The Yoga of Sustainability

CHAPTER 7. CONSERVE PAPER + TREES

All of us certainly take paper for granted, which is a shame in general, but especially considering the majesty and miracle of living trees. These gorgeous, ancient plants are the very lungs of the Earth. Rumi likens them to ecstatic Sufis in dancing prayer. Too many people think too little of these incredible lifeforms. Here are some ideas for conserving precious trees.

CLOSE THE LOOP
Whenever you do purchase paper products, especially notebooks and toilet tissue, please choose 100% recycled, post-consumer content if possible. Tree-free is even better.

GET CRAFTY + USE BOTH SIDES
Whenever you use paper, make sure to use both sides and recycle or compost it when it has completed its useful life. You can use an old blender to puree used paper and spread it onto a screen to make decorative or perhaps functional, papers. Use every scrap of paper to the max-- including art projects such as collage and paper mache (a great use for magazine and catalogs). If you aren't crafty check your local library or school to see if they can make use of your old magazines.  


GO CLOTH
Stop buying tissues, paper towels and paper napkins. Use cloth napkins and kitchen towels instead. Turn old soiled T-shirts or ripped up, old towels for the truly gross stuff. (and remember that you can compost old cloth bits.) Use handkerchiefs. Flannel clothes make soft and durable hankies that don't cause soreness on your nose when you are sick. When eating out, be bold and bring a cloth napkin, or use the minimal amount of paper napkins possible, and reuse or compost them after. Dry your hands on your shirt if no hand dryer is available in public restrooms. Speak out and request cloth napkins and hand dryers at your local eateries, or at least encourage a change to unbleached, 100% recycled paper napkins. 


HEMP OR OTHER PLANT FIBER PAPERS
Hemp, kenaf, banana and sugarcane are some of the options for computer and notebook papers, and for the stubborn, even paper plates and napkins. Using reusable dishes are always preferable, but if they are not possible, there are even elegant, compostable plates made from fallen leaves! Plant fibers are ecologically preferable to plastics and Styrofoams, so it is great that finally there are many alternative options to using trees.

RECLAIMED OR SUSTAINABLY MANAGED WOODS
When it comes to furniture, nothing is more study and healthful than real wood. Pressboards and cheap composite and laminated faux woods are filled with poisonous chemicals. Using fallen trees or wood from sustainably managed forests is a viable solution. Don't be afraid to ask for documentation as to the source of the wood- never trust just the word or suggestion on a label. False representation can happen on accident, so don't let your wishful thinking lead you into a harmful choice.

BAMBOO + CORK
Fast-growing and durable, bamboo is a versitile and highly renewable choice for flooring. Cork too, fascinatingly, is renewable because the tree still lives while a certain degree of its wood is harvested every so often. Both make excellent choices for wood flooring. Marmoleum brand flooring is another sustainable and natural option for elegant, functional, healthy, and environmentally-kind flooring.

PLASTIC LUMBER
One of the only times when plastic is a better choice environmentally- recycled content plastic lumber, perfect for decks and similar outdoor building. Durable, there is no need to refinish or ever use any chemicals on it- making it safe and practical.

PLANT TREES, SUPPORT ARBORETUMS
One way to help is to of course plant trees, or donate to arboretums- plant conservatories, that often care for precious old-growth forests. You can also donate to organizations such as The Arbor Day Foundation that plant trees.


BUY YOUR OWN FOREST
If you have enough of a savings, you could simply buy a forested piece of land.  Influencial Yoga teachers Sharon Gannon and David Life have done just that- maintaining a 125-acre forest sanctuary near Woodstock, NY. Perhaps you can't find or afford that large of a space, but no matter how small it is, you are helping the trees and the entire eco-system by preserving precious forest land and allowing it to remain wild and natural. Never be discouraged by the size of the action, remain inspired by the intention.

The Yoga of Sustainability: Part Two

PART TWO: CONSERVE

Where the first section of this book reflected on ways to "do no harm", the second will address the application of mindfulness in reducing consumption of resources.

It sounds like common sense not to waste finite and vital resources, but we take so much for granted everyday, partially because our consumer culture urges us to consume more than we possibly can, as if it will fulfill us or make us happier.

