Part II - You MIGHT be an Environmentalist.....

Part II - - You MIGHT Be an Environmentalist…

..if you drive through the Cherokee National Forest and feel the spirit of ancient native people.

..if you attend a baby shower, see the mountains of plastic stuff and know that it never used to take this much fossil fuel to have a baby.

..if you’ve ever sneaked onto your neighbor’s construction site and pulled the perfectly good lengths of 2X4 out of the dumpster to use on a backyard project.

..if you wish that “bio-accumulation” were a collection of critters.

..if you get an ulcer whenever you catch a glimpse of clear cut beyond the “beauty strip”.

..if you’ve ever had a small part on an appliance repaired for $125 when you could have bought a new one for $135.

..if you have ever attended a public hearing in defense of national forests.

..if you ever hugged a tree and felt like it was hugging you back.

..if you ever skipped doing laundry for 3 weeks cause you were waiting to wash a full load.

..if you ever left a beautiful rock right where it is, because God put it there.

..if you’ve ever bragged about your compost heap.

..if you regularly visit earthmama.org to check on the latest news.

..if you’ve ever had to explain to someone why Earth Literacy is vital.

..if any of your heros are George W Carver, Rachel Carson, Chico Mendes, David Suzuki, Johnny Appleseed, Donella Meadows.

..if you’d rather be outdoors.

..if you know the names of 4 endangered species.

..if you know what IPM is.

..if you’ve ever dreamed of living in a tree.

..if you can name your 3 favorite creeks without stopping to think.

..if you give your cat lessons in mouse hunting.

Where Did This Come From? Link to song

Where did that come from? 
Where has it been? In what other forms?

I love to play “Where does this come from?”, picking any item in a room and tracing the path of a book or chair, iPad, or cookie all the way back to it’s basic components.  A tree in Asia, sugar grown in Florida? Rare Earth element from Africa for an electronic component?  What kind of energy transported it to each step of its making? How many times did it need to be handled. What was the cost in air and water quality? 

This is a wonderful car game for families. It helps us see in our possessions just how interconnected we are on this planet.
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First Law of Ecology: You can’t do just ONE thing. Everything is connected.


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My love of planet Earth comes from such a deep spiritual place, that it has no words. When I play “Where does this come from?”  it inevitably goes back to the beginning of the Universe.

Surely along the way of Where Did This Come From, you will find a song to sing about a place or resource, so Sing Out!


Songs connect the whole world in weaving wonderful way!

My work has taken me from schools in the Hawaiian Islands to cathedrals and concert halls throughout North America. Nature centers and converted barns have been favorite places to sing and share the joy of wonders of Earth.  Whether at a University or a House Concert hosted in someone’s home, there is no sweeter music to me than when people join in and sing along.  Pete Seeger used to say that “Singing together strengthens the bonds of community.”  I think we can sense that power when we join together in song.

TREE POLKA! 

BY EARTH MAMA 

I wrote this after working with middle school kids who could only name 4 types of trees! There are over 60 tree species listed in this song, including the whole second verse filled with pine trees. Can you smell the forest pines?

Earth Literacy, the art and science of knowing this planet we call Home, the knowing and naming by species and biome, by taste and smell, by season and climate add to the richness of our lives. Earth Literacy is also the key to a sustainable future on our Amazing Earth!

   Learn to dance the polka for great exercise and co-ordination.

Tree Polka by Joyce Johnson Rouse

Oak, elm and poplar

Alder, magnolia and ash

Redbud and linden

Persimmon, apple, sumac

Walnut and hickory

Sweet gum and sycamore, yew

Maple, cherry, pear and myrtle

Cottonwood and spruce

(A verse of pines)

Digger and Jeffrey

Torrey and bristle cone

Lodgepole and bishop

Limber, Apache, knobcone

Sugar, Chihuahua

Whitebark and Monterey

Austrian, Scotch and Coulter

Western, white, Foxtail

Ginkgo and hemlock

Locust and chestnut and birch

Buckeye and laurel

Olive and aspen and fir

Basswood and dogwood

Butternut, cedar and beech

Tulip, chinkopin, mimosa

Willow, palm and peach

©2002 Rouse House Music, ASCAP. All rights reserved. http://www.earthmama.org/home

This Tree Polka blog written by Joyce Rouse was first published in the Children's Music Network blog in December, 2014. Reposted here with their permission.

World Water Day 2015

 This photo from a recent trip to California captures an image of a state of which more than 80% is in severe drought.  We saw at least 3 stranded boats in former ponds, lakes or river beds.  Please read some stark water facts and statistics below.  Thanks to many organizations for fact finding.

