unity

Unification

is the start of embrace

the sharing of heart

the opening up of us, the seeing of all.

The battle has died

before they thought it begun

Because many made the changing decision

to live differently, as they feel differently now.

Our children

are born with more attributes

talents so bright, both in light as in being.

We will see those big changes as intent moves them.

We are not alone.

We are all indeed the same and also belong with others.

Unify our best intentions and our biggest dreams

and lo and behold! The new earth is showing itself already.

Understanding dawns along with a newfound desire.

Unity.

And through that the expression of love.

Photo by Janice Ward -copyrighted and reprinted here with permission.

future build

People have been harping on about climate change and how much crap we've been putting in the Earth's atmosphere for a while. That polar caps are melting, polar bears drowning, glaciers dwindling and how of course we should make amends regarding our nasty outputs. What do you think? And will we alter our polluting ways?


I'm one of those people that think the Earth will adapt to us silly humans no matter what, but we may not be able to adapt to her big changes. The good news is that there's always hope. And there's always an Arc to be built.

And man! This is surely one of the coolest Arc's I have ever seen designed. Isn't it amazing?

"Russian architect, Alexander Remizov, is the mastermind behind the project, he believes that his floating “slinky,” which can hold up to 10,000 people can have multiple uses, including a safe house for disaster relief. The prototype’s main materials are timber, steel ,and high-strength ETFE plastic and it is built to handle land and/or water." (from website KNSTRCT)

Perhaps they should consider building this in Christchurch! You can place it anywhere: land or water. Very convenient I'd say.

"The Ark’s central core is a wind power generator which would provide power to the facility. The outer part of the structure is covered with transparent solar panels, and if the ark is built on water, it can also take on thermal water energy. There is even a purpose for the shape of the structure, the form promotes the formation of turbulences of air which in turn strengthens the work of wind generators. The Ark is very well thought out; there is a purpose for every element and each component supports another to enhance performance.

The Ark project makes an attempt to answer these challenges of our Time. The Ark project was designed on the basis of international experience received from the UIA Work Program “Architecture for Disasters Relief” and according to the concept of a bioclimatic house with independent life support sources. In such buildings provision is made for an independent life support system including elements ensuring a closed functioning cycle.

The structural solidity is provided by compression behavior of the timber arches and tension behavior of the steel ropes. The framework is covered by a special foil made of Ethyl TetraFluoroEthylene (ETFE). It is a strong highly transparent foil, self-cleaning, recyclable, more durable, more economical and lighter than glass. The foil itself is fixed to the framework by special metal profiles, which serve at the same time as solar collectors for water heating and as gutters intended for collecting rainwater from the roof surface.

The building makes a single energy system. The form of the cupola assists to create an air-eddy at the outer surface around the central bearing, where the wind power generator and tornado generator are placed. The form of the building is convenient for placing on it the photoelectric cells at a necessary angle to the Sun. (...) The building can produce extra power for supplying adjacent houses and “green” transport means. 

Prefabricated frame permits to erect such buildings quickly.

The structure of the building permits it to float in case of water leveling up in the World Ocean, to keep afloat and exist autonomously on the surface of the water. All the wastes are utilized inside the building by methods of explosion boiling up and oxygen-free pyrolysis."

The building could be constructed in different climatic zones and in seismically dangerous regions, because the structure of the basement represents a shell without any ledges or angles. A stressed structure of arches and ropes permits to distribute load along the whole bulk in case of earthquake." designers: RemiStudio

This project reminds me of the Venus Project that has similar ideologies: website here. Some of Fresco's designs below:

These are quite groovy too. It reminds me of the Jetsons.

From the Venus Project website: "Many people believe that there is too much technology in the world today, and that technology is the major cause of our environmental pollution. This is not the case. It is the abuse and misuse of technology that should be our major concern.

Our only shortage is the lack of creative thought and intelligence in ourselves and our elected leaders to solve these problems. The most valuable, untapped resource today is human ingenuity.

A resource-based world economy would also involve all-out efforts to develop new, clean, and renewable sources of energy: geothermal; controlled fusion; solar; photovoltaic; wind, wave, and tidal power; and even fuel from the oceans. We would eventually be able to have energy in unlimited quantity that could propel civilization for thousands of years. A resource-based economy must also be committed to the redesign of our cities, transportation systems, and industrial plants, allowing them to be energy efficient, clean, and conveniently serve the needs of all people.