Let us begin to awaken to the present moment and true state of the world. Mindfully conserving resources and still living comfortably, we can help the earth by only using our own share, making sure others won't have to go without. Like all other things, swift changes are needed right this minute, or else we are going to see people around us, ourselves & our children struggling for basic resources in the near future.

If you have ever "roughed it", gone camping where there are no modern conveniences, then you know how to conserve resources. You also know how excessive we are with our resource use, how much we waste without even paying attention. Roughing it at least once a year can be an important spiritual practice to remind us not only of our waste, but how far we've tried to move from the real world. Nature, we have to remember, is the measure & provider of all things, not our man-made so-called "real" world.

CHAPTER 6: CONSERVE WATER

Gallons of precious potable water flow down the drain while we ignore it, scrubbing our teeth. Or dishes. Or body. Sound familiar? Without mindfulness we use water like its infinite and inexhaustable. But the amount of freshwater on earth is finite, & we cannot control where its falls as rain in its continuous cycle of transformation.

If we simply live more mindfully, we can survive on a fraction of the 100 gallons the average American blows through everyday. Its shameful and embarassing that we waste a significant portion of that amount, when whole families in India & Africa survive on less than a tenth or fifth of that each day. And, the most startling contrast is that while our potable water flows instantly into our own home, these families have to spend hours, up to eight each day, walking, searching, competing for it- and carrying it home. We take water for granted, and we shouldn't. It is too precious, and necessary to life to be taken as anything less then sacred.

Begin by simply becoming mindful everytime water is flowing. Practice new techniques for water use and within three to four weeks those techniques will become your new habits. Then remain mindful to keep them up!

THIS SAME TECHNIQUE APPLIES TO WASHING DISHES & THE HANDS, SCRUBBING SINKS & THE TUB: turn the water on for a flash to wet hands, the dish Or surface and then off again. Lather & scrub-at least 20 seconds for hands. Then turn the water to half the force you'd normally use or less, and thoroughly rinse & shut off the water again. Use a pitcher or cup to fill for rinsing the tub or sink, shutting off the water once its filled.

MINDFUL SHOWERING: For the body, use a low-flow showerhead with a "water pause" function- the Waterpik one is very good. It conserves water but delivers strong enough pressure to feel very nice, and the water pause feature keeps the water mixed at the chosen temperature, while cutting it down to a trickle. These Waterpik showerheads are available at Target for about $20, & installs in moments.

So begin with a full-force shower to thoroughly wet the hair & body, then pause the water. Let the trickle keep your body warm while lathering hair and body, and while shaving. Then take just a couple minutes to rinse with the full-force water.

IN THE BATHROOM:

Put a brick or two into the tank of your toilet, making sure that it doesn't interfere with the mechanism.

For homeowners, water conserving toilets start between $100-200, & toilets last just about forever.

Don't necessarily flush for every single thing. Flush only when needed. Never throw trash into the toilet, and if you accidentally do, don't waste the flush for that piece of floss.

IN THE KITCHEN:

Pour half-drunk water glasses into a pitcher for watering plants.

Reuse the same glass all day, the same coffee mug, the same plate, silverware & bowl. Rinse only if needed in between uses. One family member only needs one set.

Wash dishes as they become dirty, as much as possible. Avoid pile-ups, stuck on funk, and feel more clear & relaxed without that lurking mess in the sink. It takes less time, effort & water to wash freshly soiled dishes then dried messes.

You can use a dish-tub for clean rinsing your dishes after scrubbing, then pour the water at the end of the day into a watering can for the garden.

IN THE YARD:

Don't water your lawn. Healthy lawns only need water in a drought. If you are having a drought, water your lawn before sunrise or after sunset for 15 minutes, and please be mindful not to waste water on your driveway, street or sidewalk.

If you have sprayed your lawn in the past you have killed the microorganisms & beneficial cycles of bacteris & nutrients that truly keep a lawn healthy. Focus not on water but humus building. Use food scraps & water in an old blender & spray that around the yard. Let your lawn recharge & rebuild. It will take time. Make sure to cut it at a medium-length & not sooner than every nine days, too soon & too short is the same as over-grazing.

