by Sue Homer
Woodstock
by Joni Mitchell
I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him where are you going
And this he told me
I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm
I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band
I'm going to camp out on the land
I'm going to try an' get my soul free
We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know who I am
But you know life is for learning
We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
back to the garden
© Siquomb Publishing Company
Over forty years ago, Joni Mitchell wrote the song that became the anthem of a generation. It is a song I remember watching Joni perform on Dick Cavett's Woodstock Show. It's a song that has reverberated through the years, one that has a special meaning this weekend and the days, weeks, and months ahead.
This weekend, by the hundreds of thousands around the world, we are making our way back to the garden. Our garden. Our home. Our beautiful blued world. It is past time for us all to take a stand.
Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches
by Mary Oliver
Have you ever tried to enter the long black branches of other lives --
tried to imagine what the crisp fringes, full of honey, hanging
from the branches of the young locust trees, in early morning, feel like?
Do you think this world was only an entertainment for you?
Never to enter the sea and notice how the water divides
with perfect courtesy, to let you in!
Never to lie down on the grass, as though you were the grass!
Never to leap to the air as you open your wings over the dark acorn of your heart!
No wonder we hear, in your mournful voice, the complaint
that something is missing from your life!
Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot
in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself
continually?
Who will behold the inner chamber who has not observed
with admiration, even with rapture, the outer stone?
Well, there is time left --
fields everywhere invite you into them.
And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away
from wherever you are, to look for your soul?
Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!
To put one's foot into the door of the grass, which is
the mystery, which is death as well as life, and
not be afraid!
To set one's foot in the door of death, and be overcome
with amazement!
To sit down in front of the weeds, and imagine
god the ten-fingered, sailing out of his house of straw,
nodding this way and that way, to the flowers of the
present hour,
to the song falling out of the mockingbird's pink mouth,
to the tippets of the honeysuckle, that have opened
in the night
To sit down, like a weed among weeds, and rustle in the wind!
Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?
While the soul, after all, is only a window,
and the opening of the window no more difficult
than the wakening from a little sleep.
Only last week I went out among the thorns and said
to the wild roses:
deny me not,
but suffer my devotion.
Then, all afternoon, I sat among them. Maybe
I even heard a curl or tow of music, damp and rouge red,
hurrying from their stubby buds, from their delicate watery bodies.
For how long will you continue to listen to those dark shouters,
caution and prudence?
Fall in! Fall in!
A woman standing in the weeds.
A small boat flounders in the deep waves, and what's coming next
is coming with its own heave and grace.
Meanwhile, once in a while, I have chanced, among the quick things,
upon the immutable.
What more could one ask?
And I would touch the faces of the daises,
and I would bow down
to think about it.
That was then, which hasn't ended yet.
Now the sun begins to swing down. Under the peach-light,
I cross the fields and the dunes, I follow the ocean's edge.
I climb, I backtrack.
I float.
I ramble my way home.
From:
West Wind: Poems and Prose Poems
Copyright ©: Mary Oliver
The time for beauty and wonder, the time for understanding the
deep connection that binds us to the Earth and the Earth to us -
has not ended yet. The time to fight for it all has begun.
The world can not afford to pay heed to "those dark shouters" any longer. The voices that deny the dangers of Climate Change are the same voices that deny the harm done by sexism, racism, homophobia, and income inequality.
The "dark shouters" time must come to an end. The debate is over.
It is our time to end the harm of Climate Change. This is the moral fight of our age, for it encompasses everything we hold dear. The same mind set that fights against acting on Climate Change sees nothing wrong about people losing their homes and livelihoods. The fight for our planet is a fight for social justice.
The mind set that fights against acting on climate change does not care about the lives lost to environmental degradation. The fight for our Earth home is a fight for life.
Climate Change could not be a more clear cut moral issue. Climate Change is not something that just happens to "others." It is harming our entire world. That is why over 1,500 organizations are partnering the People's Climate March.
It is our time to see all the connections that bind us to this earth and to one another. It is our time to save this beautiful blue world, ourselves, and the futures of our children and grandchildren. It is time for action, and people around the world are taking action to demand governments and businesses act on Climate Change.
