In Gratitude

They say food goes down better if it is blessed,
In any case I’ve always wanted to find a way to bless
My food in the context of a humanist organic vegan..
This is my attempt:::: I call it:

In Gratitude
By Karen I . Shragg
Savoring each bite
That passes our lips
As if it is precious
As if it is simply miraculous
Because it is
So lest we forget
How lucky we are
To have this food before us
When too many do not share this privilege
Let’s toast the rich soil
That grew the seed
Let’s thank the nourishing rain
The powerful sunshine
The organic farmer that tended
the plants
Finding ways to get rid of pests without
Contaminating the soil and water
Let’s praise the picker, the trucker, the pilot
The packer, the grocer and all who had a hand
In bringing this life-giving food to our plates
Let’s honor those who had the good fortune to
Afford the ingredients
The cooks who prepared dishes with love
And those who will use their elbow grease to clean up
After we have filled our bodies, soothed our minds and
Fed our spirits with this delicious food.

If I Could Speak Loon

If I Could Speak Loon
By Karen I. Shragg

If I could speak Loon
Or maybe Egret
Heron would be nice
I’d tell them all to fly further
Than the gulf this year
Look down my friends
The ocean there
is the color of greed
the consistency of deregulation
Don’t land where you have before
Don’t follow in the wingsteps
Of your ancestors
Not this time
Fly beyond the blackened oily waters
That have already ended so many
unsuspecting lives
Who would never understand
What befell them
even if I could speak loon
or egret or even heron
Where on earth would I begin?

Ecological Footprint

We still are not getting the fact the there are limited resources on this planet. We are not getting it in the sizes of our homes. We are beginning to get it when it comes to consuming local food and giving up our plastic bags. But watch how coming into money suddenly makes a person believe they need to surround themselves with thousands of square feet of limited planetary resources.

In our neighborhood a couple had 37 trees cut down to put up a 10,000 square foot home which must now be air conditioned and heated in a Mn climate for just TWO people. They can afford it, some will say,,, yeah but the Earth can't I reply

Counterpoint: Going Green Good Luck

The editorial in Sunday June 6, 2010 Minneapolis Star Tribune paper entitled “Going Green ..Good Luck" by Greg Breining seemed to have someone like me in mind. To be green, I do many of the things he mentioned. But instead of being offended I readily agree with his major point: that many of us do things that we think are green, but the reality is they are not.

It is important to be green in ways that are effective, not just in ways that make us feel better.

Though Breining's points are well taken, he left out the most important part of the story. The most effective "green" choice of all is to have fewer children. Our planet is already overpopulated causing the depletion of many vital resources and rising pollution.

The largest green problem we have on our planet is not too many plastic bags; it is the total number of people using them. It is not finding a new source of greener energy but the fact that by the time you get up tomorrow morning there will be a net gain of over 200,000 more people needing that new source of energy.

The planet does not care what we do individually; it cares only about the sum total of our actions and impact.


We can fiddle all we want with green options, but none of them are sustainable when our net gain – births minus deaths – on this already overpopulated planet is 9,000 people per hour.

Trying to increase wind and solar power, save endangered species, use compact fluorescents, and recycle are all fine and dandy. But we must recognize that human numbers are currently far above the carrying capacity of a planet. Earth's finite water, soil and minerals are already insufficient to sustain those here. Unless we address the relentless growth of human numbers, all our "green" efforts will be ineffective.


It is time to have the courage to look this core issue in the eye with a compassionate heart so that we can achieve sustainability by humanely reducing birth rates to allow total population to drop back to a long-term sustainable level.

Oil-aholics

Drilling for offshore oil as a part of an energy policy should not be surprising. Our basic policies in the US of A have never been sustatinable. What is different this time is that its being offered by a president that I campaigned for. So attached to it is a feeling worse than the venom with which I view the party of extraction,, the OTHER side.. its a feeling of disappointment.

I do understand Obama's philosophy on one very narrow platform.. he is right that we need to keep our energy local and I like the theory that we might not need to fight bloody wars for oil IF we found some here... but that is only a theory.. the wars continue and with an ever increasing, already unsustainble population of 310,000,000 people and growing by 3 million per year the beast of consumption will never be satisfied and sometime we WILL simply run out of the stuff...

Why is there always money to invest in unsustainble polluting solutions when the same amount of money invested in population stabilization and reduction, energy efficiency, and well planned cities with great clean mass transit systems would actually produce long lasting results? The only thing we will get from this policy is more pollution and more debt. Its like we're oil ahoics search for the last drops to keep our society running in a direction that is rapidly leading us to a climate which threatens all life on Earth.

Growthbusters Video on YouTube

http://growthbusters.org/2010/03/save-the-polar-bear-in-your-bedroom/comment-page-1/#comment-130

This is a link to a great blog and video about the Endangered Species Condom project please check it out!!

The Best Gift of All

THE BEST GIFT of ALL

>By Karen I. Shragg
(As a gift to my mom who amazingly
and wonderfully made it to her 84th birthday)

No need to shop long hours
No need to sit and fret
No need to wrap any gifts tonight
I’ve got the best idea yet

Whatever presents I may open
Although purchased with much care
Could never match the gift of you
Your role in my life is rare

So put a ribbon on your forehead
and wrapping paper on your sleeves
Climb into a paper box
(Just get down on your knees)

Get some heavy lifters to
Put you at my feet
For you’re the only gift I want
It’s something I’ll repeat

For long after all the ribbons
And boxes are put away
Long after closets hold
What I opened up today

I still have you in my world
And that’s my greatest gift
Just to see you smile at me
Is this season’s greatest lift.