It is inappropriate to use water to clear your sidewalk or driveway. Not only is it wasteful, but it pushes your debris downstream to become another's problem. Instead, find a good driveway broom, stand tall, engage your navel towards your spine, and enjoy the core strength you create as you sweep. Sweeping burns energy, stimulates the flow of prana and is a good cardiovascular workout.

Try to gather & use rainwater for watering indoor and outdoor plants, and other non-potable uses such as washing hair. Make sure not to ingest any of it.

IN GENERAL:

Be mindful whenever you use water. When the water is flowing, let it be a bell of mindfulness, and focus on the task at hand. If you catch yourself daydreaming, turn off the water and take a deep breath before working on your task again.

The Yoga of Sustainability

CHAPTER 5: SHOP WISELY

It is not the case that we can just spend our way out of this environmental crisis. Yoga also contends that seeking fulfilment through grasping, through seeking material accumulation with no practical need is futile, and will cause more emptiness or stress then joy. When we buy that new thing, the joy is often quick to fade into boredom, regret or general disappointment. If we still identify with the falsification that owning material objects is equal to owning more happiness, then we'll then covet, desire and possibly buy, some other non-esential thing, repeating this cycle.

But, we do need to buy things sometimes. Food and cleansing agents, and at certain times, tools, refrigerators or clothing. There are a couple items unique to them which each person needs to feel good about themselves and have a proper sense of wholeness, that are otherwise non-essential. Too many people don't know what these items are for them because they just buy everything they want indescriminately and consider these "creature comforts" essential.

This is the problem. We have a uniquely disposable consumer culture. Never before have we ever ignored or applauded such waste. And never before have we had so many insecure, depressed or anxious people either. The two are correlated- the rise of the capitalist ideal of owning the biggest pile of stuff as a sign of status & the empitiness remaining when the newest object isn't new and exciting. So much in our lives is considered meaningless and disposable that our lives seem a bit less meaningful too. We've learned to get all of our self-worth and joy from objects, others or our external appearance. Since these will never provide lasting joy, they are inevitable sources of dissatisfaction.

So what we need to do is question our consumer habits. We must assess our true need- & what we are really seeking. And if we decide that a purchase is truly warranted, we have a duty to inform ourselves with objective and accurate sources how and where we can obtain that product in a manner that does not support & condone negative environmental, social and ethical issues. If we like it or not, in our country, what we spend our money on is seen as a vote for more of the same. Packaging and labels are not there to help us make informed choices about what we purchase, they exist to compel us to buy. That's it. And its everything the label doesn't say that is usually the most important information.

THE SIN OF OMMISSION: Here is listed some of the most nasty hidden facts. While these are generalizations in each category, they are HIGHLY COMMON & often nearly the rule unless specifically addressed on the packaging.

ANIMAL-TESTING: assume all make-up, beauty products like shampoos, contact lenses & solution, and even cleaning chemicals have been tested on animals, and not nicely. Make sure these products have explicitly been labeled "no animal testing".

CHILD-LABOR: unless your chocolate bares the Fair-Trade certification or specifically addresses it, assume that workers are not fairly compensated for grueling hours of labor and more of these workers are likely to be children then you think.
Also buy Fair-Trade red, black, green or white teas as well.

UNCALLED FOR RAINFOREST DESTRUCTION & UNFAIR PRICES: buy shade-grown coffee, since coffee naturally loves to grow under the rainforest canopy, but is often grown in clear-cut forest areas. It does not make sense. Coffee also can be bought Fair-Trade or organic, both ensuring fair prices & proper environmental resect.

EXPLOITED CRAFTSMEN: buy only fair-trade indigenous art and handicrafts from foreign countries- especially those in Asia, Africa & South America. Make sure these artists were compensated fairly for their hardwork.

SWEAT-SHOPS: assume all clothing & footwear not made in the US, Canada or EU and all manner of objects made in China especially to have been made by underpaid workers in unfair, unsafe factories. Buy American made to vote for more jobs in the US and less outsourcing to foreign countries.

