The Ocean

A friend today emailed me some fascinating facts about the ocean ...sent out by Conservation International

70% of the world's surface is covered by ocean yet only 1% of Earth's oceans are protected

1 billion people depend on the ocean for it's main source of protein

70-80% of the oxygen we breathe is produced by the oceans

90% of large predatory fish such as cod, shark or blue fin tuna have almost disappeared world wide. ..these top predators being an absolutely vital part in the food chain

1 in 4 of all marine species live on coral reef eco sytems yet already 20% of the worlds coral sytems have been lost and another 20% degraded.

The figures go on and on but rather than blind ourselves with figures and stats , how about considering that this state of affairs has only occurred because of the way people have thought, the kind of lack of value and forethought that has allowed
it to happen.....It strikes me yet again, how utterly vital it is for us to think as citizens of the planet, with respect for the whole eco-system and the part all life plays with it. To think with self interest, either individually or as a country is simply a non sustainable way of going on ...as the current trends demonstrate all too well.

New Discoveries

Looking this morning at the online Telegraph's article about new species of plants and vertebrates discovered in the Amazon was very inspiring ..apparently over 1200 new species discovered over the past decade and another new one every three days or so ...many weird and wonderful exotic birds, spiders and animals....breathtaking really!

Chatting to a friend by email about this , his response was "Thank God we shall never know everything of the gifts that are around us. Similar discoveries keep an edge on our appetite to ever look forward"

What a great attitude, I thought... ( especially as the person concerned is not far from 80 years old)...to look beyond the thrill of the physical discovery and appreciate how important it is to keep that sense of search in the human faculty alive and active.

In many ways, compared to just a few centuries ago, we know so much about the physical world around us ...and such knowledge is widely available....but how much do we really know about the human faculty? Even today, scientists estimate we probably only use about 10 or 20% of our brain capacity ....so what a great search to find ways to bring more of it out of latency...to develop the new faculties this might release and discover the unknown possibilities of ourselves !

Ladies in Kenya - pioneering a more humane world

I went to a very inspiring talk & slide show last night by Mary Noble, one of the founders of an educational organization for women called Feminenza who are working in Kenya in the area of Forgiveness and Reconciliation. They are going to be training forgiveness and reconciliation councillors, with the help of funding from Unifem, part of the United Nations.

Wow, what a very refreshing evening ! We all know what a very troubled continent Africa is, and particularly distressing is the ongoing conflict and violence between various tribes. The ladies who are gong to be taking part in this training are all women who are working on various initiatives such as schools, churches, peace groups who are intent on leaving behind the violence and helping build a new more unified and harmonious future. We saw slide after slide of those gorgeous bright faces, with eyes which reflected both the suffering they had gone through and the determination and hope for a better tomorrow.

You could feel too a deep humanity and bright spirituality. This feels so much the way of the world citizens of tomorrow...positively seeking to leave behind the cruel aspects of history and actively pathfinding new ways to build a kinder, more humane world.

All strength to them!

Permanent Influences

I listened to a fascinating program on the radio this week about Beethoven writing the Emperor Concerto in 1809.

He was writing at a time when Austria and Napoleonic France were at war and Napoleon's army was actually shelling Vienna. All the court and dignitaries had fled from the city to safer climes, but Beethoven remained and whilst the battle was going on around him, wrote this most exquisite piece of music.

I found the program so thought provoking from several angles. One was that despite the turmoil of the war at that time, the aspect which still moves people most today is the music itself. Not the history, not even the composer but it is the harmonies and rhythms which have an enduring , almost 'permanent' quality. In fact one of the young men on air talked of the piece as something, which despite the ups and downs of living, this piece of music was something which brought strength and stability for him...something which improved the quality of life and upon which he could depend.

It caused me to wonder what it might be from our times which would endure,centuries later? Would it perhaps be that this was a time of intense change where amidst the turbulence and breakdown of various aspects of society, something new was also appearing ..something which heralded an evolution of consciousness, a real elevation for humanity ?

Finding New Value ...

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Driving to work today, I heard a report from one of the gardeners at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew , speaking of the fear that as many as 20% of all plants are facing extinction, majorly because of human intervention in their habitats.

The person in the interview was obviously passionate about plants and attempting to evoke in us listeners a value for the part plants play in our lives. He went through a number of 'uses' from building to musical instruments to medicines, clothing and so on....and yes, one can only marvel at the multiple uses people have made of the natural worlds.

However, I couldn't help feeling that if we are to find a re-newed value in the world around us, perhaps it needs to start not in what plants do for us but in their own intrinsic special part in the planet's Eco system ..their own inherent beauty, and the laws of nature which underpin their existence.

*Photos copyright of Claire Zeevi

'Solar Maxima'

It's a fascinating feature of life today that there is so much information in the press about what we might expect over the next few years, whilst at the same time very little clarity about the ramifications of the 'predictions'.

A recent example is the news item about expected solar storms ...some solar physicists, like David Hathaway of the National Space Science and Technology Center having predicted them to begin around 2010-11. Others like Mausumi Dikpati of The National Center for Atmospheric Research, in the news this week, predicting 2012 as the most likely time for the major storms. ( 2012..that year again??!!)

Both, however, are agreed that we can expect the most intense 'solar maximum' in fifty years. The next sunspot cycle is likely to be 30-50% stronger than the last one in 1958 which caused disruptions and increased Aurora Borealis sightings. With so much more technology of a sensitive electrical nature today, it's not clear just how disruptive the solar activity might be but it is expected to affect cell phones, GPS, weather satellites and many other 'modern technologies'...quite what that encompasses is unclear ...and one wonders just how much of an effect it might have on computers systems which play such a central role in every aspect of our society from finance, business, education, defence as well as health and social services.

Few aspects of Western society could run smoothly if we had glitches in the world of computing and technology.

For more details of the 'coming storm', as well as very interesting and readable info about the cycles of the sun check out http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/10mar_stormwarning/

Note: diagram above from the Nasa Science article

Reactivity and Sensitivity

Recently, we seem to be more bombarded than ever with visual images of the pain and suffering that is going on around the planet, both human and animal. I had a circular yesterday through the post asking for donations to help mistreated donkeys in the third world, made all the more evocative by visual memories of recent TV ads for the same charity.

On the one hand, you can only say what a good thing that someone is doing something about animal cruelty, wherever it is, but it also occurred to me that in our modern world, there is an unfortunate side effect to the sheer volume of exposure we now have, from ads, to daily newspapers, TV, radio, the net and so on ......

It's a very natural thing to respond and help, when we meet suffering. And as an example, living in the country one simply does not ignore a suffering animal, no more than one would walk past a person in distress.

Yet, when over exposed to information of suffering, and knowing one can't respond to ALL of it, does it begin to shut us down? To cause us to anesthetize ourselves away from the empathetic feeling, because the feeling is too much, and does not lead to alleviating actions?