promote and establish eco friendly communities

I was raised as a child in the western door(Missoula the learning and culture door)/apex area(Lolo pass) of Shalahah. My friends and I knew of Shalahah as children. We camped out at Fort Fizzle on the Lewis and Clark Trail often which in lore is the apex of this City of Gold. We were fascinated with the stories and the supposed powers we had being children of Shalahah. We had alot of fun…early spiritual learning.

Our parents on the other hand thought it was a childhood fantasy that we had special talents. As we got older and graduated from school we were called away from the City of Gold vortex to create lives elsewhere. I was to go to Texas. That was strange because noone else in my family of origin was compelled to leave.

For whatever reason I had to go to Fort Worth Texas. Nowhere else would do. I lived there most of my adult life raising my family and helping others get homes for their families.

Fast forward 25 years and we find that we are being called home by an inner force. I was actually called back 10 years ago and lived up Lolo pass (the apex)in a beautiful log home with B for 11 months. He left first ( he is a Texan) but then I went back to Texas to be at the birth of my 3 grandchildren and have excellent healthcare when I needed it.

As soon as those things were achieved I was called back to the northern door (Whitefish-Fulfillment & Prosperity) and the Flathead Lake area, which in lore is a very powerful spiritual area of the world.

In my entire time away I knew I was different from other people…mostly because they told me I was. The whole Pollyanna…you live in lala land story. Huh, lala land…Shalahah…never connected that before. :)

Recently I met another child of Shalahah who has been gone and we discussed how we have this unexplainable pull to come home and build a sustainable eco-friendly community. Hence my obsession with the sustainable ministry Caring for God’s Creation which for me includes the cooking studio, creative arts center, community gardens for children, creativity camp for at risk children and teens and my production company to share this information with others around the world.

Some think our call home is for the survivors of the end times…to me that seems a little drastic… but who knows.

“Dubbed the “missing greenhouse gas,” nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) was found by a recent study to have a global climate impact 17,000 times greater than carbon dioxide. The chemical is found in the LCD panels of cell phones, televisions, and computer monitors, as well as in semiconductors and synthetic diamonds. The chemical is not one of the greenhouse gases monitored by the Kyoto Protocol, due to the fact that LCDs were not produced in significant quantities when it was drafted.

What kind of impact is this suppose to have, you ask? The chemical is found to stay in the atmosphere for 550 years and there is no force of nature known to remove it. This year, nitrogen trifluoride emissions are expected to have an impact equal to Austria’s CO2 output. “

http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/37622/print

The body shop – it utilizes natural organic global community trade ingrediants and recyclable materials. We have many campaigns including aid awareness, burma support, domestic violence acts, and of course awareness in the community globally and locally. One thing we offer everyone is our reusable shopping bags (I bought one for me and all my family) – the bag for life. On the front is a text design that states ever thing we stand for – self esteem, human rights, animal rights, equality, enviromental protection… ect ect 5 dollars – one dollar goes to aide in Burma.

Reusable shopping bags – get them! We’ve used the ones they sell at grocery stores (which are huge and clunky) now they are getting neat like body shop bags, made of canvas which fold up into your purse, or look like a carrying bag.

It’s small but I feel really proud about working at a company with values!!

I have always thought he was cute. He has a great smile. He is on my list of favorite eye candy. ;)

But today I am impressed more by his commitment to put his money and influence to good works for people in New Orleans. What happened with Hurricane Katrina was a very sad natural disaster. What has happened since to the families involved in that disaster in my opinion is criminal.

Brad has decided to do something very positive to help these families. He is organizing the rebuilding effort called Make It Right
Make it Right is designing 150 green homes for the 9th Ward in New Orleans.

Everyone can participate! From sponsoring a home, a block of homes or just donating a solar heated water heater for a family.

to me sent an e-mail.

I checked out Wiser Earth and found a community of people just like me trying to make this world a better place for ourselves and future generations.

WiserEarth serves the people who are transforming the world. It is a community directory and networking forum that maps and connects non-governmental organizations and individuals addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights and more. Content is created and edited by people like you.

Check them out for yourself. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. I was. :)

but I haven’t been at all committed to it – you need a sense of mission.

Big news in the Star Telegram this morning is the plan to unite both Dallas and Tarrant County Mass transit by rail to DFW Airport by 2012.

DFW Airport is the world’s third busiest airport.

