I wrote this back around 2008 or so. And I have continue giving warnings if we continue doing nothing about this looming problem that will impact the whole world, and to all life forms.

Back in 1992 my roommate got me Al Gore’s just released book, “Earth In The Balance Ecology And the Human Spirit”. I got as far as a couple of chapters and stopped reading it for whatever reason. I just opened it up again to hopefully read it cover to cover. Gore talks about Global Warming and the environmental devastation our modern civilization is doing to our planet, within communities around the world, as well as globally. In 2006 Al Gore came out with his movie Inconvenient Truth fourteen years later. In that fourteen year period not much if anything has been done to curb the threat of Global Warming. From the time Gore’s movie came out to now in 2009, very little has really been done, though it is talked about much more today. The actions taken to stop it or to at least curb it’s impact to our planet is to say the least, going at a snails pace if that. Many Americans still do not believe Global Warming exists or are very skeptical.

In a recent Gallup Poll 57% of Americans believe the seriousness of Global Warming in the News is correct or underestimated and 41% think it is exaggerated. To me this is a very scary thought. For one thing, most News Media outlets will not provide their viewers with accurate scientific data or information regarding Global Warming much less of any important environmental issues effecting our planet so their viewing audience can make an intelligent and informed evaluation. Many Americans don’t care or are to busy to care. And some will decide by what their political party believes.

To show America’s true interest in Global Warming and important environmental issues, I did a search on what movies people viewed the most. This will give you an idea of what is most important to Americans and what their priorities are.

When Inconvenient Truth came out in 2006 it was only playing in a few selected theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2007 when the movie The 11^th Hour documentary came out, I actually had to wait until it came out on DVD before I could see it. I thought both movies were informative and important for all Americans to see. It was obvious, it was not with very little attendance in the theaters.

This is an example of the movies people saw in 2006 and the money it brought in.

Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth grossed $24,146,161 domestic and $25,610,346 foreign.

The four top movies for 2006 were:

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 grossing $423 million

Night at the Museum grossing $250 million

Cars grossing at $244 million

X3 at $234 million

Little Miss Sunshine, The Bench Warmer, Curious George and Little Man came in around $58 million each beating Inconvenient Truth by over 50% domestically.

For 2007, The 11^th Hour grossed a disappointing $417,913.00 and was soon taken out of the theaters.

The three top movies were:

Spiderman 3 grossing $336 million

Shrek 3 grossing $321 million

Transformers grossing at $319 million.

Now, should we be a little concerned with this picture. It tells me Americans would rather be entertained then be concerned that we are putting ourselves and most other species of animal and plant life at risk of extinction. I think it is time for Americans to begin taking responsibility for their actions and begin taking responsibility for our home, our planet.

Now in 2022, climate change is on us with her full force, with extreme heat waves, rising seas, extreme droughts, devastating floods, forest fires, and grass fires, and extreme weather patterns. The list goes on. And we have not dealt sufficiently to this worldwide problem. And it will only get worse.

Finding The Elusive Bird

One of the joys I have spending time in Nature are the birds–listening to their morning and evening songs, watching their behavior and antics and being captivated by their beauty.

For about four years now I have been seeing a particular bird I have had a very difficult time identifying. The first time I noticed this bird, it was while walking my dogs in the countryside along a country road where we had lived. The narrow road ran along a creek, lined with about five species of Oak trees.

While on our walks, on occasion we would unknowingly approach this bird in the thick-leafed branches of the Oak tree, where it would then burst out of its place of hiding, flying quickly a short distance away from us disappearing into some near-by trees. This was usually the scenario with this bird and just becoming a blur in flight—leaving me wondering. It seemed it did not want to show itself and I thought it may have been very shy or having a nest close by. When I was able to see it in a clearing flying too or away from a tree, I notice it did have a reddish color (more of a rust color to my eyes) on the underside of the wings. The size was about the size of the American Robin. This continued on while on our walks along that country road for the next few years and never did get a good look at this elusive creature.

