Go Out Today and Hug Your Mother and say THANKS

Today is Earth Day. Take a hike. Do some gardening. Find a way to connect with our Mother. Most of all give  THANKS to Her.

Below is an article from Seattle based Grist on how Earth Day has been co-opted by corporations and other special interests. Two years ago I wrote about how science and technology, two of the biggest perpetrators of damage to our Mother, were co-opting Earth Day March for Science--Co-opts Earth Day Love for our Mother should not be platform to sell.

Fortunately as the article notes kids are beginning to take over..

Blessings,
madis

BACK IN MY EARTH DAY

Love it or hate it, Earth Day’s just not what it used to be. What happened?

By Kate Yoder on Apr 22, 2019 at 6:04 am

On its 49th birthday, Earth Day is having a midlife crisis.

In the beginning, it was a policy-shaking event that awakened a new generation of activists. But now even environmentalists have misgivings about it. Sure, they can get behind planting trees and clearing trash out of rivers, but they have issues with Earth Day itself.

What issues, you ask? I asked environmentalists to weigh in. Their qualms were numerous: Earth Day is too short. (C’mon, one day a year?) They point out that companies use Earth Day as an excuse to sell or give away products, even though consumption is part of the problem. (Free gas for hybrid owners! Free tote bags!) They say it encourages a surface-level “change your lightbulbs” mentality that focuses on personal responsibility at the expense of ignoring big polluters or mobilizing for political change. Some have boycotted Earth Day events over the participation of anti-immigrant groups.

Other than that, Earth Day is great!

It’s easy to forget that the original Earth Day in 1970 was an eye-popping success. An estimated 20 million Americans joined the events, 10 percent of the country’s population, making it the largest demonstration in U.S. history. (The Women’s March in 2017, for perspective, brought out roughly 4 million.) They demanded that political leaders clean up our environment.

Lo and behold one week later, President Richard Nixon’s advisers recommended he establish what became the Environmental Protection Agency. The decade that followed also gave us 28 major federal environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Before these laws, thick smog dimmed many U.S. cities in the middle of the day. In 1969, floating debris in Ohio’s Cuyahoga River famously caught fire, with flames towering five stories high. That same year, the oil slick from a Santa Barbara drilling accident spread over more than 800 square miles of water.

After seeing California’s oil-scarred shores, Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, came up with an idea. He proposed holding a “teach-in” — used by protesters organizing against the Vietnam War — to get college students around the country talking about the environment. He hired young organizers to make his dream happen, and it turned into Earth Day, a much bigger event that he’d ever imagined.

“He originally would have been happy if a few colleges or universities joined,” said Adam Rome, author of The Genius of Earth Day. “He had no idea that it was going to explode into the consciousness of the nation.”

Over the decades, Earth Day underwent a remarkable transition. It morphed into something like the environmental equivalent of National Ice Cream Day. So what happened? I asked Rome, a history professor at the University of Buffalo, what went wrong and what today’s environmental movement might learn from the success of 1970 — because Earth is on fire.

The ’90s makeover

“Contrary to what some Earth Day critics today might say,” Nelson wrote in his 2002 book Beyond Earth Day, “my thinking was not that a one-day demonstration would convince people of the need to protect the environment. I envisioned a continuing national drive to clean up our environment and set new priorities for a livable America. Earth Day was to be the catalyst.”

Two of environmentalists’ major complaints, the corporate takeover of Earth Day and its heightened focus on individual environmental action, can be traced back to a specific year: 1990. “It’s weird to be able to be that precise about it,” Rome said.

In the 1980s, the Reagan administration, in its zeal to unleash the free market and roll back regulations, managed to erode public trust in the government and faith in collective action, Rome said. “That pushed a lot of people to say, ‘If we’re not going to get new legislation, how do we get change?”

Individual action was one answer. In 1990, national organizers put together a giant 20th anniversary event with the slogan “Who says you can’t change the world?” A pamphlet that came out shortly before the event, 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth, sold more than 5 million copies.

Pushing businesses to be more sustainable was another. One of the goals of Earth Day in 1990 was to “steer millions of investors and consumers toward companies judged to be most sensitive to environmental concerns,” the New York Times wroteat the time. Business executives and union leaders joined environmentalists on the Earth Day board of directors that year.