With the elimination of debt, the fear of losing one's job will no longer be a threat. This assurance, combined with education on how to relate to one another in a much more meaningful way, could considerably reduce both mental and physical stress and leave us free to explore and develop our abilities."

Gaia what?

Most of us carry on with our regular lives every day with no or little thought to what surrounds us. No wonder Yoda has been telling us there's more going on then meets the eye. “Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”
I have started reading a book called ''Gaia, the human journey from Chaos to Cosmos" by Elisabet Sahtouris PhD and it's both intruiging as it is straightforward.

Usually I'm not overly a greenie in the hippie sense of the word. From being an artist etc to moving into business life and from then into farm life trust me humming Aumm and doing new age courses has not been on my agenda for many a year. My education therefor has come to me in the practical sense, also I suspect because I needed to be grounded more and less fluffy ducked. It worked! Kudos. I guess now it's time for me to absorb some additional knowledge in book form.

Before I started reading Gaia I was reading ''Eat Pray Love" for the sheer fun of it and that too encompassed life (and meditation) and the contemplation of the unseen energy field in which we live. I find it very interesting to read books that are written from various view points.

Life is becoming less and less about stuffing things we can comprehend in boxes with written labels but instead it is now overflowing with out of the boxy stuff, things hanging in mid air, things unseen, things wafting about tantilizing with hints at what more knowledge there may be. I think the whole jazz is best described as a jack in the box. This can be joyous or also topsy turvy, as we have seen with all the earthquakes.

Most of it cannot be grasped with the mind, it's as if we are increasingly being inserted with inner knowing through our other senses. It's a combo mac deal, with added crunchy salad and big fizzy drinks when you think you only had one coupon. And when it's in front of you: you're finding out that you're not so hungry for all that food stuff after all (I think that's why I decided to become vegetarian about 4 weeks ago). It's a funny thing this life. We get notions. We lose notions. We become notion-less and in that space of having lost direction we can pin point ourselves again. What fright and what freedom.

Now back to Gaia, I keep finding new books at the moment, not that they are new but they seem to bring me aspects of topics that increasingly get me excited. Gaia is not just the Earth, it's the sentient being that is Earth also. Many religions have mulled this Gaia stuff over. What is it all about dude? Indeed. Is it all yadda or is it "real". And what is the real deal anyway? How ''actual'' is the daily life?

I think we forget we live on a planet that LIVES. It's not just a chunk of rock in eternal sleep and we can just dig up all the gold, coal and pump all the oil out of it without as some point catching onto the idea that hey! Maybe we are digging into actual flesh here. Maybe this endless gratification for our own selfish needs has stopped making sense. Especially since we know that electrical cars and other propelling methods have been available which were discarded ideas by big oil companies as -get this- they would go out of business and they didn't like that (insert doh here). I mean when does this attitude end huh? Well with us of course. Simple as that. It all boils down to demand. So what if we changed the demand? We can you know. There is such a freebie as free will, I think it's a winner.

So I'm reading Gaia: it's more a statement of saying: you know we have done this crazy sick stuff on the earth for so long. Why are we taking not decades but a century or so to choose something else that is beneficial for all concerned? We use up energies where we can choose something more sensible and at the same time build and maintain the world that we are part of, quite literally I might add.

So if it makes so much sense to amend our ways, why not do it? I don't think most of us are lazy, we have just been sloppy in pointing things out and doing something about it. That tv has been a darn invention for keeping us on the snooz button. So come on, pull your head out and think of a way you can alter how you travel to work. And what work you do. And how you heat your house. And all that greenpeacy stuff while you're at it. Maybe have chickens and grow your own veggies. Put that solar jazz on your roof. Clean your house out. And if you say you can't afford it then join forces with other people and bring out that commune spirit in the name of good ol'd sharing that they still do in tribes in the Amazon and many other places on this planet. It hasn't gone out of style yet.

2012 is not the end of the world, but the way we are mozeying along it might as well be. We shape our world. Everyday. Gaia must be getting sick of us by now. I am too at times. Luckily there are many people and increasingly more so I see who wish to create better more wholesome ways to live. It's encouraging indeed. What are you willing to do?