tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63693647180343256762024-02-07T17:17:48.575-08:00One Earth ConservationNurturing Nature TogetherLoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-55336432737668536122016-09-06T12:45:00.003-07:002016-09-06T12:45:29.488-07:00Please Visit Us On Our New Website!<div style="text-align: center;">
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LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-2151165439648676702016-08-29T07:20:00.000-07:002016-09-01T04:01:33.268-07:00Endangered, Precious, and Heroes - Conservationists of Latin America<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.3pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.75pt;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghISiEJPwNr_ninPfnWPYKIMJkLKRfHka8K1ytpfyXevEhG1s-WYiukdyxokgbsdfJ9B261u79nGdjfFOCm4HbiifqfwH8JiTmix017Lsp0j4rKbh7UhjaTy5prpeURBuqb2BnMhCiZqw/s1600/Frigate-in-Belice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghISiEJPwNr_ninPfnWPYKIMJkLKRfHka8K1ytpfyXevEhG1s-WYiukdyxokgbsdfJ9B261u79nGdjfFOCm4HbiifqfwH8JiTmix017Lsp0j4rKbh7UhjaTy5prpeURBuqb2BnMhCiZqw/s640/Frigate-in-Belice.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful magnificent frigate bird soaring over the keys of Belize. Birds, like her, help our hearts soar.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 115%;"> This past
week I attended the Mesoamerican Society of Biology and Conservation in Belize
City, Belize.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 115%;">One full day was given to
parrot conservation.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 115%;">We heard many
exciting updates!</span></span></div>
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<li style="line-height: 15.3pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">There are
Central American scarlet macaws on Coiba Island, Panama, and they may not be
experiencing much poaching pressure - thanks to Dr. Mark McReynolds et al for
this work!</span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">There was no
poaching of Belize scarlet macaws in 2015 and 2016 - thanks to Dr. Isabelle
Paquet-Durand, Boris Arevalo, et al for this work!</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">There are
about 115 yellow-headed parrots in Honduras in the Cuyamel area, and</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">only 2 of 12 nests were poached - thanks to
Roger Flores et al for this work!</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">There are
many active nests of yellow-headed parrots in Belize that produced 58 chicks -
thanks to Charles Britt et al for this work!</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Wild
yellow-naped amazons used nest boxes in Nicaragua - thanks to Martin Lezama et
al for this work!</span></li>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> There were
other presenters and many informal discussions that motivated us to plan how we can together improve the well being of
parrots in Central America. P</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">erhaps the
best thing about this meeting was the excitement and support we offer one
another, which is an important part of conservation work, especially in Latin
America where the challenges and risks can be great. For instance, in a <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/in-latin-america-environmentalists-are-an-endangered-species/?n3wsletter">recent Global Witness report</a>, two-thirds of the 185 environmental activists murdered in the world
were from Latin America. Most often
these activists work with little to no governmental support, and it is not
unusual that the government even
counters or endangers environmentalists.
Writes Billy Kyte, author of this report, "</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> Up to now the government sees these people (environmentalists)
as opposing development. What really needs to happen is that these people need
to be treated as heroes."</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heroes of Central America (presenters and attendees of the parrot symposium in Belize)</td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> These parrot conservationists of Mesoamerica
are my heroes, working under threats and challenges, with very little
resources, and often using their own funds to cover their expenses. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Thank you all for what you do, and for being
in solidarity and resistance with me as we build a more beautiful world, fighting the poaching and habitat loss that is rampant in the area. Together we won't le the sun go down on these birds!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise on Caye Caulker right before the symposium</td></tr>
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LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-1560620270654140612016-08-21T13:01:00.000-07:002016-08-21T13:02:24.241-07:00Conservation: Attaining the Good You Will Not Attain <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Grace has its own way of shaping
what our hearts bequeath it. Grace keeps fashioning and shaping our deeds, long
after any hopes we had for them have expired. We’d like to have an energizing
hope, for our burdens are so great. The
headlines will not leave us alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How
many were blown up or shot yesterday? What species is slipping further towards
extinction? In this global lotto, odds
are that everyone feels a loser. Many
days it seems as if we have no hope. I
think the risk is to not that we could give up on hope, or even faith. T</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">he
real danger is that we falter, don't take the next step, or quit, thus
diminishing the chance for inviting grace and unpredictable positive outcomes even
when all seems lost.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9s4QMBW1a4CSKxOCCS6Qv0o04iFmQnJm0MApfGaIHonynZXBH5VNHqxwT1vpw8bk2veDyI4uGOi4s_6WS0MdnbxyYKqjEA-q9E3nL11bcqAxiJyR012Z7vvWj8jXK-XMTVChiSS-PIk/s1600/2009_Honduras_political_crisis_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9s4QMBW1a4CSKxOCCS6Qv0o04iFmQnJm0MApfGaIHonynZXBH5VNHqxwT1vpw8bk2veDyI4uGOi4s_6WS0MdnbxyYKqjEA-q9E3nL11bcqAxiJyR012Z7vvWj8jXK-XMTVChiSS-PIk/s640/2009_Honduras_political_crisis_3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honduras during the constitutional crisis in 2009</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Many would say that conservation in
Central America is a lost cause. Honduras is just about one of the toughest
places with rampant gangs, one of the highest murder rates in the world, high
government corruption, which diminishes government efficacy, letting the powerful,
moneyed, and drug traffickers rule the day. Some experts say it’s the closest to a failed
state anywhere in Latin America. That’s where I work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Beginning in 2010 I stuck my nose
in, really just to see what was going on and to at least document and witness
the disappearance of parrots, most notably the macaws, from the country. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Scarlet
macaws used to be all over the country, but now are only found in one wild,
isolated place, La Moskitia. There, over
the years I have witnessed firsthand the hopeless of the cause. The indigenous
people keep losing their land to corruption and land invaders and the poaching
of macaws approaches the 100% mark. In 2014 not one macaw from our study area
escaped the illegal wildlife trade. In 2015 drug traffickers had taken even
more land and were buying off indigenous and governmental leaders. I just
couldn’t stand it not trying harder, or at least documenting it all, so I went for
two months this past spring of 2016. It was like every day there was some news
that landed on me like getting kicked in the gut. Even more land was lost and
now it seemed that everyone was coming into this territory to convince the
indigenous to sell their land and extract the timber, oil, and ore. Gold miners
were flanking both sides of the nearby Coco River, contaminating it with
mercury. One of our nests was poached by
one of the local community people we had hired to protect that nest. Then grace stepped in.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOJoxeFCmk2IkjDxgTdfGM0WqFL_aj7QY8G8rAl1NdrBQVs58iCAh1N7jqP4Q3ZJNIGgBdAYkfvBP1j2EGNlfAzgONIn7LbpNx29VyA4P71Do_av3mSxZySDkSpOnAc0wzlQeVKJcsb0/s1600/Reflection-on-Poaching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="401" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOJoxeFCmk2IkjDxgTdfGM0WqFL_aj7QY8G8rAl1NdrBQVs58iCAh1N7jqP4Q3ZJNIGgBdAYkfvBP1j2EGNlfAzgONIn7LbpNx29VyA4P71Do_av3mSxZySDkSpOnAc0wzlQeVKJcsb0/s640/Reflection-on-Poaching.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the base of poached nest, deciding what to do</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> We were gathered at the bottom of the nest tree reflecting and sharing what we felt, when one member of our team said, "Doctora, it is sad, but this is not the time for tears." He was right. We wanted our two parrot chicks
back, and would have to act, now. But recovering chicks had never happened before. Once they were gone, they were long gone: to
the cities, to other countries, all the way to the Middle East and Japan. It was hopeless. But that didn’t matter. People went out on bikes and motorcycles to
try to track down the poachers and to get any hints of where they had
gone. I borrowed a phone, climbed a
hill, got a cell phone signal from Nicaragua, and started calling people. Several days later I had not heard any news
when I had to go to the nearest town, Pt. Lempira, a 4-hour drive away. I was there to put my spouse Meredith on a
plane the next day. I called the
forestry service to ask them if they had any news, and they said they had 4
confiscated parrots. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">When
they brought them to me to take care of they casually mentioned that two of
them had bands. A thrill went through me. They were our chicks! <a href="http://lafeber.com/conservation/will-not-let-chicks-go/">We got them back</a>
against all odds. They went directly to our Rescue and Liberation Center in the village of Mabita, and are now flying free! Not only that, not one chick from 2016 entered the illegal
wildlife trade. I never saw that coming.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwqzwrepV5AV2kd9jXbj0RPdfHJb9i5iRYLSJwHbUi4fGaSSo4PJGYKa6Hs2TwHeyRx76YPBR0jk5_sQ4RnyJuXiHeAP-klPFn-5_OKE_PmzrqjPv4y0sk8GOp2-ozwZEDO1WimpD7q3g/s1600/Feeding-Rescued-Chick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwqzwrepV5AV2kd9jXbj0RPdfHJb9i5iRYLSJwHbUi4fGaSSo4PJGYKa6Hs2TwHeyRx76YPBR0jk5_sQ4RnyJuXiHeAP-klPFn-5_OKE_PmzrqjPv4y0sk8GOp2-ozwZEDO1WimpD7q3g/s640/Feeding-Rescued-Chick.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rescued chick being fed</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> I should be happy, shouldn’t I? But I keep repeating the incantations, it is
not about happiness. attaining the good of keeping those birds and people safe.
