Discuss: Notes from a Very Small Island

An 8 year old student in my class drew a beautiful loon. Now I need to tell him gently that they are endangered because of coal production.  I had heard that there is no such thing as clean coal from a daughter who heard a group called The Coal Miners’ Daughters.  This talking animal will continue to talk to her students and to the rest of the people who may think that coal is the answer. Please send this to Barack OBama. We need to continue informing all politicians that the search for safe energy is needed. We are not the conquerers and controllers of the land…we share it with all of nature.  We must respect and conserve it for the survival of all.
Thank you for reminding me in such a beautiful way.

One of the most outstanding pieces I have ever read.
The Sanskrit saying, “Tat Twam Asi” meaning “You are That” says the same thing- You already are, you do not have to become.
Sincere thanks.

Yes, a beautifully written essay - thank you, Erik Reece. Modern humans have “severed our connection to the Logos,” and are under the illusion that we are separate from the natural world. We don’t see the connections. Coal companies don’t see the mountains and the lives they destroy, meat-eaters don’t see the animals that were killed for them, and urban people don’t see the inspiration of nature. The only “logic” behind our destroying our own sources of sustenance is blindness to the connections.  As Henri asks, who will read and hear this message - that we are not separate? If a big majority of people don’t hear the message, and soon, the human race is in big trouble.

A manifesto on life - live the one you desire or wither under the weight of others’ beliefs. Profoundly liberating. Cheers to both Mr. Reece and Orion.

Thank you for this wonderful work. As Claire reminds us that you have reminded us of the “severed connection to the Logos” I offer this quote: “We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

Thank you for weaving the J stroke of nature, philosophy and “poetry [as] religion that redeems us in the here and now.”

A refreshing gift on a day off to read your essay. Please write again.

This thread is a wonderfully timely and perspicacious example of what need to be happening now.  Thanks for all you are doing to protect biodiversity from mass extinction, to preserve Earth’s body from wanton dissipation, to halt relentless degradation of the environment and, with a bit of luck and a great deal of work, to save the family of humanity from reckless endangerment as well as to spare the human species from an even worse threat.

Make no mistake, the Orion Blog is making a positive difference. Even though the ‘talking heads’ in the mainstream media, the ones who are owned by economic powerbrokers and their bought-and-paid-for politicians, wish all of us would go away, we need to keep going.

Sincerely yours,

Steve

Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population,
established 2001
http://sustainabilityscience.org/content.html?contentid=1176

Your search for answers has been a gift to me and helped me in my search, which may be the quest that we all share: to understand our lives. I read your article several times a day because it gives structure to my thought and comforts me. Thank you.