Back when Earth Day started in 1970, U.S. companies weren’t very concerned about their green image. But over the next two decades, as U.S. industry shifted from manufacturing to services and then technology, the “brand” — the public perception of a company’s reputation — grew important. Companies realized they could take advantage of growing demand for earth-friendly products and enhance their public image. For some that meant “greenwashing,” a form of PR spin that gives the impression of environmental responsibility. The oil giant BP (British Petroleum), for instance, refashioned itself as Beyond Petroleum.

“Everywhere, it seems, the thinking has changed,” the New York Times reported, on April 22, 1990. “Many corporations have dropped their old arguments pitting pollution against jobs and, sensing competitive advantage, are scrambling instead to demonstrate how ‘green’ they are.”

Earth Day 3.0?

The original Earth Day shook up politics, and it has lessons for today’s “environmental movement” — a phrase that came into our lexicon just as 1970 approached in stories about preparations for Earth Day, Rome said.

Part of Nelson’s genius was that he wasn’t a “helicopter parent” for Earth Day. “He was happy to let anyone organize whatever they want and call it whatever they want,” Rome said. This gave more people the chance to get involved and take ownership over the event — including conservatives and people who didn’t consider themselves activists.

“We all make compromises in different aspects of our lives where the environment is concerned, and it is self-defeating to draw rigid lines of purity when trying to build political consensus,” Nelson wrote.

Another reason Earth Day 1970 was so powerful is that it brought together “the power of the establishment and the energy and boldness of the grassroots,” Rome said. Nelson was a seasoned senator in his 50s. But the committee who brought his idea to life was largely made up of students and civil rights organizers.

The young people at the time “thought they could really change the world,” Rome said. Over the decades, he saw that mindset fade. But Rome believes that sense of urgency and empowerment is re-emerging among teenagers. In March, for instance, more than 1.4 million young people worldwide participated in the Youth Climate Strike, a climate protest spearheaded by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

“Kids, just as in the 1970s, are beginning to shake things up.”

Tap Water Better Than Bottled Water--Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports just reported that several brands of bottled water contained high levels of arsenic and other harmful chemicals and recommended drinking tap water. It also found federal water purity standards deficient and recommended increasing standards.

Arsenic in Some Bottled Water Brands at Unsafe Levels, Consumer Reports Says

Drink Living Water

Technology Kills---Rising Cell Phone/Social Media Use Creates a Loss of Empathy and a Rise in Loneliness and Anger

I found this sponsored link on Bloomberg this AM Decline in Human Empathy Creates Global Risks in the 'Age of Anger' on the damage to humanity from the use of cell phones and other new technologies. Basically they are  making us less empathetic and more  lonely and angry. It is a summary of the 'World Economic Forum: Global Risks Report 2019. It does appear to refer to some new research that I will try and access.

As I have been saying for over a decade TECHNOLOGY KILLS. Click on the Labels Section below to read some of my posts on this. Cell phones, social media and other technologies are hollowing out our souls. My upcoming book due out in September Everything Has Karma, Learning to Embrace Our Interconnectedness goes into much more detail on this.

Below are a few quotes from the article.

 Decline in Human Empathy Creates Global Risks in the 'Age of Anger'

Our interconnected world has never had more lonely, angry people. Is technology responsible for a decline in human empathy?

As today’s economy grows more interconnected, a new global phenomenon has emerged: the growing number of people who feel disconnected and isolated.

Technology is a complex factor in rising levels of anger and loneliness. The Global Risk Report notes that in a recent study, technology was cited as a major cause of loneliness and social isolation by 58 percent of survey respondents in the United States and 50 percent in the United Kingdom. But the same survey found that social media makes it easier for people to “connect with others in a meaningful way” and that lonely people were no more likely to use social media.  

ervasive digital technology has also blurred the boundary between the workplace and home. Work-related emails often start before office hours and continue long after close of business. A 2016 study by Pew Research Center found that nearly one-third of American adults never turn off their smartphones.

Even as professional pressures increasingly encroach upon private life, people often don’t have traditional support networks at home. The percentage of single-person households in the U.K. has almost doubled over the last 50 years, with similar increases in the U.S., Germany and Japan. In urban capitals, the number of “solitaries” is even higher: 50 percent in Paris, 60 percent in Stockholm. In Midtown Manhattan, 94 percent of households are single-person.