It could go at anytime, and it’s not looking good for the long haul. Yet, I’ve
never been in a place so powerful to stave that off. Holding that failure and
possible success has made a watcher out of me, trying to stay present to it
all. Sometimes I wonder if trying to hold it all leaves me, personally, with
less. So I remember Zbigniew Herbert's poem where he who tells me to beware of
dryness of heart. See the beauty and love the bird with an unknown name and an
unknown future. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Lest we should rest on our laurels
for a spectacular conservation year of 2016, I heed Herbert's warning, "Beware
of unnecessary pride. Keep looking at your clown’s face in the mirror. Repeat,
I was called, weren’t there better ones than I?" So I juggle fumbling and
bumbling all the time, a clown through and through. I juggle many other balls
though: beauty, resistance, witness, and
solidarity. We must give testimony, testimony to the startling beauty and
wonder of life. I seek to be motivated by these, even when I think we are
losing, because we are always losing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> At one time I thought I had lost too
much. I went to divinity school to find
a way to save the world that might help save me. I was not looking for a life partner and I
was not looking for a career, especially as a parish minister, and later a
community minister. And then grace stepped in.
My mother always told me that the place to meet a man was in church. During Divinity school I attended the First Unitarian
Universalist Church of Nashville, not to meet anyone, but to investigate who I
was in the world. There I met Meredith, my current spouse. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Reverends Beth Johnson, Meredith Garmon, and LoraKim Joyner heading off to the New York Climate March, 2014</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Early in our relationship I helped
him move, tempting our new and fragile relationship with disaster. But then
grace stepped in. We were getting ready to lift his long, five-drawer, metal
file cabinet into a truck when we paused for him to show me all the mementos he
had taped to it over the years. That’s the first time I saw Zbigniew Herbert’s
poem, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/48501">"The Envoy of Mr. Cogito"</a>.
As he read it I stared over his shoulder, and cried. He did too. We groked each other. So soon there was an engagement, and happily I
called my mother to say that her advice was correct: church IS a great place to
meet people. My mother, a lifelong Methodist replied, “But I didn’t mean that
church.” Now when I counsel people who wish to get married I don’t come right out and say that marriage
is about attaining the good we will not
attain. But it is. And it’s worked
pretty well for us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Conservation
is like that too.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Attaining the good I do
not attain, but that you, and you, and we together attain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Maybe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-29838200040086282382016-08-15T13:07:00.003-07:002016-08-15T13:11:12.793-07:00The Lives of Parrots and People - Part III<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6369364718034325676" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br data-cke-eol="1" />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Traditional house in Valle, Honduras</i></td></tr>
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Today we continue our journey through the Valle Department of Southern Honduras. Last week we visited Tio's (Uncle's house) and this week we visit three other homes with parrots.The first house as two little parakeets sharing a cage (orange-fronted and orange-chinned parakeets). The owners seem proud of their birds, whom they report do not have clipped wings and eat everything that the humans do. They also never get out of their cage. I asked the husband how the birds came to be in his home, and he said he shot them down with a slingshot and gave them as presents to his wife.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"> Cage of mixed parakeets</span></div>
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The next house has two siblings that came to the home as young chicks. Their diet is more restricted: mango, rice, and corn mush. Like the previous house they do not have clipped wings and never leave their cage.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"> Sibling orange-fronted parakeets</span></div>
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Our last house has two parrots - an endangered yellow-naped amazon and an orange-fronted parakeet. The amazon has severe feather damage brought on most likely from stress, boredom, and malnutrition, although we cannot rule out disease just by looking at the bird. This household also engages in poultry production, and I suggest to the owner that she can improve the diet of her parrots by feeding them high quality chicken concentrate feed.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"> Self inflicted feather damage for this yellow-naped amazon parrot</span></div>
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At these homes we make suggestions on improving the welfare of their parrot companions, and also deliver a conservation message.All these birds need more diversion, better food, exercise, company, better sanitation, and access to clean water. The humans who share their lives with these parrots seem open to ideas, and mostly treat their birds badly because they do not know differently.</div>
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As we drive away I think how little money and resources it would take to vastly improve the lives of the parrots here, as well as to protect them in the wild from the rampant poaching. I vow, along with my companions, to return, and do just that.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"> Chicken with beak clipped to curtail destructive behavior</span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a dataquery="#txtMedia1nqd" href="https://www.blogger.com/null">This blog first appeared on Lafeber Conservation.</a></span></div>
LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-35553415135289564192016-08-12T06:19:00.000-07:002016-08-15T13:14:36.618-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many Needs, One Earth</span></div>
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 18.4px;">There are many needs on our one earth.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">We meet these needs by empowering people </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">who are</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">saving the planet.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Our empowering programs build knowledge, </span></span></span><br />
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and capacity in </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></span>
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and other beings. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><br />
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LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-49044666783574055652016-08-09T04:26:00.001-07:002016-08-09T04:27:03.971-07:00Parrots and People of Latin America<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://lafeber.com/conservation/lives-people-parrots-ii/counting-valle/" rel="attachment wp-att-8580"><img alt="Counting parrots in Valle, Honduras - looking towards the mangrove swamps" class="size-full wp-image-8580" height="433" src="https://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Counting-Valle.jpg" width="650" /></a><br />
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Counting parrots in Valle, Honduras - looking towards the mangrove swamps </div>
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Today we journey to the Valle Department of Southern Honduras. We wind through sandy beaches and mangrove canals to get to where the last yellow-naped amazons are on the Pacific coast of Honduras. We have just <a href="http://lafeber.com/conservation/yellow-naped-amazon-parrots-atlantic-coast-honduras/">finished two parrot counts </a>over the last 24 hours, and on our way out we visit families with homed parrots.<br />
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<a href="http://lafeber.com/conservation/lives-people-parrots-ii/orange-fronted-parakeet-valle/" rel="attachment wp-att-8581"><img alt="Orange-fronted parakeet on floor next to stove" class="size-full wp-image-8581" height="1073" src="https://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Orange-fronted-parakeet-valle.jpg" width="650" /></a><br />
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Orange-fronted parakeet on floor next to stove</div>
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One of first stops is Tio's (Uncle's House). We interrupt his television soccer game, which he doesn't seem to mind as he walks us to a sparsely furnished kitchen where there are 3 parrots; 1 orange-fronted parakeet in a cage on the floor, and two yellow-naped amazons perched atop a cage. Tio tells me that they eat everything that the humans do. He can handle the larger parrots, even though they also both have unclipped wings, which seems to be true for the other parrots we visit in this region; instead parrots are kept in cages. Both of these birds, which he has had for 13 years, can fly around the house, and everyone once in a while get out. One of the amazons has a damaged foot from when he got out before and got caught in a hammock. One of the toes is frozen and necrotic. "I tried to cut the damaged toe off one day but it bled too much," Tio told me. <br />
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<a href="http://lafeber.com/conservation/lives-people-parrots-ii/tio-with-loros/" rel="attachment wp-att-8582"><img alt="Tio with pair of yellow-naped amazons in kitchen" class="size-full wp-image-8582" height="910" src="https://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Tio-with-Loros.jpg" width="650" /></a><br />
Tio with pair of yellow-naped amazons in kitchen</div>
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"Because his foot doesn't work too well he can't mount the female and have chicks." I look around at the environment and suspect that there are other reasons why the birds might not be reproducing, such as the pair actually being two males or two females. Most homes I visit assure me that they know the sexes of the birds; They tell me that males are supposedly larger, brighter, and more vocal.<br />
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<a href="http://lafeber.com/conservation/lives-people-parrots-ii/loro-damaged-foot-valle/" rel="attachment wp-att-8583"><img alt="Damaged foot with missing toe, short toe, and necrotic toe" class="size-full wp-image-8583" height="433" src="https://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Loro-Damaged-Foot-Valle.jpg" width="650" /></a><br />
Damaged foot with missing toe, short toe, and necrotic toe</div>
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I asked Tio why he had parrots and he says it is because of tradition, "Todos los tienen" (Everyone has them). I then asked what he liked about having birds. He paused for several seconds and then said, "My wife likes them." I ask Tio if I can give advice on caring for the birds and he agrees: we speak about diet, the dangers of keeping parrots in a kitchen, and how they need toys, cleanliness, and potable water.<br />
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<a href="http://lafeber.com/conservation/lives-people-parrots-ii/loro-en-valle/" rel="attachment wp-att-8584"><img alt="Yellow-naped amazon in kitchen" class="size-full wp-image-8584" height="433" src="https://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Loro-en-Valle.jpg" width="650" /></a><br />
Yellow-naped amazon in kitchen<br />
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After leaving Tio's home my biologist companions suggest that perhaps it is the women who drive the illegal wildlife trade here. "They want company in the kitchen. The men like to give the parrots as presents to their wives, parents, and children." There must be a lot of gifts given here because parrots are in many homes. No wonder we counted so few this morning.LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-79252665033505959942016-03-05T11:40:00.001-08:002016-03-05T11:44:12.958-08:00Prayer for Poachers and Parrots<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: -.5in;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Prayer for Poachers and Parrots<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">(Inspired by and adapted from Bryan Stevenson,
“Just Mercy”)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">When I left the base of the tree I had a wet face and a broken heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QrFY9VUZm0&index=1&list=PLT3f4GhFgYKgPxD_-Et5gyAs_I5ITlaCc">man had died poaching a nest</a> of scarlet macaw chicks. He had fallen,
killing one of the chicks he landed on, and her sibling was doomed to a life
time with clipped wings and spirit-breaking conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">The lack of compassion I witnessed every day had come once again like a
kick in the gut…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">As I got up from the grave marker underneath the tree, I thought myself a
fool for having tried to fix situations that were so fatally broken....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I was breaking open, taking in now how my life was just full of
brokenness, as is everyone’s<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I worked in a broken system of justice, where those with power merited
more fairness, freedom, and flourishing than those without.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">The people I worked with were broken by malnutrition, poverty, violence,
corruption, racism, and classicism, and fatally flawed by the story that says
more for me means less for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">They were torn apart by disease, drugs and alcohol, pride, fear, anger,
greed, and spiritual disillusionment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">The parrots I worked with were also broken; sometimes their very bones
when they were ripped from their wild nests by the poachers who will sell them,
exchanging a fist full of feathers for another of dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I think of Rosa, a scarlet macaw with two broken wings and legs, suffering
when taken from her nest, nearly dead before she was one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I think of Lole, a yellow-naped amazon parrot, a broken leg, cat
attacked, full of tapeworms, so weak, stunted, and unable to breathe I thought
she would die in my hands. She made it to one year of age, but I don’t see how
she will make it to two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I think of Exodor, a black-hooded parakeet whose parents were killed with
their heads cut off over a toilet bowl for being carriers of Pacheco’s virus.