On the last day of October 2017, my dogs and I began a journey heading North from Northern California to camp and live in Nature. It was a trip I had planned since 2011. I closed my business, got rid of most of my belongings, but for my camping gear and the required reading for this journey, and packed up my storage trailer. My intent, to make this a life long quest in Nature.

Our first campground was close to where we had lived because I thought it would be a good place to start our journey. We stayed at Del Valle Reservoir for a month and a half. It was a place my dogs and I enjoyed camping, in the foothills of Livermore, and a great place to observe all kinds of wildlife. And most important, it was not busy during the winter months. I enjoy the peace and quiet while camping, writing and watching wildlife.

Our travels took us through Northern California, Oregon, and Washington during the winter months and crossed the state line into Idaho in the middle of May of 2018, where we would spend the summer months in the remote backcountry.

During our travels to many campgrounds, I would see this elusive bird on occasion that continued to be elusive. And as always, it was always difficult getting a good sighting of the bird to identify. Many other birds visited us in our campsites, some familiar, some new. It was always a delight watching these amazing creatures as with being a joy having them around. They did not seem bothered by the two dogs and as for the dogs, they were more interested in the Gray Fox that would come to our camp in the darkness of night then the birds. I believe, because we always had a quiet camp and were usually in these camps for several weeks, critters seem less threatened by us. One campground, in particular, Patrick’s Point State Park in Northern California, where our bird friends visited us almost daily in the morning at camp, starting with the Dark-eyed Juncos, the Stellar Jays, Gray Jays (also known as the Whisky Jack), and the Hummingbirds. Then came the California Quail and the beautiful Varied Thrush. At first, the Quail were very skittish, but with the wild bird seed I scattered around the campsite, they were encouraged to hang around for an easy meal of tasty wild seeds as were the other visitors we had. As for the Gray Jay, they preferred our bacon and eggs or the dog’s kibble.

We spent most of the summer months in the backcountry of Idaho in three different areas and did not see much bird life which was disappointing. To me, experiencing Nature without birds just didn’t seem right, although experiencing wolves got the hairs on the back of the neck standing on end, as with the excitement of seeing wolves in the wild. In one state Park campground, Dworshak State Park in Idaho, I did see our elusive bird once again flying away from us and noticed another marking on the bird that I had not noticed before. On the tail, it had a very distinctive white marking in flight.

In the winter months, we set up camp in one spot for the full winter. Very few smaller birds were present during this time. Mostly Ravens, Turkeys, the Ring-neck Pheasant, Quail, Canadian Geese, doves, the Black-capped Chickadee, and the Black-billed Magpie, as with some Hawks and Bald Eagles on occasion. To me, it always seems like something was missing without birds in our camp.

One day coming back to camp from our walk on a cold, sunny March morning, I saw two of these elusive birds in flight with their white tail markings and red showing on the underside of their wings that I had observed so many times before. They landed side by side on a top branch of a Black Locust tree next to our camp. I got my binoculars out and glassed them. Although all the markings were not visible, I thought I had enough to identify them with their light brown colored breast, dotted with black spots and the underside of the tail having red. They also had a long beak indicating they may be in the woodpecker family. I checked my bird books and found this bird that had been eluding me for so long. It was the Northern Flicker.

~ Rick Theile

I Am

I am Nature,

My mind, body and soul sores in welcoming anticipation at what I will sense

and experiences when I enter Natures space.

I feel a calmness, a stillness that comes as natural as Nature itself.

To the birds that share their songs, the animals that are silently lurking, watching.

To the abundant plants and trees that share their own stillness and wisdom to the observing visitor.

My awareness is heightened to the surroundings I experience in the forests, the mountains, the colorful wildflowers that adorn the grassy alpine meadows, and the clear shimmering mountain lakes that awakens my Being in these wild places we call Nature.