Urbanization weakens social bonds not just in cities, but also in the communities and households that migrant workers leave behind, and growing social isolation is a trend in established and emerging economies alike. The proportion of people feeling lonely in the U.K. climbed to 22 percent in 2017 from an average of 17 percent in 2014-2016, with a sharp drop in the number of people who reported never feeling lonely, according to a survey published by the Cabinet Office.

These results mirror those of a study in American Sociological Review that looked at the number of close friends that people have. In 1985, the average number of close friends was 2.9; by 2004 it was 2.1. The percentage of people who responded that they had no close friends at all tripled over the same period.

“Emotionally, people are quite lonely. We’re seeing in many societies a kind of breakdown of family, or connection with family,” Scott says. “I think it’s also a demographic thing; younger people are more tuned into using technology and social media, and to live in a world talking to machines through chatbots. That can create all sorts of emotions of fear and frustration, and in some cases that frustration can get expressed as anger.”

Individual psychological and emotional problems can become collective concerns when loneliness and frustration meet populist and identity politics—an emerging reality in what is becoming known as the “age of anger.” According to the Global Risks Report, these trends may pose a significant threat to geopolitical stability.

“Individual harms matter in themselves, but they can also feed into wider systemic risks—for example, potential political, societal, technological and environmental disruptions,” Scott says. “A world of increasingly divided and angry people would be likely to generate volatile electoral results and decrease the chance of solving complex multi-stakeholder global risks. If empathy were to continue to decline, the risks might be even starker.”

The decline in empathy is not just anecdotal. One study of American students published in Personality and Social Psychology Review revealed that levels of empathy in this demographic fell by 48 percent between 1979 and 2009. Possible causes of the growing empathy gap include increasing materialism, changing parenting methods and the digital echo chamber, in which people anchor themselves in close-knit groups of like-minded people. Such echo-chamber effects aren’t always as obvious as those seen on social media. For example, researchers have found that the matching processes used on dating platforms can also weaken social bonds.

Wind Turbines Are Bad for Mother Earth and for ALL of Creation

Donald Trump garnered attention last week when he claimed that Wind Turbines cause cancer. INDEED He was quickly rebuked on several fronts. It shows how strong the Wind Turbine Coalition has become.

The fact is that Wind Turbines seriously interrupt the flow of Energy in the Unseen World and are detrimental to our Mother and to all of creation. By interrupting the flow of energy Wind Turbines are are contributing to the weakening of the geomagnetic field and ultimately to a pole shift.

Ever since Dr. Nina Pierpont wrote  Wind Turbine Syndrome: A Report on a Natural Experimen she has been viciously maligned and attacked by  Windmill Turbine proponents and its industry hacks. When patients in  her Malone, NY practices living near recently constructed windmills began showing up with a variety of health concerns she took notice. Eventually she determined the newly installed windmills were behind her patients ailments and she coined the term Wind Turbine Syndrome and wrote a book.

Are you an Energy Healer? Sensitive to Earth Energies?

Visit a Wind Turbine near you and find out for yourself the pain they inflect upon you. As environmentally concerned I used to be for windmills until I stopped my car to take pictures of some wind turbines in the Tug Hill region of NY near Barnes Corners. It felt like my head was in a vice and was about to get crushed.

Here are two resources to learn more; a video and an article that I wrote.

I wrote the following. This one ran in Wisdom Magazine over a decade ago.

Wind Turbines Disrupt the Flow of Prana

Summary: Wind turbines disturb the proper functioning of Mother Earth’s subtle body by blocking the flow of prana/chi/qi; the life force that sustains humanity and the plant and animal kingdoms.

By disrupting the flow of prana wind turbines are also damaging Mother Earth’s subtle body and diminishing her ability to regulate and maintain the environment. By damaging Mother Earth we may be exacerbating the affects of pollution because she is less able to deal with humanity’s onslaught on the environment. In other words, Mother Earth may be challenged by our pollution and disregard of her, but when we undertake measures that compromise her proper functioning, we seriously diminish her ability to process all that we throw at her. 

Before rushing into employing alternative forms of energy such as wind turbines we need to consider the problems that they create. Previously, problems created by large wind turbines focused on their visual impact and the killing of birds. Here we examine the damage done by wind mills in disrupting the flow of prana across the surface of Mother Earth. 