Exodor inherited the disease, with papillomas making his defecation difficult,
and his pain exacerbated by his constant masturbation on his food dishes, the
only parrot in his life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I think of the poachers, broken by war, poverty, colonialism, and the
drug trade, and their children, stunted by malnutrition and stress, educated to
6<sup>th</sup> grade if lucky, raised by grandparents who did not go in search
of work in other lands, as did the parents<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Entering the U.S. they are they are judged and condemned by people whose
commitment to fairness had been broken by cynicism, hopelessness, and
prejudice….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">It has taken years to sort it out, but I realized something about me and
the others gathered around the cross at the bottom of the towering macaw nest
tree.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">After working for more nearly 30 years in Latin American conservation, I
understood that I don’t do what I do because it’s required or necessary,
important, or will work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I don’t do it because I have no choice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I do what I do because I’m broken, too, because we all are, and the
system to at its very core.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Animating my body was a deeper knowing that came from my years of
struggling against animal abuse, oppression, poverty, economic inequality,
habitat loss, and a spiritual malaise in humans born of the false story that we
are separate or better than the others of different skin color, class, or
species.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Being close to suffering, death, guerilla war, executions, extinction,
and rape of earth and earth’s beings, didn’t just illuminate the brokenness of
others; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">In a moment of anguish and heartbreak, it also exposed my own brokenness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">You can’t effectively fight abusive power, poverty, inequality, illness,
oppression, loss of biodiversity, extinction, or injustice and not be broken by
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">We are all broken by something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">We have all hurt someone and have been hurt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not
equivalent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I desperately wanted fairness and a chance for flourishing for poachers
and the parrots they brutalize, and the pet owners who are the end of the line
of a long chain of pain and tragedy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I could no longer keep pretending that their struggle is disconnected
from my own, and from yours, and from all of ours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I want the chicks of all species to grow into free flying flourishing
adults, though who knows how this is possible when others are hungry - the hawk
and the poacher takes the parrot chick to feed her own, or the pet purchaser
gets the parakeet to feed the family’s starved spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">The ways in which I have been hurt – and have hurt others – are different
from the ways Central Americans and middle Americans suffer and cause suffering,
and the ways predators hunt and consume prey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">But our shared pain, hunger, and brokenness connects us….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Sometimes we’re fractured by the choices we make.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Sometimes we’re shattered by things we would never have chosen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">And all of life is broken by rules we did not write that flow deep in our
evolutionary telos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">But our brokenness is also the source of our common connection to all of
life, to our animality, and to our humanity, the basis for our shared search
for comfort, meaning, and healing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our
capacity for compassion….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Responding to the beauty that thrums through us all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I heard of a minister that said before leading the congregation in song, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">‘Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou has broken
may rejoice.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Thinking of him, I see what our shared connection to all life is saying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">We all are broken, and beautiful….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Those who are part of the system that gives credence to the shameful
ideology that human worth and needs are greater than avian, and that makes it
possible to profit from birds in one way or another either as poachers, market
distributors, pet store owners, pet food makers, pet owners, aviculturists, veterinarians,
agriculturists and business people who promote sterilizing monoculture
practices, destroying the land for people and parrots.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">I am them, I have broken and I have been broken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">We all are broken and beautiful….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">As are the protectors, the stewards, the conservationists, animal welfare
advocates, parrot rescuers and liberators.
They too suffer the same bludgeoning blow that fractures the ties that
bind us to all life in beauty and brokenness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Our tears beneath that tree are a cry to put down our hammers, our guns,
our credit cards, and our judgment, freeing our hands, minds, and hearts to
liberate the imprisoned, the caged, and the broken spirited.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">In between the ground where bones broke and the sky from which beauty
fell, may you my dear parrots, always fly free, and you, my human companions,
let us walk together on the broken trail seeing beauty above us, below us,
behind us, before us, in us, and all around us, every step moving us ever
closer to cherishing our common animality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Rejoice!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-12109298803753914412016-02-18T05:52:00.002-08:002016-02-18T09:35:10.071-08:00Healing and Nurturing Ourselves to Nurture All Life<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner, Co-director of One Earth Conservation, wrote this essay in response to the First Principle Project of the Unitarian Universalist Association which asks members to vote to change their First Principle from the "inherent worth and dignity of every person" to the "inherent worth and dignity of every being." Though aimed at Unitarian Universalists, the essay's foundational ideas carry across organizational and tribal ties.</i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Healing and Nurturing
Ourselves to Nurture All Life</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For
your sake, for humanity, for earth, and for individual lives and life, vote yes
to endorse the bylaw change that asks Unitarian Universalists to covenant and
to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every being. Be part of your
congregation and our Unitarian Universalist Association leading the way towards
more beauty and more flourishing by nurturing humans to nurture all of nature.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve
been an avian veterinarian for 30 years and a Unitarian Universalist minister
for almost 15 years. I am driven by incredible and hopeful possibilities for
honoring and connecting to nature, including human nature, and thereby making a
more beautiful world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
heal our beleaguered earth and the wounds of human separation from the rest of
life requires a praxis of compassion and ethics. We must more clearly see
humans’ true relationship to life and others and more fully grasp that there is
no disjunction between human and nonhuman nature. We must embody our
interconnection through concrete relationships with discrete individuals, for
otherwise the Unitarian Universalist principle of respect for the interconnected
web of existence is merely abstract. I find affirming the inherent worth and
dignity of all beings to be an expression of this hopeful and healing praxis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
are called to connect to others. While we cognitively know that human health is
intertwined with the earth and all earth’s beings, our diminishingly biodiverse
and increasingly urban and technological world accentuates our impression of
separation and distance from nature. This alienation from nature is an
increasing cause of withdrawal and despair. Yet I am hopeful that a re-enchantment
with the life that surrounds us -- an opening to the beauty, worth, and dignity
in individuals – can motivate us to effect change, nourish our sense of
belonging, and deepen our connection to life. As our own agency is enhanced, we
will come to more fully apprehend the agency of individual life around us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A
denomination that covenants to affirm and promote the inherent worth and
dignity of every being is a denomination that invites its members to creatively
re-vision the web of interconnection. That web is not a network connecting some
beings with worth and dignity (humans) with other beings that lack worth or
dignity. Rather, it is a web in which all beings are interconnected <b><i>by</i></b>
sharing worth and dignity; it is a web whose interconnections <b><i>recognize
and reinforce</i></b> each being’s worth and dignity. This re-visioning is our path
of healing. The web of beauty, worth, and health can lift us out of our
spiritual and ecological crisis, but it cannot do so if some beings in that web
are deemed without worth or dignity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
path of healing through re-visioning will take unexpected curves and encounter
unanticipated obstructions. As Unitarian Universalists embark together on this
path of healing ourselves so that we can heal the world, we will discover
surprising things about ourselves, our world, and place of our congregations.