SAVE POUNDS OF CHEMICALS FROM BEING DUMPED ONTO THE EARTH: buy only organic cotton, because cotton is heavily pesticided. Bamboo is an eco-friendly wood alternative, but the process to make it into clooth is chemical & energy intensive. Hemp is a very earth-friendly clothing fiber- not as water hungry as cotton. Organic clothes cost more, but we are used to sweatshop labor prices. Buy sweatshop free hemp or organic cotton or secondhand clothes. Do research before trying new eco-friendly fibers to make sure they are truly friendly.

JET-SETTING PRODUCE & DISAPPEARING FARMS: if your going to buy non-local out-of-season produce, such as Californian organic strawberries in Winter or otherwise non-local produce, such as South African oranges, keep in mind that your produced was either trucked or flown into the area, from possibly 1500, or many more miles away. Truck transport is bad enough for the environment, flying is even worse. Eat local & seasonal produce from your local farmer's market-pay your farmer the money he deserves for his work-instead of him getting 4 cents of the dollar you spend at the grocery store. Support your local farmers.

CAFO MEAT, MILK, AND EGGS: remember that you can assume that all dairy products, eggs and meat at fast-food joints, restaurants and most if not all at your chain grocery stores came from CAFO'S- not your local farm. Always choose local animal products. Know what farm your food came from. If you truly cannot afford local animal products go vegan, eat only home cooking and pack your lunches. You'll be healthier, it's much cheaper and there are numerous recipes online to help you.

TOXIC OUTGASSING: unless you buy specifically zero VOC products or find a green wet-cleaners, assume that paints, plywood, particleboard, wood paneling, carpets/carpet pads, insulation, finishes, solvents, adhesives, air fresheners, dry-cleaned garments, synthetic fabrics, cleaning products, body care products, art & hobby supplies, mothballs, insecticides and aerosol products are putting dangerous volatile organic compounds into the air we breathe. These can make you sick. They are poisonous. Eliminate them or find alternatives.

HOW TO SHOP MORE WISELY:

After considering the above specific situations, here are a few more general guidelines:

DO YOU REALLY NEED IT? Honestly, can you repair or repurpose what you already have or just go without it?

IF YOU REALLY NEED IT, HOW CAN YOU BUY IT WITH THE LEAST NEGATIVE/MOST POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL IMPACT? Buy it second-hand. Buy locally grown or made. Purchase 100% recycled paper products or use cloth (old clothes make great rags, cloth napkins, cloth diapers, cloth wipes). Buy organic, fair-trade, shade-grown and or biodiverse. Buy in bulk with the least packaging possible. Glass is better than plastic- try & avoid plastics as much as possible. Make as little trash as possible and try & reduce what you have to recycle- lowest total waste.

BUY HIGH QUALITY, TAKE CARE OF WHAT YOU HAVE, DISPOSE OF IT RESPONSIBLY. Buy things that will last, don't buy disposable or poorly made items. Respect what you own and treat it with care, helping it to last. Fix or repurpose broken items. Donate, pass on, share whenever possible. Recycle properly all appliances, electronics, paints, chemicals, batteries and compact flourescent lightbulbs. Never throw these things into the trash.

Applying mindfulness to our consumption will greatly reduce our burden on the planet, save us time and money, prevent stressful clutter, and possibly improve our health and well being. Mindfully making wise purchases can help us to positively impact farmers and artisans all over the world, voting for fair wages & humane standards in factories and fields. We can support local farms & the local economy.

However, to do so, we must walk the talk. The capitalist system never turns a blind-eye to the almighty dollar. Every single dollar we spend counts. Every single one votes for what we want. Like it or not, this is our reality. So we cannot ignore the burden of responsibility. Our dollar can vote for what we believe is right or what we loathe, but the choice is ours when we make EVERY purchase. Put your money where your heart and mouth are. Use your power wisely at all times.

The Yoga of Sustainability

CHAPTER 4: BIODIVERSITY

Beginning in the last chapter, biodiversity was introduced. Biodiversity describes the numerous varieties within each species of plants & animals raised in human agriculture. Each variety has developed over generations of adaptation to climate, varying weather conditions, and resisting pests & diseases. Simutaneously they also were chosen for unique color & taste properties, & these factors actually are nature's way of expressing nutrition. Biodiversity in food plants and farm animals is a result of the on-going process of their evolution.