People by the hundreds of thousands marched in Sydney, Dhaka, Delhi, Jakarta, Melbourne and Katmandu. They marched in small towns and large cities. They marched for millions who could not.
Rallies in Lisbon and Delhi, marches in Istanbul, Manila, Cape Town, Majuro and Papua New Guinea, concerts in Johannesburg -- this is true people powered movement: enormous, diverse and beautiful. People from all backgrounds are acting locally, mobilizing their communities, shaping the future of our planet. And this is before big actions [got] underway today in NYC and elsewhere.
Yesterday and today, people from every walk of life are joined together to fight for our beautiful blue world.
We have only just begun.
We are going to keep on marching, keep on organizing, keep on fighting until our Earth is cared for again.
We're going to keep on speaking out, voting, doing what ever is necessary to make hope real. Want to help?
There's a list of organizations that you can choose from who would love to have you.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
We aren’t just building towards a moment this September. We are building a movement and creating a turning point in the fight against climate change by building stronger connections with each other.
The hub sites below allow you to coordinate outreach, projects and actions related to the march with whoever you want – whether you share a home city, a skill set, a common identity, or an issue you care about most. Each page gives you tools to help you communicate and build together – before you come to the march and after.
We encourage you to click on any of the groups below to get involved with a specific project, or to sign up to be a volunteer at the march...
Our young people are signing up.
Their parents and grand parents are signing up.
Today the People's Climate March in New York City stretched for over four miles. Bill McKibben was blown away.
Game on, indeed.
Wonderful, isn't it? And that was just in New York City. Over this weekend hundreds of thousands of people around the world stood up for this beautiful blue world of ours.
We're not planning on sitting back down.
We are Stardust. We are Golden. And we've got to get ourselves back to the Garden.
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UN Climate Summit/March Blogathon
September 19-23, 2014
World leaders representing nations, industry and civil society are convening in New York City for the historic September 23 UN Climate Summit. The summit, announced by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon last September, is designed to bring all parties to the table to facilitate the 2015 UNFCCC passage of a global treaty to dramatically reduce global warming.
In what is being called a “movement of movements” moment, hundreds of thousands of marchers are expected at the NYC People's Climate March on Sunday, September 21. Other huge marches are occurring around the world, demanding what we all know is within reach: a world with an economy that works for people and the planet; a world safe from the ravages of climate change; a world recognizing the need for climate justice; a world with good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities.
Please join us for a blogathon September 19-23 in a campaign to inspire people to take to the streets and to tell the story of why climate change is the defining issue of our time that can no longer wait to be addressed in earnest.
From ClimateBrad: I'm excited to announce that I will providing livestreamed, on-the-ground coverage of the People's Climate March this Sunday and at follow-up actions in the days ahead at PeoplesClimate.tv.
To see the September 21 Climate March routes and sign up, click here. To find an event in your region, click here. To learn more about the UN Climate Summit 2014, click here. The complete guest list of diarists is in this diary by rb137. All blogathon diaries here.
Our Daily Kos community organizers are Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, boatsie, rb137, JekyllnHyde, citisven, peregrine kate, John Crapper, Aji, Kitsap River, Dont Just Sit There DO SOMETHING, and jarbelaez. Photograph/Graphic credit: Facebook - People's Climate March.
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4:08 PM PT: Wow!
4:17 PM PT:
6:54 PM PT: Just in from 350.org!
Here's something we can all do.
Just got this email in from 350.org. They want to build on this weekend's momentum and need your help.
" Today, 310,000 people took to the streets of New York City to call for climate action -- the largest climate march in history. And we were joined by hundreds of thousands of others around the world at over 2646 events in 156 countries.
And on Tuesday, the world’s politicians will gather in New York to talk about climate action -- 125 heads of state in total. They’ll be gathering with the knowledge that more people than ever are demanding action, not just words, and that their political future is on the line -- as well as the future of the planet.
We will bring that message to the top leadership of the UN inside Tuesday’s summit, with a hand-delivered message to top UN climate negotiators.
If you stand with the hundreds of thousands of people who marched today around the world, tell world leaders that you mean business
We're Ready for Action, Not Words."
http://act.350.org/...
If everyone signs and shares, we can help keep the momentum going. And that is absolutely necessary.