Our free and responsible search for truth and meaning is ever unfolding, a way
forward together that invites us to fall in love with life over and over again.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Surprised
by love, we go through our days with wonder readily available to nourish us,
for re-enchantment and re-visioning brings an invigorating sense of wonder. It
invites us into Henry David Thoreau's "discipline of looking always at
what is to be seen." Through that discipline we encounter what Stephen Jay
Gould called the "excruciating complexity and intractability of nonhuman
bodies." Suddenly, we see the miracle of expression everywhere. What seemed
unappealing, dull, or even fearful, is revealed as magnificently present before
us. We live in a world of wondrous subjects, each being a life with an interior
experience of life. This transformation of perception of beings represents a transformation
of our selves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Worth
seen everywhere grows compassion everywhere. With vitality and beauty seen
everywhere, wherever we go, we go not alone. Wonder replaces loneliness. Studies
indicate that wonder nourishes our lives, improving our health, spirits,
relationships, and compassion. When wallaby, walrus, whale, and worm provoke
wonder, we are nourished and better able to nourish. But when any being’s worth
is seen as merely instrumental, human lives, too, may be judged merely
instrumental. To distinguish just one
species as having worth and dignity, to set ourselves apart as unique bearers
of worth, only separates and isolates us and perpetuates the wound of
disconnection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Accompanying
us on this visionary path we endeavor the development of a humble curiosity. Approaching
all findings as provisional, declining to obscure the wonder of the moment with
prior concepts, creative possibilities of relationship emerge. We become playful fools, in love with life
that constantly amazes and amuses. Life invites us to fun and frolic as we let
go of our idols of knowledge and control.
Our lives are not bound to others in our mind's definition of life and
worth. Rather, we are bound because all beings who have subjectivity, who
desire to endure and flourish, are bound together. All life has the capacity to
experience that which is harmful or beneficial. All life strives for further
coherence of their embodied selves. Recognizing this, we begin to live wider,
wilder, and deeper lives than human designs alone can realize. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Though
the vision of interconnecting beauty, worth, dignity, and health between
individuals does challenge us with the burden of knowing the harm humans cause
to so many, we move forward nonetheless, perhaps ever more lightly, for we walk
in beauty. As the Navajo Way Prayer suggests, beauty is all around us. This ever present beauty, that is also within
us, connects us to all others. We care for and protect them because we love
them, and we love them because we are part of them, and they are part of us. Healing comes from seeing how we are embedded
in relationships of common experience and existence with other individuals. We, the walking wounded, are healed and
healers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We,
a people who covenant to affirm and
promote the worth and dignity of every being are a people encouraged to
cultivate patient, sensory attentiveness to nonhuman presence – a people emboldened
to live a new story of wholeness in place of the old story of conquest and
consumption. Appreciating the limits of our control and of our understanding,
we can live freely in present and persistent beauty, wonder, and awe. Every denial
of a being’s intrinsic worth and dignity cuts off life from ourselves, and cuts
off life's creative striving expressed in that being. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">If
we hold that some beings have worth and dignity and some beings don’t, then we
deny ourselves the journey along this spiritual path of healing and hope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Every
being has inherent worth and dignity. Seeing it in unreservedly in all others, we see
it in ourselves, and so embraced by life, we bring our Unitarian Universalist
principles to life, nurturing human nature for all nature.</span>LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-36046361314212657632015-12-07T05:29:00.001-08:002015-12-07T05:30:17.345-08:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfDbiaJfIp0Xy1pmTn2UByINxSEPsIcgAyvc2ATzKP2F_WAObhXffCZLsWybbSvmCCWBiwIcOKV12EU_C2ncTh8-vY0EDb5IQC4261B8Yf-c2lcQZfV3KI-Pm95ZvcM3TnAArrNhJ014/s1600/Pair-Yellow-napes-Maria-del-mar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfDbiaJfIp0Xy1pmTn2UByINxSEPsIcgAyvc2ATzKP2F_WAObhXffCZLsWybbSvmCCWBiwIcOKV12EU_C2ncTh8-vY0EDb5IQC4261B8Yf-c2lcQZfV3KI-Pm95ZvcM3TnAArrNhJ014/s640/Pair-Yellow-napes-Maria-del-mar.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The yellow-naped parrots we are trying to save, and who save us with their beauty</td></tr>
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<u>South Coast, Guatemala</u> </div>
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I just finished the first week of traveling through the South Coast of Guatemala to visit fincas (ranches/farms) that have yellow-naped amazons, and where there is a possibility to protect them. One Earth Conservation has been doing this for a couple of years, adding more "hot spots" each year. We have a little bit more money for the coming year, and I also believe that we have got to get serious about helping others protect this bird. On my last "gira" (trip) one of my colleagues who lives here said if it meant giving his life, that would be fine (not that we plan on it). But this is the level of intensity that fuels the commitment to grow this project. It also reveals that if you choose your strategy to disrupt the system, there can be backlash, <a href="http://latincorrespondent.com/2015/12/latin-america-is-deadliest-place-in-the-world-for-environmental-activists-new-documentary-shows/">especially in Latin America</a> . </div>
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One could choose methods that mean going to "war" with the poachers and hunters that are draining the land of the wildlife here. The poaching of the yellow-naped was nearly 100% in our study area in the 1990s, and I'm guessing it's the same now, if not worse over much of Guatemala. However I don't believe meeting violence with more violence and judgment is the way to go. Yes we need the governmental agencies to enforce the laws, and probably arrest and fine a number of poachers to get them to back off. The long term effort though comes through relationships, education, awareness, study, and local community involvement and expectations. In short, you have to love the heck out of the world and model a story of interdependence, beauty, and worth. We have to lose the loops in our minds that say otherwise. </div>
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Still I find it hard to do so when it feels like getting kicked in the gut when one hears of, or witnesses, the suffering of people and parrots here, especially the typically high poaching rates. This is what we heard from the first two fincas we visited last week. One cowboy knew where all the nests were on his large finca which was about 120. He told us they were all poached. The parrots lay their eggs "para gusto" (for nothing) as the poachers come and take the eggs and very young chicks every year.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj83qqSEGV7LkKaYGEJkO-fVzJSqmnj47L1vUxjpLoBz01k0E8jya3sRS2rlmHDal5l7epHvmT0_vezzb6fOELFPy7SbuT2aeUgGiPOa-SaUZTZis8oVJEBwCzGGucEDT-zzHUycJVFYgw/s1600/Miguel-the-cowboy-with-Andrea%252C-Christina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj83qqSEGV7LkKaYGEJkO-fVzJSqmnj47L1vUxjpLoBz01k0E8jya3sRS2rlmHDal5l7epHvmT0_vezzb6fOELFPy7SbuT2aeUgGiPOa-SaUZTZis8oVJEBwCzGGucEDT-zzHUycJVFYgw/s640/Miguel-the-cowboy-with-Andrea%252C-Christina.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christina, Miguel the cowboy, and Andrea</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> The last</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">finca</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> we visited </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">had a different story. We have been working with </span><a href="http://www.reservapatrocinio.com/" style="font-size: 12.8px;">El Patrocinio</a><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">, a private reserve, for a couple of years, and one of the workers (and sometime guide) took it upon himself to listen to us and decided to monitor the nests on the finca. This is the only place in Guatemala that I know of where some one is monitoring yellow-</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">naped</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">nests at this point. Our goal is to have more places do this, and for that aim, we are hiring a project manager (biology student) to coordinate getting that done during the breeding season of January - May. She and another student accompanied me on this trip.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdCwcqdCeeQySxxAWT8Lw05KMLu5iEMQEIaIUc2EkMN_DpzqkOqvwuiqW9j47S7FnfyVAf9LNg-UIKVUkmmgMggta7Q6J10Lz0luYdEAn-ESIRLYQnt5UsgftQPEsTmx8iltXMHPHP-Mk/s1600/Paulino%252C-Andrea%252C-and-Christina-at-Patrocinio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdCwcqdCeeQySxxAWT8Lw05KMLu5iEMQEIaIUc2EkMN_DpzqkOqvwuiqW9j47S7FnfyVAf9LNg-UIKVUkmmgMggta7Q6J10Lz0luYdEAn-ESIRLYQnt5UsgftQPEsTmx8iltXMHPHP-Mk/s640/Paulino%252C-Andrea%252C-and-Christina-at-Patrocinio.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrea, Christina, and Paulino, our guide</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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This finca that is monitoring nests may also be one of the few places that can actually protect their nests from poaching. The guide personally saw 4 nests fledge this year. Three of these nests are part of a group of 3 nests very close together in towering Volador trees. There aren't many trees of that size, as they were cut down for crops. These Volador trees themselves are in among row after row of coffee plants, which we wove through to examine the nests. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRXTt3CA6A7C70OL2fdEqOYsoVzTbAYwr_-MsYwfBN0WCI9hS8KP9VWJAWAMHjNBEIoRW03eZaAmXL6yrekFaDcoIRHKvHAVDF6CxOTTbBoRUxPAVhOWdoRiY9IBtHKsdIOif05g_gcUg/s1600/Nape-nest-in-Volador---Patrocinio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRXTt3CA6A7C70OL2fdEqOYsoVzTbAYwr_-MsYwfBN0WCI9hS8KP9VWJAWAMHjNBEIoRW03eZaAmXL6yrekFaDcoIRHKvHAVDF6CxOTTbBoRUxPAVhOWdoRiY9IBtHKsdIOif05g_gcUg/s400/Nape-nest-in-Volador---Patrocinio.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Towering volador tree that is also a nest<br />
