A few years ago I was in Vermont. Usually it is cooler there than in New Jersey but it was hot and humid. A rash developed on my neck that was impossible to get rid of. Upon my return, my dermatologist told me that I had an allergy to the sun!?! What? That sounded really weird. But sadly, it was true. It seems that women from Eastern Europe can develop this very strange condition. I was shocked. I had been a beach babe in Montauk, Eilat, Bal Harbour, Agadir, Saline beach, Tanto Far Beach and Pondicherry. This has all changed. Now I have to stay out of the sun. Having used a variety of creams, scarves, hats and fans, I now carry a beautiful umbrella when
out during the day in the summer.
Do you feel the sun any differently on your skin? I have this on my body and feel this in my heart. My heart is full of great concern and compassion. Yes, the climate is changing. The sun shines differently with more intensity. What of my children’s children as we go forward 7 generations?! What of the earth herself?!
The New York Times has been doing a great deal of reporting on this planetary condition almost each and every day. August 10th headline was “The Year Global Warming Made Its Menace a Reality” and the quote of the day is by the Stanford University climate scientist, Katherine Mach: “In our increasingly muggy and smoky discomfort, it’s now rote science to pinpoint how heat-trapping gases have cranked up the risks. It’s a shift we all are living together.” The August 5th Magazine was totally dedicated to the issue. It is good that the paper is doing this. But let us not only be negative. There is much you can do to stop and correct it. Many scientists have pointed to possibilities. Besides global accords and initiatives, each of us can do small acts in our everyday lives that can have major effects. In fact, the NY Times on Sunday 8/12/18 published an opinion, “What Kind of Planet Do We Want?” pointing in this direction.
My father, Mathew Klein, was an early NJ environmentalist and started Garden State Labs. I have followed in his footsteps as a pioneering expert in the field of global wellness for almost 40 years. I have taught for the UN diplomatic corps, young mothers and people on the ground from India to Kenya. All recognize the crisis we are in and that the time for action is upon us. I sincerely believe that we as humans, having created this crisis, can help in resolving it! You can do specific actions of: Recycling, voting for a carbon tax, walking whenever possible, composting, taking vacation locally without flying, using glass straws and cloth bags to name a few. Please let me know what your favorite things are to do!
Here are 5 solutions for you. The specific tools for them are on my website.
*Meditate with Breakthrough Breathing
*Use the color green to relax and restore both yourself and the planet
*Be outside in nature with mindfulness
*Have 7 generations’ awareness
*A final and very effective solution with the tools built into it is my audio, Embracing Earth.
Enjoy a preview of several tracks on my Embracing Earth page here on my website. You can purchase the album here also.
The journey in creating this audio began with my participation in the 1st Earth Day in 1970. I was aware of the fragility of our climate then but never thought that I would be seeing such extreme weather in my own lifetime. Sadly, the accelerated effect of various components, especially by our own species, has created unprecedented events. These all add up to the results that we are now living: radical shifts in nature.
You need to step up and do your part. Whatever it is: small or large, personal or planetary. The time is now.
May we each be empowered to make the necessary adjustments – in the things we do, in our mindful intentions and meditations – so that the lives of all sentient beings and the very earth herself can continue to thrive.
I deeply believe that “Embracing Earth” can help you and our Mother Earth now. May it be so. Amen
“I have set my rainbow in the cloud. It shall be for a token of a
covenant between Me and the earth.”
Genesis ix:12