This article consists of four parts, each a 15 minutes read. This is part one: World Wide. All parts have been written from my imaginary hectare or two and a half acres of land. Most pictures of flowers and trees I took myself, as I would love to see these on my family kin-domain. If you live in another climate zone, please let this inspire you to plant fowers, trees and crops that flourish well in your habitat!
INTRODUCTION
A first draft of this article was written on the eve of the worldwide Equinox -Sept 22, 2020-, a celestial event occuring twice a year where day and night are of equal length all over the planet. And this feels symbolic, because it’s a marker of time and unites us all!
It was accompanied by a crescent moon and my reflective mood. The article was then published 11 days later on full moon, with another update on December the 21th, worldwide Solstice Day!
WORLDWIDE
One of the reasons for this article are the many affected regions on our planet where environmental disasters have taken place. In many of those areas reconstruction needs to take place. That can be reconstruction of forests, pastures, infrastructures, villages and even parts of larger cities. It is mainly about how the ideas evolving around the Earth Hectare Grid might be of use in those circumstances. These might be applicable for barren land as well.
THREEFOLD WAY
The principles of the Earth Hectare Grid for reconstruction and rebuilding are in a threefold way beneficial for: humans, nature and wildlife. They are also encompassing our human nature, and how we can relate to our world more profound by organizing ourselves wisely.
ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS
But what are these environmental disasters precisely? They are the large fires worldwide, and hurricanes, but also heavy rainfall and floods, earthquakes, mudslides, and severe droughts. For this occasion we might also want to put wars and famine to this list, as these also affect large areas and human populations.
WORLDWIDE FIRES
Let us zoom in a little. The worldwide fires have been going on in vast areas of forest in Australia, the Amazon, Russia, smaller countries in Europe, and recently the western coast of America. For the state of Oregon for example, many people have lost their lifes to the fires. Numerous houses, entire streets, and even some parts of villages and cities have been burned to ashes. Also 1/3 of its forests have burned down.
The total area of land burned by California wildfires passed 4 million acres or 1.6 million hectares this year alone, which is on top of the previous record of two million acres last year. These are roughly another million hectares. Other states up to the middle of the US are affected by fires as well. All together we may conclude those are alarming numbers of a severe magnitude.
STAGGERING NUMBERS
How many human lifes are lost at this point is not known yet, but thankfully many have been able to flee on time due to weather forcasts and other communication channels. Not so for lots of wildlife. By now, billions of wildlife animals have been burned world wide. And yes, that billions is no typo but indeed in plural. It is kind of hard to comprehend. Again, the exact number is not known, but the newsraports and mentioned numbers are staggering.
The causes of these fires and other changed weather patterns are probably of several origins. We’ve also noticed the heavy snowfall in Austria this first week of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere (which is three months too early). And in the Netherlands and Great Britain we’ve got way too much rain as well. Hence the climate changes we see are very diverse in nature. Probably the debate about it won’t be ending as long as the seasons and weather patterns are changing extraordinarily.
PANDEMIC
All this is happening on top of the severe measurements governments took worldwide (in May 2020). This was in regard to a so called pandemic of a virus this year. Due to these measurements, many of us might find ourselves alone, or having to survive with one family household only. Oftentimes it goes hand in hand with lost jobs or even closed companies. As a consequence of these, a large economic breakdown might be next.
STRUGGLING FOR SURVIVAL
Some of us might be house bound and only have access to contact and communication via computers and telephones. One of the questions that rose is: How can we address all these environmental issues and other events, when people find theirselves struggling for survival?
PRIORITIES
It is just too much to cope with, many of us start to feel overwhelmed by it now. Prolongued debating about possible causes might take us further away from the narrow path that we are already on. Much has already been said and done. Also lots hasn’t been done what needs to be done.
Given the circumstances, there’s only so little one person can do. And this is also for a possible outage of internet in the future, for a short or longer period of time. What do we do? This is the main reason to think once more about what are our current priorities? Probably we should ask ourselves these questions: Where do we go from here? And: Where can we turn to?
PRAYER?
Could prayer help us in finding our way out? Personally I pray for that we as humanity are capable of making this world a better place to live. First it is each and every individual to its own. But preferably united together, for the higher purpose of living a happy and healthy life on this beautiful planet.
We even might want to ask for guidance and forgiveness in our prayers. I do, because, the one who knows everything and makes no mistakes, might say it all, right?
We can only do the best we can. But certainly this is for everyone to decide for themselves how to go about it.
artichoke seeds
EYE OF THE STORM
It looks like we’re in the eye of the storm so to speak, or we’ll be getting in it soon, so how are we going to come out of it at the other end? Is there a way we can handle this somehow, under the difficult circumstances of prolongued governmental restrictions that we’re in? How can we guide ourselves out of the storm’s epic center to the best of our ability?