I am Air,

With each deep breath I take in Nature, my lungs fill with the cleansing of fresh scented air of the plants and trees and the inner connection to all life.

I am Water,

From frozen to liquid, the waters flow with life in the springs, creeks and streams taking their paths from their source in the high mountains downward eventually feeding the rivers and oceans, serving life everywhere it touches.

Water is the life blood of all life from the plants and trees to the wildlife, to the life of man, woman and child. When I sip from this sacred source of life I feel connected to all things.

I am Land,

The land gives me a solid platform to travel to the magical and wondrous places Nature provides.

The land can change from moment to moment, from high deserts, to forests and woodlands, to alpine meadows and lakes surrounded by majestic mountain peaks, to grasslands that seems to go on forever in ones eyes. The land provides a place for awe, wonder and reflections. It is my church where I show my deepest reverence for the Earth and to all life.

I am Fire,

Fire that brings life and death to it’s door with no uncertain terms. Fire is nature, nature is fire. I bring the highest respect to this element that cooks my food, gives me light and comfort and provides me with it’s warmth, with the sound of the crackling fire, and the wonderful scent of the burning wood that is soothing to my soul.

I am Stillness,

I am the stillness Nature teaches me, the stillness and wisdom she brings to my Being, the silence and inner peace when I listen in silence. The plants, the trees, the wildflowers or a single blade of grass all share the life energy all life shares in Nature, and on our planet and in our universe.

I am One With All Life,

The long winter closes and I look forward to with the opening of new buds on the trees and plants, the spring flowers will soon come sharing their bright colored blossoms, giving the eye a pallet of colors to behold.

And the new born animals, the creation of life, begins the experiences of this world for the first time with their Mother always close-by, teaching them, nurturing them and protecting them.

The beginning of a new cycle of life. Each season brings change, brings new life and brings death.

I am the relationship with the air, the water, the land, the fire, the plants and trees, and the animals.

I AM ALL THAT IS

I AM LIFE, I am One with all of Creation.

What is to be of our future on planet Earth?

Not being able to sleep last night, I got up and turned on the TV to occupy my time for a bit. It was about 5:00 am in the morning and found a program on primates that looked interesting.

The program was about the serious decline in many primate species around the world due to loss of habitat through burning of rain forests for farming and development, deforestation for lumber, the increase in human populations and expansions of urban life, bush meat for people who live in the bush, illegal hunting, war conflicts, the trade in wildlife (pet trade) and the illegal black market of animal parts. More than 633 types of primates are in danger of becoming extinct in the world because of human activity. Twenty-five primate species in Africa and Asia are on the brink of extinction from the causes I have just mentioned above.

Primates as with all living species have a role on our planet, a purpose to help keep balance in the ecosystem. Primates contribute to the ecosystem by dispersing seeds and maintaining forest diversity.

This whole program disturbed me because of our lack of understanding or caring for how our ecosystems work and why they are as important in our own survival as humans and the survival of a healthy, sustainable and balanced planet for all life. In one scene, one of the people doing the show was in a sanctuary for primates and was conversing with a chimp on the other side of a wired fence enclosure. He was having a playful conversation with the chimp as if the chimp was human. The difference was, this guy could just walk away from the fence and go on with his business, and the chimp could not. Though he was protected from the cruel outside world, he was caged in (as we humans like to do with animals), and the chimp could not just walk away. He was in prison, having no freedom to do what chimps do or having any choice for that matter how his life is to be.

Are we heading to a point in the near future where many species that are getting closer and closer to extinction will be forced into cages by man for their own survival and protection from man who is the cause of this very destruction? This way of thinking makes no sense if one understands how nature and the ecosystems work. The problem is that we have become so far removed from our connection with all living things and with nature, and our reliance on nature for our very existence that we have the false mind-set that we no longer need nature for our survival and development of our species. The destructive forces that man has laid on this planet with over population, over development, over harvesting of our oceans and of our natural resources, the destruction of many of our forests through deforestations, the rapid decline in population for many species of animals and their habitats and the polluting of our land, air and water as with the potential devastating effects of climate change are taking a huge toll on our very survival and the survival of most of life as we know it on this planet.

