Forgive Me For I Have Sinned!

This number of deaths is being updated hourly. That is so sad and awful.

 When I ask for forgiveness, it is not generally about  religion or the commandments handed down from the mount. I ask forgiveness for all of those things that I have personally done to destroy this beautiful blue planet I get to live on until I am not alive anymore. 

I have never been more aware of the harm done than I was last week when a heat wave hit Oregon and Washington with a vengeance that had the weather people calling it a 1000 year phenomena. Global Warming it turns out is not a myth and never was. The reality is that we are being punished for being careless and, well, dumb! 

Do you feel that way? Are you sorry for what you have done? 

If I were in a confessional and I had someone with the power to forgive me, there is a list of transgression. They begin with my car and end with my greed.

• forgive me for that 8 or 9 cylinder gas drinking monster that I looked so cool in when I was young. I knew even then it was wrong to feel pride in owning that thing. (the catalytic converter didn't work anyway.)
• forgive me for not being a fan of recycling when my children were very young. I knew better but squashing pop cans and sorting glass seems like it was just to much trouble.
• forgive me for wasting water. My neighbor, Clementine is in her nineties and she is still pouring her dish water on her plants like she did when she was 40. I was simply lazy and didn't see that saving water would help. I didn't know that we would need it later.
• forgive me for discarded gum wrappers and paper cups I probably tossed from my car windows.
• forgive me for all the wasted food I threw out because I could not abide leftovers. The landfills are full of my stuff.
• forgive me for using awful detergent, spray cans and all those things that contaminate our air and ground. I am so sorry.
• forgive me for doing anything that was harmful because it saved me money or didn't make be happy. I was greedy and selfish.
• and so much more...please forgive me.

I had a friend look at me as though I had cussed when I talked about Mother Earth being mad. It has occurred to me that it is Not Mother Earth That Is Mad...it is God and the Angels and the Communion of Saints and Allah and Buddha and the spirits of our deceased relatives that are angry. Plus many more.

Is that possible? If it isn't, then it must just be that we/I have messed up so badly that our Earth is going to fail. 

I am told there is time...I hope so. It is not looking good.

So please "forgive me for I have sinned."

What do you think?

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When the world is on Fire, are your beliefs tested?

Did you see the Facebook post by the People for Bernie Sander's? 

Doesn't it feel like Trump denied climate change and the climate said, "Hold my beer and watch this!"

I wasn't going to post this particular piece on climate change but after seeing "Hold my beer and watch this!", I knew I had to get this off my chest. You can comment and get it off your chest too. Then we can all wait. It is sad.

Images from Oregon Live. Smoke and ash filled the area in the PDX metro area.

Image from Oregon Live. The fire jumped the Columbia and is now burning on the Washington side too.

Here in the Portland metro area we could not breath the air this week. A teen dropped firecrackers over a cliff in the Columbia George and now both sides of the Columbia River are on fire. People have been evacuated from their homes. Most of the area affected is in the Columbia Gorge wilderness area or impossible to build on so only 2 homes have been lost.

It has been a record hot summer with temperatures in the 100s in September. Children went back to school this week but could not go outside to play because of ash in the air and hot temperatures. If I were a praying person, I would be praying for rain! We will see.

We are not complaining because we know that our earth is under siege everywhere. We are not unique. I suppose this place always has been a fragile ship floating through space but now it seems to me that there is no denying what we, the passengers on the ship have done to upset the wonderful balance of nature. As those people in Texas and in Florida know, disaster is a promise. Even here nature takes it toll with lightning and rain but in comparison to those places our life is a piece of cake.

When it comes to natural disaster, it becomes unclear who believes what about the why. Here in the United States we are surprised every time we have to endure a hurricanes of historic magnitude and fires that have no respect for wealth or fame. We somehow think we are in control. I began wondering how our belief systems is affecting our actions. Global warming and all that it implies is on my mind.

Let me see if I can explain. When a natural disaster related to weather hits your world, why do you think that is all happening? Who or what or even why is the universe so angry at us?