We are making slow but sure progress getting people here to do their part to stop global warming. :)

it is usually big news that a developer has bought it to replace nature with acres and acres of McMansions with an urban designed playground with kiddie pool. The “Ranch” becomes a gated community with one road in and out.

You can imagine my delight when I read in this morning’s Missoulian that the 11,500 acre Murphy creek Ranch was sold to the Nature Conservancy of Montana.

“This purchase guarantees that this ranch and the surrounding working landscape will retain its rural wildlife-rich character that hasn’t changed much in centuries,” said Tim Swanson, southwest Montana program director for the conservancy.

WOO HOO to the Staudenmeyer family who have owned this property for 70 years and decided to help preserve what little natural environment we still have on the planet.

The Missoulian reportedThe property includes rare sand hills and several species of plants that are found in only a few other places in the world, the Nature Conservancy said. They include the Fendler’s cateye, painted milkvetch, white-stemmed pale evening primrose and sand wild rye.

The land also is part of the largest wetland system in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

“You’ve got this extensive wetland system, and then all of a sudden you have these sand hills,” Swanson said. “You feel like you’re in a desert.”

More WOO HOOs to the Nature Conservancy for the wonderful work they are doing around the world!

The conservancy says so far, it has protected 38,000 acres in the Centennial Valley from development, which is roughly one-third of the private land there.

The City of Fort Worth sent me this fabulous program that they have adopted in 17 counties in North Central Texas to train citizens like you and me to be Urban Foresters…how cool is that???

The email says:
If you are interested in learning more about trees and are willing to volunteer to help care for and maintain the public trees in your town, then Citizen Forester is for you!

The Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council (CTUFC) is now accepting applications for the Citizen Forester 2007 training class. Participants will receive 36 combined hours of classroom instruction and hands-on field training. Training sessions will be held at various locations in Fort Worth from 9 am to 4pm on the third Wednesday of each month from January 17 through June 20, 2007.

The Citizen Forester program presents a wonderful opportunity for individuals to become skilled at planting, pruning, and maintaining trees in an urban environment. It also provides interested persons with the chance to get involved with local city and county agencies and help their community take care of its public trees.

Topics include identification of recommended native and adapted trees, proper hands-on planting and pruning experience, benefits of trees, recognition of hazardous trees, conducting tree inventories, common insect and disease pests of trees, and other relevant urban forestry topics.

Citizen Forester volunteers are committed to helping their community take care of its public trees. In exchange for their training, Citizen Forester volunteers provide a minimum of 25 hours of community service to their local town, city or county towards projects that involve trees on
public property.
Currently, the 27 Citizen Foresters who completed the 2006 pioneer class in June have already provided over 300 hours of community service.
This group of volunteers is involved with many projects,
including conducting tree inventories of local parks, training and pruning newly established trees on public property, mulching trees in public parks, and assisting with public tree planting programs and tree give-away events.

In partnership with CTUFC, the City of Fort Worth organizes and hosts the training program. Cross Timbers members throughout the Metroplex assist in supervising field training exercises and serving as guest speakers. The training class is limited to 30 participants, with each county in the 17-county Cross Timbers region guaranteed one slot. There is no charge to participants except for out-of-pocket travel and lunch expenses.

The deadline to apply for the program is Friday, December 15, 2006. For more information or to request an application, call 817-871-5739

Serving 17 counties in North Texas, the Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council (CTUFC) is a non-profit organization charged with the mission to promote programs in the region to increase interest in urban and community forestry.

The CTUFC, www.ctufc.org, began the Citizen Forester program in 2006 with the help of a matching partnership grant from
the Texas Forest Service. The Citizen Forester program is open to any interested adult within this 17 county region in North Texas, including Tarrant, Denton, Cooke, Montague, Clay, Wichita, Archer, Young, Stephens, Palo Pinto, Erath, Somervell, Hood, Parker, Jack, Wise and Johnson counties.

Contact Info:
Melanie Migura, Forester
Parks and Community Services
City of Fort Worth
4200 South Freeway, Suite 2200
Fort Worth, TX 76115-1499
Ph: 817-871-5739
FAX: 817-871-5724

If you don’t live in North Central Texas check to see if there is a program like this near you. Planting more trees is one way to save our planet!

And I hate to be cold, but you know if you burn candles the heat from them actually warms a room! So whenever I’m in there I light candles. We simply can’t afford heat bills anyway. If you are cold this season, light a candle and layer your clothes ^__