Well, probably there are ways, but by now many of us realise it might not be an easy task. And then we might want to contemplate on why that is precisely? Shall we use this temporary quiet of being in the eye of a storm, to contemplate a little bit further?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, could it be useful to actually acknowledge the deep suffering that has risen due to all of these catastrophic events? Such as in vast forest fires people and animals being burned to death in a horrible and increadibly shocking manner?
This does not only include the human population and wildlife, but also nature itself. The total numbers of burned acres and hectares of land worldwide have become incomprehensible. And besides forest fires are even more land and populations affected by melting icecaps, torrential rains, floods, mudslides and earthquakes. It saddens my heart deeply when I think about it all, and I’m sure you feel the same.
WORLDWIDE TRAUMA
No doubt the afore mentioned environmental disasters have led to deep traumatic experiences for all involved. This is both for those who have passed over, and for those who survived. The latter might have to face the loss of loved ones, the loss of their dwellings and habitats, the loss of health due to injuries (such as inhalation of toxic smoke and fumes), the loss of their incomes, lack of food and clean water, and what have you.
DIFFERENT SCALES
It is probably for the first time in human history that world wide traumas of this scale have occured. But many of us have still ‘fresh’ in our memories the two recent world wars. This is mainly because of our fathers and mothers being involved in these at a young age, and our grandparents oftentimes having lived through them fully. This has led to the trauma stilll being relativly fresh in our generation.
HEALING TRAUMAS
From this we have learned that it’ll take a long time, even up to the next generations, to get healed from this. Healing traumas might involve both physical ways and spiritual ways. This is also applicable for the land and nature to get healed and renewed, as well as to replace all the losses, whenever possible.
FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD AID
It might be obvious that survivors of recent natural disasters may end up in need for fresh water and food, or would otherwise starve to death. Hence it is logic that first aid needs to be there in such events asap, again and again with every new event occuring.
This first aid is provision of fresh water, food, shelter and medical care, up to the point where people are offered goods and services to rebuild their homes. Then the second aid: help cleaning the land from its ashes and debris. The third: assist in making the land fertile again and help citizens start a better life from there.
clematis flower
CALLING ON ALL ANGELS
Do you also feel this might be a ‘Calling On All Angels’ attempt, where you even end up being willing to be one of those conductive vessels, as the spark of God that we all are? Well, many of us might, right? Again the question, how to go about it?
BEING OF SERVICE
First we probably may ask ourselves if we should leave it up to the Angels alone? Can we imagine that help can come from all directions? Me thinking it doesn’t matter what country or state we live in to perform such acts, if we want to help humanity and create a better world, right?
Nor does it matter what skin color you have in all the hues that are out there. Or what religion you have or what your philosphy of life is. Or your profession or your income (although a high income can bring you pretty far) or social status, etcetera. You get the point.
lathyrus odoratus
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH
But how shall we remind ourselves? I’m thinking of this expression ‘When the going gets tough, the tough gets going’. It seems we have to fasten our seatbelts, pray once more for the best possible outcome, and embark on our new journey.
GLOBAL TIPPING POINT
But how can we stay confident under such difficult circumstances? Probably we can either act with small or huge gestures, whatever we are willing to do and can do? Is it us realizing we all have to contribute something, no matter how small the act? I suppose all together we’ve got to reach that global tipping point.
BARREN LAND
Now when vast areas of land have become bare due to forest fires, covered with a black layer of ashes, how can we clean it up? First it might be important to realise that the ashes from primeval burned forests contain (almost) no chemicals. But the ashes from burned villages and cities do, and probably a whole lot of them.
sweet chestnut tree
NEVERMIND!
There are an estimated 80.000 chemical compounds dispersed in our oceans, and me thinking it must come from somehwere. Has God been doing this to us? Or WHO did this? Who created those chemicals, who bought it, and who used it? Mmm. Nevermind.
Anyhow, would it be an idea that those chemical ashes from burned houses and conglomerations be assembled in containers to make sure they won’t drain in the soil by the rain, or even end up in rivers and our drinking supplies? Or what else to do with it?
CLOUDS OF SMOKE
Sadly enough since clouds of smoke and levitating fumes can go skyhigh, they might mix in the air prior to dropping back down on groundlevel. Some of these clouds and fumes can even drift over the oceans, and over vast distances. It might severely impact oceanic life in those regions, and probably also our atmosphere for a prolongued time. And many of those 80.000 burned chemical elements might have been transformed to gasses as well.