for yellow-naped amazons and laughing falcons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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While we were there, the volcano Santaguito erupted, and shortly there after 3 pairs of yellow napes came into the Volador trees, possibly the parents of the successful nests last year. The booming volcano set the rhythm behind the yellow-nape calls, telling us of beauty and power, the possibility in us, and in this land.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuSIzTcqA-_kdvTePB8HNhp8o9FwKnS8p2NMcirN965Xmg584lGFxietTguWtGoKoU-kZ3HprSAkLzRw6iKz9_LTXbMQyTqN9G5QBEqMreEXzX8BOtbP1owW-ULyBQ-FKsDVJxhD4dTZM/s1600/Santiaguito-Eruption-Guatemala-December-5-2015-for-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuSIzTcqA-_kdvTePB8HNhp8o9FwKnS8p2NMcirN965Xmg584lGFxietTguWtGoKoU-kZ3HprSAkLzRw6iKz9_LTXbMQyTqN9G5QBEqMreEXzX8BOtbP1owW-ULyBQ-FKsDVJxhD4dTZM/s640/Santiaguito-Eruption-Guatemala-December-5-2015-for-web.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Santaguito erupting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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This finca's owner believes that it is possible to save the parrot, and that things are changing in Guatemala. They did after all just elect a comic as a President - Jimmy Morales. I'm with him, that it can be done. It will take commitment, clarity, organization, and specific requests of others to live in the story of beauty and worth.</div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
Shall we do so?</div>
LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-39269955215685325232015-11-25T07:36:00.002-08:002015-11-25T07:36:11.151-08:00Nurturing Nature Through Wonder: Part 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ecology.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/earth-mirror-world-P.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.ecology.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/earth-mirror-world-P.jpg" height="323" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wonder
is in "wow" moments in nature, is in the ordinary, and is also in the
human species. If we could tap into wonder of the miracle of our own existence,
not just in babies and the geniuses, what might our lives look like to see beauty
in all the faces around us all the time? When considering other humans we ask:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How are we here at all?</i><br /><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> What are we thinking and
feeling? </i><br /><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> How can we build bridges and go into </i><br /><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> space? </i><br /><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Why is it that we can be kind given
all the </i><br /><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> challenges of life?</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>From my experience as a minister and
conservationist, one of the biggest spiritual challenges I see for us is to see
wonder in our own kind. We need to leave behind the sense of
being bored, or blaming others, which is often summed with a dismissive and eye rolling expression of, <i>Dude!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Instead we move to a softer and more
grateful expression of <b>Dude!
<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b> </b>Say it with me
please and then look at those around you.
<b>DUDE! </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Those around you are also you,-their
wonder and beauty is yours, as is the whole worlds. We need to own how awesome is our thinking,
feeling, actions, and presence in the world.
If we do not wonder at ourselves,
we shut down the possibility to marvel and connect with all of life. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This takes practice. So let us
practice now with me. Repeat after me, </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>I'm good!
I'M GOOD!</i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Now, let's put it all together what we learned in this four part series on nurturing nature through wonder. Please repeat after me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> WOW. REALLY? DUDE I'M GOOD!<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> It's in our nature to wonder, and to
nurture nature, ours, theirs, the earth's.
Let us do it for ourselves and for all life. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-35401445927175799552015-11-18T06:52:00.002-08:002015-11-25T07:30:30.851-08:00Nurturing Nature Through Wonder: Part 3<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There
are hundreds of ways to nurture nature, and let me suggest the first two of four.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The first area is to wonder out in
nature. These are wow experiences. I was leading a <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-m5LZTNCGhp1n-Ul5q305cKKvn1mb3H6fDEi-Zkhz8fNvCwOMvppWcbkS7zX-RURoqZai6MMVJSqWWcDoiv0SVf5WSiG2sBo_gKY09bgLnzL_UOVpUTSljaqama-nw1sKrqYqm-tg2eM/s1600/800px-Snow_geese_flying_at_Sacramento_wildlife_refugee+Brocken+Inaglory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-m5LZTNCGhp1n-Ul5q305cKKvn1mb3H6fDEi-Zkhz8fNvCwOMvppWcbkS7zX-RURoqZai6MMVJSqWWcDoiv0SVf5WSiG2sBo_gKY09bgLnzL_UOVpUTSljaqama-nw1sKrqYqm-tg2eM/s400/800px-Snow_geese_flying_at_Sacramento_wildlife_refugee+Brocken+Inaglory.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(photo by Brocken Inaglory)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
multigenerational bird tour
once in New Mexico with one of our congregations there, and the children were
out of their daily routine, and were perhaps a bit hesitant, especially Billie.
His mother had a cocaine habit, and he was born addicted to cocaine and had
issues with connecting and resonating with others.. We had come across a field
full or snow geese, bright white in the sun. Suddenly
they all took to the air, their wings vibrating in the very depths of our body
and ancestral knowing. The children transformed, they came alive, were pure joy
and connection, especially Billie who jumped, danced, cried out, and ran to his
grandparents to be close to them, to be held, to connect, and to share in that
wonder together.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Nature is full of unexpected and
surprising events that we cannot foresee, and this is good for us. James Austin, a neurologist, encourages us to
have nature experiences because they help integrate our neurological processing
and contribute to mindfulness and living in the present moment with attention
and gratitude. He particularly suggests looking up, and gives many examples of how
this can wire us for presence, including an event that happened to me years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimeEXxoifp1xDlKoX5e7ZY66WxocIDlnxsjMeTBGR5qhKRnMPdjfe3-xih6iSoJBhgzGQIImugoYrFTQ3dxnLk7uWdmsqXQ5vOXWP-tp7zNjnTCnWr1TTIUUXdiM1m-sRxjHXzAau10bI/s1600/Flock-of-juveniles-count-%25231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimeEXxoifp1xDlKoX5e7ZY66WxocIDlnxsjMeTBGR5qhKRnMPdjfe3-xih6iSoJBhgzGQIImugoYrFTQ3dxnLk7uWdmsqXQ5vOXWP-tp7zNjnTCnWr1TTIUUXdiM1m-sRxjHXzAau10bI/s320/Flock-of-juveniles-count-%25231.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> I was out walking in Guatemala
studying parrot nests, and my guide was a local Guatemalan. We weren't seeing
many birds and so we began to talk. He
wanted to tell me of his love of Jesus and Mary, and I put up my guard a little
bit, unsure if he was proselytizing me or expecting something from me I could not
give. I was disconnecting and distancing
myself from him mentally, when we came up to the forest's edge where the sun
was just rising over the tree tops in a shroud of misty fog. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Suddenly
a loud flock of parrots burst forth from the tree canopy. Before I knew what
happened, I was on my knees in the grass, weeping. I had been so startled with
awe and beauty, I just fell. Afterwards I was a little embarrassed, but more
than anything I had a sudden clarity and connection to humanity and the world.
I knew that when people said words like </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Mary</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">
and </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Jesus</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">, it was like when I said
birds and trees. That experience was part of moving towards things spiritual,
towards beauty, towards service, and towards an ease around religious
differences, for I saw the wonder moving beneath it all.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzlRDMcwiJhLS5GxeKKsNsdo7P0rRnDZvafGcNpw_IrGSkDl0bupEZyCzAI5DEAQMiWhtpKjEYV9IOdpUYDIsEOtOivfbODMmAhKMfjIoBO7Nu-BpjnPU8JwMnllyaMMrtCo2XjWB2NU/s1600/Looking_Up_at_Trees_%252818028903138%2529+Eric+Kilby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzlRDMcwiJhLS5GxeKKsNsdo7P0rRnDZvafGcNpw_IrGSkDl0bupEZyCzAI5DEAQMiWhtpKjEYV9IOdpUYDIsEOtOivfbODMmAhKMfjIoBO7Nu-BpjnPU8JwMnllyaMMrtCo2XjWB2NU/s320/Looking_Up_at_Trees_%252818028903138%2529+Eric+Kilby.jpg" width="212" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">(photo by Eric Kilby)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Dr. Austin says my experiences were
not usual. Indeed in another study the researchers
asked students to gaze up at trees, a task known to evoke awe. The other half turned their back to the
trees. Afterwards they approached each
group of students with a questionnaire and pretended to trip and drop pens on the ground. The awe group picked up
10% more pens, and felt less entitlement to payment for their participation in
the study.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> So looking up is good for us, whether
it is trees, birds, planets, of which you can now see four just before sunrise, or stars, with the summer
triangle still present which encompasses the double star o Episolon Lyrae. Let's take a moment to look up at trees, shall
we? Wonder in nature are wow experiences. Like other emotions,
having facial expressions of it and even acting it out, helps evoke it. Would you say it with me now? <b>WOW!</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Nature isn't just out there, it's
everywhere, and it's in us. How do we wonder at the ordinary, and move towards
the banal and boring? The uncomfortable even?