1. If you believe that God is in charge of our world, do you think that he/she is angry at you and yours and testing your resolve. Are you being punished for some unnamed sin?
2. If you believe that, do you simply throw your hands up and change nothing? Is donating money for relief enough?
3. Do you believe that the theory of climate change is a hoax? 
4. Wikipedia has detailed information on the various causes of the climate changing. That information includes information on the effects of Methane and Chlorofluorocarbon. Do you just ignore that?
5. If you are a big business that thinks it would cost too much to do the right thing or your profit would go down, how much do you think cleaning up after a hurricane or rebuilding is going to cost? 
6. If you believe that scientists are right and we are going to need to clean up our act even more, what do you think we should do?

It is so sad that when we were told the "Inconvenient Truth" all those years ago, the scientific theory became a political/religious ball tossed around by people that changed the documents showing the facts to suit their belief system. For them, the world is still flat, gravity is an act of God and the sun rotates around the earth. When a scientist discovered that the world was round, he was persecuted and maybe even punished. It took a very long time for people to realize the truth of the idea. But up until now, all of those battles that scientist have fought through history have not been about warning us that we are destroying the ground we stand on...the surface of the earth.

No matter how your look at it, I think we are up against it now. Even though we have come along way and responsible people are truly trying to do the right thing, I am wondering if the ship has sailed and we are all on board. The oceans are rising, the tundra melting and our land is falling into the sea. I am wondering if, like Noah on the Ark, we will have to sit on the mountain top until it is safe to begin a new way of life.

One thing I know for sure is that we cannot close our eyes or plug our ears anymore. Even when the ship is going down, the people on board bail water and hope. Sometimes it even works!

What do you think? Did the Universe say, "Hold my beer and watch this?"

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Note:  1824 - French physicist Joseph Fourier describes the Earth's natural "greenhouse effect". He writes: "The temperature [of the Earth] can be augmented by the interposition of the atmosphere, because heat in the state of light finds less resistance in penetrating the air, than in re-passing into the air when converted into non-luminous heat." BBC News and Science

Looking Back at 2010: Global Warming and the Grandma's Litter Patrol

Note: I wrote this post in 2010 because I feel so strongly about the influence we have on our children and I have never understood people apathy toward cherishing our Mother Earth.  I am reposting it for your enjoyment.

Note: The is the post mentioned in the blurb about this blog on the Senior Lifestyle blog award website. I thought it was worth reposting. These two grandsons are now 7 and 9 years old.

I really don't know where else to begin teaching our children about the necessity for keeping our earth clean. They need to know that it will mean a better life for them and their children.

That is where my beautiful grandsons come into the picture. I want to teach them that it can be the simplest things that make the biggest impact. And believe me they are listening. They are at the age between wonder and delight.

Last week we were taking care of our grandsons for a few days. Every visit to Grandma's house has to include a trip to a nearby park. The little green place is full of nooks and crannies and bridges and water.  It is also full of people playing basketball and enjoying a Sunday afternoon picnic. It is a well used and sometimes abused green space.

When we visited the park this last week, we were trying to see if the tiny pond with a creek running through it might have fish or frogs. The water skippers were busy with their big shoes on their feet skimming across the water. But search as we might, we didn't find any fish. Grandma the oldest said someone threw a pop can in the water! The the smallest asked What's that white thing Grandma?

I can honestly can say that I had a feeling of visceral disgust as I looked at garbage in our little park's water. I think that our children should only see clean water and shining skies. This was one of those moments when you wish what happened hadn't but also knew that now was the time. The lesson had begun. The choice was about action or inaction. Did I want them to think that someone else would take care of it or did I want to find a way for the three of us to take responsibility for our environment? For me, there really wasn't a choice. All I needed was a rake, a pair of rubber gloves, two little boys and a big plastic garbage bag.

Two Little Boys

A Rake

And a Garbage Bag

We climbed down the bank to the creek, through the bushes. I raked the garbage and Brayden held the bag. After we were done, we put everything in the bin...that is where it should have been in the first place I said. The lesson was over.

Hopefully, in some small way what we do can help. It doesn't matter if global warming is caused by us or by mother nature. The fact is, humans are having an effect on the world. How could we not? When did we forget the message about global warming was simply about keeping our own backyard clean?

But, even more importantly, are we forgetting to teach our children and grandchildren about how we can prevent the destruction of Mother Earth because we are so caught up in why Mother Earth continues to get warmer and warmer? Please quit messing up my Earth.

Do you think the why is as important and what we can do?

Have a wonderful day.

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Paying the Price for Living in Paradise ... garbage!

