Seeds for Thought: an Ecopsychology Blog

GreenSpirit Writing Competition

Write an essay, article or story on some aspect of green spirituality.

1st Prize: £100
Two runner-up prizes of £35

Word Limit: 1,800 words

Prize-winning entries will be published in the GreenSpirit Journal. All three winners will also receive a year's free membership of GreenSpirit (or, if already a member, a year's free membership for a friend)

Entry Fee: £3 or send £10 and receive a professional critique as well – cheque payable to “GreenSpirit”

Closing Date: 31st December 2005

For full details, rules and an entry form, go to:

http://www.greenspirit.org.uk/journal/writingcompetition.htm

Enquiries to Don Hills, e: dhills@greenspirit.org.uk t: 01271 889028

This event is open to everyone – please pass on this information to your friends!

Anatomy of an Ecopsy Workshop

Granted: what happened at my workplace is not entirely ecopsy, but it is one aspect of it...

On Wednesday, I gave a two-hour Joanna Macy-like workshop as part of our staff development week. This is what it consisted of:

• one-to-one "open sentences" about gratitude in our lives...
• a discussion of economic growth and our suicide economy...
• more one-to-one "open sentences" but this time on what we find difficult, what we appreciate and what we're doing in our lives in this time of global crisis...
• a dramatization of the impact of a rainforest on the world climate...
• ...and what happens when it's dying and decomposing due to destruction...
• a discussion about what we can do in our office to make it more sustainable...

Last Week in London

Live8 in Hyde Park. The Olympics. The Terrorist Bombings.

I feel very angry and disappointed about two of those. And one gives me a sense of hope. Green Olympics. Maybe.

Ann wrote about the litter in Philadelphia after Live8. That was my immediate reaction before the gates even opened in London. We were walking on trash everywhere, including half-eaten pieces of chickens. Make Poverty History. But don't you worry about changing anything about the way you are; no: only the eight men in Gleneagles can do anything about it...

On Being a Bit Anti-Technology

From a December 2004 MoonLetter

A few months ago, my father-in-law (or FIL, as the Brits over here like to call then) told me rather sheepishly that he just can't 'get into the Internet'. He doesn't understand how people could spend hours surfing and all that.

My initial reaction to this was defensive, since I'm a bit of a computer-addict myself. And then I thought about what FIL does with his free time: several nights a week are spent in choir practice, band practice, or playing gigs.

Mmmm.

What's Your Watershed?

From a December 2004 MoonLetter

Recently on the ecopsyhology-psychology listserv, people have been signing their names with their 'watersheds'. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "[w]e all live in a watershed -- the area that drains to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland, or even the ocean -- and our individual actions can directly affect it."

Which watershed do you live in?
If you live in the U.S., you can go to http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm and scroll down to type in your zip code. This will bring up a list of codes. When you click on each code, I recommend following the links to "Environmental Websites Involving this Watershed" and "Citizen-based Groups at work in this watershed". You can even Adopt Your Watershed!

Me 'n GWB

This is from an October 2004 MoonLetter...

The U.S. presidential election is on Tuesday (as if you didn't know!), so applying two principles of naturalistic psychology* to George W. Bush is timely... and fun! :)

The principle of differentiation basically says that a 'healthy' person recognizes "both the personhood of others and [her or himself mirrored in them", helping her or him to achieve "a wider and more generous world view." So while we do "open up some distance between ourselves and others", we don't lose "a sense of shared being or interconnection." (Can you tell where I'm headed with this yet??)

blog embodiment

from a September 2004 MoonLetter

i am sitting here at my desk. my hands feel a little swollen. my feet feel very sore. (just overdid it at an organic food festival.)

i feel a little bit thirsty. thirsty for water. i am not hungry. i feel a little too full after eating a piece of my mother-in-law's birthday cake. i wasn't very hungry for it.

i can hear my husband sifting gravel and soil outside in the back garden. i can hear the hum of the computer.

i see pencil shavings next to the computer. books about the moon and spanish translation. a comb with tomas' fur in it. some fabric i used for a friend's quilt. (she is adopting a baby from china and had everyone she knows contribute to a good wishes quilt.)

species

From a June 2004 MoonLetter

How can we constantly remind ourselves that we are a species and not separate from nature, but a part of nature? Try this: Go outside. Observe what we normally consider 'wildlife' – the birds, the squirrels, the trees, the grass. See how they need each other. See what the animals do. Look up at the trees and imagine the nests of the birds. Look at the grass and imagine the ant hills hidden away. See it all as the doings of nature. Reflect on the animals and insects you see: how they live, the clues we find of their existence.

...cycles...

from a May 2004 MoonLetter

Time is a lovely subject to contemplate. Its nature is so elusive… it teases you into so many illusions. But how is it different from a cycle? Is there a difference?

Yes. Time is more about an arrow pointing in two directions: towards the past and towards the future. Usually, we focus on the latter. Time reminds us of the future. And in the future, we die. And we do not like to be reminded of this. This usually causes anxiety and some degree of fear.

Cycles, however, are like circles. We always return to the same place… but not necessarily at the same time. For example, observe the menstrual cycle. Do women ovulate exactly 28 days after they last ovulated? Or 29? Or 30? Or 24? Not usually. And yet, the cycle is the same: ovulation and then the gradual shedding of the lining. And then ovulation… etc.

Birthday Presents

In a recent Gatherings article, John Scull tells of how he asked his friends for an unusual birthday present:

I sent the following email to many relatives, friends, acquaintances, and discussion lists:

Two weeks from today is my 60th birthday! This is impossible for me to believe, but if I really am turning 60, I figure I can pretty much do what I want from now on, so here goes. I don't want gifts, parties, or cards. Instead, here's a birthday gift idea from an article by Arthur Orsini:

Between now and my birthday, I would like you to spend one day without using a car and then send me a short email about the experience. For those of you who normally travel by bicycle, transit, or foot, and for those who just stay home, this will be another ordinary day. For those who routinely travel by car (this includes me), the day may be really different. Even if you don't succeed in going a whole day without driving, I would like to hear about the challenges you encountered in the attempt.

"Your car can stand a day without you. Can you travel a day without it?" -Arthur Orsini.

A number of people never responded to this message. I guess these people were offended by my request, didn't think I was serious, or weren't able to go a day without driving. I'll never know; silence is fraught with different meanings...

This reminds me of something.