Is this the type of life we are choosing for our children? Is this what we have become, a species that cares little about other life that we knowingly or unknowingly depend on for our very own survival? A planet where the only way we can protect the species of animals is to cage them for their protection and for our amusement? Unfortunately we are already here.

I wish I could say that things will change, that they will get better through our understanding and knowledge of our planet. But the knowledge is already here and yet we have not learned, we have not changed, we continue to destroy the very thing that gives life.

Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.
~ Ancient Indian Proverb ~

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.
~ Chief Seattle, 1854 ~

I wrote this around 2012.

What is Sacred?

What is sacred? To modern day man, it may be God, Jesus Christ, a church, some symbol like the cross that represents their particular religion or for some it may be where St. Francis of Assisi built his place of worship. As for the natural world that is all around us, the animals, the plants, the trees, the mountains and the oceans, these things are for us to take from and control. We have this mind-set that the natural world is for the taking and in any way we see fit. We have proved this to be true for hundreds of years. And when we used the term progress, it gave us extra incentive to misuse and abuse the earth in ways that are incomprehensible.

We don’t relate to any animal as sacred. Sacred does not relate to the air we breathe, the water we drink or the land that provides us with nourishment – the key elements on this planet that gives life to all life. Air, we seem to never give a second thought to, unless we inhale some foul odor or find ourselves without it. Without air, all life will die. Water, the life blood of all things, we again give little thought to. It seems polluting this life source is no real problem, and it has become a commodity to be controlled and profited from. Again, without water as with air, we will die without a clean source of water. Land, we see land as property to be owned and controlled and we have proven that even with ownership we do not know how to take care of this valuable resource that all land animals rely on for their homes and sustenance. All of what I have just written is done out of pure greed and the arrogance that everything on this planet is for the human race to plunder with little regard for any other live forms that we share this planet with. We take and take and take, never looking at the consequences of our actions.

I was watching a movie last night called, “Grey Owl.” It was a true story about an Englishman, Archie Belaney (Grey Owl) who at a young age moved to Canada to live in the wilderness and to be close to the First Nations People so he could learn from them how to survive in the wilderness. One of the lines in the movie that Grey Owl spoke hit a cord with me. He said, “You know why I love the forest? I love the forest because it is the last place men are not in charge. It is the last wilderness.” This was said in the 1930’s. Today there is no place safe in the world from man’s destruction. We have pretty much devastated everything we come into contact with and have become better at it.

Fortunately there is one exception to this that may save us from the total destruction of life on this planet as we know it. It is the indigenous peoples of the world who still live with the land to survive. They have a very close relationship with the land and all life. They know if they do not take care of this valuable resource they will not survive. They have this understanding and agreement with Mother Earth. They have this connection, a relationship with all life and they see all life as sacred.

The Australian Aborigines, the Native Hawaiians, the Native Americans, the First Nations of Canada, and many other indigenous peoples who have been forced to live a different life from their own traditional ways are struggling and fighting to hold on to their traditional beliefs and cultures with very little support from those who took their way of life away from them and thus creating devastating impacts on their people. Most of our so-called civilized culture sees these people as backwards, uncivilized and uneducated. They are a burden to progress and they need to get with the program and live like us or suffer the consequences. But they continue to fight to save their cultures because they know the way most of us live in today’s world is harmful to all life – to the very survival of life on our planet. These indigenous cultures, know that all life should be respected, that all life is sacred. Without this relationship to life, we are doomed as a species and we will take many species with us to our death if we do not change our ways.

WE MUST CHANGE OUR PARADIGM AND HOW WE RELATE TO OUR PLANET AND ALL LIFE – WE MUST SEE ALL LIFE AS SACRED.

