Seeds for Thought: an Ecopsychology Blog

"Talking you in"

Last week, I read the most wonderful article by Diane Flacks on the website parentcentral.ca.  Its title is Storytelling in the neonatal unit.  Hm, you can go there directly right now and come back to me afterwards, ok?

"Talking you in".  What an idea!

rejecting nature at home

A few weeks ago our regional Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals launched a public service announcement on television, informing Québeckers that, each year, 500,000 pets are abandoned in our dear province, and asking people to reflect on this fact and to rethink their behaviour.  July 1st is the date when most leases are renewed in Québec (so insane, but I'm not going to get caught up in the political reasons for this decision made a long time ago), and that is when most animals are abandoned.  Québec has a population of about 7.5 million.

Belgium has a population of just over 10 million and, it appears, only 50,000 pets are abandoned there each year, one for each 200 persons.

new food for old folks

It was a slow weekend for news, I think.  An item about entomophagy came up over and over again, one which made me react all wrong.

The deal is this:  some study (I think in the Czech Republic) revealed that with the current food crisis in the world, we might consider eating high-protein/low-fat insects.  I have no problem with the idea in general as I know that, in many countries, people actually do eat insects and apparently enjoy them, delicacy or ordinary fare. 

Innucadie

Isn't that name engaging?  "Innucadie" is the brainchild of a modest community-minded individual who has contributed to the local community development for several years now, someone who isn't terribly interested in recognition.  The word comes from "innu", meaning the Innu nation, an aboriginal group living on Québec's lower north shore for the last several thousand years, and "acadie", from those peoples who migrated to that lower north shore from other places that welcomed them after the deportation of Acadians by the British in 1755.  We're talking about a large territory shared by both Innu and "white" peoples of Acadian and other origins.

Well, last weekend the Innucadie Festival was held in a small village at the end of the paved road, Natashquan, birthplace of the dearly-loved and well-known Québécois poet and singer, Gilles Vigneault.  The Festival is three years old, and gathers together story-tellers from two cultures, the Innu and the Acadians, drawing in other story-tellers from origins that go way beyond this region.  Everyone who attended the festival had to drive by my house some 260 km further to get there.  In all, anyone who came from Montreal drove 1300 km.

A story about a porcupine

One early morning a week or so ago, I was sitting down reading a newspaper on-line when I heard the horn of a truck blasting over and over again in front of my house.  I tried to ignore it but the horn kept blasting at regular intervals.  Feeling somewhat impatient, I got up and went to the window where I observed a huge white truck (one of those which goes by early each weekday morning to bring the mail to all the village post offices along the coast).  It was stopped and a young porcupine was wandering on the road seemingly oblivious to the noise being made by the truckdriver.

I can no longer read ...

... articles about the environment.  I stopped a while back, realizing I was cringing throughout the reading, that I was left with discouragement I didn't want to deal with.  All I could think of was "eco-fatigue", "eco-nagging", .... phrases that are not very inspiring.

I stopped reading the venerable David Suzuki; I stopped reading Cameron Smith of the Toronto Star on Saturday mornings although in the past I wouldn't have missed one of his articles; I stopped reading various blogs -- all things I used to enjoy, all things that used to inspire me.  I have even stopped reading environmental newsletters .. have even unsubscribed to several I received on-line.

Cultural richness in linguistic diversity

Several months ago, a Montrealer called David Millar contacted me through this blog and invited me to comment on various documents and ideas -- some written by him, others from other sources.  I didn't have much time to offer him as I was working but I was fascinated with what he was doing and I did try to be helpful once or twice.

Now that I am heavily and deeply wintering (15 cm of snow yesterday, April 2, 2008, to add to the mountains of snow in Rivière-au-Tonnerre, 51 degrees latitude, with more snow forecast for the weekend) and that I am expecting to be in this state until July, I have more time to check out interesting "stuff" and I want to introduce you to David Millar's blog.  What made it interesting when I first read it was the depth of its content; what makes it utterly fascinating now is the fact that it features entries in English, French and Spanish!

Waiting out the Storm

There wasn't much fanfare when spring arrived earlier this week:  one snow storm follows on the barely cleared storm of the previous week, and it's been like that since November 5.  Now that it is the Saturday before Easter, it feels less like spring and new beginnings than ever.

International Women's Day (2)

According to a new report released this week by the Canadian Labour Congress, women are, on average, still being paid about 70% of what men are being paid in the workforce.  Back in the early 1970s it was about the same thing.

With this enduring economic situation (rent and groceries aren't 30% cheaper for women), isn't it marvelous that women have the consciousness, the concern and the desire to do something with respect to the environment?????

International Women's Day

March 8 is International Women's Day, an event which has been celebrated throughout the world for years; in some places, since the early 1900s, although I don't remember hearing about it until the late 1970s.  I see on some web sites that we also have International Women's Week... I guess maybe a day isn't enough.... activities need to be noticed, reported on, responded to... imitated, emulated...

In Canada, this year's theme is "Strong Women, Strong World", according to the web site of the Office of the Status of Women Canada (a federal-government organization which the current Conservative government would just love to put the axe to).  I quote:  ".. empowered women can, and do, play a fundamental role in current and future efforts to preserve and protect the world's natural environment".

Across the world there are dozens, hm, hundreds of organizations and initiatives which bring together the themes of women's issues and the environment, only only on March 8 but all year long.