Analysis: Like just about every body else I had been very enthusiastic about the prospects of wind turbines and other forms of alternative energy to save the environment. That was until one weekend in October 2008 when I stopped my car in upstate NY, about 40 miles north of Syracuse in the Tug hill area to take a photograph of some windmills. The second I stepped out of my car I got a severe headache that felt as if my head was being squeezed in a vise. I took out my dowsing rods to determine what was creating the severe pain in my head. Within a few minutes I realized that the flow of prana was being disrupted by the large blades of the many wind turbines around me.

The Flow of Prana, Mind Body

Prana (Hindu Vedanta and Tantra term), what feng shui practitioners call chi or qi, is the life force that sustains humanity and the rest of the world. We cannot live without it. Prana is meant to flow across the surface of the earth giving life to and interacting with all that it comes in contact with. As within our own subtle body the flow of prana is regulated by a series of earth chakras, ducts and energy lines. There are several forms of prana in the ether around us. The one that I will be referring to is what I call Earth (also Material) Prana, because it is the prana that is recycled through the earth. Because it is circulated through the earth it is coarser and of a lower nature. See http://www.jubileeinitiative.org/pranaflow.html “The Circulation of Prana; How Mother Earth’s Subtle Body Works” for a detailed explanation on the flow of prana.

Earth prana is released from ducts on the surface of the earth and is drawn to an earth chakra a few hundred meters away. Like a human chakra the vortex of the earth chakra draws the prana in and recycles it through the earth before it is sent back into the air. Prana moves in a fairly straight line in the ether around us. Material objects and other factors can alter or even disrupt its flow.

Within our own subtle body the smooth flow of prana, or chi/qi, is critical to our health and well being. The eastern concept of mind-body is predicated on the belief that our mind influences our body and that our mind can create illness. Accordingly, illness manifests in the physical body when the flow of prana, chi/qi, is blocked at a particular location in our subtle body. When prana is blocked that part of the body where the blockage is located, or further along its circulatory path, does not get enough of the life force and eventually this deprivation leads to disease from a lack of nourishment. 
Note how Phoebe and Lawrence Bendit in The Etheric body of Man (Quest Books 1989) describe how blocked prana leads to disease:
“There is a slight break in the rhythm of the vital currents over the site of the injury… This is often visible long before there is any evidence of organic trouble. It begins as a batch of disorganization of the currents in the particular part of the field over the organ affected. The rhythmic flow becomes broken and irregular, and small vortices form in which, as in a river whirlpool, waste matter accumulates instead of being thrown out…The movement slows down until real stagnation occurs. Then, at a certain point, the whole process becomes, as it were, precipitated into the level of the physical tissues and local organic disease is established.” Page 26-27
In other words the blockage of prana in the human subtle body leads to disease and it may take a long time before the area where the prana is being blocked manifests as disease.

Acupuncturists and pranic healers work to release blockages in the flow of the life force to eradicate illness and heal us. Once cleared of blockages prana begins properly circulating and can hopefully restore vigor to the diseased area by revitalizing it with the life force.




Visited sites and findings
To ascertain whether wind turbines were in fact disturbing the flow of the life force, several sites were visited in upstate NY. Each site visited showed that the blades of the wind turbine blocked the flow of earth prana beginning anywhere between 300 to 400 feet away from the tower supporting the blades. Because the wind turbines were on private property it was not possible to walk very close to the blades. Several sites were visited when the blades were not moving and there appeared to be no serious blockages of prana at that time. However, it did appear that there was a residual impact remaining, whether that was there before or not is difficult to determine. 

The following places were surveyed in New York State.

Maple Ridge, Barnes Corners, NY. This is the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi. We found serious disruption in the flow of prana, pockets of stagnation and numerous mini-tornadoes. This is the place where I first noticed that there was something wrong with wind farms.

Fenner, 5206 Buyea Road—Found pockets of stagnation and numerous negative vortices.

Fenner, 5306 Buyea Road—In addition to disruptions and negative energy vortexes at a distance of several hundred feet from the wind turbine, I could even feel the blades brush against my subtle body. I felt severe pressure on my head.

Madison, Munnsville, Cole Road- Numerous negative energy vortices, some quite large

Madison, Madison Wind farm-- http://www.horizonwind.com/projects/whatwevedone/madison.aspx
Disruptions in the flow of prana, pockets of stagnation and negative energy vortices.