A large share of what decimates & ravages the Earth is the unstable & impossibly unsustainable globalized food system. One of the most disturbing elements of this food system is that its based mainly on selling farmers patented genetically-modified seeds & suing them into ruin for saving their seeds. Here are presented the basics of what is happening, why its unsustainable and how to do the right thing, but reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver will present a more full view of the problem and solution.

If biodiversity and polyculture are the heroes of sustainable agriculture, then capitalism, genetic-modification & monoculture are the villians. Farmers have always had the responsibility of feeding the people. Farms are ecosystems, including not just food plants & livestock animals but also grass, microorganisms, insects, birds, sun, water, people & abstract concepts to honor the natural functions & needs of animals and ecosystem alike- rotation, diversity, and loops of interconnection large & small.

Each region was served by farmland and families of farmers- respectable earth-workers that learned to care for the land & animals, those that knew the subtleties of coaxing food from the land with resourcefulness & the ability to enrich the land's fertility. This was no mindless skill, the farmer's knowledge & mindfulness needed to be vast to be successful, and so much life depended on this success.

Before the 20th century, all seeds were heirloom, all farm animals heritage- in other words, farmers saved their best tasting, heartiest seeds for next year's planting, & the healthiest heartiest animals bred.

Farming was slowly undermined and taken over by big business. Farms were choked out by big agribusiness megafarms. These small, diverse, sustainable & regionalized family farms were stomped out or, facing bankruptcy, forced to become part of the agribusiness machine. Agribusiness farms want quantity over quality, conformity over taste, and use chemicals, inhumane animal treatment and hormones, among other environmentally & socially devistating tactics to produce more, bigger, fatter, faster, but only of one crop or one animal at once.

Instead of have polyculture, or the growing of several plant & animal varieties, the agribusiness farms focus on monoculture, just one. This fact, teamed with genetically-modified seeds that aren't allowed to adapt naturally to withstand weather, pests & blights anymore, can make these mega-monocultures very open to crop failures.

Still, many farmers have been led to believe that becoming part of this system was the only way to stay in business. In 50 or so years Americans went from knowing the farmers that grew their food to a food system based on a seasonless globalized machine of reallocating food. The people have forgotten how to eat whole, natural, season foods, farmers were becoming slaves to multination corporations that took over more than 75% of our entire food system, and these companies got rich. This is the food represented at your grocery store. This food often travels, on average, 1500 miles from farm to plate. So, if tomatoes are in season in your county, you are still probably finding another state's tomatoes at your local grocery store. This is just just one example of how absurd, unstable, inefficient & unfair our current food system is.

Animals are not raised on farms, but CAFO'S, Confined Animal Feeding Operations. This isn't true for all of the meat, milk & eggs sold in this country, only more than 80%, but this 80% reflects 100% of fast food animal products, and nearly all of the supply found at chain grocery stores nation-wide.

CAFO's keep animals in unnatural conditions, force them to eat antibiotic-laced corn, which is not there natural food, & thus causes them ill health- in the case of cows it causes them lots of pain and increases the instances of deadly E. COLI, deadly to the humans that eat them. CAFO animals, be they chickens, cows, turkeys, or pigs stand (or lay if they are too weak to stand) in the mass of feces from themselves and their prisonmates. These animals live tortured lives, start to finish. They are not healthy and happy.

Although at the grocery store the labels, purposefully deceiving, show happy pastoral scenes, this is not where eggs, meat, milk (and thus cheese & other dairy products) come from. Some terms on labels are regulated, like organic, but some are not, like natural. And even the organic stuff has a decent chance of coming from what is basically an organic CAFO, better than its non-organic counterpart, but not kind enough to the earth or the animal.

Combining the results of all of these factors- monoculture, genetic-modification, CAFO animal products, animal cruelty, deadly E. Coli, and we have a pretty dangerous and unstable system. It also depends on oil so heavily- for proscessing, shipping, and even in growing, that it is an extremely environmentally destructive force all around. And, its also destructive to the public health. White flour products, which so much of the plastic offerings at the grocery store are, laden with corn & soy additives are highly contributing to the epidemic of diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Even corn-fed animal products have a negative impact on health where their counterparts from animals fed the natural diet on which they evolved do not.