To acknowledge World Water Day here are some Water Facts

Water accounts for approximately two-thirds of the human body and is responsible for the proper functioning of many health systems needed for survival, including the brain.  70% of the earth is water - but less than 1% is drinkable.
Sadly, 9 million people will die this year from lack of access to clean water.

 https://www.hands4others.org/

In many countries children, particularly girls, are responsible for collecting water. Carrying heavy water containers over long distances is exhausting and can lead to long-term damage to children’s heads, necks and spines. Many children are frequently absent from school because they are collecting water or they are sick with water-related diseases.
http://www.wateraid.org/us/the-water-story/the-crisis

America consumes more water per person than any other country. Worldwide consumption is up, too, prompting concerns for the future.
http://www.facethefactsusa.org/facts/could-fresh-water-become-scarce-us

Water Facts
Water scarcity affects every continent and affects 4 out of every 10 people (World Health Organization)
Demand in the U.S. has tripled in the past 30 years while the population has grown only 50% (Goldman Sachs)
20% of clean water is lost due to leaks (EPA)
Moving and treating water uses 19% of California’s electricity and 30% of its natural gas (California Energy Commission)
Water related diseases are the leading cause of child death, killing 4,500 children per day (UNICEF)
Over 80% of US waterways are contaminated by medications (US Geological Survey)

Here are some ways we can help others and ourselves.

In addition to saving money on your utility bill, water conservation helps prevent water pollution in nearby lakes, rivers and local watersheds.
http://eartheasy.com/live_water_saving.htm

http://thewaterproject.org/water_conservation_tips



You can calculate your water footprint.



http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home

http://www.home-water-works.org/calculator

 Overall, the world is using 9,087 billion cubic meters of water per year. China, India and the U.S. consumed the highest annual totals: 1,207 billion, 1,182 billion and 1,053 billion cubic meters, respectively, followed by Brazil at 482 billion. But the water consumed per person in these and other countries varies considerably, due primarily to higher living standards or widespread waste among consumers. The U.S. had the world's highest per capita water footprint, at 2,842 cubic meters per annum. Meat consumption accounts for 30 percent of the American figure, and sugar consumption is responsible for another 15 percent. In India, where few people consume much meat, the individual footprint is only 1,089 cubic meters a year. The global annual average per capita is 1,385 cubic meters.

My FREE water education guide, Waste Not A Drop (PDF) with music resources is available for download at    http://www.earthmama.org .

 Blessed World Water Week to you.  Joyce

To An Oriole, A Sense of Place, Track 2

Baltimore Oriole, Wikipedia

The lyrics for To An Oriole is a poem sent to me by a fellow Earth Literacy grad, Bruce Allen, from St Mary-of-the-Woods College, IN. Bruce is also a weekend farmer, birder, and all around good guy.
He sent me the verse, telling me it was his all-time favorite poem and wondered if I might set it to music. He had several of my CDs and asked if I could provide a suitable melody for the words written over a century ago by Edgar Fawcett.

I am always reluctant to take on this kind of a project for several reasons. First, it is hard to live up to others' expectations of what a melody might be for a favorite verse.  Secondly, it can be a copyright nightmare if you do not have a direct relationship with the co-writer.  Clearly, the long deceased Mr. Fawcett, would not be able to protest my adoption of his succinct verse about he ethereal wonder of his favorite bird. My research showed the writings he had authored had all aged into the Public Domain.  I was encouraged to continue.

So I spent some hours at the piano noodling with steps and jumps of melody possibilities until his words began to speak to me with their own cadence, with pauses and lilting questions. The words themselves took command and TOLD me how to write the melody.  Thank you, Bruce.  Thank you, Mr. Fawcett.   And thank you, Beautiful Oriole.

Listening Clip, Track 2

Falling into Fall Rhythms

This year, the Fall Equinox falls on Saturday, September 22 at 10:49a.m. in my part of the world. It's a time of harvest, seeing the fruits of our labors, both in the garden and in our kitchen. It's been a good growing season for us, yet in other parts of the US as well as across the globe, drought has brought devastation. As I was placing the colorful display of our luscious tomatoes around the fountain this morning, I became even more grateful for the wealth of food we have grown this year. The drought in other regions have made this kind of harvest impossible.

Which has me thinking more about our Earth Mama than usual... asking questions with no easy answers. When will more people begin to take responsibility for their individual and collective roles in caring for our planet, simply pay attention? What could be an inspiration that will move people from apathy to action? How can I be more visible with the work I do to show and teach how simple steps lead to big results?

My traditional rhythm during the fall is to clean up outdoors and create space for winter's chill. The lush gardens of summer and fall are fading, transforming the beauty of flowers and succulent tastes of fruits and vegetables into the stripped and mulched beds of soil, ready for the quiet rest of winter. The songs of sunshine and dances of the wind through the string bean poles are silent now. I may continue to dance through the rows, as the garden has always been a place of refuge for me, a place to touch the soil and become truly connected to the living and breathing Earth Mama on which we live.

I'm grateful to have full shelves of colorful bounty, ready to share with family and friends at our dining table. I'm also grateful to have time to be still in the knowing that another season has past, providing an abundance of earthly goodies, demonstrating the cycle of life continues. Which got me wondering, what goodies have grown in your gardens this summer? Did you have a bountiful harvest? Was there any new varieties of vegetables or fruits that were above the rest in volume or flavor? We usually try a few new selections each growing season, but must admit this year none of the new ones really stood out...

So, now I have spent massive hours in the kitchen, and I still have work to do, but the jars are filling the shelves and the freezer is getting packed. We're better prepared to face the cold winds of winter, knowing our harvest will carry us through.