Madison/Bouckville, Crow Hill Road—Found blockages of prana, pockets of stagnation and negative energy vortexes.


Problems Created by Disrupted Prana Flow
Disrupting, blocking and stagnating the flow of prana/chi/qi create problems for both humanity and Mother Earth. How much is difficult to ascertain because we know so little about the spiritual side of Mother Earth and her subtle body and our dynamic relationship with her. We also have limited knowledge of our own subtle body and have only recently begun to accept the mind body concept and the healing techniques of the eastern traditions such as acupuncture.

Disrupting the flow of prana reduces the amount of prana available for the human subtle body to absorb prana. Examination of healers, such as reiki practitioners shows that the location and environment where they practice matters and when they do healings where prana is blocked, their efforts are impaired. Earth prana, is drawn from the immediate area towards the person doing the healing. The healing creates a small pocket, or circle of several feet in diameter around the healer as the earth prana in the immediate is drawn towards the healer. I call this a hug from Mother Earth as she is responding to the healers by sending them a healing hug of increased prana.

Healings done where earth prana is stagnating, or has its flow blocked draws little if any earth prana towards the healing area. So must assume our prana intake is reduced in an area where wind turbines are blocking the flow of prana. It should be noted that other pranas not blocked will be drawn to the healing area.


Hurting Mother Earth
Blocking the flow of prana prevents the proper functioning of Mother Earth’s subtle body. As with our own subtle body such blockages mean that part of Mother Earth’s subtle body and the plant kingdom is being deprived of all the nourishment it needs from the life force to properly sustain itself. 

The larger concern is that by damaging Mother Earth’s subtle body we may be reducing her ability to properly function. This limits her ability to maintain the environment, potentially having detrimental consequences. For example, medical doctors are all too familiar with how a patient that is comprised from a serous illness is very vulnerable and can succumb to a host of diseases such as pneumonia, the flu or the common cold, that for the healthy person would mean bed rest but not death. In other words, it may well be that while pollution taxes Mother Earth, she has the ability to process a lot; but if her subtle body is compromised her ability to deal with manmade pollution is significantly reduced. 

The anti global warming crowd is quick to point out that there are a lot of natural contributors of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere such as decaying forests and forest fires. For a long time Mother Earth was able to process all of the carbon emitted from this and other natural processes, so why global warming now? Environmentalist will argue that global warming is the result of increased carbon production from technology and globalization and a reduction in size of some of the world’s largest forests. 

Could it be that we have global warming because we have damaged Mother Earth’s subtle body through a host of ways including wind turbines? That just as with our own subtle body, we have created blockages in Mother Earth’s subtle body that are now beginning to manifest in the disease of global warming. No doubt we have damaged Mother Earth’s subtle body and diminished her ability to properly function. How much of a role this is playing in global warming is difficult to determine at this time. What is not in doubt is that wind turbines compromise Mother Earth’s subtle body. 

Forests
There are a myriad of other problems created when we disturb Mother Earth’s subtle body. When the flow of earth prana is blocked by things such as wind turbines every thing downstream from it is deprived of nourishment. 

After earth prana circulates in the air it is meant to travel through the physical earth before it goes back up into the atmosphere and is recycled. While in the physical earth, it helps maintain the land close to the surface (there is another whole complex architecture that maintains the larger physical planet) and gives nourishment to the plant kingdom.

The question is what is the impact for the plant kingdom if plants and trees are deprived of earth prana? Are they less able to deal with the elements, made more vulnerable to disease and are they made less able to process carbon? Most certainly they are, but we cannot at this time unequivocally demonstrate this.

Hearsay and legend does say that trees are impacted when they are deprived of earth prana, or at least that is what I assume happened at South Hill. South Hill (http://www.jubileeinitiative.org/sacredsouthhill.html) lies at the southern tip of Canandaigua Lake in New York State (30 miles southeast of Rochester) and is where the Seneca people believe they emerged. Renowned archaeologist and NY state historian William Ritchie believed that before the Seneca’s arrived it was the home to the Hopewell and Adena. He attributes the formation of several large stone mounds (now crumbling) on top of the mountain to them. 