Yet again, the way to protect our health and the earth's is the same. And in this same way we can strengthen our national food system, our local economy and our bodies. The solution is to choose locally grown food. Shop at farmer's markets and co-operative markets. Only buy milk, meat and eggs from farmers that you know are raising their animals in a humane & old-fashioned way. boycott fast food. Grow a garden of heirloom variety produce. Stop buying processed food.

More details of a localized diet will be shared in the chapter on lifestyle. To protect bioiversity, the earth & your health, eat locally, especially all animal products. You will taste the difference!

The Yoga of Sustainability: a simpler, healthier, happier world

CHAPTER 3: PROTECTING LAND

There is interconnection among all things in nature, and so, there is similarity in protecting all elements. Protecting the air & water is protecting the land- be mindful not to use, drop or dump batteries, chemicals, electronics, plastics, pharmaceuticals and the like outdoors or elsewhere.

Most of us see dirt as inanimate, but that couldn't be further from the truth. In a teaspoon full of healthy dirt one could find thousands of microorganisms, easily. It is the bacteria present in soil that "fix" nitrogen for the plant's natural fertilization. Adding chemical fertilizers destroys this system & makes the soil naturally barren, dependent on chemical's for its fertility.

Unique to soil is the concept of errosion, the preventing of the washing away of precious topsoil. Whenever you are out enjoying nature, RESIST THE URGE TO REMOVE OR MOVE ROCKS OR TO WALK OUTSIDE OF MARKED NATURE TRAILS. IF WALKING IN AREAS WITHOUT MARKED TRAILS, FOLLOW A WATERWAY OR NATURAL TRAIL. DO NOT PICK WILD PLANTS. In your yard, never spray chemicals on your lawn, even herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. As we've seen, they destroy the ecosystem of the soil, making it more prone to washing away.

Try to landscape your yard with indigenous plants. Importing plants from other climates can actually wreak havoc on ecosystems. Just like introduced animals can multiply unchecked & ravage landscapes, so too can can introduced plants choke out native plants that occupy an important niche in the local ecosystem. TRY LANDSCAPING WITH ONLY INDIGENOUS PLANT VARIETIES: local healing herbs, perreniel herbs, heirloom fruit trees, berry plants and local wetland grasses in pond areas. Working with native plants increases pest & weather-resistence, reduces watering needs & gives you an opportunity to create aesthetically-pleasing habitat for birds, butterflies & mammals. Learn about indigenous plants & local habitats online, or request them at your local nursery.

When growing food plants, choose heirloom variety seeds. These seeds, unlike hybrid or genetically-modified seeds, will adap generation after generation to resist blights, droughts, pests and to adapt to changes in weather. These seeds will develop richer, more complex tastes, more nutrients & more resistence, evolving with every generation. When each plant's growing season is complete you collect the seeds & plant again. Heirloom vegetables are amazingly diverse & hearty. Our current grocery store globalized unnatural & insecure food system tends to cultivate one variety of each food plant, letting the other varieties disappear. Commercial seeds are bred in labs by scientists who manipulate genes, usually concerning themselves with qualities such as conformity of size & shape, and ability to prolong shelf-life. As grocery store tomatoes & red delicious apples show, taste is not as important. Likewise animals are bred for ability to grow bigger, faster and on a diet of corn. Many of these CAFO prisoners never see sunlight & have forgotten how to breed. PROTECT BIODIVERSITY & FOOD SECURITY BY GROWING HEIRLOOM VARIETY PLANTS & BUYING OR RAISING HERITAGE VARIETY LIVESTOCK ANIMALS. IF YOU CAN'T GROW YOUR OWN, PROTECT THE LAND BY BUYING ONLY LOCALLY RAISED ANIMAL PRODUCTS & VEGETABLES AT FARMER'S MARKETS & COOPERATIVES.

