean the air, give us food, homes, and life. for each breath we take and each day you give to us unconditionally thank you
Heading out before sunrise has an exciting quality. I am coming to see you rise with all your healing light and warmth. Like meeting an old friend coming around the corner after many years. Just waiting in anticipation not sure what to expect, but knowing when you see them it will be so wonderful. Then it rises and doesn't disappoint...it is wonderful to see this magnificent light change all the colours of the land and sea, and listen to all living things boast about it’s beauty. Colours change the horizon, and as it peeks through the clouds and rises into the sky, turns greys to pink, purple and blue. The sun itself sparkles it's shining light beams upon us with golden radiance. A new day has begun! I set out to meet the sun and give it thanks for this new day, when I happened upon many strands of eelgrass wrapped around a large piece of driftwood. In this serendipitous moment I wanted to give thanks for this gift and will use it in my earth art making to give back as an offering to the land and sea. I think it’s important be sensitive to the earth’s natural resources. Eelgrass and bull kelp are 2 types of sea grasses that used to be very abundant in the Salish Sea and Komok’s Estuary. Now they are 95% depleted from Campbell River to Nanaimo. So, why is this any concern of ours? Sea grasses capture up to 10 times more carbon then a same size boreal forest and they do this for a millennia if left undisturbed. The sad fact that Bull kelp can no longer reproduce in our pacific waters according to some scientists, is because temperatures have risen and it’s no longer germinating here on it's own anymore. The fact that we have to replant eelgrass by hand in order to repopulate areas with this important plant to help restore sensitive eco systems like the K’omok’s Estuary, and the Salish Sea which is all part of the salmon highway where salmon go to reproduce, requires more awareness of it's importance to our life, more funds, many more hands and better technology to restore this important ecosystem. The chain reaction of the loss of any of these key species - eelgrass, bull kelp and salmon would have long-lasting and devastating effects. Dealing with climate change today is a priority. I am thankful for the earth, water and air and when I listen, I can hear it’s urgency. We need to act now so that we can restore what’s been lost before it is all gone. The Province of British Columbia is gearing up for some major climate action and has dedicated a website to give samples of successes for other communities to get on board. I thought these parts were particularly interesting and I plan to find out what my region is doing to action this high priority today. BC’s climate action tool kit: http://www.rethinkingwater.ca/ http://www.rethinkingwater.ca/adaption_process.html http://toolkit.bc.ca/Program/Bioenergy