It's one thing to wonder at the rainbow of colors in our trees this time
of year, but how do we do it when the leaves are brown and gone? Where is the wonder on the train ride into the
city or in the subway while reading headlines of disaster and death? Can't there has to be something more to wonder
at than the last audacious thing that crazy politician said. Really? It takes
practice to cultivate wonder in the daily things, so our wonder isn't a <i>really</i> response, but a<i> </i>more gentle <i>really</i> response. Say it with me, would you? <b><i>REALLY?!</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> To grow wonder, slow down and ask
this of ordinary, or routine objects in your day. How did that get to be
here? Why is it here? If it is alive, what
is it doing and thinking? How is it connected
to me and the web of life? <b><i>Really!? <o:p></o:p></i></b></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/17107/ImageGallery/1devonian-pic-41884.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/17107/ImageGallery/1devonian-pic-41884.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Pick something in this room that is boring.
I hope you are not looking at me. Maybe pick the wood in your house. How did it get to be here? Woody trees only
evolved in the late Devonian period about 360 million years ago. The appearance of trees and forests were one
of the triggers for the two major extinction events in the Devonian when over
50% of the world's genera went extinct. Today
there are 3 trillion trees, 400 for every human. There are more of them than
us, and they caused terrible drastic climate change and extinction. We're not so bad, really?!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> This leads us to the 3rd of
nurturing nature - seeing wonder in our own kind, which we will take up in the last
segment of this series on nurturing wonder. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-34417222292834610532015-11-11T06:51:00.002-08:002015-11-11T06:52:28.620-08:00Nurturing Nature Through Wonder: Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/flassets/content/6900/fa6936/fa6936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/flassets/content/6900/fa6936/fa6936.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> We may
never know for sure the origin and need for wonder in the human species, but we
do know that it comes from a long way back. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Jane Goodall </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">was observing her chimpanzees in Gombe when she noticed a
male chimp gesturing excitedly at a beautiful waterfall. He perched on a nearby rock and gaped at the
flowing torrents of water for a good 10 minutes. Goodall and her team saw such responses on several
occasions. She concluded that chimps have a sense of wonder, even speculating
about a nascent form of spirituality in our simian cousins.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Wonder
helps us connect </span></div>
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<a href="http://ct.weirdnutdaily.com/ol/wn/sw/i39/2/8/4/wnd_dea02b747f24b20281f91dea0229ca89.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ct.weirdnutdaily.com/ol/wn/sw/i39/2/8/4/wnd_dea02b747f24b20281f91dea0229ca89.jpg" height="328" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">with that which is good. Wonder, like other emotions, evolved as a
motivator to help us move towards satisfaction or benefit, and away from
discomfort or harm. It balances with the other emotions. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The classic example is of a bear, at
least classic for those of us who lived in Alaska where all life can be
distilled down to bear stories or metaphors. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Wonder
draws us to the woods in hopes of seeing a bear, and fear keeps our distance.
Too much fear and we never go out, too much wonder and we are lunch. Wonder
tempered with all our other emotional tools asks us to take a middle way - to get
out and take some risks, but not overly so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> With wonder open, we connect, and
life's possibilities open before us.
Wonder helps us engage with the world to live in ways that integrate the
reality that beauty is ever present. It also helps us face the also true, but
harsher reality of harm, illness, death, disappointment, and massive suffering.
Without wonder, we risk closing off to life, living more shallow lives, less
intimacy and vibrancy. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="http://losriosriverrunners.com/cache/426e4712dc95785a6ebb483918389bcf_w400_h276.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://losriosriverrunners.com/cache/426e4712dc95785a6ebb483918389bcf_w400_h276.jpg" height="275" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> One study showed how wonder opens us
up. In the study, they took teenagers
rafting. A </span></div>
week later they report being more engaged and curious about the
world. Wonder also lifts depression, and in one study showed
people to have less inflammation as measured in saliva. It helps our prosocial behaviors - we become
more empathetic, humble, and generous. When
we have more empathy, others resonate with us better and we have improved
relationships. Our self identity moves
from a separate self to being part of a whole, or the whole itself. By merely writing about awe, we become
kinder, more compassionate, and this can extend to other species and the biotic
community as a whole.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> I lead <a href="http://oneearthconservation.blogspot.com/p/services.html">Nurture Nature workshops and retreats</a> where we look out how we have choice in moving towards that which is
good for us and others. How can we
nurture human nature so that we can nurture all of nature, I believe an
important question in this time of climate change, loss of biodiversity,
extinction, and factory farming. Two primary
aspects of human nature we nurture is wonder and its partner, empathy. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">There are many ways to nurture
wonder, as Rumi wrote: </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">"Let the
beauty we are be what we do, there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the
ground."</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
Part 3 I will describe the first of four ways to nurture our wonder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-40468006002646611412015-11-04T13:56:00.001-08:002015-11-04T13:57:08.516-08:00Nurturing Nature Through Wonder: Part 1<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> What is wondrous in your life and
life around you? To answer this, you might wonder what is wonder? Wonder is a <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by
something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable. This happened to me
one day when I was </span>visiting Kaieteur
Falls in Guyana, a country in South America.
The falls are the <span style="background: white; color: #252525;">world's
widest single drop<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall" title="Waterfall"><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">waterfall</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #252525;">, located on the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potaro_River" title="Potaro River"><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Potaro
River</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #252525;">in the Amazon Forest. The falls
were spectacular: the roar, the mist, the grandeur.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Then I heard a large parrot call, and a pair of Red and Green Macaws flew out of the mist, as if the water had conjured them, and they flew right by us. After a short time, the birds returned, flying towards the fall, like they were going to enter the cascade, but instead, turned into the cliff face where they had a nest.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I stood mesmerized, knowing I had seen one of the greatest wonders in the world, the colors of the parrots merging with the colors of the rainbows in the cascade thundering behind us. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Wonders also happen all around us, hundreds of them available to us in one week. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">People report having three awe experiences a week. How many do you have on average? Think back on this week. How many times did you drop your jaw or open your eyes in amazement?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Do you wish you had more wonder? Whatever you answer, there are reasons to cultivate more wonder. It's good for us! To understand why we would want more wonder, and how to experience it, check back next week as I continue on the theme of wonder.</span></div>
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LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-16685966549746199992015-10-24T06:58:00.002-07:002015-10-24T06:58:48.546-07:00Multispecies Empathy: Practice with a Gopher Tortoise<div style="text-align: center;">
This week's practice is multispecies empathy to grow our multispecies intelligence. Here is a video highlighting that practice with a gopher tortoise in Florida, USA.</div>
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LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-59439376075544635822015-10-21T08:10:00.002-07:002015-10-21T08:10:40.858-07:00Multispecies Empathy: Journal Practice<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last week I spoke of the importance and theory behind multispecies empathy. This week I offer a practice that can develop your general sense of empathy, and especially that towards other species.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You can do this as a longer journal exercise that
incorporates introspection and science, or by simply going to the imagination step #5. You can do
this as an individual or with others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>The Practice</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. Think of an individual with
whom you have a relationship. Write here what you know of the being. What is
the species? Individual name? Gender? Age? Life stage (growing, juvenile,
parent, etc). Health status? If you can't think of an individual, choose a
species you would like to get to know better or understand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2. Observe them over a period of time and write what you see them do.