My analysis has found that those stone mounds were placed upon earth chakras, not only that but every earth chakra on the mountain is similarly covered with stones. This action has the affect of disrupting and blocking the flow of earth prana because it is unable to be properly absorbed into an earth chakra and feed the roots of the trees. This has had the affect of energizing the air like some giant Tesla experiment. A sentient person can sense the blockages and it was most likely done to increase the energy in the air and enhance one’s spiritual experience. While the blockages have not progressed to the point that they are creating mini-tornadoes like windmills do, they are depriving the land of prana. This has had an impact on the trees. According to archeologist and NEARA member David Robinson (http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/67_100/71feb1994/71robinson.html "Saint George, the Serpent and the Seneca Indians", The Crooked Lake Review, February 1994 notes that legend has it that “trees grow very, very slowly on South Hill.”



Storms
Another concern regarding wind turbines blocking the flow of earth prana is that it might contribute to increased violent weather. A negative energy vortex wreaks havoc on the human subtle body and may also play a role in influencing the weather. These whirlpools are very similar to and mimic the movement and behavior of tornadoes, twisters, and hurricanes.

All of the sites visited had mini-tornadoes in their immediate area. One cannot attribute this to the wind turbines with 100% conviction, but without a doubt they at least contributed to their creation. As a negative energy vortex grows in size over time, one must wonder what the affects of such large vortices may have on the surrounding environment and our weather after several decades of wind turbine use. We must remember that the industrial revolution and its ensuing pollution seemed rather innocuous initially, but over time became devastating to people’s health and the environment. Will it be the same for windmills? Will wind farm areas become the equivalent of tornado alley or the host of other violent storms? As was noted earlier it takes a very long time before the blockage of prana in the human subtle body leads to disease.

Undoubtedly there are many more problems that wind turbines create. Unfortunately, we might not able to recognize them before it is too late. 


A Grain of Salt
Before totally dismissing the use of wind turbines we need to consider a few things. Wind turbines are not unique in blocking the flow of prana. A host of technologies, structures and other things block the flow of earth prana and other pranas and essences from Mother Earth and have been doing so for a very long time. So in a way wind turbines are nothing new when it comes to disrupting Mother Earth’s subtle body. Perhaps they are even less damaging to Mother Earth’s subtle body than other technologies?

There is also variety of pranas that we can draw upon. It appears that Mother Nature may be inventive and provided a host of back-up forms of prana to sustain us. So while we may be better off by having abundant earth prana sustain us, we might be able to get by without and rely on some other form of prana.


Conclusion
Wind turbines are clearly disturbing the flow of earth prana. The question is how serious a problem this is and whether it outweighs the benefits of clean technology. I don’t think that we have the answer to that question yet, it may well be that wind turbines create a much more serious threat to Mother Earth and humanity than pollution and global warming. We cannot properly answer the question because we are so ignorant and naïve in our knowledge of how Mother Earth’s subtle body works and our dynamic relationship with her.

The rush to wind farms by the Obama administration and environmentalist around the world needs to come to a halt. We are rushing into something without understanding the implications of what we are doing. Scientific research continues to point to a coming tipping point when we cannot stop the assault; some say we have already passed that point and the melting of the polar icecaps, much higher temperatures and other disturbance are inevitable. This sort of thinking puts further pressure on us to act, arguably creating a panic of sorts in certain circles. 

The bigger risk is that by rushing into alternative forms of energy we may be further damaging Mother Earth’s subtle body. It is damage that may accelerate global warming by further compromising Mother Earth’s subtle body to properly function. We may also be doing irrevocable damage to her, or damage that will take a long time to heal.

Mother Earth may well have more resilience and ability to respond to our current environmental crisis than we understand. There may be things that we can do to help her heal and better process the filth that we have cast upon her, but to do this we need to have more knowledge of her. 

As a person of faith I am convinced that once we understand how Mother Earth works and put our hearts into a proper solution anything is possible. As it stands right now we are being sold a panacea that is a mirage. Alternative forms of energy may well help end global warming but its medicine is most likely worse than the disease. We need to connect with and learn about Mother Earth. Then we will know what needs to be done. Let’s step back and think before we plunge forward.

---

Leave No Trace Behind When in the Woods

Leave No Trace Behind When in the Woods

Now that spring is here and the weather is improving many of us will be taking a walk in the woods, or even camping outdoors. If so, it is important that you minimize the impact of your visit upon the environment. In other words, leave no trace behind that you were ever there. If we want to ensure the sustainability of our natural environment all us need to make effort to minimize our impact on Mother Earth.

