Pachamama

Here is a picture on the bike path into downtown Bellingham. I haven't been on this trail for a few days, and I sorely miss it. Maybe tomorrow.

But today was a day of a symposium put on by the Pachamama Alliance, an interesting perspective on hopeful things happening in a presently unsustainably destructive path for humankind. You can sugarcoat it any way you'd like, but unless drastic things change in our society (e.g., consumerism, energy use, water consumption) you cannot grow infinitely in a world of finite resources... aw there I go again.

I think Pachamama stands for something like Mother Earth. This is a description:
We live in an outmoded worldview - a way of seeing the world in which unthinkable acts appear reasonable, sensible, and even intelligent. The indigenous Anchuar people of Ecuador, who still live in earth honoring ways, have urged us, for the sake of all life, to "change the dream of the North."

It was sponsored by the Sustainable Bellingham, a group I've been volunteering with on and off over the past few months. There is a very dynamic thread of people woven into the Bellingham fabric, and it is always fun to go to events such as this and meet up with these people. It was a full day and generally a warm time with good energy. (And great food and coffee!) I look forward to getting more involved with these types of events.

Tonight is a chilly night. And a chilly morning. I rode my bike up the 400-plus foot hill to the Woodside Spiritual Center, but wore thermal underwear, as it was very early when I left this morning and looked colder than it was.