Explain what you see as if you were a reporter with as little judgment or human
projection as possible. In other words, don’t try to interpret the behavior at
this point. It may be easier to choose just a short period of time or one
behavior for this exercise, although you might find it useful for your
relationship to journal at some point about all behaviors you encounter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3. Now guess what you imagine they
are thinking and feeling. List your guesses here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">4. To help you understand what you
observed, do some research on the species regarding behavior, communication,
feelings, and thoughts. You may find it difficult to find information about
emotions and thinking in nonhuman species. Did you discover any new feelings or
thoughts that occurred in the individual? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQYXIrs8ZRQJVYG09KSRULITg-rMxoFqNWebVT01Oysyzp9r8UPiMU6fZH78_VUdcVjI1wBgIuMYlRJQ8BbNbbrPtRWGY0FhgIC5jrJdhL3F4DMtRfQeZblGawBr88GqowaB2d6PbiH4/s1600/Plush-crested-Jay-Joyner-400X377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQYXIrs8ZRQJVYG09KSRULITg-rMxoFqNWebVT01Oysyzp9r8UPiMU6fZH78_VUdcVjI1wBgIuMYlRJQ8BbNbbrPtRWGY0FhgIC5jrJdhL3F4DMtRfQeZblGawBr88GqowaB2d6PbiH4/s320/Plush-crested-Jay-Joyner-400X377.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What is this plush-crested jay thinking and feeling?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">5. Now imagine that you are the animal. Get into
their paws, scales, fur, or feathers for about 15 minutes. Pick an animal that
is in your yard or along a walk or a hike. You can also watch a video or nature
documentary. You become them and now are doing what you have observed them
doing. As this animal, what are you thinking and feeling? For these 15 minutes,
just be them without analyzing too much why they do what they do. After you are
done, ask yourself if you discovered anything new by pretending to be the
animal? Share what you learned with another person and also invite them into
this journal or imagination exercise. </span></b></div>
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<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">6. Now looking over the list of
feelings and thoughts, make a list of this individual’s needs. Try to be as
complete as possible as you go through the behaviors observed or if you have
the time, a normal day as this individual. How might these needs be different
from another individual of the same species, or from the average needs of this
species? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">7. What feelings and needs arise
in you when you consider the feelings and needs of this individual? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">8. What have you discovered about
this individual, this species, yourself, or life through this exercise? If you
have discovered anything, what needs of yours or the individual does what you
have learned meet, or not meet? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">9. Go back and spend time
connecting to the energy of the other being by reviewing their feelings and
needs, and then do the same with yourself. Allow this to be a time of being and
connecting to life, without thought of requests or demands. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">10. Then consider possible actions or steps you might do, or ask of
others, based on this multispecies empathy exercise.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">11. Share what you have learned or experienced with
others and invite them into the exercise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">Please let me know how this exercise was for you, and if you have any suggestions or creative idea on how to use it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">In hope for all beings,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">LoraKim Joyner</span></span></div>
LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-86302805500761145812015-10-15T05:56:00.000-07:002015-10-15T05:56:01.453-07:00Multispecies Empathy: Introduction<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6EtJohWlM_TEGJkTpf-1K-QBLhF4f0iHs06fDbtpAQ5LqvSQ1GUwAULdLiYKBm4LU2-08b2zFC5x-yQ-lw3fk-YCDAc_becMScqtdT8ij2IUwptTUeqNIk3bbd86qvLeUo0wexPcEqg8/s1600/steven-pinker_better-angels-of-our-nature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6EtJohWlM_TEGJkTpf-1K-QBLhF4f0iHs06fDbtpAQ5LqvSQ1GUwAULdLiYKBm4LU2-08b2zFC5x-yQ-lw3fk-YCDAc_becMScqtdT8ij2IUwptTUeqNIk3bbd86qvLeUo0wexPcEqg8/s200/steven-pinker_better-angels-of-our-nature.jpg" width="138" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It's not all bad news out there for all the multiple
species here on earth. For instance, there is decreasing violence in the world,
so says Steven Pinker in the book, <i>The
Better Angels of Our Nature</i>. One of the main reasons he cites is empathy.
Empathy functions to help humans see each other's inherent worth and dignity,
and then to enact society practices, expectations, and laws that curb our
biological propensities. Just because we can, doesn't mean we do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is it possible that we can grow empathy for other
species? Yes! Steven Pinker cites
multiple examples of how violence towards other animals has decreased in the
last 100-200 years, including laws and policies reducing animal cruelty, dog and
rooster fighting, animal experimentation, and whale hunting along with the rise
of vegetarianism. We still have much further go in regards to the loss of
biodiversity, extinction, the wildlife trade, and the suffering of animals held
in CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). Earth and her beings call
out to us to increase our empathy for others, which we can do intentionally and
encourage others to do so as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> A study a few
years suggests how we might go about this.* In the study, one group of students
were asked to imagine what a bird was feeling for 15 minutes. The control group
was given no directions. Those who pretended they were the bird showed
increased levels of empathy and a stronger perceived obligation to help nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3XeM0YcrAnq_hQJ9e3BNOxZ6ifk4avSDsCvStr5pl9Tq-FxL8iNEOVnSS0lhhK5ke54S4npuxBgVj9zvk4abH9zOQgd-8ZM2WQaddlp-JSXBH6nEWiZlyz3f-NRO_ur57Lw4QVdFqUc/s1600/Joyful-liberated-birds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3XeM0YcrAnq_hQJ9e3BNOxZ6ifk4avSDsCvStr5pl9Tq-FxL8iNEOVnSS0lhhK5ke54S4npuxBgVj9zvk4abH9zOQgd-8ZM2WQaddlp-JSXBH6nEWiZlyz3f-NRO_ur57Lw4QVdFqUc/s400/Joyful-liberated-birds.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What is this bird feeling?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Putting yourself into the shoes, fins, wings, hoofs,
paws, claws, or talons of another is a powerful exercise which doesn't take a
lot of time. You can also do it anywhere as life is all around us. Such a
practice is good for others, but also for ourselves as it is also a mindfulness
practice. By being open to the other, we still our inner chatter and come to
the present moment. Thus we improve our own health and relationships while also
growing our sense of the inherent worth and dignity of others. In turn this grows
our individual and collective compassionate action in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Coming next: journal and videos to guide you
through multispecies empathy exercises and experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">*Berenguer, J. 2007. The effect of empathy in
proenvironmental attitudes and behaviors. <i>Environment
and Behavior</i> 39,269-283.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-16390994622644425462015-08-27T09:10:00.000-07:002015-10-07T15:20:14.908-07:00Highlighting the Valiant Efforts of One People <div class="mceTemp" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhPpP7cAVYWip2N1C3HI83eHD9dk8m2sASg57pAuS4_x05XS_kyMgAewEiX8_BfTTTElb40qYGVTpQ8uStuIp8xR5DOE-ANDvOY2Ctcm56fyIMNiKQL455SQDzu8JxXBRHMrKUv_T0vt14zkUxGE3Sag4g7Xc5B5FV0TmvqKeKLlNaGPRiKWaKWADyms7eypoM=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Parenting the parrots of our shared world - thank you Tomás Manzanares!" border="0" class="size-full wp-image-5341" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Tomas-with-chicks-261x300.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Tomas-with-chicks-261x300.jpg" height="300" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="261" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Tomás, now recovered from his wounds, takes care of his people and parrots.</dd></dl>
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In 2010, a leader of indigenous people, Tomás, nearly died for his dedication to the land and animals of La Moskitia, Honduras. Tired of the ongoing loss his people experienced, he reported the names of the robbers who had come to his land for illegal logging, ranching, and parrot poaching. The authorities stood idle, but not the nefarious elements that had been threatening his people. They waited for him one day down at the river and shot him 4 times. While he was fighting for his life, the villagers fled for their lives, for some had their homes burned and others received death threats. Just 5 months later, Tomás, returned to his ancestral lands with me and others to see about helping the Miskito people with their desire to protect their endangered scarlet macaw. Armed soldiers had to accompany us to the nearly deserted village, for the danger was still present for Tomás and for us as well.</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><img alt="Tomas showing me the scars of his 4 bullet wounds" class="size-full wp-image-5226" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Tomas-showing-me-the-scars-of-his-4-bullet-wounds.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Tomas-showing-me-the-scars-of-his-4-bullet-wounds.jpg" height="602" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="400" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Tomas showing me the scars of his 4 bullet wounds down at the river</dd></dl>
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Down at the river with parrots flying over, Tomás showed me his scars and recovering wounds. I asked him why he was willing to risk his life to return to help his parrots and he said, “Doctora, everything is at risk, and I’m willing to risk everything. If the birds don’t make it, neither do my people.” Ever since that day, he and his people have been taking a stand, taking risks to keep their sustainable way of life intact and these rainbow birds flying free.</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><img alt="Parrot Patrols to Protect Macaws" class="size-full wp-image-5427" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Parrot-Patrols-400x300.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Parrot-Patrols-400x300.jpg" height="300" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="400" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Parrot Patrols to protect macaws</dd></dl>
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They now have “parrot patrols” to protect the nests, and take in confiscated parrots from the military and forestry department. They have volunteered this since 2010 with very little help in terms of resources or training. They have had to decide when to feed the birds, and when to feed themselves. Yet they continue to care for the birds, isolated to face the challenges on their own.</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><img alt="Oneida caring for liberated flock (May 2014)" class="size-full wp-image-7205" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Oneida-and-Flock-May-2014.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Oneida-and-Flock-May-2014.jpg" height="833" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="650" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Oneida caring for liberated flock (May 2014)</dd></dl>
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No longer!</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><img alt="Joyful signing of the Act to commission the Rescue and Liberation Center of Mabita, Honduras (Wesley, Santiago, Oneida, Hector, and me)" class="size-full wp-image-7779" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Joyful-signing-of-the-Act.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Joyful-signing-of-the-Act.jpg" height="459" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="650" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Joyful signing of the Act to commission the Rescue and Liberation Center of Mabita, Honduras (Wesley, Santiago, Oneida, Hector, and me)</dd></dl>