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics lnt.org has an informative website with lots of recommendations and advice. One of its pages ‘The Leave No Trace Seven Principles’ lnt.org/learn/7-principles lists 7 rules to follow when visiting Nature. The Seven Principles are,

Plan Ahead and Prepare – Know the rules and regulations of where you are going and bring a trail map. Travel in small groups. I would suggest a maximum of 10-12 people. Break up larger groups if necessary. Large groups put lots of stress on trails and can be very loud and disruptive.

Travel and Camp on Durable Areas – Stay on trails and camp at designated areas. If camping in a non-designated area stay at least 200 feet away from water.

Letchworth State Park

Dispose of Waste Properly – Bring out what you brought in. Bring a hand shovel so that you can dig a 6- to 8-inch hole to bury human waste and any associated paper. Cover it with logs or stones to hamper animal’s ability to dig it up. Wash yourself, or dishes at least 200 feet from a water source. Use biodegradable soap.

Leave What you Find – Leave things undisturbed. Don’t bring home any rocks, plants or pets. Don’t dig any holes or trenches.

Don’t bring firewood with you. The NYS DEC has firewood restrictions  to prevent the transport of invasive species.

Minimize Campfire Impacts – Use a portable stove. Where fires are allowed use established fire rings. Check to make sure that no restrictions on fires have been placed before your visit if you plan on starting a campfire. Thoroughly drown out the coals with water before you leave. Use dead wood.

I would suggest having fires at designated areas only. Years ago I came upon a root fire at Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. People had started a fire close to the water near a ganglia of tree roots. It was September and dry. After a few days the embers from the fire ignited the roots of some of the trees close to the water. Fortunately the Park Rangers caught it. It appeared that the people had drowned out the fire but once roots catch fire they can be tough to extinguish.

Respect Wildlife – Observe wildlife from a distance. Don’t feed animals. Keep your dog(s) away from wildlife.

Be Considerate of Others – Be courteous and respectful of others. Yield to others when hiking a trail. Avoid loud voices and noises. Let nature’s sounds prevail.

Here are a few more.

Bring a litterbag – Most of the time I attach a litterbag to my backpack when I go hiking. This way I can pick up any debris I find. It is always good to leave a place in better condition than you found it.

Bare Hill, with Canandaigua Lake in the background.

Minimize contact with Wildlife – While many people go into the woods to see wildlife, I don’t. To me a good day in the woods is when I don’t see, or have any contact with anything besides bugs and birds. The bible says seek and ye shall find, and when you go seeking wildlife you might find something you might not want to see. I have run into bears, snakes including rattlers, coyotes, porcupines and more.

Make your presence known – This does not mean shouting but making just enough noise that you will not startle an animal. The last thing you want to do is surprise a bear and her cubs. You can cough, sing or talk softly periodically. You don’t need to be loud because animals can hear you from far away.

Leave Some Firewood Behind – If you use the wood at a Lean-to, especially on the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) replace it with more than you used. It is always a good practice, or should I say good karma, to leave more firewood behind.

Years ago one spring I went to the same area in the Finger Lakes and made a fire at the lean-to because it was cold. The first time I gathered lots of firewood. When I came back next week most of it was gone. I gathered more firewood and it was all gone the next time I came again. So uncool. If you are new to hiking understand that firewood is a community effort. Thru hikers (those doing a big chunk of the FLT at one time) can be in a bind, or others may come there when it is raining and everything is wet. If you use it, replace it.

Respect the Lean-to System – Lean-tos are meant for all of us, but most importantly they can be a great aid to thru hikers; those that are hiking all or a significant part of the FLT. They are into trekking and might not have the time, or could be stuck in bad weather. Years ago I remember hiking the Onondaga Trail and running into a few folks from Rochester who were hiking along the Onondaga Trail and its environs for a few days. Unfortunately the lean-to on Morgan Hill was being monopolized by a family that had their stuff strewn all over and there was no place to pitch a tent. So the trekkers had to find another place to go to late in the day.

Since Morgan Hill is one of my favorite hikes I go there often. That summer that same family treated that lean-to as their private campsite. Sad.

Spring is upon us. Get out and enjoy the bounty of the Finger Lakes. Treat your visit with respect and leave no trace behind so that others many years from now will be able to enjoy our area the same way you can today.

South Hill in HIgh Tor just above Clarks Gully