THE PHOENIX
Have you heard of the Phoenix that rises from the ashes? This is a mythological bird probably stemming from ancient Egypt where it was associated with the sun, death and rebirth, symbolizing renewal of life that cyclically regenerates.
When googling a bit, I could not find a reasonable explanation or existing story about it, but some descriptions refer to a Heron, since it is depicted in some of those ancient Egyptian artworks.
heron bird
THE HERON
The Heron as a migratory bird resides for summer in the northern hemisphere. They come in spring and build their nest high in trees or on tall buildings and towers. They fly back to Afrika in autumn with their new young. Not so sure if they still do this today due to the altered weather patterns. In the western part of Europe we’ve had hardly any snow these last two decennia of winters. In The Netherlands we had no snow at all for the last three years.
NEWBORN BABIES
But because the Heron is a migratory bird, it became probably a symbol for newborn babies centuries ago. Many of us are familiar with these old-fashioned drawings, which are often depicted on birth announcements. On these, the bird has a folded cloth hanging from its beak, with a human baby in it. Even up to today it is a known custom that when a baby is born, people place an enlarged picture of the bird with the baby on cardboard or hardboard in front of their houses. Sometimes they also paste an enlarged image of it on their window.
AT YOUR DOORSTEP
And probably it is also a known custom in many other countries in the northern hemisphere. Children were told when their baby brother or sister was born, that this bird has actually brought the baby. And the heron actually delivered it at their doorstep or something. My mum never told me such a story, but I remember myself as a young girl pondering why they would always depict this bird with a human baby in a kitchen towel on its beak, like where did it come from?
OTHER SIDE OF THE EQUATION
And in Egypt and Africa, they must have had something similar going on back in the days. Many migratory birds such as the Herons left in pairs from their lush tropical forests, which became too hot for them in summer. Then they came back half a year later as complete families for the lower temperatured rainy season. Thus, I suppose those birds became symbol for the renewal of life in the southern hemisphere as well, although not literally rising from the ashes. Anyhow, thats all I can make up of this story.
OLD TRADITIONS
Obviously these are the old traditions that have changed with the modern technology of TV, Computers and the Internet, the vanishing of forests, and altered weather patterns. Seriously, most of the so called Millenials, the current young generation, have no clue what this bird has to do with babies, but nor had I!
NARRITIVE
Other than that, birds can fly, and this is probably how they escape a forest that has been burned to ashes. And even when birds lose their habitat, they are still able to give birth elsewhere, and return when new sprouts of grass grow back on those bare lands. They’ll survive somehow, and continue to live on. (Hopefully Happily Ever After). However, this is just one of those narratives.
CLOSER TO NATURE
But in those ages where forests and vast areas of woods were covering entire world parts, people lived way closer to animals and wildlife, and with the cycli of nature. There is still a lot of old artwork and literature that is proof of this. Some of those are even antique, and there are many old tales which have preserved that universal wisdom. Keep it as precious heritage! Humanity needs it, to remember who we are.
HECTARES-VILLAGES
Pondering on everything written in this part one of this article, I got an idea.
Due to the world wide fires that have been going on this year, and also previous years, many people, had, and have, to rebuild their entire houses. Sometimes there are entire streets to be rebuild, or even parts of villages or cities. Those may also include its surrounding forests, farmland and meadows. Then I thought: What about building new hectares-villages in those areas? And what about reforesting the surrounding land by the principles of the Earth Hectare Grid?
RE-ARRANGED LANDSCAPES
Because, if everything has to be built anew anyway, including reforestation, can we also rearrange and redistribute our new landscapes into a new infrastructure including hectares-villages? This might be the fastest way for people to rebuild their villages and land and nature. Working on the land with many more people than we do nowadays, might bring a great harvest, a true harvest for survival as well, if we organise ourselves well. When hectares-villages are build with the guidelines described here, for instance on the page ‘VILLAGE‘ of this website, and its subpages, the degraded land might renew and become green again much faster.
WORK IN SMALL COMMUNITIES
Also, when there is upheaval of land on such a large and diverse scale, could it be beneficial to work together in small communities to restore infrastructure and nature? Families in hectares-villages can lend each other a helping hand with rebuilding simple homes -probably initially shelters only such as tents- restore the land, and make use of each other’s knowledge and expertise.
QUANTUM LEAP -1- WORLDWIDE
Next:
QUANTUM LEAP -2- REBUILDING THE LAND
QUANTUM LEAP -3- THE HECTARE VILLAGE
QUANTUM LEAP -4- CREATING YOUR HECTARE
QUANTUM LEAP -5- FOR THE LOVE AND THE LIGHT