Technorati Tags: culture, garbage, Mexico, travel information, frugal, expatriate

I like a blog written by a solo woman traveler called Hole in the Donut Cultural Travel.  It is a very serious blog about sights and sounds of foreign countries. She tells it like she see it.  That is good...if it is bad or boring or dirty then I want to know.  She will tell you.  That is where I saw the post about garbage in third world countries.  It turns out I have an opinion!

Garbage/litter/trash/filth is not my favorite subject but it seems that it will draw your eye faster than any beautiful sight. That is why we crop litter in the foreground from our photos. But it turns out that in other cultures it does not even raise an eyebrow.

My husband and I just returned from a short stay in a fishing community about 6 hours south of border called San Carlos.  This is one of the "cheap" third world places to live that US and Canadian retirees are looking for.  You know, the one that lets you keep your money and still enjoy the Mexican lifestyle.  No taxes for roads or garbage/sewage removal.  Just life in the sunshine and drinks at 5 pm.  It is almost free they told me...well a lot less than staying in Tucson for example.  (An RV space just off the beach rents for $25 daily.  Here in Tucson the fee is $40 daily.)

Source: retireinstyleblog.com via Barbara on Pinterest

So my husband and I spent 4 days finding the exploring San Carlos and it's back roads.  We came home with a car that looked like it had driven down the Baja on dirt roads for several days.  Here is what we found.  Nothing is free...PARADISE comes at a cost to someone.  In this case, the cost may be to the Mexican people...I am not sure.

Sea of Cortex and Me

The road from Nogales taking the truck route around the city is a toll road all the way from the border to San Carlos.  Locals and the Mexican trucking industry pay dearly so those roads can be maintained.  I suspect that most locals are taking back roads to avoid the cost.  The first toll as you enter the country is $11.  Really!  Back roads are paved if they are a main road to somewhere.  Maintenance on them is minimal.  If they are country roads or even back streets in town they are not paved.  In San Carlos, the roads to the snowbird neighborhoods are paved but all other roads are dust.

Then there is the garbage.  It just grows and flys everywhere.  There is a garbage bag hanging from every tree.  I will say that at least San Carlos does not have dogs wandering free like they were in Puerto Penasco the last time we visited.  A burning barrel becomes traveling garbage when dogs tip them over.  Those people that visit San Carlos must have waste disposal of some kind but if you go even a few streets away from the center of this snowbird community, you will find the garbage strewn in the yard or tossed over a bank.

Hole in the Donut said children pointed out that banana peels and orange rinds do not hurt a thing. They go back into the soil to make it rich and the oranges sweeter next year.   I agree totally.  Composting is a very good thing. The smell of rotting vegetables should not offend anyone but piling it close to the house or on a city street attracts rats and worse.  But in our "use it and toss it" world, it is the containers that are burying third world countries.  They have caught onto our luxurious food in styrofoam packaging and plastic grocery bags but don't realize or care about disposing of any plastic in the proper way.

In our country we are hiders of waste.  The garbage in the state of Oregon is transported from the Portland metro area  to a huge disposal sight about 2 1/2 hours from the city.  It is sorted, buried, composted and heaven knows what else.  But the point is, we never see or smell it again. It is very costly for us and communities are doing everything to reduce the amount that needs to be taken away.

What is the point?  While I do not like to see the garbage and tires tossed over the hills and people living in squalor, I have to admit that we are not much better...we just put waste where we cannot see it. The snowbirds that are living the cheap life on the Mexican dime are dreaming if they think that paradise doesn't come at a cost. We pay the price in the United States for the services we receive.  But who is paying for the infrastructure in Mexico if the snowbirds have it so good?  Could it be the country is suffering a lot of damage that is invisible?

Snowbirds build around travel trailers!

Courtesy of 501 Places Flickr Account

As an afterthought I need to say...I think we missed the point of the "global warming" discussion.  It really doesn't matter if climate change is our fault or not.  The message was...PLEASE QUIT MAKING OUR PLANET INTO ONE BIG GARBAGE DUMP!

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Links:

• The Rubbish Post 501 Places Blog

Related articles

• Mexico City's Garbage Getting Out of Control (myessentia.com)
• Rating a Groupon Get Away, San Carlos, Sonora, Mx (retireinstyleblog.com)