Enough is good as a feast...

Gratitude #8,791

Ok, so I have not done 8,790 other blog posts about  feeling gratitude that I probably should have, but I felt it in my heart and soul.

Yesterday I sent off the master for a new CD I've been working on for...well, a long time. At first I was going to write that it has been in process for 2-3 years, but two of the songs I wrote and recorded back in the early 1990s.  The songs, titled Joy in the Light  and Place in the Kin-dom (originally Place in the Kingdom before I adopted a practice of gender neutral language) were just never a good fit for my recording projects until now. So I guess you could say that this one has been a labor of love for 20 years!

The CD is titled Blessings of the Universe.  I thought it was in the vein of contemplative, meditative music, but my dear friend, wise woman (and marketing wiz) Rita G decided after listening that it was more brain and heart stimulating, so she encouraged me to describe it as "Songs for the foreground and background of your days."  That just made my day!  Since then I have pictured YOU (my beloved listeners) listening as you drive, or weave (but NOT as you drive!) or garden or cook or type or plan, as listening to these 13 songs of prayers and blessings, and I feel so grateful to know that we can connect through time and space with music.

I often hear from my listeners who express their responses to the live or recorded songs. Like Rita,
they see and hear things that sometimes surprise me.  When I'm composing, perhaps I get stuck in the emotion or psychic place I exist in while writing, then the music takes on its own energy, not unlike the original flaring forth of the Universe. After all, sound, music is physics, energy and it circulates in the curious, mysterious ways of the Big U.

This will be my 10th recording (9th as Earth Mama®) and it carries the same love, joy, care, concern and prayers for our Amazing Earth, but with a new deepening.  Another post in the future will share the source of inspiration for these blessing songs for water, women, gathering, children, peace, solar energy and more.

This photo is my personal alter where I meditate. It is a locally turned wooden bowl by artisan Terry Clark, filled with some of my favorite simple gifts from the Universe—stones, fossil, wild flowers, an elephant, feather and  bowl of sacred water (Sister Water). These things remind me daily of my gratitude, my soul felt appreation of beauty and fragility of the Web of Life.

First, Let's Stop the Stupid Stuff (or Blowin'in the Wind)

The Virginia House of Delegates once again struck a blow to clotheslines, (were they all strung out on something?) refusing to stop community associations from banning them in neighborhoods. The State Senate passed it, but the House bill died from the dreaded disease, “party lines,” in committee. I’ll let you guess which party is opposed to air drying your clothes in your own backyard. Oddly enough, it might just be the same one that is always howling about too much regulation.

I have now been clothes-dryer-free for 7 years. I have extra space in my laundry room. The hanging damp clothes add humidity to dry winter air. I use less whitening agent because I let the summer sun do the bleaching. The clothes smell great and the towels are crunchy, so they really dry your skin instead of just pushing the wet around. (I once lived in a neighborhood in Tennessee where clotheslines were banned, but I moved before I could be arrested or test it in the courts.) I am free, free, free of another energy hog appliance.

What in blazes are they thinking in Richmond...(and Brentwood)? Can they not connect two dots?

We live in a season of great change on Earth. Climate disruption is triggering water shortages and flooding, glacial melting and deforestation, ocean changes and unusual species migration. That is Massive Climate Disruption (MCD) caused by CO2 production from burning of fossil fuels. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to see that the MORE conservation of gas and electricity by NOT running those dryers, means LESS CO2, and a MORE stable climate.

Or can it be that SOMEONE thinks that what you hang in your own backyard is his business? Or could it be that Party Line holds more sway than Clothes Line?
Please send alarm clocks to Richmond (or YOUR state capital) and tell the boys to wake up!

OY-VAY.

Climate Change action: First, let’s stop the stupid stuff, like banning solar clothes dryers.

resource songs:
“Less is More” from Around the World with Earth Mama CD
“Habitat” from Under the Rainbow CD by Earth Mama
“Energy” tango from Around the World with Earth Mama CD
“They Were Right” from Love Large CD by Earth Mama

songs at www.earthmama.org or www.itunes.com/earthmama

The Man Who Precycles Christmas Trees

We ran into our friend, Joe, Christmas week and he pointed out the beautiful big decorated (no lights, just outdoor ornaments, garlands and a big star) in the field in front of his house.
We asked him if he had cut down a real, live tree for this display and he told us a wonderful story of how he PRE-cycles and reuses trees every year:

Joe has lots of friends and family here, most of whom have houses and yards. He keeps track of folks he knows who have evergreen trees that have outgrown their backyards, or need to be removed for a building project, or must sacrifice their space for some other use. Then come December he performs careful tree removal for them and has a beautiful fresh Christmas tree in his front yard/field. It is a tradition that has gone on 8 or 9 years now. He has trees lined up for the next 2 years and is certain that there will be more after that. Of course, as with most conservation efforts, it takes forethought and some advanced planning. But it gives the tree that must be removed one last flash of attention and glory. And is a joyful reminder of this season to all who pass by, as well as a model and example of careful use of resources for those who know the story.

What things might I precycle or reuse in the coming year? There are new examples showing up every day!