Do not cut down mature trees unless they are severly damaged or pose imminent danger. If you are clearing trees to build a home, use those trees to build furniture or floors. Smaller trees can be moved if they are growing too close to ther trees to be able to mature or are growing too close to a foundation. Try to transplant them in early Spring, sooner than you may want to be out there, but at the ideal time for the tree. If you can't transplant a young tree that absolutely cannot stay, cut it down as early as possible. Once trees reach about ten years old they start trapping larger amunts of carbon dioxide, which is released when they die. If an older tree has to be cut down use the wood for a special fire or building project if you can.

When enjoying nature, MAKE SURE TO CARRY-OUT ALL FOOD & TRASH CARRIED IN. DO NOT FEED ANIMALS IN WILD PLACES. It's hard to resist, but don't feed animals in parks (like ducks in Congress Park). This difficult to understand, but feeding animals in wild places makes them learn to prefer & depend on human food sources, forgeting to forage. Also, in the case of ducks, increasingly they may be reticent to migrate, and face Winter starvation. In addition, increasing the population due to the extra food source increases feces, which upsets the land & water balance. Land and water ecosystems are able to process only a certain amount of waste- naturally the amount of foods avaiable will maintain the proper population density of all creatures to support their life & absorb their waste to enrich the environment. Messing with the natural equilibrium harms the animals & the land.

Protecting the land and life it supports by respecting the delicate but deeply interconnected relationships between microorganisms, plants, minerals, animals, insects, sun, air, & water. All of the concepts that sustain healthy air and waterways will apply to protecting the land as well. Use your mindfullness to guide you in respectful interaction as a part of, not apart from, the ecosystems of Earth.

The Yoga of Sustainability: a simpler, healthier, happier world

INTRODUCTION

Mindfulness is the mental part of a yoga practice. When we exercise mindfulness, we are focused. Our mental perceptions and our physical actions are unified. We are thinking about what we are doing, we are noticing our impact and paying attention to interactions.

This is a powerful state to embody. When we are mindful, we can notice our emotions, but choose to set the negative emotions aside. We stil experience them, but do not allow them to control us. Mindfulness helps us to fully enjoy all actions in life from eating to chores, and especially enjoy peak experiences & even normal daily interactions with loved ones with a new sense of delight & sacredness.

Mindfulness has to be practiced, because it is not, at least in this place & time, our default state. Without mindfulness we live with no understanding of the roots of our feelings and we trash relationships by reacting blindly out of negative feeling states. We also live stuck in habitual cycles that may prevent us from achieving well-being. We may also falsely think that happiness comes from of people and objects. This leads to focus unduly on material possesions, or to blame others for our lack of harmony. Once we apply mindfulness we see that happiness comes from an inner feeling of rightness & well-being, brought on by positive action, love, generosity, freedom from negative attachments & the wellness and harmony of mind, body & spirit.

When we apply mindfulness sociologically, we see the patterns forged in our culture based on seeking happiness without mindfulness. The idea that objects make us fulfilled, that buying or consuming is the way to solve everything has made profiteers rich & the masses sick, tired & indebted. Profiteers further benefit as people, desperate for wholeness and happiness try to buy solutions. What makes this demented capitalist paradigm worse is that not only people are devalued, but also the entire ecosystems- an entire planet of intricately connected lives dependent upon limited, precious resources is reduced to commodities to be manipulated to acquire the most money possible.

It doesn't take too long to draw the parellels between the environmental situation, the epidemics of anxiety, depression & preventable diseases, our focus on meaningless consumption, and our reverance for money in America. Its all part of the same problem and requires the same solution. Mindfulness is at the root.

We can use mindfulness to change ourselves, and one person, one family at a time change our society. We can move away from an object and money focused culture to one focused on life, on living beings, gratitude, interconnection, respect and kindness.

May this book inspire and serve you on a mindful journey through this life. May you rediscover that we all are a part of the whole of nature, our well-being interconnected to the entire Earth ecosystem. May your practice of mindfulness and sustainability bring you countless unforeseen treasures & bring you closer to your loved ones, community, spirituality, and self. May all of us Earthlings live happily, healthfully & free from suffering together on this small, beautiful, delicate planet.