What Is Sacred – 2

These three words have been on my mind for the past couple of days. I did write a Note titled “What is Sacred” a while ago, so using the same title on this writing, I added a “2” indicating a second writing on the same subject.

As on most occasions when I start writing, it is always difficult getting started. Where to begin? I always want to create something that I hope will touch the reader’s soul, to take action and to think and reflect. Most of the time I wonder if I ever achieve this.

When I hear the word “sacred,” I see nature, I see the planet, I see indigenous cultures who have maintained their ancient ancestral traditions who see all the wonders of life as sacred and lives a life with reverence and respect for all life each day and with each foot step they take on the ground which for them is sacred. For indigenous peoples, the word Home also has a sacred meaning. It is not just a place to live, it is much more. It is a place of worship. A place that gives them life. It is the air, the water and the land. It is the animals, plants and trees. It is all life they share their home with. They are connected to all life and have a special sacred connection to this life. This life is not taken for granted.

For Native People around the world, song, music, dance, ceremonies and language are sacred.

Our pets, our children and our families are sacred.

Love is sacred.

Compassion, caring, respect, and understanding are sacred.

Beauty is sacred.

It is simple – ALL LIFE IS SACRED.

I thought this writing would be more involved, but it did not have to be. The concept of sacred, being sacred is simple – we just have to embrace it.

Thank you my friends,

Rick Theile

ReflectionsFor most of us living in the modern world, we become easily caught up in daily living – consumed with our many responsibilites to our families, friends and just life in general. We very seldom give time to ourselves for a time of reflection.Though for me, I find reflection a very important part of my life, but recently I have been consumed with other less important things. Today while walking my dog, Shiloh and for that matter thinking about things this week regarding our environment, I would like to share some thoughts.Some years ago, I read a book by Steven Covey, and in this book he talked about how people tend to react to things based on how they see things or interpret things in their lives whether it is based on any reality or not. His example was, some people will feel down when the weather is gloomy or rainy and feel excited to be alive when the sun is shining. These people are allowing nature to dictate how they feel. I find this ridiculous, but while I was reading this book, a roommate of mine reacted in such a way pertaining to the weather. She was down when it was even a bit cloudy, but ready to play when the sun was out.Most of us allow the weather (nature) to dictate how we feel. It is evident in weather reports on TV with negitive connotations about weather. Nature has many moods, and these moods can be enjoyed by us just by seeing things a little differently and by allowing nature to come back into our lives. Living in the modern world has pulled us away from truly enjoying all the magic, beauty and magnificents nature brings into our lives if we only look and see.Back in 2009, I went camping for a month at a local camping area. Campers and motorhomes were allowed. I was in a tent. I was outside most of the time experiencing the many different changes in the weather. The people in the campers and motor homes were inside their little man-made cacoons missing all that nature was providing. Even people who camp in tents miss most of what nature offers because their attention is not to experience nature, but to do things to keep the minds occupied.Another time a friend and I went into the high country for two weeks in June. It was 2010 and we had experience a late winter. I knew the weather could be unpredictable where we were going. For much of the two weeks we experience winter conditions. Very light snow, just a little rain, but very windy and cold. Instead of complaining about the weather, I wanted to experience the weather and observe how the animals experienced the weather. It was like watching a movie, I was able to see in June the transition from winter to spring. I got to watch the beginning of certain wildflowers beginning to bloom, the young coming out of their underground borrows to experience the world for the first time. For me, this time was magical. I had spent three weeks in this area a year before in September and had the opportunity to see the many changes in different seasons.    Once I began to reconnect with nature and to respect nature, she has offered me a new life and a new way of seeing life. She provides for us everything we need to survive as a species and she offers us incredible beauty in all life forms we share this planet with. The next time you are in nature, just sit quietly for a time and nature will begin talking with you.Rick Theile