This is what our temps have been like for a week now.

We're in the middle of a heat dome now in Northern California, and folks, IT IS HOT.

Hotter than hot. It’s an inferno here.

We can see now that climate change is changing the way we live.

Just this week, my friends in Colorado, Helene, and Dave Van Manen, have been watching a wildfire from their backyard, just three miles away. They can see the flames and smoke and have their car packed and ready with important documents in case they have to evacuate. CLICK HERE to read their story. They've included photos and a treat at the end of the article.

This is how many people live now, especially in the West.

It's real, and it's scary.

It will get worse. I don’t know about you, but it leaves me with that helpless feeling in the pit of my stomach.

It's the same with Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, a place we rarely hear about in the news where there's violence against women and girls. Forced child marriages and rape are rampant. And...

"To reach real peace in the world, we will have to begin with the children."
Mahatma Gandhi

 It started during the pandemic.

Three of my grandkids were on lockdown in the South Pacific. 
My other three grans were "local" but with the pandemic we had limited visits at a distance and with masks.

Christmas was happening and I felt the sting of being separated from all my grans. I wanted us to all be connected and not forget each other so I had to come up with a plan.

So...I started Gran's Zoom Christmas party.

I had to consider the time difference. The Vanuatu family (in the South Pacitic) is 18 hours ahead of the US. 
There were other obstacles like ensuring I could hold the kid's attention the whole time.

Yesterday we had Gran's 3rd annual Zoom Xmas party.

The two Davis grans, Avery and Andy, came to my house and we celebrated the winter solstice together.

I had decided to also have our Zoom Christmas party on the same day. Why not? 

It...

Last night I was on a call with a circle of Green women. We're a group of mothers, grandmothers, and women from all parts of the country who care about the planet, the climate crisis, and everything that links to it.

Our conversations are powerful threads of information, inspiration, and concern for our shared experience of living on the planet during these challenging times.

On our call, we discussed the holidays and how to view them in a different way, rather than the constant rushing around and the overconsumption that we can easily fall into.

Our leader, Helene Van Manen, leads this group and has 3 monthly calls that are completely free. I hope this resonates with you and if it does, please join us. The link is here. It's powerful to be in a group like this and a golden opportunity for you to share your ideas and to be inspired.

I think you probably care a lot about the earth and the climate crisis. Maybe, if you’re like me, you sometimes don’t know...

Recently when I was in Hawaii, I talked to my friend, Emily Emmons, who is one of the most get-things-done kind of women I know.

She started a nonprofit called Hoʻōla Farms in 2015 to teach military veterans, first responders, their families, caregivers, and the community how to grow healthy food. With her guidance and drive, it's now grown into a farm, and a commercial kitchen, and also provides an array of training and hands-on experiences. 

She has done all of this in hopes of creating a more sustainable future and well-being for all. If you're looking for a worthwhile organization to support this would be it! You can read about this amazing organization here. 

No one is coming to save us

Emily has been scrappy with finding money to fund all of these programs as she started with nothing back in 2015.

She knows that climate change is affecting our food supply so she's finding a way to make a difference because she cares. She knows that the...

Today is Earth Day!

As you probably know, Earth Day was founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues and the holiday is now a global celebration.

1 billion people on the planet will be celebrating.  

What could be more important than taking the day (or the week) to celebrate our earth? 

Mother Earth, Mother Nature, Gaia…whatever your name for our planet is, 

Let’s honor our planet today. 

Childhood memories in rural Georgia

I’m thinking back today on how I learned to love the earth and nature. 

Growing up, I spent every weekend at my grandparent's farm in rural Georgia. 

My sister and I built playhouses outside around the farmhouse, free to roam and play outside all day. 

We fished in the pond. We walked barefoot on dusty roads, and we rode on the tailgate of my grandfather's truck singing and without a care in the world.   

My grandmother had a huge garden, growing all the vegetables for...

It’s that time of year of the winter solstice. 

The solstice marks the shortest day of the year and the longest night. It's the first day of winter here in the Northern hemisphere. 

This video was created and performed by my very dear friends Helene and Dave Van Manen. Dave wrote this song 30 years ago but it’s still relevant today. I hope you sit back, relax, and allow yourself to feel the beauty in nature as you watch this amazing video. You'll probably want to watch it more than once!  You can listen to more of their music here.

Lessons from nature during the Winter Solstice

This time of year often passes by unnoticed as we are usually in a frenzy during the holidays.

Nature, however, can teach us so much now, not only how to navigate the darkness and the cold, but life lessons that we need to learn. Mother Earth tells us to listen and watch all around us as the leaves fall away and the roots settle underneath the ground to nourish themselves.

...

This week I guide you through an exercise that grounds you to the earth and helps focus your energy back inwards, to restore balance and calm. 

This is the second audio guide in a series that I have designed to support you through this challenging time. Listen to my first podcast on reducing stress.

I always welcome your thoughts, experiences and feedback, so please sign up (below) to my mailing list to stay connected. 

 Africa was completely and utterly fabulous. It was the trip of a lifetime and I wouldn’t change a thing. I could write a book about my two-week experience on safari in Tanzania.

It was AMAZING.

Get a load of these pics!

At times it was surreal. Deep, wild, emotional. Being this close to animals in their natural habitat was beyond anything else I've done in my life. 

I came home from Africa with stars in my eyes, refreshed, and alert even after a 41-hour trip home.

I left again after two weeks.

First to Manitou Springs, Colorado, to be in a circle of 13 women from all over the country… the Green Women’s Leadership retreat.

We came together with our hearts wide open to learn about the climate crisis and how each one of us can make a difference. We talked, we cried, we connected and we realized just how desperate things are in the world. We each made a commitment to our own self-care so that we can be up for making...