Namaste.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Part one: Protect
1. Water
2. Air
3. Land
4. Biodiversity
5. Shop Wisely

Part two: Conserve
6. Water
7. Paper
8. Fuel/energy
9. Consume Less
10. Resourcefulness
11. Simplify

Part three: Lifestyle
12. Sustainable Food Systems
13. Mindfulness

CONCLUSION

The Yoga of Sustainability: a simpler, healthier, happier world

I feel that at this point in human history, after all of the hardships overcome by our ancestors to give us an easier, longer life, we have gone too far. I believe this mainly because our chase for convenience has taken us past ease & more liesure time to the point of epidemics of preventable diseases. Not to mention rampant anxiety, depression & multiple, concurrent environmental disasters that will cause unimaginable harm to ourselves, our future generations & all species on earth.

How inconvenient that is for us- isn't that what life is about now- mere convenience? Food's most important attribute now is ease of preparation & ingestion, not taste nor nutrition.

Its grotesque when reflected upon- its more important to us as a nation to shove quick, greasy, vulgar tasting substances down our throat as fast as possible, catch a fat or sugar or salt buzz, & then rush off. Very depraved indeed. Good thing we eat it fast, because if we stopped to taste it we'd be disappointed. I think this is typical of what our society is missing. Jimmy Carter made an amazing speech in I believe 1979, on what's wrong in our country- lack of human connection & peace of mind & no connection to nature at the expense of a capitalist & disposable culture. And now thirty years later this infection has rotted through not just communities, but our whole culture. The quest to own more things as cheaply as possible has overidden all self-control to the point of literal global disaster. Convenience & consumeristic values seem to be more important than avoiding millions of deaths, millions of climate refugees, wars over water & mega natural disasters.

I think better of my fellow humans than that. I'm not waiting for our state to ration water (although some counties in at least AZ & CA are already doing so) before I learn to live hapilly with much less. I have made the choice to live on only my share of the earth's limited resources, because contrary to ridiculous popular belief, there's only so much to go around. I believe its not right to go on wasting water knowing full well that in as little as twenty years there are going to be world-wide shortages of clean drinking water, yes, even in the mighty US. I'm not going to eat a globalized diet based on anything & everything from everywhere all at once, especially when I know that its absurd, & only cheap because the farmers & workers that make it possible are paid scratch and barely survive. Since I've actively made changes to my lifestyle I live abundantly, on a lot less money, with greater health & connection to loved ones, than ever before. This is no coincidence- it seems that the one solution to the one problem fixes all of the leaks. No catch. Eat well, live well, love well & be fulfilled.

It just takes learning, a short adjustment of a month of creating new habits & then you're off & running, and now a vibrant part of the solution & not the problem.

Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Jesus, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and many other brave souls lived their lives openly fighting, at risk of their own safety, what they believed to be unjust. So can we get over our own addiction to a false sense of entitlement to grow up and think about the consequences of our lifestyles for just a minute? If we look deeply into the face of a child, or an endangered animal, how can we tell them "Sorry kid, I know you'll have to live on a few gallons of water a day, but I didn't feel like using a low flow showerhead. It's my right as an American to take 20 minute showers using 5 gallons per minute." there are people in Africa NOW that have to walk 5-8 hours a day for muddy river water. This is their water for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing & feeding animals. Let stop being the spoiled rotten brats of the world. Change comes not from the government down. Its the only virtue of the free market-what we buy & don't buy transforms industry. We change this country by the way we live our individual lives. Let's use our mindfulness to lead a peaceful revolution.

I AM WRITING MY BOOK ON SUSTAINABILITY TO THIS BLOG. IN THIS WAY, CHAPTER BY CHAPTER IT WILL INSPIRE THOSE WILLING TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION & NO LONGER THE PROBLEM. contrary to popular belief, its is less expensive overall, especially in the longterm to live sustainably. MAY THIS INFORMATION SERVE YOU THE WAY THIS KNOWLEDGE HAS TRANSFORMED THE VERY EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. PLEASE SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW. ALL I WANT IN RETURN IS FOR YOU TO TRY YOUR BEST EVERYDAY, DO A LITTLE BETTER EACH DAY, TO BE A SUSTAINER OF LIFE. Namaste