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
This year in May of 2015 I signed an Act to form the Rescue and Liberation center of Mabita with Oneida and Santiago. We did this because the situation is desperate and the government and villagers must have a place to take care of confiscated birds so that they can be liberated in the future. They agreed to take care of all birds that came to them, and <a data-mce-href="http://www.oneearthconservation.org" href="http://www.oneearthconservation.org/">One Earth Conservation</a> would in turn pay them a salary and cover all costs for food and supplies. We also need to build a release cage. One Earth did this even though it was not in our budget to do so, and we do not have any guarantee that income will be forth coming. But we could wait no longer – it had to be done. And in fact, 9 chicks have come to the village in the last month for them to care for. I know they can do it, because they have never lost a fledgling. They even <a data-mce-href="http://lafeber.com/conservation/rosa-can-fly/" href="http://lafeber.com/conservation/rosa-can-fly/">saved Rosa</a>, who came to them as a chick with two broken wings and legs, likely damaged when forcibly removed from the nest. She nearly died, but is alive today, wobbly for sure but able to take short flights. She has a chance to live longer and well thanks to Oneida and Santiago.</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><img alt="Villagers coming together to care for recent influx of rescued parrots from poachers (Mabita, Honduras)" class="size-full wp-image-7781" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Villagers-coming-together-to-feed-rescued-chicks.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Villagers-coming-together-to-feed-rescued-chicks.jpg" height="433" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="650" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Villagers coming together to care for recent influx of rescued parrots from poachers (Mabita, Honduras)</dd></dl>
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Won’t you please help them help the parrots? Our goal is seek donations for one year until we can build a sustainable model to support the center. For this to happen we only need $3000 for salary and food, and then another $1500 to build a release cage. Every $100 will pay for food for one month, or for one month’s salary to compensate Santiago and Oneida. Please contribute today so we can reach our goal, and begin plans to spread the influence of this rescue center throughout the region. We do this so that in the only remaining place in Honduras where the National Bird survives, La Moskitia, the people and parrots can flourish. With your support and solidarity, we help the Miskitos save themselves, and save the parrots.</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><img alt="Joyful liberated scarlet macaws (Mabita, Honduras)" class="size-full wp-image-7782" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Joyful-liberated-birds.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Joyful-liberated-birds.jpg" height="432" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="650" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Joyful liberated scarlet macaws (Mabita, Honduras)</dd></dl>
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To find out more about the project and to watch a short documentary, go <a data-mce-href="http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/53631/Free-Flight" href="http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/53631/Free-Flight">here</a>.<br />
To donate, please go <a data-mce-href="http://oneearthconservation.blogspot.com/p/connect-and-contribute.html" href="http://rescuecenter.mydagsite.com/">here</a> to contribute to our crowdfunding campaign.</div>
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Thanks for belonging to this community of solidarity, courage, and hope, so that the days of these people and parrots may be long upon this earth.<br />
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<em>LoraKim</em></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><img alt="Liberated scarlet macaws in Mabita Honduras" class="size-full wp-image-7784" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/macaw-taking-off-Mabita-Joyner.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/macaw-taking-off-Mabita-Joyner.jpg" height="421" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="650" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">The rescue and liberation center is taking off!</dd><div>
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<img alt="Great green macaw in Nicaragua" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7482" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Great-Green-Tomas-Web.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Great-Green-Tomas-Web.jpg" height="486" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="650" /></div>
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Quite often people ask if they can come with me on my parrot conservation trips. Questioners include veterinary and biology students from all over the world, parrot conservationists and enthusiasts, and those seeking a meaningful or spiritual experience. I long to share this world of beauty and wonder with others, but it is rare that anyone journeys with me because most of the places are difficult and uncomfortable, and the schedules are nearly always tentative and last minute. Such is the way of conservation in Latin America, especially Central America. It is all at once awesome, boring, life changing, and challenging, rocking one's core with the intimate reality of the lives of parrots and people in these lands.</div>
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<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Research station where we will stay in the Solentiname Archipelago</dd></dl>
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Does this sound alluring to you? If so, then consider joining me on a conservation trip to Nicaragua, April 11-19. Thanks to the hosts, Fundación de Rio in Nicaragua, I finally have a chance to have others journey with me. Together we will visit their macaw conservation communities, observe wild macaw nests, conduct yellow-naped amazon parrot counts, learn about the local culture and history, and reflect daily upon what we have experienced and learned. Every day not only will we learn about and contribute to conservation; we will delve into the human dimensions of conservation. We will emphasize how conservationists understand human nature so that they and others can nourish themselves, in order that that they can nurture nature around them. Though we are highlighting avian conservation, the principles and experiences we will share have merit for activists from many disciplines.</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><img alt="El Castillo where we will be staying in Rio San Juan, Nicaragua" class="size-full wp-image-7484" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/el-casillo.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/el-casillo.jpg" height="766" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="650" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">El Castillo where we will be staying in Rio San Juan, Nicaragua</dd></dl>
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A recent article in the New York Times, <em><a data-mce-href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/sunday-review/the-new-allure-of-sacred-pilgrimages.html" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/sunday-review/the-new-allure-of-sacred-pilgrimages.html">The New Allure of Sacred Pilgrimages</a></em>, reported:</div>
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<em>At its core, (a pilgrimage is) a gesture of action. In a world in which more and more things are artificial and ephemeral, a sacred journey gives the pilgrim the chance to experience something both physical and real. And it provides seekers with an opportunity they may never have had: to confront their doubts and decide for themselves what they really believe, (and who they are and what meaning life has for them). As appealing as that destination may be, there’s only one way to achieve it. Get up off your sofa and go.</em></div>
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If you would like more information, or are interested in attending, contact me soon so that we a can see if this trip is a good fit for you, and so that arrangements can be made. A <a data-mce-href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz4V0S2Af4cBbHNBR2R4UGZCMGs/view?usp=sharing" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz4V0S2Af4cBbHNBR2R4UGZCMGs/view?usp=sharing">brochure here</a> describes the journey in more detail. You can contact me <a data-mce-href="http://kontactr.com/user/lorakim" href="http://kontactr.com/user/lorakim">here</a>.</div>
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If you physically cannot attend this trip, or any other trip, but would like to go on a "virtual" journey using webinar and video technology, let me know so that I can let you know when these opportunities arise.</div>
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Whatever you decide, by participating you support the people and the parrots directly by witnessing, standing in solidarity, sharing their stories, and offering your financial resources as you participate in avitourism.</div>
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It's a great thing to do!</div>
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Shall we make a go of it by going together?</div>
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<em>LoraKim</em></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none;"><img alt="Sunset on the San Juan Rio as we arrive at El Castillo" class="size-full wp-image-7490" data-mce-src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Sunset-Rio-San-Juan-square.jpg" src="http://lafeber.com/conservation/wp-content/uploads/Sunset-Rio-San-Juan-square.jpg" height="267" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="267" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Sunset on the San Juan Rio as we arrive at El Castillo</dd></dl>
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LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-28827923086797819692014-12-08T06:08:00.003-08:002014-12-08T06:09:32.467-08:00The Conservationist's Way - Nurture Nature Practice #1<div style="text-align: center;">
There are four steps in the <a href="http://www.conservationistsway.org/">Conservationist's Wa</a>y:</div>
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Open</div>
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Listen</div>
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Nurture</div>
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Conserve</div>
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This following video offers one practice for nurturing ourselves, a "must" activity if we are to be joyful and active conservationists in the world.<br />
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<br />LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6369364718034325676.post-6440215044413941182014-12-04T12:29:00.001-08:002014-12-04T12:34:06.550-08:00Scarlet Macaw Gestalt - We Are Flying Free With Them!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been working with scarlet macaws for nearly six years, and have seen them flying free during all that time. Some of these birds are wild flocks completely untouched by human communities, and others are well managed wild flocks or liberated flocks, such as seen here in this video. I never tire of watching them fly and interact with their environment.<br />
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This is true of other species of parrots as well. In fact, after working with wild parrots for 25 years in Latin America, my brain has rewired around them where there is less and less of a sense of separation between them and me.<br />
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It surprised me then when I watched this video of a scarlet macaw liberation project in Costa Rica that I had a sudden and shifted perspective. I really felt like I was flying with them, and seeing their liberation, inspired these sentiments in me: freedom, beauty, and power. My own human consciousness, different surely from that of avians, was enlarged, opened, and blessed.<br />
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Thank you dear macaws and macaw conservationists.LoraKim Joynerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07305359695072392847noreply@blogger.com